Paramount Studios presents

Stan Lee's Stripperella: Season One Uncensored (2003)

"Look out crime. I'm going to take a bite out of you, But not in a way you'll find pleasurable."- Stripperella (Pamela Anderson)

Stars: Pamela Anderson
Other Stars: Tom Kenny, Maurice LaMarche, Sirena Irwin, Jillian Barberie, Mark Hamill, Joey Lauren Adams, Vince McMahon, Jill Talley, Kid Rock, Kathy Griffin, Chris Kirkpatrick, Andy Dick, Jon Lovitz, The Farelly Brothers
Director: Kevin Altieri, Steve Holland, Mario Piluso

MPAA Rating: Not Rated for parental advisory, explicit content
Run Time: 05h:20m:00s
Release Date: 2005-02-22
Genre: television

Style Grade	Substance Grade	Image Transfer Grade	Audio Transfer Grade	Extras Grade
B-	B-	A-	B	F

 

DVD Review

For all the talk about the fevered power of the Christian Right to exert its "we know what's good for you" mentality on the rest of us of free thinkers, it is satisfying to see that something like the animated series Stripperella even exists. Developed as part of the initial male-oriented Spike TV lineup, this series goes all-out trying to be both smutty and funny—breast-deep in sexual innuendos and sight gags—all ensconced in an evenly layered superhero/spy subtext, in part from comic book icon Stan Lee.

With busty blonde Pamela Anderson voicing the lead character of busty blonde Erotica Jones (aka Stripperella, aka Agent 69), it is difficult to not have a show that exudes a kind of silicone-enhanced camp. Erotica spends her nights grinding the pole at The Tender Loins strip club, and then donning a cleavage-baring outfit to battle assorted arch villains, all with an array of fashion-friendly weapons like a laser lipstick or a tampon dagger. Once her bellybutton ring vibrates (that's her "bat signal"), she gets her marching orders from blustery Chief Stroganoff (Maurice LaMarche) and handicapped Agent 14 (SpongeBob himself, Tom Kenny), along with some handy new crimefighting weapon.

Stripperella owes a lot to the semi-retro look and feel of Batman: The Animated Series, and were you to remove the bared breasts and double entendres, a casual observer might be hardpressed to tell the difference; that's really no surprise considering director Kevin Altieri also worked on that Batman series, so the similarities are to be expected. The villains are a generally entertaining lot , with the budget-concious Cheapo and the diminutive Small Fry being two of the better ones. The writing balances moderately traditional though silly superhero antics (a villain tries to kill Stripperella by burying her in a giant jar full of pennies) with a steady onslaught of visuals and dialogue that teeter on the edge of good taste, such as in Crime Doesn't Pay...Seriously, It Really Doesn't, where there's a subplot about a stripper whose father regularly watches her dance, and all of the characters are okay with it.

But Stripperella is all about being a bit daring and edgy, from the villainous Queen Clitoris (now there's a typically subtle joke) to a huge vibrating banana, and the essence of the show is the sex jokes, and they come at a pretty steady clip. Some work better than others, some are just plain dumb, but a surprising number of them hit their mark. It's not necessarily fall-on-the-floor comedy, but it's often pretty clever, as is the sendup of the whole superhero/crimefighter genre.

Fans of the series as it aired will probably want to note that Paramount has done some minor shuffling of the order for this set, with the two-part debut (featuring Mark Hamill as Dr. Cesarian) actually showing up here as episodes five and six. Likewise with the original Kid Rock theme song, which appears to have been scrapped and replaced with something a bit blander, for reasons that probably have more to do with the on-again-off-again public relationship between Rock and Anderson than anything else.

And as for the "uncensored" material, this Season One set sports bare boobs (no pixelated nipples here).

Rating for Style: B-
Rating for Substance: B-

 

Image Transfer

	One
Aspect Ratio	1.85:1 - Widescreen
Original Aspect Ratio	no
Anamorphic	no

Image Transfer Review: The back cover lists this as a full-screen release, but the episodes are actually presented in nonanamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen. Yeah, I know this is perceived as a low-brow dirty joke, but the blemish-free transfers are actually quite strong, with a level of detail that is extremely well defined, and even elements such as backgrounds (generally an overlooked component on series animation) look outstanding. Colors tend to be on the dark side, with just sporadic bursts of bright reds or yellows, but the rendering here is excellent.

Image Transfer Grade: A-
 

Audio Transfer

	Language	Remote Access
DS 2.0	English	no

Audio Transfer Review: Audio is provided in 2.0 stereo, and while not an especially elaborate mix, it serves the material adequately. Character voices are clear, with a bit of occasional directional movement tossed in here and there. Nicely done, even if it's not all that flashy.

Audio Transfer Grade: B 

Disc Extras

Animated menu with music
Scene Access with 52 cues and remote access
3 Other Trailer(s) featuring Ren & Stimpy, South Park, The Joe Schmo Show
Packaging: Scanavo variant
Picture Disc
2 Discs
2-Sided disc(s)
Layers: dual

Extras Review: It's strange and a little disheartening that Paramount has issued this Season One set with absolutely no extras, save some other television set previews. So that leaves the packaging to discuss, which looks nice, consisting of two clear thinline Scanavo cases in a sturdy cardboard slipcase.

Each episode is cut into four chapters.

Extras Grade: F
 

Final Comments

Take away all the sophomoric sexual puns and D-cup animated boobs and you're not left with much, but that's okay. This is a case of truth in advertising, because the show delivers exactly what it says it will, and dresses up the superhero/spy genre with more than enough corny and often perverted adult humor.

Funny stuff.

As my man Stan Lee would say: "'Nuff said!"

Rich Rosell 2005-02-22