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Press - 2006
The Adventures of Pete and Pete season two
Big Pete Wrigley (Michael Maronna) and Little Pete Wrigley (Danny Tamberelli)
are two brothers living in an average suburban town known as Wellsville. Big
Pete deals with big kid issues such as dealing with the trials and tribulations
of high school, falling for his best friend Ellen, and forgetting about the
magic that is Halloween. Meanwhile, Little Pete has the inverse troubles having
to defend his exuberant childhood against a world filled with uncreative adults
who just want him to act normal.8:18 PM 24/02/2006
This release of the second season features thirteen episodes, amounting to a
little over 300 minutes.
Disc 1:
Grounded for Life
Field of Pete
The Call
The Big Quiet
Time Tunnel
Inspector 34
Halloweenie
Disc 2:
X=Why?
On Golden Pete
Farewell, My Little Viking Part 1
Farewell, My Little Viking Part 2
Yellow Fever
Sick Day
While The Adventures of Pete & Pete season one was amazing, season two is the
best to ever come out of the show.
Fan favorite episodes such as "X=Why?" and "Sick Day" are here in all their
glory. Another classic, "Time Tunnel," which followed the Petes during daylight
savings time as they time travel and relive an hour, packed a really subtle
emotional punch while still retaining the quirky humor of the previous seasons.
Even the departure of Artie, the Strongest Man in the World (Toby Huss) from the
show was represented in a poignant story arc about Little Pete's imaginative
childhood coming to a close.
If that's not good enough, there are even more celebrity cameos. Iggy Pop,
Janeane Garofalo, LL Cool J, and Steve Buschemi all appear in episodes. These
cameos are great because they don't just feel like stunt casting - most kids
weren't going to watch more Nickelodeon just because Bebe Neuwirth was playing a
mailwoman. Rather, the show's creators sought out character actors and musicians
that they felt fit into the strange world of Pete & Pete.
Even the show's Scrappy-Doo, Nona (Michelle Trachtenberg), only has a small role
here compared to her presence in later seasons.
While many shows would follow in the style of Pete & Pete's confused suburbia
(namely, the more adult Strangers with Candy), none ever did it as well as here.
Every joke is spot-on, and watching this show as an adult feels just as smart
and fun as it did when I was ten. I don't love this show for its nostalgia. I
love this show because it has sharp writing that never underestimates the
intelligence of the viewer.
The best season of one of the best children's show in television history is
perfection.
Score: 10 out of 10
The Video
Once again, The Adventures of Pete & Pete disappoints. Although there aren't as
many shocking flaws as last season, where numerous analog tape tracking errors
made the release look like a bootleg, this show is still far from pretty.
Compression problems make the transfer appear noisy and even pixilated. Colors
are a bit better than last season's bland tones, but almost everything bleeds.
And the interlacing, oh - the interlacing! There's barely a scene in this set
without heavy field tearing.
I understand that this show is an older, relatively low-budget production.
Regardless, The Adventures of Pete & Pete has some of the most disappointing
transfers of a television show I've ever seen.
Score: 2 out of 10
The Audio
The audio is also slightly better than the season one release. We still only get
an English stereo track and absolutely no subtitles. The last season suffered
from some pretty ugly white noise in quieter scenes. Here noise is less
noticeable, but still there. Regardless, both dialogue and music come through a
little crisper than before.
Score: 4 out of 10
The Extras
The Adventures of Pete & Pete: Season 2 comes on two DVDs in a miniAmray casing
similar to last season's release. Each case has episode listings on the back.'
While last season's commentaries were amazing, season two ups the ante by giving
us more tracks for more episodes and the inclusion of cast and crew. Michael
Marrona, Danny Tamberelli, and Toby Huss (Artie) all make appearances and really
flesh out the show's background. Last season's commentaries were interesting
because the creators discussed the origins of the show. This season's commentary
allows the cast to discuss how they took those ideas and expanded them into
full-blown characters. Great stuff.
But while the commentaries are even better than before, there is less overall
content than the last release. We still don't get a good retrospective. And
instead of a handful of specials, we only get one, Space, Geeks and Johnny
Unitas. There are slightly more Pete & Pete shorts, but they're all extremely
brief. Sure, I'm glad the shorts and the special are on the disc. At the same
time, I'm a bit disappointed that Nickelodeon couldn't have put together more
material for this monumental show.
Score: 5 out of 10
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