Tom Goes to the Mayor-Season 1 (2004) |
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General | Extras | ||
Category | Animation |
Featurette Featurette-Making Of Deleted Scenes Outtakes Bonus Episode Gallery Trailer TV Spots Audio Commentary |
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Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 2004 | ||
Running Time | 355:17 (Case: 348) | ||
RSDL / Flipper |
RSDL (46:19) Multi Disc Set (3) |
Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Ads Then Menu | ||
Region Coding | 4 | Directed By |
Jonathan Krisel Tim Heidecker Eric Wareheim |
Studio
Distributor |
Cartoon Network Madman Entertainment |
Starring | None Given |
Case | Custom Packaging | ||
RPI | ? | Music |
Davin Wood Jonathan Krisel Doug Lussenhop |
Video | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | Full Frame |
English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) |
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Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.29:1 | ||
16x9 Enhancement | No | ||
Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | 1.29:1 | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | Yes | ||
Subtitles | None | Smoking | Yes, lots of children smoking pipes |
Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
Action In or After Credits | No |
Tom Goes to the Mayor is another absurdist animation from Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block. The premise being that Tom, a slacker come back-yard entrepreneur, has recently moved to the town of Jefferton and brings each of his ideas to the Mayor, who whole-heartedly embraces each one and contorts them into ridiculous ego-projects while Tom goes along with the whole ride. The show rarely steps away from this formula for a beat.
The visual style of the show is quite unique and offers a lot of appeal. Presented in a style akin to the kind of photo-story that used to fill teen magazines in the 1970s and 1980s, characters are all photo captured and run through filters to give them a unique blue look. All other objects are pasted into the background like a collage. The look suits the style of the show well.
The humour employed by Tom Goes to the Mayor varies somewhat from the style of other Adult Swim shows. While the stories themselves are absurdist, most of the humour derives from the awkwardness and quirkiness of situations rather than the ridiculous nature of what is going on. Unfortunately, the schtick grows old rather quickly. The real killer is the character of the Mayor. His lines might as well have been thrown together using a Guided by Voices song lyric generator (nonsensical, but seem to flow) but his actions are so implausibly awkward that they break any flow of the show.
The only real reason to keep watching (and likely the main reason many will want to check the show out) is for the impressive array of guest stars. Though few actually put in remotely interesting performances or characters, the list is impressive. Tenacious D's Jack Black and Kyle Gass, Jeff Goldblum, Sarah Silverman, John C. Reilly, Janeane Garofolo, Michael Cera, Fred Willard, Bob Balaban, David Cross, Gary Busey, Sir Mix-a-lot and Paul Reubens all pop up.
Tom Goes to the Mayor is the only Adult Swim show to date that I have been unable to get into, even after watching it though a couple of times. The basic premise and cast of guest stars are promising, but the show never delivers on this promise. Even the best episodes only reach to a level of moderate enjoyment rather than hilarity.
This set features every episode in the show's two-season run.
The film is presented in its original 1.29:1 aspect ratio and is (rightfully) not 16x9 enhanced.
The video transfer is excellent, though that's not saying much for such simple animation. The image is generally quite sharp and is free of low level noise or grain.
The colour is bold and garish, which represents the look of the show perfectly.
There are on obvious compression artefacts in the transfer.
There are no subtitles on these discs.
The show is presented on three RSDL discs. The layer breaks occur between episodes.
Sharpness | |
Shadow Detail | |
Colour | |
Grain/Pixelization | |
Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
Film Artefacts | |
Overall |
A single English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kbps) audio track is present.
The dialogue is occasionally a little muddy and poorly recorded, particularly the Mayor. This is a deliberate effect to emphasise the dodgyness of the show, which works as intended but that doesn't make listening to it any easier. There aren't any issues with audio synchronisation, although it is hard to tell as there are rarely any moving lips to line it up with.
The music in the show tends to be loud, brash and irritatingly catchy. Quite appropriate for the show and well presented.
There is no surround speaker usage. The dynamic range of the stereo soundtrack is reasonably good however and contains a good degree of bottom end for the subwoofer to pick up.
Dialogue | |
Audio Sync | |
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
Surround Channel Use | |
Subwoofer | |
Overall |
Whilst the show itself is a bit of a turkey, the extras in this set are impressive in both number and quality.
Audio commentary is provided for ever single episode. The commentators are series creators and stars Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim, along with a revolving door of other crew and cast members. The commentary itself is incredibly dull and mainly of the "describe what's happening on screen" variety.
A surprisingly thorough "Making Of" featurette that follows the process of developing an episode from start to finish. It's particularly interesting to see a quick tour of the photoshop techniques used to build the characters in the show.
Clips from the celebrity voice recording sessions and photo shoots. Anybody attracted to the show because of its guest star roster will probably laugh more at these clips than the show itself.
Fly-on-the-wall "Making Of" clips with optional commentary.
The web cartoon that started it all.
The web cartoon that continued it all before it got to TV.
8 deleted scenes. Reasonably funny stuff.
18 clips of the musical bits of various episodes, played out of what looks like a kids toy radio.
A set of outtakes from the Married News TV show within the show.
A featurette dedicated to the worship of the show's executive producer and occasional star, comedian Bob Odenkirk.
A moderately interesting collage of behind the scenes footage.
6 network promos used for the show.
A slideshow of artwork and photos from the show.
Trailers for Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Robot Chicken.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
The Region 1 edition is identical to the Region 4 edition, save for NTSC/PAL formatting, Subtitles (English, French and Spanish) (only found on Region 1) and the Madman Trailers (only found on Region 4). A narrow win for Region 1.
As hard as it tries, and it certainly tries hard judging by the quality of guest stars it has reeled in, Tom Goes to the Mayor is a clunker. Die hard fans of any of the guest stars would do best to hire rather than buy - everybody else, just avoid it.
This is to date the only Adult Swim show I haven't been able to get in to.
Whilst the show is a bit of a stinker, the DVD package is great - plenty of worthwhile extras and a spotless video and audio transfer.
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Extras | |
Plot | |
Overall |
Review Equipment | |
DVD | Sony Playstation 3, using HDMI output |
Display | Samsung 116cm LA46M81BD. Calibrated with THX Optimizer. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 576i (PAL). |
Audio Decoder | Pioneer VSX-D512. Calibrated with Video Essentials/Digital Video Essentials. |
Amplification | Pioneer VSX2016AVS |
Speakers | 150W DTX front speakers, and a 100W centre and 2 surrounds, 12 inch PSB Image 6i powered sub |