Beavis and Butthead was deemed to be the end of society as we knew it by many. Between MTV running these cartoons and Marilyn Manson videos, there was absolutely no hope left for humanity. However, Mike Judge soon found more “mainstream” success with the big screen comedy Office Space and then with the Fox animated series, King of the Hill.

Premiering in 1997, Judge used this animated vehicle to tell the story of Hank Hill (Mike Judge), a lifelong Texan who’s in the business of sellin… “propane … and propane accessories” to the masses. He and his wife Peggy (Kathy Najimy), a mentally “superior” substitute Spanish teacher and their pudgy son Bobby (Pamela Segall), a gawkish and odd pre-teen who’s anything but the athlete and high school star that his father was, live out their middle-American lives in Arlen, Texas and take us along for the ride. Along with their mentally inferior and live-in niece Luanne (Brittany Murphy), as well as lifelong friends Bill Dauterive (Stephen Root), a sad sack goof who hasn’t been the same since his wife left; Boomhauer (Mike Judge), a gibberish speaking ladies man whom the boys seem to understand just fine; and Dale Gribbel (Johnny Hardwick), a chain-smoking, bug exterminating, Government conspiracy theorist, we learn that no matter who you are and what your circumstances might be, that family and friends are really all you have in the end.

The first season really shows the series finding its stride and while the voice acting and animation aren’t are polished as they are today, King of the Hill managed to start out quite strong for a new series, on a major network, from a creator whose previous work included something as reviled as Beavis and Butthead. The show became an overnight success and remains popular to this day – a testament to the creative juices of creator Mike Judge and his right-hand man, Greg Daniels, as well as a network like Fox, who was willing to take a chance on another adult-themed animated series.

Episodes included in Fox’s first season set include “Pilot” (Original Air Date 1/12/97), “Square Peg” (Original Air Date 1/19/97), “The Order of the Straight Arrow” (Original Air Date 2/2/97), “Luanne’s Saga” (Original Air Date 2/16/97), “Hank’s Got The Willies” (Original Air Date 2/9/97), “Westie Side Story” (Original Air Date 3/2/97), “Hank’s Unmentionable Problem” (Original Air Date 2/23/97), “Shins of the Father” (Original Air Date 3/23/97), “Peggy the Boggle Champ” (Original Air Date 4/13/97), “Keeping Up With Our Joneses” (Original Air Date 4/27/97), “Plastic White Female” (Original Air Date 5/11/97), “The Company Man” (Original Air Date 12/7/97), and “King of the Ant Hill” (Original Air Date 5/4/97).

Audio

Fox has given King of the Hill its standard fare Dolby Surround mix that fits the material at hand like a glove. The show doesn’t feature much in the way of sonic activity and the track definitely reflects its humble, televised origins. The front soundstage shows nice dynamics and separation and everything from the quirky and down home score to the limited effects to the dialogue sound as you would expect them to. The main feature of the track, as well as the show, is definitely the dialogue and in Fox’s DVD set, it was always found in the front surrounds, without any harshness or problems related to intelligibility whatsoever.

Fox has also included a Dolby Surround track in Spanish and French for each episode, as well as English and Spanish subtitles.

Video

King of the Hill is presented in its televised aspect ratio of 1.33:1 and things have never looked better. While the show exhibited some rougher animation during its first season than what we see today, King of the Hill still looks great on Fox’s DVD. Colors are radiant and bold, with no smearing or oversaturation noted. Black levels are consistently strong and allow for excellent shadow detail and delineation. Contrast and saturation are dead-on, with little to no complaints to be levied against the transfer.

I did notice some shimmer and jaggies on occasion, but nothing that distracted from the series at all. King of the Hill doesn’t seem to exhibit many of the flaws that reviewers were complaining about on Fox’s Family Guy set and all things considered, the show looks as good, if not a slight bit better, on DVD than it does coming across my satellite signal. Another excellent job from the studio.

Special Features

Fox has really stacked the King of the Hill set with some outstanding extras that will make fans of the series very, very happy. Spread out over three discs, we get some really nice supplements to enhance this already wonderful set.

- Disc One-

There are some really great Audio Commentaries for the episodes “Pilot” (with co-creator Gregg Daniels) and “The Order of the Straight Arrow” (director Klay Hall), as well as some Deleted and Extended Scenes for the episodes “Pilot”, “Square Peg”, “The Order of the Straight Arrow”, “Luanne’s Saga”, and “Hank’s Got The Willies”. Since they didn’t make the show, many contain rough audio (no effects or score, dialogue only) or animatics to get their point across. The scenes were all worthy additions to the set and were in the same vein as the show itself. Thankfully, Fox has added a –PLAY ALL- feature for scenes, although in total, they run less than 5-minutes. Also included on Disc One is a great featurette entitled The Making of The King of the Hill that covers all aspects of the series including the origins of the show, how Mike Judge and Gregg Daniels hooked up, how the voices were cast, what characters were added to Judge’s original vision to make the show more “TV friendly”, the origins of Boomhauer’s voice (which is classic) and so on. If there’s a question about the show, you can more than likely find the answer here and ultimately, this is a great way to learn about the show and the creative minds (and voices) behind it.

- Disc Two-

Disc Two contains more great Audio Commentaries for episodes “Westie Side Story” (Dale Gribble and Bill Dauterive), “Hank’s Unmentionable Problem” (co-creator Gregg Daniels), and “Shins of the Father” (Peggy and Bobby Hill). (The in-character commentaries are great!) Also included are more Deleted and Extended Scenes for the episodes “Westie Side Story”, “Hank’s Unmentionable Problem”, “Shins of the Father”, and “Peggy the Boogie Champ”. Meet the Hills is an extra that takes us to a “mantle” full of pictures and by clicking on the individual character, we can learn more about Bobby, Hank, Peggy, Luanne, Cotton, Bill, Dale, and of course, Boomhauer. Information about the character includes some selectable and memorable moments from the first season (only available for Dale), as well as “First Drawings” (Judge’s first sketch or sketches of the character(s) in question), “Rough Sketches” (gallery of sketches – duh!), “Expressions” (more sketches showing how the characters facial expressions should be drawn). Finishing off the second disc are The Do’s and Don’ts of King of the Hill and here, we find 60 “do’s and don’ts” for the animators via some sketches that explain what should and shouldn’t happen when certain characters are performing certain actions in the show.

- Disc Three-

Much like Discs One and Two, we some Audio Commentaries for “Plastic White Female” (Peggy and Bobby Hill), “The Company Man” (director Klay Hall), and “King of the Ant Hill” (Dale Gribble and Bill Dauterive), as well as more Deleted and Extended Scenes for “Keeping Up With Our Joneses”, “The Company Man”, “The Company Man – Alternate Ending”, and “King of the Ant Hill”. There’s a Barenaked Ladies Music Video, as well as thirteen network Promos for the show.

There’s also an Easter Egg on Disc Three. Click on “Special Features” and then click –LEFT- on your DVD remote. When you click –ENTER-, Hank thanks all the people that were involved with Season One by letting us know that it takes “thousands of drawings for that beer to reach my mouth”. Then, on the right, a listing of names scrolls by that includes all the people who helped pitch in to make Season One – and King of the Hill - a reality.

Parting Thoughts

What is there to say about Fox’s consistently impressive DVD releases of their television series? These guys set the standard years ago and have consistently shown why they’re “king of the hill” (pun intended) when it comes to boxed sets like the one reviewed here. If you’re a fan of the show, or animated shows like The Simpsons or South Park, you absolutely need to pick this one up when it streets on July 1st. Highly recommended.

Special Features List

• Audio Commentaries
• Deleted and Extended Scenes
• TV Promos
• “Making Of” Featurette
• Meet The Hills
• Music Video