Review of Joe Cartoon: Vol. 1

Introduction

The promotional packaging that boxes the DVD of "JoeCartoon.com: Greatest Hits #1" indicates that not only is Joe Cartoon a "cult hero", but also that the website that originally brought us these cartoons is "a worldwide phenomenon".

I might be 24 going on 25, but does that mean that I am officially uncool and therefore shouldn`t, in fact, have ever heard of Joe Cartoon? I ask because heard of this, I have not!

Joe Cartoon began life in 1997 as a Flash animation, which became known for its violence and crude humour. Produced using Adobe software, it is in that format that it continues to run, allowing it to be partially interactive. As the title suggests, this is the first time that it has made it to DVD.

Video

Video is presented in 4:3 fullscreen PAL. Since it is taken directly from the computerised Flash animations, the actual transfer is perfect. What is less so is the extremely simplistic animation, which I suppose is a legacy of using Flash. Still, not much at all to look at.

Audio

Audio is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 and is good considering the origins of the material. Bare in mind that there isn`t exactly much going on here, other than some dialogue and a few splats.

In any case, I`m not sure how the sound was originally encoded, but here the audio gives a nice, full sound where it is required.

Features

Extras on this disc come in several forms. Firstly, there are the "bogus features", comprising four real-life video clips (with seemingly little to do with Joe Cartoon), eight "Yo Yo Yo" clips (presented by foul-mouthed spiders), and three "Spontaneous Man" clips (where the lead character spontaneously combusts during every episode).

Secondly, there are "Press and `Splode" animations, which allow you to blow up your favourite characters in various ways.

There are also episodes of "Thuh Greenfields", who are two odd country-bumpkin characters, who simply talk to the camera.

Conclusion

To say that I don`t "get" Joe Cartoon is beyond the realms of an understatement. The fact that I don`t has badly undermined this review, as I have absolutely no idea how to describe this sense of humour. For example, plainly put, one of the Joe Cartoon episodes involves a child telling his Momma what he`ll do if she doesn`t change his dirty nappy.

Yes, I`m serious.

Each show is around 2 ½ minutes long, and filled with humour that not once made me even smile, let alone laugh. I`d like to say that it must be popular among students, but having been a student not so long ago, I know exactly what I would have thought of this.

My only advice to readers can be to visit JoeCartoon.com and decide for yourselves. Because if you buy this DVD based on what you read on the promotional packaging, you`re in trouble.