...kids will be instantly mesmerized by the kaleidoscope of colors.
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Created by Steve Purcell in 1987, "Sam & Max" are the lovable characters from one of the luckier underground comic-book titles that managed to secure enough of a fan base and climb over the hurdle into the mainstream. Their popularity paved the way for a few highly successful computer games and eventually even gave birth to a short-lived animated series on Fox Kids. "The Adventures of Sam & Max: Freelance Police" is a three-disc boxed set of DVDs by Shout! Factory that gathers together the entire run of all twenty-four zany episodes of the animated crime-busting extravaganza.
The founder of the so-called "Freelance Police" is a detective named Sam, a humanoid dog who is easily distinguishable by his hat and trench coat, reminiscent of film noir, and who drives around in an old De Soto. Harvey Atkin provides the voice talents for Sam, who strangely sounds a lot like John Astin from the original "Addams Family." Maybe it was the fault of the script, but I found Sam to be exceptionally annoying every once in a while. His attempts at humor didn't usually do much for me, and Atkin has an unfortunate tendency to emphasize the wrong word when trying to make witty remarks that only ends up butchering the punch line.
Sam's partner is Max (voiced by Robert Tinkler), a hyperactive white "rabbity thing" that obviously is suffering from some form of ADHD. I found his crazy antics amusing although his jokes are not as offbeat as his pal´s. He has some great one-liners, even if a few of them feel like they are the core center structure that certain episodes were built around, and he definitely steals the show.
After green-lighting the production of the animated series, Fox executives did their usual idiotic and notorious meddling by requesting Max have a sex change so they could add a female presence to the show. Reluctantly, Purcell compromised by creating Darla "The Geek" Gugenheek (voiced by Tracey Moore) exclusively for the series. The Geek is a redheaded teenage girl who is the brains behind the operation and supplies the Freelance Police with all sorts of nifty gadgets and technology, kind of like Q from James Bond does. Her laboratory is nestled in Sam & Max's secret command center, dubbed the "Sub-Basement of Solitude," which bears an uncanny resemblance to the Batcave.
Not surprisingly, the Geek's inclusion didn't sit well with the hard-core fans of the original comics, who felt that this change was completely unnecessary, and I wholeheartedly agree. Her character doesn´t really add anything beneficial, much like the third kid on that one horrible season of "Married with Children." Thankfully, her screen time is minimal and she only makes brief appearances in a few episodes, but this was one bad decision that should have been scrapped right from the start.
I found most of the episodes to be mildly entertaining, iced with fantastic animation, bursting with vibrant colors and plenty of action to keep youngsters' eyes glued to the television. Adult audiences will welcome the maturity of the off-the-wall stories, and plenty of spoof-style humor is injected throughout the series.
Some of it went overboard, though, and I thought it would have been a much better end product if the filmmakers had toned things down in places. It was almost as if the writers and animators were trying too hard to make you laugh sometimes, and they overly milked some of the jokes they knew were funny.
My biggest gripe with the whole series has to do with the bloodcurdling music that could strip the plaque off of a camel's teeth. The atrocious big-band jazz trumpets and random piano playing for the opening credits had to be one of the worst choices ever for theme music and started to drive me insane by the third episode. Every episode after that chipped away another piece of any sanity I had left. I might get flack for this, but it really sounded like a bunch of chimpanzees were given musical instruments and recorded the compilation without any practice sessions. It wasn't just the main title sequence, either, that was driving me bonkers; there's music and even sound effects haphazardly tossed in throughout the entire season that I had no clue why it was there. It didn't add any kind of an artistic edge, and it only proved that there are cases where "more" can be way too much.
1) "The Thing That Wouldn't Stop It." In the première episode, Sam & Max discover that a monster residing in the Geek's fridge is responsible for the disappearance of three refrigerator repairmen and must hunt it down before it strikes again.
2) "The Second Show Ever." Forced to cut their presentation short at an elementary school's Career Day, the Freelance Police take the whole class on an unexpected field trip into outer space to save the Earth from an alien conqueror known as Lactose the Intolerant.
3) "Max's Big Day." After becoming stranded on a tropical island where a tribe of savage New Guinea Pigs believe Max to be their "chosen one," Max struggles with the decision of returning with Sam or staying as the tribe's ruler.
4) "Bad Day on the Moon." Sam & Max are dispatched to the moon in their trusty De Soto to investigate a pest problem plaguing rodent alien humanoids.
5) "They Came from Out There." The residents of a small town start turning into mindless zombies and the trail leads Sam & Max to the swamp, but something smells awfully fishy....
6) "The Friend for Life." While trying to find the super villain known as the Mad Thespian, Sam & Max find out that they have a much more annoying problem to try and shake off their tails.
7) "Dysfunction of the Gods." It's a race against time as Sam & Max must play matchmaker for the gods Zeus and Hera, since they find themselves rapidly aging as a result of the deities' love spat.
8) "Big Trouble at the Earth's Core." Sam & Max travel to the center of the earth to try and prevent the planet's core from cooling, only to discover that mole men are behind the scheme so they can invade the surface to find mates.
9) "A Glitch in Time." Using a wristwatch time machine, Sam & Max get a kick out of journeying through different time periods. But after Max innocently interacts with his younger self, the butterfly effect creates a timeline where Sam is no longer part of the Freelance Police.
10) "That Darn Gator." Max comes across a newborn alligator in the toilet so the boys decide to try and raise "John" as part of their twisted little family, but suffer growing pains when their new addition begins to mature.
11) "We Drop at Dawn." In Vietnam War style, the Freelance Police are dropped by helicopter into New York City's Central Park to try and locate the Commissioner's lost keys.
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