Contact, is the answer, is the reason, that everything happens

December 3, 2004 10:02 AM

Look around you... The world is an hilarious place, and there's no better way to confirm that fact than by watching low-budget educational films. If your middle school experience was anything like mine, then you'll remember the intense rush of joy that you felt when you arrived at class to find a TV cart set up at the front of the room. Maybe some of you were excited about the chance to catch up on sleep or pass notes or whatever, but I watched those damn things with a passion, noting every flubbed line, analog-synth-driven soundtrack, and polyester-filled wardrobe like they were keys to a parallel universe.

Thanks to the Internet Archive's AV Geeks collection of films, I've recently rekindled my love affair with the genre and with last night's premiere of Look Around You on BBC America, I've been catapulted directly into geek/kitsch heaven! The series parodies 70s/80s science films and nails the look and tone of these series with such astonishing accuracy that it made my big, comfy couch feel like a cramped uncomfortable desk (with the chair attached). With this show, Coupling, and Trailer Park Boys, BBCA is fast on its way to becoming my favorite network! (Sorry Cartoon Network, it's nothing personal... =)
posted by idontlikewords (30 comments total)

For truly disturbing school movie goodness:

The Child Molester.
posted by Oriole Adams at 10:09 AM on December 3, 2004

then you'll remember the intense rush of joy that you felt when you arrived at class to find a TV cart set up at the front of the room.

TV cart hell. Film projector, film strips or slides(and this was in the 80's).
posted by MikeMc at 10:09 AM on December 3, 2004

Do schools still show film strips?
posted by DieHipsterDie at 10:19 AM on December 3, 2004

I used to live in Raleigh and worked with one of the guys that was in that creative cluster. Here's another related link for more bizarre weirdness: Wifflefist.
posted by thunder at 10:46 AM on December 3, 2004

Trailer Park Boys is broadcast in the USA via BBC America? Weird. If it ain't obvious from watching the show, it's Canadian.
posted by dobbs at 10:51 AM on December 3, 2004

The clip on the linked site is great. This looks like a pretty funny show.

Oh, and Trailer Park Boys rock. I just recently got into them. Saw bit of it all the time and it looked really lame to me, but when I actually sat down and watched a few episodes I realized how funny it is. Like a documentary on the stupidest people on earth.

I suppose I should also mention FUBAR, another Canadian mockumentary that is pretty freakin' hilarious. Deaner!
posted by Jupiter Jones at 10:57 AM on December 3, 2004 [1 favorite]

Jupiter: Hear, hear...I mean, fuckin' rights, man--if you grew up in Canada you know the characters in this movie intimately. Full of gems.

"Give'er!--well that's a plan right there eh?".
posted by Turtles all the way down at 11:02 AM on December 3, 2004

Oh my god, it's finally happened.

I've been praying for months and months for Look Around You to come out on this side of the Atlantic, and now it's finally happened. It is pure geek comedy.

Now I'll just keep my fingers crossed that the DVD will follow suit so I don't have to import it.
posted by Remy at 11:19 AM on December 3, 2004

I was clicking around and came across it last night--8 women shopping for 8 spiders and shoes for them, etc--hysterical!

And the cats fighting--stop fighting...now. stop writing...now.
posted by amberglow at 11:21 AM on December 3, 2004

"Turn down the suck! Turn up the good!"

With regards to the original topic: as someone who grew up on British educational television, I can say that Look Around You is spot on. The cheesy BBC B generated title scene is perfect.
posted by scruss at 11:27 AM on December 3, 2004

TV cart hell. Film projector, film strips or slides(and this was in the 80's).

I was always disappointed seeing a slide projector as opposed to the film projector, especially if it was a multiple reel film. Kids these days with their fancy TVs never got to experience the film leader countdown with the single frame of some lady's picture.
posted by phirleh at 11:30 AM on December 3, 2004

The problem with Trailer Park Boys on BBCA is that they cut out the swearing. Its no fun when its clean.
posted by AlexReynolds at 11:46 AM on December 3, 2004

Or as Ricky himself would say, "If I can't smoke or swear, I'm fucked."

Look Around You looks pretty hilarious, too. Anybody know if it's coming to Canadian TV? Or do I need to sit around, wishing a supernova-like torrent of bits would bring it to the comfort of my own computer?
posted by arto at 11:58 AM on December 3, 2004

Watched it last night; what a great show! I absolutely love BBS America. So, is "Garry Gum" (was it one R or two?) a reference to something real?
posted by icetaco at 12:21 PM on December 3, 2004

I fell in love with the theme song of Introducing Biology. If only I could find it again...

There's a bar here in Toronto which has a "Trailer Park Boys Hour". It's an odd experience to see all a bar's television sets switch from various sporting events to Trailer Park Boys, all at once.
posted by DrJohnEvans at 12:38 PM on December 3, 2004

BBCA is fast on its way to becoming my favorite network! (Sorry Cartoon Network, it's nothing personal... =)

You know if it weren't for venture bros and a slightly less frequent repeat rate, I would agree with you. The trouble is that it seems like those British shows have few eps per season, i.e. what not to wear, coupling, faking it, the office, waking the dead (a 2hr CSI-type show, yeah!) etc.
posted by milovoo at 12:47 PM on December 3, 2004

I just reviewed the most wonderful book about classroom filmstrips. It's called "Change Your Underweat Every Two Weeks," by Danny Gregory. Hilarious.
posted by GaelFC at 12:57 PM on December 3, 2004

Look Around You is great. I still haven't seen a few episodes (Germs! Come on, Germs!), but the "sulphagne" experiment alone made me wish being a chemist was that much fun.
posted by jenovus at 1:30 PM on December 3, 2004

And good lord, don't miss the next episode if you can help it.
posted by jenovus at 1:34 PM on December 3, 2004

Science class, late 50s, a 16mm film on frames of reference. A guy at the corner pocket of a pool table very slowly taps the cue ball, which drifts in a slow curve down past the other end of the table, then back towards him, and into the corner pocket to his left. No English on the ball. Another camera then show a wider shot, with the first camera mounted above the pool table on a large turntable. This time we see that the ball goes in a straight line, and the table slowly turns 180 degrees to line up the pocket with the ball. Changed my way of thinking forever. But many people still watch the sun set, and think of the country with the most prisoners as the bastion of freedom. There is a parallel universe, and which one you inhabit depends on your frame of reference. But is it just a matter of opinion?
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 1:44 PM on December 3, 2004

Good ol' AV Geeks. What would Sunday night be without going to his place and watching random educational films that he either got from Ebay or just pulled from his collection?

Do schools still show film strips?
posted by DieHipsterDie at 1:19 PM EST on December 3

I highly doubt it. I went up to some school system in central Pennsylvania with Skip about a year or so ago and they gave him all of their films and filmstrips. It was either give it away or off to the dump with it. I wonder how many other school systems have opted for the dump 'cause they don't know of people like Skip? On the plus side, no more strained backs. Those boxes of film weigh a metric shitload.

...film leader countdown with the single frame of some lady's picture.
posted by phirleh at 2:30 PM EST on December 3

Believe it or not, there's a term for those ladies you see in the film leader: China Girl. Or sometimes also called (something along the lines of) Slug Ladies, or some such weird thing.
posted by NoMich at 3:10 PM on December 3, 2004

Get the dvd. Then you can learn about Intelligent Calcium. Write that down.
posted by feelinglistless at 3:13 PM on December 3, 2004

Incidentally, the guy with the copybook in the opening titles section of each episode is wearing the uniform from my old school. It's an in-joke because writer Peter Serafinowicz (who you'll also have seen in Shaun of the Dead) went to SFX who were our arch rivals in everything.
posted by feelinglistless at 3:19 PM on December 3, 2004

The trouble is that it seems like those British shows have few eps per season

That's a problem? There are six episodes in each series, on average, now. But in a good programme, they're usually six damn good ones, with fewer forgettable ones.

Anyway, am I right in thinking that they've doubled the running length of Look Around You by adding ten minutes of commercials to a ten-minute programme? That's pretty shit. Buy the DVD.
posted by riviera at 3:30 PM on December 3, 2004

More clips from the Look Around You official site at bbc.co.uk site. Write that down.

Including snippets from Germ (they come from Germany), Music and Brains. Also listen to some of the electronic music from Look Around You. Or take the quiz.

DVD is also available.
posted by piskycritter at 3:37 PM on December 3, 2004

Buy the DVD.
posted by piskycritter at 3:39 PM on December 3, 2004

There's a new season in the works, and they asked the folks at B3TA to design crap computer games.

If, y'know, you want a sneak preview or somethin'.
posted by Katemonkey at 4:08 PM on December 3, 2004

Ha, another former Raleigh resident (1984-1998, fourth grade through college) and fellow AV Geeks fan here. Just sayin' hi.
posted by Vidiot at 4:42 PM on December 3, 2004

Oh, and if you like this stuff, check out Mental Hygiene by Ken Smith, a great book about old educational films.
posted by Vidiot at 4:46 PM on December 3, 2004

fantastic. now if only i could find a copy of demonstrations in physics with julius sumner miller. then my life would be complete.
posted by Igor XA at 4:12 PM on December 7, 2004