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DVD: The Young Ones
Every Stoopid Episode
6 hours, 40 minutes; 3 discs
Warner Home Video
Reviewed by Jason Thornberry
It's unfortunate that English humor has a way of going over the heads of some Americans who aren't used to shows being subtle and witty simultaneously. Over here The Simpsons are quite popular, whereas I find them (and cartoons in general) to be fairly dull. The show is admired in England as well, but the focus is more on how crazy they think suburban Americans must be. Having said that, here's your chance to see some vastly superior comedy courtesy of the BBC.
The show was introduced stateside on MTV in 1982 when it first aired. The Young Ones centers around the lives of four students at Scumbag College sharing a flat in London. To suggest each of the characters is rather eccentric is putting it lightly. Rick (Rik Mayall) is the spotty philosophy student who fancies himself as "The People's Poet." Next up is Vyvian (Ade Edmondson), the attention deficit punker who kicks out windows, chops off his own finger, and nails the front door to the ceiling. There's Neil (Nigel Planer), a thoughtful, naive hippie, typically the brunt of everyone's pranks, and finally Mike (Christopher Ryan). As "The Cool Person" of the house, Mike seems to have the answer to everything.
The series pilot ("Demolition") has Vyvian racing to destroy their home. The place has been condemned apparently, and it's up to him to wreck everything before the professionals arrive. Rick hangs himself on a cross in the front of the house in protest of its imminent demise. He recites one of his poems to the authorities below in an effort to link himself with the building in its moment of destruction. "Boring" has the four desperately thinking of ways to alleviate the monotony of student life. At wits end, Neil plans to kill himself, and digs a grave in the back yard.
Each episode also features Alexei Sayle, who plays various members of the landlord's family. Motorhead, The Damned, Madness, Dexy's Midnight Runners, and others also appear. The series was written by Rik Mayall, Ben Elton, and Lise Mayer. Mayall would also star in "Drop Dead Fred." Elton went on to pen scripts for the BBC televised comedy "Black Adder."
The Young Ones is a superb document of a time when Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher ran the free world. The twelve episodes come with extensive political satire and references to the many issues that made up the era in which it was filmed. There are also several bonuses, which include two brief documentaries on The Young Ones, and two chapters of programs that Mayall, Edmondson, and Planer also starred in.
The well-timed re-release of this series couldn't have been improved on, and fans of the 1980's will find this DVD boxed set essential. I thought the very off-the-wall humor was extremely refreshing, and as far removed from the trite obviousness of many American sitcoms as possible.
© 2003 - Jason Thornberry