Review: Look Around You

Version I Watched: Standard definition, region 2 import from the UK.

Starring: Peter Serafinowicz, James Serafinowicz, and Nigel Lambert

History: This series was created by Robert Popper (Hot Fuzz, The Timewaster Phone Calls, Bellamy's People) and Peter Serafinowicz (Shaun of the Dead, Run Fat Boy Run, Couples Retreat). It premiered on BBC2 in 2002 with a second season following in 2005. The show premiered in early 2009 on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim lineup. In 2003 the first season was nominated for a BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) award.

My Personal History: I was referred to this show back in 2009 when it premiered on Adult Swim. I had only seen a couple episodes that way but found more of them on youtube. I eventually picked up the region 2 DVD after picking up a multi-region DVD player where I've watched it over and over again.

Review: Look Around You at it's most basic concept is a satire of classroom educational videos that were shown when your teacher needed to grab a quick smoke break and not deal with stupid questions. To be more specific the classroom videos made back in the 1970s which is probably when they were all made anyhow, at least a lot of the videos I watched in high school looked like they were. The creators have credited the 1970s program Experiment which aired on ITV Schools (Independent Television for Schools and Colleges). This series, or the first season at least, stuck visually to a style that reflects the video and audio technology of that same era. The intro has a short countdown clock that is also a parody of the countdown clock that would play before the ITV Schools programs. Their attention to detail with their parody is exceptional. First, here's a link to the countdown for reference, now here's a link to an episode of Experiment, and lastly here's a link to an episode of Look Around You. Even watching a minute or two of Experiment and then a minute of two of Look Around You it's easy to see the parody right off the bat. The intentional VHS grain of an aging video looks fantastic. How it presents the parody with a straight face makes it way funnier than if it was presenting it by trying to be funny. What makes it so hilarious is the unpredictable exaggerations or outcomes to experiments and statistics, which I'll example in specific episodes below. Lastly the use of the narrator is the sprinkle on top of this sweet, sweet sundae giving it that educational video feel.

As this is the first show I'm reviewing I've decided to start something I want to stick to in future TV show reviews. Below is the list of each of the episodes on the DVD and my mini review of the episode.

Maths: I think this or a later episode, Germs, is a great introduction to the series as well as one of the better episodes. It starts with a visual of two youths who appear to be spray painting graffiti. One is doing the crime while the other is looking for authority. While this is going on the narrator is saying, "Look around you. Just look around you. Have you worked out what we're looking for? Correct, the answer is..." which is how each episode begins. In this particular episode right at the end of that last quote we see the two kids running away and what they were spray painting was an equation. The narrator finished by saying, "Maths." As per usual each episode they then tell you where to find this subject in your copy book, grab a bottle full of whatever the topic is (that's right, a bottle of maths), and to make sure you're ready to complete the problems that are coming up. The silly, exaggerated comedy is ripe in this one. The first thing they touch on is "what's the largest number?" and they hit the streets asking the public. They then reveal the largest number is 45,000,000,000. But scientists are thinking there could be a larger number. 45,000,000,001? A lot of these jokes are hilarious in their execution because they're so well written and executed so well and straight. Even in the back of your mind you're thinking how it is a parody but it still feels like an educational video.
In each of these shorts there are three problems/experiments that are touched on. My favorite of this episode is a comparison of height. Jean is shorter than Brutus, but taller than Imhotep. Imhotep is taller than Jean but shorter than Lord Scotland. Lord Scotland is twice the height of Jean and Brutus combined but only 1/10 the height of Millsy. Millsy is a constant height of X-Y. If Jean stands exactly 1 nautical mile from Lord Scotland how tall is Imhotep? Wondering what the answer is? The answers revealed at the end of problems like this are fantastic because they're unpredictable. This problem's answer is "Imhotep is invisible." I like to compare the humor of this show to something of the humor of Monty Python or a Zucker/Abrahms film.
By the way, in this episode there's a brief moment where you can see Simon Pegg. This was just before Shaun of the Dead so it was more of a bit role than anything. Keep your eyes open for it. It's not terribly obvious and he's on screen for maybe three seconds at best.

Water: Not a bad follow up to Maths. The intro is an example of their more unpredictable humor. "Have you worked out what we're looking for?" I'm not sure, we're watching a woman bake a pie, what could this be about? Cut to a waterfall. Following up to that the episode makes sure to note that water is made up of the element H Twenty (Not H 2 0, H Twenty). What I liked about one of the experiments in this one was how it was handled visually as opposed to exactly what they were doing. It's an alternative way of utilizing their sense of humor, only as I just stated in a visual sense. The experiment was to see the reaction of protein and water. They heat a beaker to boiling and drop an egg in for a minute, two minutes, and three minutes. What made this funny was that they used the scientists hand to get it out instead of something that would make sense, like tongs. The first minute it's runny, the second egg and two minute run is getting thicker but not quite done, and lastly the last egg with the three minute run came out not to thick and not too runny. Add salt for flavor... and breakfast is served. Oh, so funny!

Germs: This is a great episode! It opens with a young boy walking through a park with his mother while he eats a donut. He accidentally drops the donut in the trash of a toppled over trash can. The kid wasn't done with the donut so he goes running back to the trash to get the donut back clearly against his mother's orders. I have worked out what we're looking for... germs. The first thing I learned in this episode was that germs come from Germany. Makes total sense, never thought about it before. This one only had two experiments instead of the usual three. The first one, which I enjoyed more, was a measurement of how fast germs can travel. After picking up a beaker full of dirty drain water they feed it to a local university student. After allowing the germs to go through his body they bring in one of his professors. The student is instructed to cough on his professor. Slowly then we see the professor becoming sicker and sicker topping his temperature off at just a pinch over 107 degrees! "Get well, professor."

Ghosts: This episode just didn't do it for me. I felt it was too disconnected from its original concept of creating silly parodies of educational videos. When they brought in ghosts into the equation (heh) it takes it a different direction that doesn't make sense. This is something that tends to happen when the supernatural is brought into something that never has the supernatural involved in any other way. The experiments were dull if not a bit annoying. Bringing the ghost in for experiments was way over acted especially for a show that is so straight forward in it's humor. Then the haunted lab where the scientist was attempting to work with a ghost and the ghost was temper-mental was the more annoying part. This is easily the episode I like the least.

Sulphur: Now we're back on track! This one is very similar in style and execution. Again it had a great introduction. We see a group of school children walking to school. Everything looks nice and merry, sweet and wholesome. Pan to the left to see some of the teachers smoking some cigarettes. Correct, sulphur. The joke I enjoyed the most in this one is in the experiment where they try and see if sulphur is attracted to magnets. They do an absurdly over exaggerated, overly elaborate execution of the experiment where they slowly move the magnet down to the clump of sulphur. It touches but no reaction is made to the outcome until it's at lease a couple inches away from it NOT lifting up the clump of sulphur. What I loved about this experiment was when they made fun of disposing of different items from scientific experiments for sterilization purposes. It starts with a cloth, then a pair of tongs, and eventually the entire set including the sulphur and the magnet, which is followed up by the scientist pulling out a gun and shooting an entire clip into the trash can.

Music: Somewhat like the Ghosts episode I felt this one didn't have quite the same vibe. It wasn't as much a jump away from the concept I feel the show is going for as Ghost but the short music video half way through the episode isn't helping. I do really like a couple of the jokes that went with the experiments. Such as how they used the DNA of Gilbert and Sullivan and how they used a machine that cost just under a thousand pounds (it had a price sticker of 999.99 1/2 pounds). Also I really liked the brief scene where they talk about the forbidden notes. They turn off the volume, play the notes, and the scientists ears start bleeding intensely. What this one felt like most of all was a full execution of one of the joke "on the next program" previews (that they never actually make) like how they were "going to cover" hitchhiking, flowers, or reggae. Funny as a passing joke... just not as a full episode.

Iron: Once again an episode that has the right idea going for it. And again it's very similar to the better episodes in this series. I only have one quick comment to make on it. My favorite joke this episode is a cheesy one. They have a big chunk of a pyramid shaped iron block attached to a 9 volt battery. They're using both AC and DC in this electrical experiment, because this is heavy metal.

The Brain: The sad part about this episode is I felt it stuck to the right concept and execution... it just didn't work for me in the end. I felt more bored by this episode than anything. Not a total disaster, of course, these are all good episodes in the end, only there are a few that don't make me laugh as much. A lot of the humor really fell flat for me. For only being an 8-9 minute short it really felt a lot longer. Some funny bits... but nothing great overall.

Bonus! Calcium: I bring special attention to this episode because it was actually the pilot episode and it's twice the length of a normal episode. Aside from the length the first thing you'd notice is the full countdown happens instead of a few seconds like in the rest of the shorts. This is a concept I'm glad they didn't stick with since it would get really old after two episodes. As with any pilot or early episode in any series the into is plenty longer. The show still has a very similar feel with only a slightly different execution. I don't have a whole lot to say about this episode that hasn't been said about the previous episodes. It's still very funny with a lot of the same types of jokes. It's easy to see how the rest of the series got it's start, knew what it wanted to do right away, and only made slight changes when they went beyond a pilot. I will say it was a smart decision to cut the length time in half, from 20 +/- minutes to 10+/- minutes. The reason this works better is because while this episode was still very funny it gets drawn out an old as the episode plays on. A "full length" episode just doesn't have that same impact. It gets to a point where it starts feeling more like an actual educational video instead of a comedy show. The dry, British humor isn't helping in that department.

I still love this series. It's hilarious and creative. The major downside to them is how it's one of those concepts that's great for a single short or a few shorts. Once it's extended into an entire series it loses it's impact by the later episodes. Of the 8 (plus the pilot) episodes I only didn't really like 3 of them. I don't feel it's too harsh but now that I think of it it's a third of the entire season. Those odds aren't the best. Could be worse I guess. I did see a little of season two which switched it up entirely. Instead of the 70s Experiment videos it was a parody of a more recent educational video series from the UK. It had a host, was twice the length every episode. The sad thing was that it didn't do it for me. I liked the original concept a lot more. Not to mention the original concept I grew tired of before the end of the first season so I can't imagine I would want another season of the same thing. A quick last comment is that the DVD has a reversible cover, something that's really cool that not many do anymore. It's alternate cover makes the DVD case look like the cover of the textbook in the show.