Cartoons • Some
of those characters: Lumpy, Cuddles,
Toothy, Giggles, Handy, Petunia, Sniffles,
Flippy, and Lifty. Studioworks Entertainment
Happy Tree Friends DVD: This ain’t your father’s moose and squirrel
By David Whisler
Online Forty-Niner
Contributing Writer
If you think nothing relaxes you after a long day like watching a baby squirrel
take it in the jewels from a runaway yo-yo, then have I got a DVD for you. Happy
Tree Friends are back in “Overkill,” the new three-disc DVD set from
Mondo Media.
I still recall the first time I saw Happy Tree Friends. It was at Spike and Mike’s
Sick and Twisted Festival of Animation in San Francisco, and I learned one important
thing that night: Diet Coke burns like hell when it comes out of your nose.
Co-creators Rhode Montijo and Ken Navarro compiled the three discs for this set
from previous DVD offerings and added 19 minutes of bonus footage.
All of the cartoon animals we love to see mutilated have returned for the festivities,
including Lumpy the moose, Cuddles the rabbit, Giggles the chipmunk and Flaky
the dandruff-ridden porcupine.
Disc one, “First Blood,” includes side-splitting (literally) episodes
along with special features including “Original Formula,” the episode
that started it all; “Assembly Required,” early character designs,
and “Collect Them All,” your chance to meet the entire cast of woodland
wildlife.
Disc two, “Second Serving,” picks up where disc one leaves off, with
more hilarious mutilation, decapitation and degradation.
The special features
of disc two include “Under the Skin of Happy Tree Friends,” a documentary,
Sing-A-Long, and board to episode comparisons of the episodes.
Discs one and
two also feature “Smoochies,” your chance to interact with your favorite
cast member one-on-one.
“
Third Strike” rounds out the set with 14 blood-curdling episodes, plus
five bonus episodes including the irregular “Mole in the City.”
The most nail-biting moments in this set come with the cliffhanger episode “Happy
Trails,” on disc two.
The episode begins with Petunia the skunk, Toothy
the beaver, Giggles the chipmunk, Cuddles the rabbit, Mime the deer and Sniffles
the anteater riding in a bus driven by Lumpy the moose.
After drinking all of
her milk, like a good little skunk, Petunia has to potty and taps Lumpy on the
shoulder. This prompts him to take his eyes off the road and hit a rock sending
the window crashing down upon the head of Cuddles and decapitating the poor little
bunny instantly.
Meanwhile, Mime chokes on a peanut, again causing Lumpy to leave the wheel unattended
and the bus careens toward a cliff.
Luckily the tire hits another rock just in
time, but the jolt impales Petunia on the gearshift and Lumpy further impales
her as he shifts gears to regain control.
The episode ends with the bus leaping from the cliff in a freeze-frame and the
ominous “To Be Continued.”
So,
what happens you ask? You’ll have find that out for yourself in “Happy
Trails Part 2: Jumping the Shark,” also included on “Second Serving.”
“
Overkill” hits the street in a bloody mess Tuesday, Oct. 4, and you can
catch Happy Tree Friends at 4 p.m. every Monday and Friday on G4 videogame
TV’s Attack of the Show.
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