Drawn Together - The Complete Series DVD Review

Posted by Jonathan Solomon on 11.18.2009

Drawn Together gets a full DVD release and love it or hate it, you're bound to laugh at at least one racist, homosexual, mentally challenged, or just plain disgusting joke.




Regular Characters

Princess Clara - Tara Strong
Foxxy Love - Cree Summer
Wooldoor Jebediah Sockbat - James Arnold Taylor
Ling-Ling - Abbey McBride
Toot Braunstein - Tara Strong
Xandir P. Wifflebottom - Jack Plotnick
Spanky Ham - Adam Carolla
Captain Leslie Hero - Jess Harnell

Created by Dave Jeser and Matt Silverstein

Amazon Price: $37.99



Drawn Together premiered on Comedy Central in the fall of 2004 in the killer time slot following South Park. The show ended after its third season in 2007 due to cancellation and was recently given a fresh DVD release including all seasons and tons of extras.

The show is an animated parody based around rip-offs of different characters living in a reality TV house. They moved away a bit from the reality TV background for the show, figuring it limited them and they took the show to various locations in season's two and three.

The characters include Princess Clara (a parody of Disney princesses), Foxxy Love (a take on Josie and the Pussycats), Xandir (a parody of video game RPG characters), Captain Hero (a super hero parody), Spanky Ham (a parody of internet characters), Ling-Ling (a parody of Pokemon), Toot (a 1920s parody of Betty Boop) and Wooldoor (a parody of Spongebob).

The series has a fun premise but the overabundance of jokes for the sake of jokes take away from the show as you go through each season. Each of the 36 episodes is just over twenty minutes and there is rarely a down moment to think about anything as they work to get in as many jokes as possible. This is not a classic by any means, although I doubt the writers and voice actors would claim otherwise. Taken seriously, you probably would get through a couple of episodes before tossing the discs to the side and never watching again. Watch the show with an empty mind and you are bound to laugh at the preposterous nature of each character.

For example, Princess Clara is daddy's little girl and brings her racist and heavy religious views into the house, along with a great singing voice. Foxxy Love is from the ghetto, is a musician who likes solving mysteries and tends to be promiscuous. Toot is a sex symbol from the 1920s who easily gets depressed when she doesn't receive much attention. Spanky is a (literal) pig with as nasty a humor as any other character and enjoys letting loose whether it's sex or bodily fluids. Xandir is an emotional homosexual RPG character, on a quest to save his girlfriend/boyfriend. Ling-Ling is a Japanese character we can only understand through subtitles (because it doesn't speak an understandable language) and tries to fight. Captain Hero is a male chauvinist pig and is not too bright like your average superheroes.

These are 36 episodes based around the same humor. If you dislike the first season, you will probably hate the second and third seasons. The characters do not grow much, if at all and in that regard, it feels like the show is stuck in neutral. If you love such ballsy humor, then this is the set for you. The series is all about placing these characters in ridiculous circumstances and throwing in adult humor.

Funny storylines in season two include Ling-Ling taping his eyes to look American so he can get a drivers license, Captain Hero getting disciplined by Super Nanny, an Indian Casino opens next door which results in chaos for Foxxy and Hero and the cast start a suicide hot line.

Season three episodes include Ling-Ling getting involved in cockfighting to bribe Mexican police, Captain Hero's "special" son (mothered by his sister) attacks the city, the cast is shown as babies (Muppets), and the finale in which they learn they are canceled.


Score: 7/10, Chances are if you are thinking about buying this, then you are already a fan of the show. If you have an adult sense of humor in the sense you like dick and fart jokes taken over the top mixed in with racist, gay and sex jokes, you should enjoy this show. This isn't rocket science, and it can be fun but when it misses, it misses big.


Some Fun Episodes

Season 1 - Episode 1 - Hot Tub
The characters meet for the first time and Foxxy teaches Clara about racism.



This scene includes "Black Chick's Tongue," a song sung by Princess Clara


Season 2 - Episode 12 - The Lemon-Aids Walk
Captain Hero's secret is revealed, he sucks at playing sports games. He decides to try and win an aids walk and uses steroids to help him. Meanwhile, Wooldor is talked into stealing $2 worth of candy by Spanky and a Shawshank Redemption parody briefly takes hold after he is freed from mall jail.


Kids, this is what happens when you use the juice


Season 3 - Episode 1 - Greeks & Freaks
When a Greek family movies in next door, Captain Hero rushes to create a fraternity to compete.





Season 3 - Episode 3 - Spelling Applebee's
Foxxy Love competes in spelling bees and runs into the Peanuts Gang.





Audio/Video

Both the audio and video transfers appear to be done quite well. I have read that they had to replace a few of the tracks they used on the show due to rights fees but it does not take away from the overall work. The sound is Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo for each season.

The full-screen video aspect ratio is 1.33:1 and is almost always crisp and clear as far as quality. The colors are vibrant and are probably better than how they appeared while the show aired on Comedy Central. There are only brief moments on few occasions when parts of the picture dropped their clarity.

You should not worry about either function of the release in this regard.

Score: 8/10


Special Features

One of the selling points of the original discs was the fact they were uncensored. These discs are still uncensored so you get your share of animated nudity as well as plenty of f-bombs. Also, there are brief additions of footage that were not part of the episodes as their aired on television. It's been so long that I'm not sure which footage is added but sometimes the audio commentaries point it out.

The release is chalk full of extras on each disc and in physical form. It should be mentioned that the discs are the same as has been released years ago. So, if you already own two or all of the seasons, you probably are not going to go out and buy the complete series. Each season contains several audio commentaries.

Season one has about five minutes of deleted scenes. All of the "Previously on Drawn Together" spots run together. There is a karaoke/sing-a-long mode for five songs (songs include 'Black Chicks Tongue', 'Ling-Ling Lament', 'Bully Song', 'Ling-Ling Battle Song', and 'La La Labia.' Finally, there is a game where you pick whether certain statements from the characters are censored or uncensored. It gets old quickly.

Season two extras include Karaoke sing-along, an audio commentary based on another audio commentary, behind the scenes interviews with all of the voice actors except Adam Carolla and routine audio commentaries.

Season three extras include even more Karaoke sing-along, a collection of old promos from Comedy Central and the audio commentaries. You can check out the trailer to the Drawn Together Movie here, scheduled for DVD release in April 2010.


The major special feature of this release is the packaging. It comes with the tagline, "Party In Your Box." Along with the three seasons (six DVDs), you also receive a neat little board game. The board game unfolds and contains two different sides with separate layouts. It comes with fold outs of each of the characters and a die that you also have to fold to create it. The point of the game is to answer the 300+ trivia questions based on the show and answer enough correctly that you can move your piece to the "Jew Producer's Mansion," and win. Obviously this is made for a gathering of friends. I doubt you will play it too often (does anyone hang out and watch DRAWN TOGETHER that much?) but for a time or two, it seems like a fun thing to do.


Score: 6/10 - It would have been sweet to have some more background features and specifically some geared towards creative. There are plenty of audio commentaries so for those of you who love them, you should get your fill here. The other features, namely the Karaoke Sing-Along is a one trick pony. I found the most entertainment out of the interviews with the voice actors on the season two discs, however they are brief.

The 411: The biggest problem with this complete series DVD release is there are no real extra features added on to warrant a purchase for those of you who already own some combination of the three seasons. The board game is a gimmick for any die-hard fans. The show itself is a like it or hate it kind of show. There's no changing your mind and for those of you who have never seen it before, I would recommend renting a DVD or checking out a few episodes before plunking down nearly forty dollars on the whole release. If you are a fan of the show and like collectibles, you should already own this.

Final Score:  6.5   [ Average ]