On this date in 1993 Beavis and Butthead premièred on MTV as a series. 10 things you might not know about them:
Beavis and Butthead were created by Mike Judge, a physics graduate who’d taught himself to make short animated films. The characters first appeared in one of these, Frog Baseball. Judge pitched his ideas to MTV, which aired Frog Baseball on its animation showcase Liquid Television.
They live in a town called Highland, Texas and attend Highland High School, which Judge loosely based on the school he went to, Highland High School in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Judge named his characters after kids he knew growing up. Bobby Beavis was “kind of an athletic kid” that lived nearby, but, Judge says, was nothing like his animated namesake. There was also a 12-year-old who called himself “Iron Butt” because he claimed a kick in the bum never hurt him. He had a friend that Judge and his friends dubbed “Butt-head.”
Beavis and Butthead are meant to be stupid. In fact, a line was once cut from the show because it made Beavis sound too clever. It was Beavis telling his classmates that they had “Beavis envy” because he’d received a school pass. After the credits in the original series finale, the following message appears: "Thank you to all the talented artists, writers and highly intelligent people who worked so hard to make Beavis and Butt-head look so dumb." All that said, Judge admits that the dialogue that makes up the music critiques is generally smarter than one would expect from characters that stupid.
The pair are assumed to be watching TV and hanging out at Butthead’s house. Judge admitted during an interview that he “always imagined” that to be the case.
MTV had to halt production just a couple of weeks into the first series – not because the show was controversial, but because Mike Judge and his team had run out of ideas.
That’s not to say there never was any controversy. In October 1993, the show was blamed for a five year old boy who set fire to his home, killing his sister, aged two. Their mother blamed Beavis’s love of Fire and arson had caused the tragedy. She said her son was influenced by them saying "fire was fun". MTV quickly moved the show to a later time slot and edited out all references to fire. However, neighbours claimed that the 5 year old couldn’t possibly have seen the show as the family didn’t have cable TV. The show was banned in prisons in Oklahoma.
Simpsons creator Matt Groening was a fan of Beavis and Butt-head. He claimed he liked the show because it took “the heat off Bart Simpson being responsible for the downfall of western civilization.”
The logo for Burger World, the fast food establishment at which Beavis and Butt-Head work, is the McDonalds "golden arch" logo upside down.
The series has spawned two films, Beavis and Butt-Head Do America and Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe, several books, a video game, a spin off series based on classmate Daria Morgendorffer and a revival of the original for the 21st century in which the pair watch Tik Tok videos.
Beta
(Combat Team Series #2)
Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?
Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.
Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream.
Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.
Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.
Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.
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