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Nitro Circus: Season One
R1 - America - Paramount Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Ethan C. Stevenson (14th September 2009). |
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The Show
 I have a few friends who wish that they were Travis Pastrana. Seven or eight years ago said associates would speed around the desert on dirt bikes, doing outrageously stupid things, while I, equally stupid, dutifully followed in a 4x4 vehicle (sometimes in the safe confines of an SUV; others… well, truthfully, totally unsecured and standing up in the back of a pickup as we dangerously raced down an uneven dirt trail. Smart, right?), with a firm grip on my trusty Sony Handycam. Sometimes, I stood directly under dirt bikes as they passed, flying over my head (launching from a hap-hazardly made jumps of compacted clay and sand), just so I could get some “way cool” shots that I would later import into iMovie, where I would edit it, slowdown the footage to absurd levels and later track it with some throat-tearing, ear bleeding Rock-Metal soundtrack. It is most likely because of nostalgia (thoughts of the above) that I do not hate what I probably should. MTV’s new series “Nitro Circus” appeals to my younger, more stupid self and it makes me think of all that fun I used to have. Is that enough to make this a “good” show? No, I guess not really, but the 4 or so hours I spent watching this first season had me laughing, cringing and smiling in remembrance of things past. And it sure made my older, more reasonable self, now concerned with deadlines for reviews, term papers and work hours, less bothered for a short while. Although the show is from the producers of “Jackass” (2000-2002), “Nitro Circus” is similar to but also quite different than the previous series. To quote Johnny Knoxville, “the ‘Nitro Circus’ guys are professionals, but that doesn’t mean they got all their marbles, because they don’t.” This is no more evident in the closing moments of the first episode, where Pastrana jumps out of an airplane without a parachute. A daring stunt, certainly, and less juvenile than most of what you saw in any iteration of “Jackass”, it sets the tone for the rest of the program. Whereas Knoxville’s show was as much about how far they could jump a golf cart, as it was about how hard they could kick each other in the balls, “Nitro Circus” is bolder and less childish. There is some clowning around, sure, and some of the things that the guys (and girl) of team “Nitro” do involve infantile tools and schemes (jumping big wheels for instance) but there is also an absence of “total” amateurness to the whole package, and that can be quite nice. The crew of “Nitro Circus” is certainly not comprised of amateurs. Each one of the members has a pedigree of excellence, or at least a history… well, almost… within the main cast anyway. At the top of the roster is, of course, Travis Pastrana, winner of numerous X-Games medals, and all-around expert at just about any extreme sport. Andy Bell, humorlessly introduced on the show, as a “washed up motocross champion,” is well, a washed up free-style motocross champ; he holds 9 world records and used to be famous, once. Jolene Van Vugt, the only female member of the group, a pro-motocross racer, holds her own with the boys, riding an altered dirt bike across a lake; or at least attempting to do so. The team also includes James Dechamp, a mountain biker, Tommy “Streetbike Tommy” Passemante a construction worker who’s tired of laying sheetrock (he’s highly uncoordinated and basically not good at anything that has to do with sports – unfortunately, I can relate) and Erik Roner, a pro-skier and base jumping fanatic. They’ve got a few B-team members as well, including “everyone favorite redneck” Hubert Rowland and some reoccurring special guests, mostly from the “Jackass” clan (Johnny Knoxville, Bam Margera and Gregg Godfrey all make appearances), and they occasionally participate in various stunts, although to less successful results. Originally a mini-series on FuelTV that began airing installments in 2006, “Nitro Circus” has since been retooled for half-hour format (episodes last approximately 20 minutes) on MTV2. If you’ve seen the mini-series or DVD releases (in the form of a 4-disc box-set or otherwise), you’ve seen most of what is shown in the truncated MTV version. But, as the DVD box-set of the admittedly better mini-series runs upwards of (at minimum) $50 on Amazon.com, the condensed first season of the show is a near-as-good alternative, especially considering that the MSRP is about half that of the cheapest release of the mini-series. Is it really a good show? No. But I can see how and why it appeals to a younger generation, fueled by Monster Energy drinks and Red Bull. At times it’s wholly juvenile, this is true, but what do you expect from a show that’s trying to appeal to teenagers, especially when the same guys who were in “Jackass” have brought it to the small screen. But, some of the stunts that they capture here are amazing, truly. It’s not for everyone, however, the clearly defined audience that this show appeals to will likely gobble it up, and hastily. All 12 episodes from the series’ first season are included in this 2-disc set. Episodes are offered in the following order: - "Welcome to Pastrana Land" - "Lake Medina" - "Las Vegas" - "Hell Compound" - "Home Sweet Home" - "The Circus Heads West" - "Nitro in the Guinness Book" - "Hollywood Nitro" - "Panamania" - "Puerto Rico" - "Nitro Winter Wonderland" - "Jamaican Me Crazy"
Video
Although larger in scope and better photographed than “Rob Drydek’s Fantasy Factory” (2009-Present), “Nitro Circus” is unfortunately very similar in the way MTV presents the series on disc. For whatever reason, even though the show is clearly shot in 16x9, the distributor has windowboxed the 1.78:1 picture, leaving a sea of black around the postage stamp of an image when viewed on native widescreen displays. Why they didn’t encode the episodes with an anamorphic flag is beyond me; what is this 1998? 16x9 enhanced DVDs aren’t a luxury; they’re a necessity in today’s world of high definition widescreen. Disappointing aspect ratio aside, this DVD set is still problematic. There are numerous instances of combing errors (interlacing artifacts). Moiré, stair-stepping jaggies – whatever you want to call it – is also present in the transfer. Noise is a bit bothersome sometimes, particularly during low-lit scenes. These defects are probably not visible on your old 480i native 4x3 tube TV but on the bigger, high resolution TV's that are far more common place today than they were 3 or 4 years ago, the deficiencies are noticeable to even the most untrained eye, on a moderately sized set. MTV needs to step up the game; they can’t keep putting out DVD's that adhere to decade old standards and expectations. This is a show produced in 2009, released to DVD in 2009; there’s no reason it can’t look decent (or be properly presented in true widescreen).
Audio
The audio on the series is presented in English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo. There isn’t much to say in terms of quality. This is reality TV; it’s 2 channels. Dialogue, good. Stereo separation is adequate. In other words it’s passable but nothing special. But, on the upside there isn’t anything outright wrong with the track either – the source is clean (as it should be; this is a 2009 series after all) and levels are decently balanced. There are no optional subtitles.
Extras
Supplements span two discs with a music video, featurettes, additional footage, deleted and unaired scenes, interviews, outtakes and bonus trailers. Further details below: DISC ONE: A music video for the Dropkick Murphys' “The State of Massachusetts” runs for 4 minutes 1 second. Pre-menu bonus trailers are for: - “Rob Dyrdek’s Fantasy Factory: Season One” runs for 1 minute 46 seconds. - “Jackass: The Lost Tapes” runs for 1 minute 5 seconds. - “The Original Nitro Circus: 4 Disc Set” runs for 27 seconds. DISC TWO: The first selection of extras on disc two are found under the bonus stunts sub-menu and include: - A montage of stunts that used mini-bikes. Runs 1 minute 13 seconds. - A montage of deleted scenes where Pastrana and crew try and break various Guinness Book World Records, including the most donuts done in a car, longest distance traveled while riding backwards on a mountain bike and the fastest towed tricycle. 5 minutes 29 seconds. - Special guest Rob Dyrdek chickens out when asked to back flip a motocross bike into his foam pit. 4 minutes 3 seconds. - Tommy and Erik race five and six year-old kids in a motocross circuit. 1 minute 10 seconds. - Travis and Andy’s brakes fail while going 50 MPH downhill in a Jamaican cart race. 2 minutes 40 seconds. - The crew tries “drifting” in a Mustang. Runs 2 minutes 10 seconds. - The friends play a game of “smash the balls” which isn’t as juvenile as it sounds…. Well, no, it is; it’s just not what you probably think. Two people run at each other with gigantic rubberized balls and bounce off one another. 41 seconds. - Jolene invites a group of “fire breathers” to the Pirate Cove. 1 minute 29 seconds. - A montage of competitive inner tubing. 1 minute 41 seconds. - BMX/Motocross pro Ronnie Renner teaches two B-team players of the ‘Nitro Circus” crew the art of the “Step Up.” 2 minutes 4 seconds. - The team plays around with James Dechamp’s backyard BMX track. 2 minutes 49 seconds. - Footage from the “Nitro Circus” snow luge tournament. 1 minute 25 seconds. Next up is a series of Jackassworld.com interviews with: - Andy Bell runs 5 minutes 13 seconds. - James Dechamp runs 4 minutes 56 seconds. - Erik Roner runs 5 minutes 1 second. - Tommy “Streetbike Tommy” Passemante runs 7 minutes 6 seconds. - Travis Pastrana runs 12 minutes 15 seconds. - Mark Zupan runs 4 minutes 55 seconds. The third submenu includes bonus featurettes and other footage that appeared on the Jackassworld.com website. Most of the footage is transferred to DVD in substandard quality. Features offered: - Bloopers for Johnny Knoxville’s promo which ran on MTV leading up to and right before the series first episode. 1 minute 26 seconds. - A "behind-the-scenes" featurette that looks at Knoxwille’s commercials for the series. This piece takes a closer look at the various (odd) costumes he wore during each shoot. Runs 3 minutes 55 seconds. - "Jeremy Rawle’s looping session" featurette, runs 30 seconds. - “Jeremy Rawle, Numchuck Superstar” featurette looks at the producer’s serious numchuck skills. Runs 2 minutes 50 seconds. - Knoxville kicks a producer off of a barrel that he’s trying desperately to stand on as it violently rolls back and fourth, this footage runs for 48 seconds. - Knoxville has a conversation about how he must now pee using a catheter after a stunt went horribly wrong. The stunt is also included, this footage runs for 2 minutes 31 seconds. - Pure classic “Jackass,” Producer Jeremy Rawle gets shot by Nerf darts tipped with thumb tacks. This footage runs 1 minute 47 seconds. - A behind-the-scenes look at “Hollywood Stunt Day” (episode “Hollywood Nitro”) featurette runs 3 minutes 40 seconds. - A look "behind-the-scenes with Gary Coleman" featurette runs 3 minutes 12 seconds. - "Behind-the-scenes of “Escalator Skiing”" featurette (yes, that is exactly what it sounds like). 2 minutes 51 seconds. - Footballs bombard Jeremy Rawle footage runs for 2 minutes 8 seconds. A series of interviews from MTV.com are also included: - The cast talks about the season and doing stunts. 7 minutes 57 seconds. - The executive producers talk about the show and the stress of job. 2 minute 49 seconds. - Various guest stars talk about the craziness that is “Nitro Circus”. 5 minutes. Finally, a series of bonus outtakes round off the package nicely. The footage is mostly crashes and injuries: lots and lots of crashes and injuries. 7 minutes 51 seconds. A pre-Menu bonus trailer is included for: - “Jackass Presents: Mat Hoffman’s Tribute to Evel Knievel” which runs 30 seconds.
Packaging
The first season is split across 2-discs and housed in a standard amaray case.
Overall
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