Creators
Will McRobb
Chris Viscardi
The Cast
Michael C. Maronna……….Big Pete Wrigley (as Mike Maronna)
Danny Tamberelli……….Little Pete Wrigley
Hardy Rawls……….Don Wrigley
Judy Grafe……….Joyce Wrigley
Alison Fanelli……….Ellen Josephine Hickle
Toby Huss……….Artie (1993)
Michelle Trachtenberg……….Nona Mecklenberg (1994-1996)
Iggy Pop……….James Mecklenberg (1994-1996)
Maris Hudson……….Monica
Rick Gomez……….Endless Mike Hellstrom
The Season
“The Adventures of Pete and Pete” was an incredibly quirky show the came out as a series of shorts aired during the commercial breaks on Nickelodeon. Eventually Pete and Pete was made into a full series that ran for several genius seasons. The second season is a true year of transition for the show featuring some of the best episodes of the entire run.
The gist of “The Adventures of Pete and Pete” is that Pete and Pete are two brothers living in Wellsville dealing with the troubles and oddities of life. Each week they have a different adventure dealing from things as simple as playing baseball or skipping school to much more complicated adventures such as answering a phone that has been ringing for over twenty years. Quirky really is the best way to describe an entire episode devoted to the intense brain freeze caused by the Orange Lazarus.
The best part of “The Adventures of Pete and Pete” has to be the characters. Artie, the Strongest Man in the World, is a truly classic character. Artie has super powers besides being the strongest man in the world. One of the unstated powers is Artie’s ability to have an incredibly visible erection in practically every episode. He has probably his best role in the entire series in the special two-parter, “Farwell My Little Viking”. Despite the fact that Artie leaves midway through the season, he is replaced by a pretty entertaining character in Nona Mecklenberg. Nona gives Little Pete someone his own age to play as a foil. While no one can replace Artie, Nona does a pretty decent job of filling the void he leaves.
The show is kept flowing by Big Pete’s great narration. The complete lack of curse words used in his narration is melded with a monotone charm. The show suffers only when there isn’t a decent plot or subplot to keep Little Pete occupied. The narration is only weak when Pete is talking about himself, which in this season is very rare.
As for the adventures themselves, they are some of the most classic from not only the entire show, but also from the entire history of children’s television. Besides “Farwell My Little Viking”, other classic episodes like “Sick Day”, “Halloweenie”, and “X=Why?” are included in this season. With very few exceptions, if you remember any specific Pete and Pete episode, it’ll probably be in this set.
“The Adventures of Pete and Pete” is without a question one of the best shows on television. This season is the strongest of all of the seasons. A completely lovable cast of characters, including Petunia, and some of the strangest plots ever put down to paper. This is the king of quirky children’s show that most people will either love without question or at very least enjoy practically every episode. This is one of the greatest television shows ever created and is well worth a watch.
Score: 10 out of 10
The Video
Shot in 1994, the video looks pretty great for its time. It’s also in a full frame perspective. There are very little video errors in the transfer. The colors are bright and sharp and it looks just like I remember it. This is a strong looking release.
The Audio
Presented in 2.0 stereo, the second season of “Adventures of Pete and Pete” offers a pretty strong sounding mix. The audio comes in clear and crisp. It’s a nice little mix.
The Extras
Surprisingly, this DVD set offers a few great extras.
Pete & Pete Special: “Space, Geeks, and Johnny Unitas”: There is an extra episode included where Ellen tries to discover whether or not there are aliens living on the Earth. Her search will either result in making the greatest discovery in the history of mankind or a summer spent in school. This is another fantastic episode.
Pete & Pete Shorts: The second season of Pete and Pete offers five of the original shorts that spawned the fantastic show. These are fun little things that really give the gist of Pete & Pete.
Multiple Audio Commentaries: There are commentaries on “Halloweenie”, “Yellow Fever”, and both parts of “Farwell My Little Viking”. The best of these come with “Farwell My Little Viking” as the commentary features Toby Huss who is completely hilarious. Gems like “We had half the budget of an episode of Blue’s Clues” are matched with incredibly informative information about the show. It is pretty great.
There are also trailers for the Spongebob movie, Mad Hot Ballroom, and a few others. Overall this is a nice little collection of extras. It would be nice if there was commentary on every episode, but there isn’t. Still, it’s a lot better then nothing.
Score: 7 out of 10
