Hm-Ha-Huh!
I’ve never quite seen a cartoon character like Johnny Bravo. If you have experienced it first hand, it can be hard to explain. Imagine a buff young mama’s boy who is crazy about chicks and worries constantly about his hair and appearance, but in a funny way. At every turn he’s coming onto a chick but gets constantly rejected — but he’s blind to the rejection and his ego is never hurt. Admittedly, that doesn’t sound that interesting, but the animation and Johnny’s goofy, optimistic, dumb, and persistent personality all come together to make a character you will laugh at as much as with.
Season 1 ran for thirteen episodes, typical of a lot of cartoons. In my younger years, I was an avid watcher, but I lost track of the show somewhere after the second season. From what I can tell, it ran for five seasons, starting in ’97 and ending sometime in 2005. Anyway, the first season includes the following episodes:
Disc 1:
-Johnny Bravo / Jungle Boy In “Mr. Monkeyman” / Johnny Bravo and the Amazon Women
-Super Duped / Bungled In The Jungle / Bearly Enough Time!
-The Sensitive Male! / Bravo Dooby-Doo
-Date with an Antelope / Did You See a Bull Run by Here? / Cookie Crisis
-I Used to Be Funny / My Fair Dork / ‘Twas the Night
-Blarney Buddies / Over the Hump! / Johnny Bravo Meets Farrah Fawcett
-Blankey Hanky Panky / Talk to Me, Baby / Hip Hop Flop
-Beach Blanket Bravo / The Day the Earth Didn’t Move Around Very Much / The Aisle of Mixed-Up Toys
Disc 2:
-Substitute Teacher / A Wolf in Chick’s Clothing / Intensive Care
-Jumbo Johnny / The Perfect Gift / Bravo, James Bravo
-Going Batty / Berry the Butler / Red Faced in the White House
-The Man Who Cried “Clown” / Johnny Real Good / Talky Tabitha!
-Johnny Meets Adam West! / Under the Big Flop / Johnny Meets Donny Osmond
As you can see every episode was made up of multiple stories which rarely had anything to do with one another. Some recurring characters besides Johnny include his mother, or as he would say ‘mama,’ as well as a young girl that often sought help from Johnny. It’s funny when you think about it, but the expedient nature (many are just seven to eight minutes, not unlike old Looney Tune shorts) of each partial episode matched the speed of the animation. One of the most characteristic elements of the cartoon was Johnny’s lighting fast movements. Whether dancing, sneaking, or sweeping up a chick off of her feet, Johnny’s animations were always super fast. That speed, combined with his character, was what really made the show humorous for me.
The DVD Release
The two disc DVD set comes packaged in a standard case with a removable matching cover. The back label shows a list of the features and what episodes each disc contains. From a presentation perspective, the image and sound quality are on par for what you would expect out of a late 90s cartoon, so no complaints there. The menus on both discs are functional, nearly identical, and clean. Options include ‘Play All,’ ‘Episodes,’ ‘Special Features,’ and ‘Setup,’ which only allows you to toggle English subtitles. As for the extra features, you get:
Disc 1:
-Audio Commentary for the pilot episode, “Johnny Bravo / Jungle Boy In “Mr. Monkeyman” / Johnny Bravo and the Amazon Women” with show creator Van Partible, Jeff Bennett, John McIntyre, Butch Hartman, and Kara Vallow. Quite a few people here for a single commentary, but it works out well.
-Audio Commentary for episode “The Sensitive Male! / Bravo Dooby-Doo” with Van Partible, John McIntyre, Butch Hartman, and Kara Vallow.
-Temp Track for “The Sensitive Male!” – Seth MacFarlane’s (yep, the one of Family Guy fame) temp track for the songs used in this episode. Van Partible and Producer Kara Vallow introduce this piece, which is just a still image with Seth singing. It’s only about two and a half minutes and barely worth a watch.
Disc 2:
-Audio Commentary for episode “Johnny Meets Adam West! / Under the Big Flop / Johnny Meets Donny Osmond,” with Van Partible, Jeff Bennett, John McIntyre, Butch Hartman, Kara Vallow, and Mae Whitman. Once again, quite a few people offering up commentary for a single episode!
-Bringing Up Johnny Bravo – This twelve and a half minute feature explore the origins of Bravo. Van Partible, John McIntyre, Butch Hartman, and Jeff Bennett all contribute some memories in their interviews. Plenty of clips from episodes are shown too, along with some vintage art. This is a very entertaining feature.
-Johny Bravo Original Pencil Tests – Show Creator Van Partible introduces us to the original pencil tests for both the “Pilot” and “Johnny Bravo and the Amazon Women” shorts. This is an interesting feature that runs about fifteen minutes, offering an additional twenty seconds more than the aired episodes. The raw pencil tests are neat to see — there is no color, but there are voiceovers.
With that, let’s get to the summary…