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The CGI animated series
Game Over is built around an inventive premise--how do video game characters live when they're not in the middle of the action? Viewers that missed its original broadcasts during its 2004 network run can now enjoy the entire series in this double-disc set.
Game Over invites you into the hectic lives of the Smashenburn family: accident-prone racecar driver dad Rip (Patrick Warburton, Puddy from
Seinfeld); wife and secret agent Raquel (Lucy Liu, who replaced Marisa Tomei), feisty daughter Alice (
Saturday Night Live's Rachel Dratch), and youngest son Billy (E.G. Daily from
Rugrats), who suffers under his unrequited crush for an exchange student (who, being from Japan, is an anime character, natch). The five episodes find the family adopting a monstrous, cigar-smoking pet (voiced by comic Artie Lange, who first appears in "Meet the Smashenburns"), experiencing popularity at school ("Basic Win-Stincts"), and attempting to bond ("Into the Woods"), each with disastrous results. It's amusing stuff, especially if you're a fan of other brash, pop culture-driven programs like
Family Guy, and video game fans will get a kick from seeing characters from several popular games pop up in cameos throughout the series.
The Complete Collection offers a surprisingly solid sampling of extras for a largely unknown series; chief among these is the sixth episode, "Monkey Dearest," which went unaired in America. A trivia game, character bios, and short featurettes on production round out the supplemental features. --Paul Gaita
