Leave This One Unplugged
Written: Nov 07 '05 (Updated Nov 21 '05)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Lots of Pictures. Didn't cost much. Features Mr. Potato Head
Cons: Redundant themes. Lacks freshness. Weak humor. Cartoons in black and white.
The Bottom Line: Shouldn't be found in your arms because it's not humerus.
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| nagels's Full Review: Mr. Potato Head Unplugged Books |
Ever so seldom emerges a book so riveting, so powerful, so magical that those fortunate enough to read it are touched forever by its magnitude, their lives transformed, warmed, inspired. Some special books possess such greatness, are so etched into the reader’s consciousness and subconscious that he or she is motivated to make a life altering transformation.
Mr. Potato Head Unplugged, an inflated collection of Potato Head comic strips by Jim Davis and Brett Koth is sadly not one of those books. If anything, this mundane, repetitious, unimaginative and barely amusing book is very forgettable. I’ve “read” some cartoon collections like Far Side and Unspeakable Acts that are so laugh-out-loud insanely funny, a reader devours the book in a single sitting, returns to it and has an unquenchable urge to share the best pages with others.
Mr. Potato Head Unplugged, is for me, a read it and forget it type of book, one that can be easily lost on a book shelf, found years later under a thick layer of dust or resold quickly on Ebay. In essence, as a humor book this one is small potatoes.
Mr. Potato Head Unplugged is the first collection of cartoon strips by Garfield cartoonist Jim Davis and his collaborator, Brett Koth. Most of the strips in this book are three panels, some are six. The authors present Mr. Potato Head living with his wife and two young taters, 13-year-old Julienne and 10-year-old Chip. The four spuds deal with such familiar issues as sibling rivalry, sibling teasing, office issues, family chores, stereotypical gender roles, thermostat wars, homework, teens and phones, boyfriends, dating, and parenting issues. There are also some strips dealing with the juvenile crudeness of deriving pleasure from burping, a theme aimed at those with a simplistic immaturity.
Astoundingly I found these mildly amusing myself.
Despite the recurrent juvenile themes, this is not a book for children. It’s too lengthy to hold their interest, and the vocabulary might be too challenging. Here’s a sampling of some: irony, intensive, palatable, palate, naturalists, prehensile, massive, vile, indigent, Cyclops, poinsettias, avid, octuple, scourge, larynx and others. Also jokes about the workplace, husband/wife issues, and parenting might not appeal to them. In one strip there’s a reference to Johnny Mathis. Does anyone under 30 recognize that name?
There are strips showing Mr. Potato Head in his role as vice-president at a toy company with very little to do other than occasionally evaluating prototypes like a silly stick toy. He is mostly ignored and disrespected by his secretary, a very original concept. Mrs. Potato Head is an advice columnist with her own gardening column. Her job situation is a vehicle for the authors to exhaust all of their vegetable puns. Of course with Potato Head people there are many jokes about the portability of their body parts, parts removed, lost or deliberately misplaced for comic effect. Some of these work, but mostly this is a redundant theme throughout the book that quickly loses its appeal. With so many variations of the same themes repeated, it’s difficult for the authors to dig up fresh ideas. Reminds me of seeing the same people and situations at work every morning, a classic case of day job view.
Many of the strips are grouped by themes in parts of the book. Themes such as school, snow shoveling, Xmas, office situations, weeds, golf, barbecuing are mined down to bare rock by the authors. At times this grouping gives the book some continuity and flow. At others it becomes boring and monotonous, like hearing the same joke repeated.
The authors poke fun of Mr. Potato Head’s ineptness with the computer. He misunderstands the save and escape keys and becomes a wimpy coward when his secretary refers to the computer’s mouse.
THE GOOD PARTS
No, not that kind of “good” parts. Unplugged is not a totally barren potato field. Some individual panels and puns are mildly amusing, even warranting a second look, maybe even a share or two. In one panel Mr. Potato Head tells Chip a scary story about a serial peeler. On another page Potato Head speaks to a German helmet character named Helmut. There are some 50th anniversary references that are mildly amusing as is a panel about Potato Head having a “root” canal. Occasionally there’s an almost clever pun such as Mr. Potato Head telling about sneezing up coins put there by a bully, Spuddy Duddy. Mrs. Potato Head sweetly tells hubby that change is good. There is also mention of being stalked by a celery and reference to a leaning snowman named Eileen.
LAST THOUGHTS
On the whole Mr. Potato Head Unplugged disappointed me. Maybe it was because Mr. Potato Head wasn’t drawn in his classic form or maybe it’s because I’m not a big fan of the dry, Garfield type humor reincarnated here. In small daily doses I suppose these comic strips could be mildly amusing but 128 pages of them is just too much. It is with much pain and regret that I write these negative words about a book featuring my idol. I really wanted to like this book but couldn’t, either objectively or subjectively. A Garfield fan, on the other hand, might enjoy Unplugged immensely.
Like Mr. Potato Head, keep an eye out for Mr. Potato Head Unplugged in an Ebay auction near you. I just have a feeling a copy will be available there soon.
Mr. Potato Head Unplugged
Andrews McMeel Publishing 2002
ISBN 0-7407-2667-6
Other Potato Head reviews:
Mr. Potato Head Anniversary Book
Mr. Potato Head Keychain
Darth Tater
Mr. Potato Head’s Big Night Out
Remote Control Mr. Potato Head
Classic Mr. Potato Head
Recommended:
No
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