The Adventures of Pete and Pete - Season One
Hey smilin' strange. You're looking happily deranged. "The Adventures of Pete and Pete" ran when I was in college - the most cableless time of my life - airing from 1993-1996 on SNick, the Saturday night Nickelodeon lineup, that, back then, actually included watchable shows. The show covers the lives of two brothers named Pete and - while aimed at children - their "adventures" were always absurd and surreal, and the references, humor, music, and guest stars were by no means juvenile. Being without cable for much of that time, my worship of the show was limited to school break foraging, finding an episode or two by chance or astute study of the TV Guide while home on summer and holiday. Those episodes I found, though, have been ever engrained, and now, through the wonders of modern technology, Season 1 of the show is available on DVD, with Season 2 rumored for (hopefully) later in the year.
The most memorable episode I found on those lazy summer days was "Hard Day's Pete." Its ode to punk rock was so beautifully captured that I remembered it to this day note for note. In the beginning of the episode, "Little" Pete is broadcasting his pirate radio station, WART, hosting an episode of "Scab Talk." Pete plays no music on his radio station - he just has no interest in it. As "Scab Talk" runs over, he finds himself late for school and dashes off on his bike to beat the bell. Taking a short cut, he rides past a band (Polaris, who also play the show's theme, and several of the songs are included as audio-only bonus features) practicing in their garage. Pete stays a while, standing there with his bike, his life changed - he now has a favorite song.
After that comsic aligning of the stars, though, the band is nowhere to be found, and Pete has no recording to play over and over. So what does he do? Form his own band (The Blowholes!) and try to recreate it. How lucky he is to have Syd Straw as a math teacher to fill in on bass and, somehow, Marshall Crenshaw, to play guitar. He remembers the riff, and after hammering away for hours, eventually it all falls together. Maybe it doesn't sound exactly like that band in the garage, but it works. Not to end so easily, a neighbor, upset with the noise, gets Pete's dad to pull the plug, making note of the excessive electricity bill. To solve the problem, Pete's radio station - the one that played no music previously and summarily dismissed and mocked anyone calling in a request - plays all requests. Call in with your favorite song and a donation, and Pete and his band will play it.
While the cover advertises Season 1 as having 8 episodes, take note that 4 of the 5 half-hour long specials that predate the series are included in this set, giving you 12 full episodes, with a few other extras added in (including 4 audio commentaries from the creators Will McRobb and Chris Viscardi, as well as episode directors). The most enjoyable episode I hadn't seen is actually one of these 4 specials, "What We Did on Our Summer Vacation." In this episode, Big Pete and Ellen take an interest in Mr. Tastee, the ice cream truck man with the hugh costume head in the shape of soft-serve who mysteriously disappears after the summer is over. Pete and Ellen (as well as little Pete) try to befriend Mr. Tastee, which oddly results in him running away midsummer. Big Pete finds a clue as to the reason for this from an unlikely source - if having Syd Straw as a bassist for your garage band seems odd, imagine when the ice cream man at the beach who cylces up to you, pushing a "sludgecicle," looks a lot like Michael Stipe. "Captain Scrummy" explains to Big Pete that there's a reason why Mr. Tastee hides behind his mask and keeps his distance, making a swirly, Stipe-ian hand gesture to mimick Tastee's head shape. Tastee's tale is one of savoring the wonderful moments in life. If he was there all winter, would those first siren calls of summer sound so sweet?
The content of this set is great. Shows you remember as great from so long ago don't always hold up - this one does. While the episodes are great, the picture and audio quality leaves something to be desired. While all the episodes are at least watchable, the word "restored" is no where in the packaging, and Nickelodeon pretty much took the master tapes from the vaults and gave us what was there. As a result a lot of the episodes are as grainy as your own 12 year old tapes, and one episode - "Day of the Dot" where Ellen and Big Pete kiss for the first time - has a streak across the screen that persists for way too long (several minutes). The season is filled with classic episodes like these, "Rangeboy" where Big Pete has to drive the ball retrieving cart at the driving range, and "Don't Tread on Pete" where Big Pete forgets to study for a history test and in "24"-esque real time fashion must cram or be doomed to a life of janitorial hard labor, so obviously these artifacts shouldn't keep you from buying this fine show, but be forewarned.
Those in need of a quick fix can view the episode "Apocolypse Pete" on the Nickelodeon webpage: http://www.nick.com/all_nick/turbonick/.
| Adventures of Pete and Pete at Amazon |
