PALE FORCE - DVD review

The power of pallor has never been realized with such pathos as in "Pale Force."

The newest entry in the burgeoning field of super-hero parodies, "Pale Force" follows the adventures of Jim Gaffigan, better known as the muscle-bound super hero Pale Man, and his sidekick Conan O'Brien (voiced by Gaffigan), better known as, um, Weenie Boy or sometimes Wonder Girl or, most demeaningly, just as Conan. They blind their opponent with their paleness then finish them off by firing laser beams from their nipples.

Stand-up comedian Gaffigan kicked off the animated show as a segment on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" in 2005, and brought new shorts (usually 3-4 minutes each) with him in numerous appearances over the next three years. I assume that Gaffigan and O'Brien are good friends because, in addition to the "pale" theme, the show's primary shtick is its portrayal of Conan as a cowardly sissy who runs with limp wrists flapping, cries a lot and constantly urinates himself. His propensity for spontaneous micturation even saves the day sometimes, such as when his emissions short out a giant tanning bed they are about to be fried on by their deadly nemesis Lady Bronze played by Eartha Kitt (actually played by Gaffigan.)

Appropriating another super-hero trope, the heroes occasionally visit the Legion of Pale where they meet with other Pale council members including Larry Bird, Edgar Allen Poe, Nicole Kidman, The White Stripes, Elton John, Philip Seymour Hoffman (who plays a major role in one episode) and the State of Utah. The Legion is one of several instances in which the show constantly drops in celebrity pop culture references, an irritating trend manifested in its most extensive and least funny permutation in "Family Guy."

The most obvious point of comparison is the SNL-based parody "The Ambiguously Gay Duo" featuring Ace and Gary. The show's intentionally simplified animation by Paul Noth even bears a resemblance to the Robert Smigel creation. Like the "Duo," "Pale Force" works its primary joke time and again with slight variations in the formula. No matter what the story, however, Conan will be humiliated. He is repeatedly mistaken for a little girl. He is plunged into a deep coma after being struck lightly by a beach ball then rushed back into sidekick duty while still comatose. And, of course, he pees himself over and over and over again.

The segment was very popular on "The Late Show" but it wears thin when you watch the episodes back-to-back for the 76 minutes included on this disc. That's not a criticism of "Pale Force." It was designed to be watched in brief segments, and there are plenty of short comedy bits, animated or otherwise, that can't sustain an hour or more of consecutive viewing.

I suspect you have to be a fan of Conan O'Brien to appreciate the joke. Conan has gotten tremendous mileage out of self-deprecating humor, portraying himself as a pasty-faced nerd who somehow lucked his way into his high-paying gig. "Pale Force" amplifies that by a factor of about a hundred which makes room for the other joke: Gaffigan's portrayal of himself as a virile Hercules who is widely regarded as a great actor and an even greater lover.

It's a narrow formula but it's enough to carry the show in segments, as it was intended to be seen. It was nominated for a Broadband Daytime Emmy for its webisodes.

The disc includes all 21 episodes of "Pale Force" which includes both segments shown on "Late Night" and Web exclusive episodes. They run a total of 76 minutes.

VIDEO

The episodes are presented in a 1.78:1 ratio. The interlaced transfer is about average, more than adequate for these programs.

AUDIO

The episodes are presented in Dolby Digital 2.0. The audio design isn't exactly complicated here. Sometimes the music is mixed a bit too loudly in contrast with the dialogue – the music will be booming at a volume level where the dialogue just sounds normal. But otherwise it's fine.

EXTRAS

The disc includes all of Jim Gaffigan's appearances on "Late Night" during which he showed segments of "Pale Force." You get to watch the set-up as well as Conan's reaction to each of the segments. Gaffigan's first "Pale Force" appearance was on Sept 15, 2005, the last one (included on the disc) on Jan 28, 2008. Total running time of 77 minutes.

A Deleted Scene is really just a repeated scene from one of the episodes with a different sound track (33 seconds.)

The disc also offers three brief Rough Animations, condensed versions of a few episodes with rough sketch drawings of the characters (3 min. total.)

SERIES VALUE

"Pale Force" generates quite a few jokes from an extremely limited premise. If you're not a Conan O'Brien fan, you might not get it. And you might prefer to watch the segments a few at a time rather than rolling all 76 minutes at once because it really is the same joke repeated. I laughed. That's good enough for me.

Many, perhaps all (I'm not sure), of the episodes are available online. I found them at Hulu. But it's nice to have them all on a single disc and the Gaffigan appearances on "Late Night" are a nice bonus.