"I am.the strongest man in the world!" - Toby Huss as Artie
The Adventures of Pete & Pete: Season One DVD Review
By A.J. Carson
The Wrigleys are a typical American family living in Wellsville, a quaint town located in "The Sideburn State." Teenaged Pete (Michael Maronna) likes nothing more than hanging out with his best friend (and possible love interest) Ellen (Alison Fanelli). Pete's other best friend is his fiery malcontent of a younger brother, also named Pete (DannyTamberelli). Dad (Hardy Rawls) runs the local driving range, and Mom (Judy Grafe) is the world's most perfect housewife. Oh, and did I mention that little Pete - who's about nine - has a tattoo of a clipper ship on his back and one of a mermaid named Petunia (whom he likes to make "dance") on his forearm? And that Mom has a metal plate in her head that allows her to pick up radio stations? Or that Artie (King of the Hill's Toby Huss), little Pete's pal and the self-proclaimed "strongest man in the world" just might be a superhero? Yep, the Wrigleys are a typical American family, all right.
The Adventures of Pete & Pete is one of the hippest kids' shows ever produced, ranking right up there with Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends and Pee-Wee's Playhouse. Like those shows, Pete & Pete manages to jointly appeal to young audiences (in this case, preteens and up) and adults. The series combines the sentiment of The Wonder Years with the irreverent humor of Malcolm in the Middle (without Malcolm's harder edge) in a way that is simultaneously sweet and outrageously funny. With its emphasis on the wackier side of family life and childhood, the series is also reminiscent of A Christmas Story, right down to its narration by big Pete.
The zaniness begins with the series' opening credits. Rather than showing us the names of the show's actors like most standard TV series, the credits feature the show's characters, including Mom's cranial plate (seen on an x-ray) and Petunia, little Pete's tattoo. The show's catchy theme song by the indie band Polaris has mysteriously opaque lyrics ("Hey smilin' strange, you're lookin' happily deranged.hey Sandy"). Plus the band actually performs the song on the front lawn of the Wrigley home throughout the title sequence. Yes, it's obvious from Pete & Pete's opening credits that the series is quite a long way from the usual kiddie junk like Saved by the Bell.
The series' offbeat humor is very much in evidence in the first episode of this set, "King of the Road," which follows the Wrigleys as they take their annual summer vacation to the Hoover Dam. Dad always treats the trip like a holy quest, expertly packing the car, mapping out the very best route, and keeping the family to a finely tuned schedule. Why? Because he fancies himself the King of the Road. His vanity license plate even reads "KING-O-FROD" ("KING-OF-ROAD" was taken). He starts the trip by taking a shortcut through a neighbor's lawn, and soon the Petes are keeping themselves occupied by playing "Roadkill Auto Bingo" (pity the player who has a brontosaurus on his Bingo card in addition to the usual possums and skunks). Things go smoothly until their first rest stop when Dad notices the license plate of the car that pulls in next to theirs - "KING-OF-ROAD." Its occupants are a perfect family that has seemingly escaped from a Norman Rockwell painting. When Dad finds out that they too are heading to the Hoover Dam, he begins a desperate sprint to make it there first and reclaim the title "King of the Road." Dad does everything in his power to beat the other family, but try as he might, they keep popping up, looking fresh and clean even as the Wrigley's car gets dirtier and dirtier. The perfect family even stages car sing-a-longs.in French, no less! This episode takes simple vacation situations like endless car rides, bathroom breaks, and minor family arguments, and expertly twists them into matters of life and death.
"The Nightcrawlers" is another stand-out episode. Little Pete resents having to go to bed at 9 PM. After all, while he's sleeping, kids in other parts of the world are out having fun, and he wants in on the action. When he refuses to go to bed one night, Mom attempts to use reverse psychology on him. Her ploy fails, and as a result, little Pete and his neighborhood pals attempt to break a world record by staying awake nonstop for eleven days. At first, the kids are overjoyed at being able to play in Pete's backyard all night. Then, in mock horror movie fashion, they begin to drop off one by one. How will Pete break the record after even his witness - Artie - falls asleep? The humor in "Nightcrawlers" ranges from sick (an eye-rubbing little girl nicknamed "Pinkeye" and her equally watery-eyed father) to hallucinatory (a girl, fading fast, who strokes the dewy grass while muttering "why is the grass wet.I didn't see it rain"), weird (one of the preteens slowly develops a beard over the course of the episode) to sweet (the exploration of little Pete's relationship with his mother).
That sweet earnestness comes to the forefront in several of the episodes. In "Day of the Dot," Ellen is chosen to become the dot of the "I" when the Squids' marching band competes at a state championship. Ellen takes her newfound responsibility very seriously, practicing for hours on end with her band partner. Fellow band mate big Pete becomes so jealous that vows to regain her attentions no matter what - even if it means ruining the band's chance at the state title. The episode includes the series' usual offbeat humor (the maniacal band director bases his musicians' marching patterns on Crimean War battle formations), but it ends with a declaration of love between Pete and Ellen. In "Tool and Die," big Pete faces off with a psycho shop teacher who has a prosthetic mechanical hand complete with pointer, flashlight, and flyswatter attachments. Pete resents having to take shop, a class he thinks is for losers. A confrontation with his teacher at the end of the semester makes Pete realize that he never really gave the class a chance, making him the loser.
The Adventures of Pete & Pete began life in 1989 on Nickelodeon as a series of one minute interstitials that ran during commercial breaks between shows. When the short films proved to be popular, Nickelodeon commissioned a series of five sitcom-length Pete & Pete specials. The specials won awards and garnered much attention for the network, and it was decided that Pete & Pete would become a regular series. Four of the original specials - "Valentine's Day Massacre," "What We Did on Our Summer Vacation," "Apocalypse Pete," and "New Year's Pete" (notable because it is narrated by little Pete) - are included here as "Bonus Specials." These specials do not have to be watched before the first season since all of the episodes included here are completely stand-alone.
"What We Did on Our Summer Vacation" is perhaps the most well-known of the specials, and it's a delight from start to finish. No one in Wellsville can agree on when summer ends - some go solely by the calendar, while others base it on the day when little Pete and Artie head to the beach and beat up the ocean in protest. Everyone can agree on when summer begins, though. It's the moment when Mr. Tastee, the ice cream vendor, first drives his truck down their street. Even though Mr. Tastee is the friendliest ice cream vendor in the world, the kids don't know much about him because they've never seen him without his Mr. Tastee mask. When Ellen notices a packet of photos with Mr. Tastee's name on it while working at her uncle's photo hut, she cannot resist taking a peek inside. She discovers snapshots of Mr. Tastee at the Statue of Liberty, Washington Square Park, and other NYC tourist destinations.but he's still wearing his mask, and he's all alone. Ellen and the Petes decide that he must be lonely, so they set about to become friends with Mr. Tastee. Their plan backfires, however, when the vendor, apparently spooked by their interest in him, disappears. The kids spend the rest of the summer trying to find him, upset that they'll never see his plastic head.or his Blue Tornado Bars.ever again.
"What We Did." perfectly balances Pete & Pete's fantastical and sentimental tendencies. The idea that Ellen and the Petes want to befriend someone they perceive as lonely is a winsome one. That he's an ice cream vendor who never removes his plastic ice cream cone head provides a kicky twist. The humor is both droll - one of the kids is convinced that Mr. Tastee is actually Sonny Bono - and surreal - using the same metal detector that once led him to Mom, Dad discovers a fully-operable '78 Cutlass Supreme buried under the sand at the beach. The episode even features guest appearances by The B-52s' Kate Pierson as a wealthy blind woman and R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe as bedraggled ice cream vendor Captain Scrummy.
In case you haven't notice yet, adults in The Adventures of Pete & Pete tend to be.strange. Little Pete's bus driver is so woebegone about breaking up with his girlfriend that he hijacks his young charges and takes them on an endless tour of relationship-themed landmarks, like the sidewalk where his former squeeze once dropped her ice cream cone. Big Pete's history teacher has varicose veins on her leg that exactly map out the roadways in Iowa. Mom and Dad are nice enough, but little Pete is convinced that they are part of an International Adult Conspiracy meant to keep kids in their place. The only adult the kids seem to trust is Artie, who may be a grownup age-wise, but has the attitude of an eight-year-old. After all, this is a guy who runs around in his PJs and lives in a mobile home that looks suspiciously like a Port-o-John.
In addition to including songs by Polaris, the soundtrack to Pete & Pete is filled with music by indie artists like Magnetic Fields, partly because their music was cheaper to use than the work of popular artists. This gives the series a truly unique sound. But Pete & Pete also includes appearances by well-known musicians as guest stars. In addition to Pierson and Stipe, those appearing in the first season (and the four specials) include Syd Straw (Tales of the City), Juliana Hatfield, and Marshall Crenshaw. Other familiar faces include Ellen Cleghorne (SNL), Frank Gifford, William Hickey, John McLaughlin, Martin Donovan, Heather Matarazzo (Welcome to the Dollhouse), and The Sopranos vets Steve Buscemi and Vincent Pastore.
The eight episodes that make up The Adventures of Pete & Pete: Season One are divided onto two discs. The discs are housed in thin, clear keepcases. The front covers feature images from the series' opening credits and production stills. The back covers include episode titles and brief episode synopses. The interior of disc one features a photo of big Pete while disc two spotlights little Pete. Both are pictured against a vast "lawn" backdrop, and their photos spill over onto the DVDs. The cases slide into a cardboard outer sleeve decorated with a picture of the Petes. All of the little photos - especially the one on the front of the cardboard sleeve - look a bit fuzzy.
The plain, static menus feature the same photo found on the cover of the cardboard sleeve. Viewers can play all of a disc's episodes or select an individual one. The episodes are not divided into chapters.
One annoying trait of this DVD set that needs to be mentioned is that both discs begin with six minutes' worth of commercials (for Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Spongebob Squarepants Movie, Spongebob DVDs, and The Brady Bunch DVDs). The commercials can be bypassed using the skip button on your remote control, but since they are followed by the mandatory copyright screen, it is impossible to simply jump to the menu.
