Beavis and Butt-head
|
|
Beavis_and_butthead.jpg
Beavis and Butt-head is an animated comedy show that aired on US TV station MTV from 1993 to 1997, and is a spin-off of MTV's animation showcase Liquid Television. It was created by Mike Judge, who later went on to write and produce the TV series King of the Hill and the live action movie Office Space. The show highly influenced the vocabulary of 1990s American youth.
| Contents |
The TV series
Beavis and Butt-head started life as an animated short created by Judge for the Spike and Mike Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation. This short, named "Frog Baseball" was aired on MTV's independent animation showcase Liquid Television, which was presumably the catalyst for MTV becoming interested in pursuing a television series featuring the characters.
An episode of the show typically consists of Beavis and Butt-head making candid commentary while watching music videos. Between the videos, stories are advanced involving the duo's adventures in troublemaking both at home and at school. Beavis and Butt-head's lifestyles revolve around music videos, nachos, slurpees, and shopping malls.
Butt-head seems calmer and marginally more intelligent than Beavis, the latter being prone to bouts of hyperactive lunacy. Butt-head is usually oblivious to subtleties, while Beavis is somewhat oblivious to the obvious.
The sneering, mindless duo revived among American teens a plethora of slang put-downs and terms, including "buttmunch", "fartknocker", "bunghole", "cornholio" and "spank the monkey". Early episodes gave the duo a juvenile obsession with fire and dangerous, risky behavior. The show was blamed for numerous child deaths as the result of fire and dangerous stunts, and the references were excised from further broadcastings, being replaced to some extent with simply silly stunts, bad pick-up lines, et cetera. Episodes with the original content are now only available on home-made tapes. MTV also responded by broadcasting the program after 11:00 PM, and adding a disclaimer reminding parents that the show was not for children.
Beavis And Butthead: The Movie
A full-length animated movie, Beavis and Butt-head Do America, was released in 1996.
Beavis and Butt-head, along with other (arguably) mainstream cartoons such as Ren and Stimpy and The Simpsons, pushed the boundaries of American cartoons away from clean material for small children only. While some might say they were crude, it often offered succinct social commentary. Beavis and Butthead have been compared to idiot savants due to their creative observations of music videos. This part of the show was mostly improvised by Mike Judge and is considered the show's highlight. With regard to criticisms of Beavis and Butthead as "idiots", Mike Judge has responded that a show about straight-A students and do-gooders just would not be funny.
Beavis and Butt-head's parents are never seen, except for a small part during the movie, where Beavis and Butt-head run into two older look-alikes who then tell of how they "scored" with "sluts" in Beavis and Butt-head's hometown, Highland. The film implies that these men are, in fact, Beavis and Butt-head's biological fathers.
The movie Beavis and Butt-head Do America followed the duo in their journey to retrieve their stolen television set. The couple traveled across the land and got involved in a biological weapon smuggling scheme that they remain completly unaware of throughout the entire film. Beavis and Butt-head's fathers are revealed for the first time ever, and even President Clinton makes an appearance. The movie features the voices of famous actors like Bruce Willis and Demi Moore.
The CD
A CD appeared, named The Beavis & Butt-Head Experience featuring many hard rock and heavy metal bands, such as Megadeth and Nirvana as well, in which the duo comments on the tracks. Moreover, they did a duet with Cher on "I Got You Babe" and a track by themselves named "Come To Butt-Head".
Other Appearances
- Beavis and Butt-head have also appeared in a comic and many video games, like Virtual Stupidity, Bunghole in One and Beavis and Butt-head Do U.
- In the film Airheads, when the DJ is taking radio call-ins, Beavis and Butt-head call in. Mike Judge supplied the voices himself for the movie.
- In the first Austin Powers film, where Dr Evil has problems working the remote to the United Nations and inadvertantly switches the channel to Beavis and Butt-head.
Spinoffs
A spinoff show based on their maligned classmate Daria Morgendorffer, Daria, was also created. This show was not associated with Mike Judge and took place in what seemed to be a completely different world from Beavis and Butthead.
See also
External links
- Beavis and Butthead (http://www.beavisandbutthead.net) --Fan site with Forum, Videos, Downloads and more.
- Beavis and Butthead Central (http://hotextra.com/index.html), a fan site with downloads
- Template:Imdb title
- Beavis and Butt-head (http://www.bcdb.com/cartoons/Other_Studios/M/MTV_Productions/Beavis_and_Butt-head/index.html) at the Big Cartoon DataBase
- Beavis and Butthead's world (http://jh.pair.com/bnb/index.html), a fan site
- Beavis-and-Butthead.de (http://www.beavis-and-butthead.de), german fan site with forum, downloads and many more stuffhe:ביוויס ובאט הד