Happy Trails (of Tarnation) To You

February 23, 2011 3:48 PM

Nicholas Gurewitch, the insane genius behind the surreal webcomic The Perry Bible Fellowship, is now the co-creator of a new online live-action series, an Adult Swim-ish psychedelic-comedy Western: Trails of Tarnation. The first episode is up...NOW.

Previously on MeFi. Previouslier. Previousliest.

posted by Strange Interlude (36 comments total)

My expectations for the series are incredulously high and can in no way be met, but thank you for posting nonetheless.
posted by FissionChips at 3:56 PM on February 23, 2011 [4 favorites]

I don't even.........
posted by schmod at 3:56 PM on February 23, 2011

Oh, great. Something else to slow production of PBF.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 3:57 PM on February 23, 2011

Something else to slow production of PBF.

I was under the impression that PBF was on indefinite hiatus. Like Sleater-Kinney.
posted by mhum at 3:59 PM on February 23, 2011 [2 favorites]

If the Hindus are right I will get that 3 minutes back. Otherwise someone owes me!

I like camp. I like Westerns. I like low budget, crap production values. I like PBF.

I did not like this, but then there was only one episode. Bit hard to judge anything based on that.

I feel like this post is a bit premature.
posted by cjorgensen at 4:06 PM on February 23, 2011

Needs cream and sugar.
posted by tommasz at 4:13 PM on February 23, 2011

Wait...did someone just say "Weeaboo?"
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 4:17 PM on February 23, 2011 [25 favorites]

My kinda joe.
posted by Samizdata at 4:28 PM on February 23, 2011

Chris Elliot's Eagleheart and now this?

I'm so happy!
posted by wcfields at 4:35 PM on February 23, 2011

I'm decidedly pro-skub about this one.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 4:35 PM on February 23, 2011 [6 favorites]

Oh that is just freakin' brilliant.
posted by kafziel at 4:37 PM on February 23, 2011

Eh, just seemed like randomness for the sake of randomness.
posted by delmoi at 4:47 PM on February 23, 2011

I like the concept, but the story is really slight. This should've been about 45 seconds long. They're probably too in love with their aesthetic to hold it to that length though.
posted by gonna get a dog at 4:53 PM on February 23, 2011 [2 favorites]

No, Frank. Not now.
posted by benzenedream at 4:54 PM on February 23, 2011 [5 favorites]

God can take any form.
posted by maxwelton at 5:20 PM on February 23, 2011

Gurewitch has done a number of other videos, including a series of animated shorts for the BBC.

Also, a novel (though ultimately unsuccessful) attempt to solve the US national debt problem.
posted by Mr. Pokeylope at 5:23 PM on February 23, 2011 [4 favorites]

this guy wrote the best comic strip in the last 15+ years and quit to do this.

fuck.
posted by ambulance blues at 5:31 PM on February 23, 2011

I enjoyed it! I hate how young artists can get punished with high expectations.
posted by Sticherbeast at 5:41 PM on February 23, 2011

I kinda liked it! [PRO SKUB]
posted by katillathehun at 5:56 PM on February 23, 2011

Pretty great, thanks!
posted by Kwine at 6:10 PM on February 23, 2011

It was kind of like a long episode of Everything, which you should enjoy if you enjoyed this.
posted by ropeladder at 6:16 PM on February 23, 2011 [2 favorites]

Pretty okay. I kind of think that like "Look everything is normal NOW LOOK ITS CRAZY HAHA HAA OH MAN" thing has been completely beaten into the ground by DIY sketch groups and stuff like Tim & Eric (Who did a lot to subvert that trope). In that way it struck me as awfully derivative, but it's still better than SNL or something.
posted by GilloD at 6:34 PM on February 23, 2011

Wasn't that an X Files?
posted by PHINC at 6:42 PM on February 23, 2011

Greatness!
posted by worldli at 6:43 PM on February 23, 2011

This must have been some other Nicholas Gurewitch, and the OP must have simply mistaken the two.

That's it.

That HAS to be it.

Sob.
posted by felix at 6:59 PM on February 23, 2011

Huh...I was cracking up pretty hard at the end, and I appreciated the ridiculous build-up, and the twisted ending reminded me a lot of the more absurd, dark PBF strips. It seems too knowingly dark to be confused with something like Tim and Eric, which often seems absurd for absurdity's sake (which I like, but it's different).
posted by dubitable at 8:03 PM on February 23, 2011 [1 favorite]

he is insane!!!!!

{/}
posted by edgeways at 8:38 PM on February 23, 2011

I liked it...

/not skub-ist
posted by schyler523 at 8:40 PM on February 23, 2011

S E E D L E S S
posted by AaronRaphael at 9:34 PM on February 23, 2011

>It was kind of like a long episode of Everything, which you should enjoy if you enjoyed this.

I kinda liked that. It reminded me a bit of The Fine Art of Goofing Off, a collection of loosely connected, mostly animated clips about, well, goofing off.
posted by 2N2222 at 11:05 PM on February 23, 2011

Don't forget Truck Bearing Kibble, although that site seems broken now.
posted by jeffburdges at 2:52 AM on February 24, 2011

I love PBF but this is just terrible. Four panels would have handled this far better.
posted by tumid dahlia at 4:20 AM on February 24, 2011

Yes, there is a pretty serious issue with pacing, but it was all a setup for the final gag - mediocre comedy bits that end abruptly with mind numbing horror. As a short sketch, it's not bad at all. I don't think they can keep the cowboy thing going much further, tho.
posted by Slap*Happy at 4:57 AM on February 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

mediocre comedy bits that end abruptly with mind numbing horror

Yes! In that sense, it seems very much in the spirit of PBF. I think the pacing is genius... it lowers our expectations. Just when we're about to roll our eyes at the cowboy making a sour face because the coffee is too bitter (or something), EXISTENTIAL HORROR!
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 8:15 AM on February 24, 2011 [1 favorite]

Wasn't that an X Files?

I think it was 28 Days Later
posted by P.o.B. at 2:07 PM on February 25, 2011

Nay! It was X Files.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 5:10 PM on February 25, 2011