To say Seth MacFarlane's career has been interesting would be an understatement. His "Family Guy" television series has been on the air for over ten years despite being cancelled on two separate occasions by the Fox network; and his second television series "American Dad" has managed to hold a Sunday time-slot since 2005. Although he's achieved wide success over the years, there's been no shortage of critics that pan his series for their abstract nature and penchant for delivering cheap laughs. Whether this is true or not seems unimportant if you can make the audience laugh, and MacFarlane delivers that in spades.
In September of 2008, Burger King began sponsoring an animated web series that was released on MacFarlane's YouTube site called "SethComedy". The series consisted of 50 animated shorts released over a six month period and were geared toward fans of his random comedy style. It was also a way for MacFarlane to create comedic sequences that broke through the barriers of censorship on national television, and create a collection of work that's lewd, crude, and occasionally downright mean. Ladies and gentlemen, get ready for "Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy".
The "Dirty Vaudeville" act is just one of the many hilarious sequences in the series.
The series of shorts have nothing to do with one another, and include clips that range from biting social commentary to generic observations. The majority of the scenes are set up with a brief explanation for what you're about to watch, such as "Sex with Mr. Sulu", or "A douche-bag unicorn gives a public service announcement". As you can tell from those examples, some of the ideas for scenes are actually funnier than the scenes themselves and you'll be left wondering why nobody else ever thought to make an animated short about a unicorn that's trying to tell your kids to smoke pot (I'm joking of course).
In an effort to provide some background on my opinion of Seth MacFarlane's comedy, I should mention I've been a long-time fan of "Family Guy", but never developed much interest in "American Dad". Therefore, it's probably safe to say my overall outlook on his animated comedy is somewhat mixed. That assessment mirrors my opinion of this web-based series as well. Some of the clips had me in stitches, while others didn't seem the slightest bit funny. Some of my favorites included "Stuck on a life raft with Mathew McConaughey", "Monkey's talk about religion", "Four years of Entourage in 10 seconds", and the surprisingly funny "Fred Flintstone taking a dump". I'm sure most people with a computer and a love for Super Mario Bros. have seen the webisode where he saves an ungrateful princess and attempts to explain the hardships he endured at the hands of mushrooms. Clips like that one are pure genius, and help make up for the occasionally flat sequences (such as the "Scotsman shouting at movies" segment).
It seems pertinent to mention that this is an adult-oriented affair from start to finish. At least half of the clips contain vulgar language or sexual references, and there's an extended series of episodes that depict different people, animals, or machines having sex (some examples include Optimus Prime, midgets, rednecks, Dick Cheney, etc.). There are also some distasteful clips that may offend some viewers, like one where a young man describes some lewd sexual acts to his grandmother who's stricken with cancer. I'm not sure how that scene was funny and it's a perfect example of the shocking territory MacFarlane's comedy occasionally ventures into. Those with a thick skin will be able to weather the bad in order to see the good, but the pervasive vulgarity is worth mentioning for anyone that's easily offended.
Presented in 1080p utilizing the AVC codec (with an average bit rate of 35Mbps), the visual quality of the series is largely disappointing on Blu-ray. I'm assuming the series wasn't made with the intention of being released in high-definition, and the deficiencies of the source material don't translate well as a result. The 1.33:1 aspect ratio didn't bother me (I'm used to watching "Family Guy" in that format), but I couldn't get past the drab color use, or the lack of crisp definition in the lines. For a series with animation that lacks complexity, I'd hoped they could at least manage to create bold lines and rich colors; but that's simply not the case here. Instead we get overly saturated hues that exhibit far too much brightness (which also negatively impacts contrast), and a hazy loss of line definition in scenes such as the one with the homosexual knight who refuses to fight the dragon.
In an effort to not sound too negative, I should mention color banding and bleeding were never noticeable, and I didn't detect any digital artifacting. The transfer won't impress anyone that's new to the format, but still surpasses the quality of a DVD transfer (just not by much).
The sole audio offering on the disc is an English 5.1 DTS-HD MA track. Since this was originally intended to be an internet series, it appears there was never an attempt to incorporate the use of surround speakers in the mix. All of the effects and dialogue are firmly grounded in the front sound stage, with the exception of music during the show's introduction and closing credits. On the positive side, the dialogue offers a fine level of clarity and I never heard a deficiency in volume levels from scene to scene.
Ultimately, the audio experience on Blu-ray is shallow and unimpressive. Any audiophiles who are interested in the title will need to lower their expectations substantially and try to appreciate the audio track as a serviceable companion to a series that was meant to be heard on tiny computer speakers.
Red Carpet Premiere (480p, Dolby Digital 2.0, 4:21 min): This brief feature includes interviews at the premiere party in honor of the series. It's mostly fluff, but offers a chance to see the real-life voice actors that played many of the roles in the feature.
Character Models: Split into three sections, this feature allows you to scroll through over 250 pictures of character models in various stages of development (rough, cleaned up, or colored). It doesn't add much value unless your interested in the simplistic animation of the series.
If you love "Family Guy", you'll love this series as well. There are certainly episodes that hold up better than others, but taken as a whole, this is a thoroughly entertaining way to spend an hour. I wish I could offer a whole-hearted recommendation of this Blu-ray edition, but the technical merits are entirely disappointing and restrict my ability to suggest this title as a worthy addition to your Blu-ray collection. Perhaps the popularity of this web series will convince MacFarlane to produce a second season with a greater focus on technically proficient source material. I'll keep my fingers crossed and hope for better results next time.
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment has announced the technical specs and special features for the upcoming Blu-ray release of 'Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy', which is due to hit store shelves on May 12th, day-and-date with the DVD release. Video ...
Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy Blu-ray, Forum Discussions
