Cartoon Network Hall of Fame: Johnny Bravo: Season One takes all original 13 episodes from Johnny's standalone series, and puts them all together like never before. Here you will get to see the macho man take on Amazon women, vampires, Jungle Boy, various random women, Mother's Day and even the Scooby Gang.
That's right, Scooby, Shaggy, Velma, Daphne and Fred make a special appearance in one of the episodes as Johnny joins them on their latest mystery. Mind you, I'm not saying that these are cheap knock-offs or thinly veiled characters made to look like the mystery-seekers. It's the same characters, artwork and, I believe, most of the same voices. This episode is as much of a gag on Johnny as it is the Scooby Gang since many references are made to familiarities only suspected in the actual cartoon, especially those between Fred and Daphne. One of my favorite episodes though is the one that plays off of the classic Schoolhouse Rock shorts. This short, "The Sensitive Male," has Johnny taking lessons in the form of song as he is taught everything from how to be nice to ladies, observation, manners and various ways to get a woman to give her number up. Funnily enough, both this short and the Scooby one are in the same episode, making it one of the best segments of the entire collection.
Johnny's frequent attempts to get the ladies include a couple of blind dates. One blind date has him going out with an antelope who is a bit self-conscious about not being human. In a similar episode, Johnny ends up going out with a "hot momma" who turns out to be a werewolf. With the promise of her turning back human by the end of the night though, he sticks it out and takes her out on the town. Too bad no one around the couple want to stick around when they realize the lady's true nature.
Another great nod includes the episode "Beach Blanket Bravo" where a sea-side trip leads to trouble when Johnny starts going out with a girl named Franny. What he doesn't realize is that it's all to make her real boyfriend, Andy, jealous, and in order to survive the experience, he must take part in "The King of the Beach Competition."
The season wraps up with a great episode that includes three shorts. In "Johnny Bravo Meets Adam West," our hero realizes his momma is late from shopping and contracts TV superhero Adam West to help find her. In a series of classic Batman references, the duo run around town looking for clues to Momma Bravo's location. This is followed up by "Johnny Bravo Meets Donny Osmond" where the musical star is asked to babysit Johnny, and no matter what Johnny does, he can't seem to escape the super-happy character. The last clip of the season has Johnny and Suzy (his sister) going to the circus only to find that the ring master has put Jungle Boy (a recurring character) in a trance. Now the pair must break Jungle Boy free and save the day ... provided Johnny doesn't also fall under the vixen ring master's control.
This two disc boxed set also comes with a nice selection of special features. One of my favorite is the original Seth MacFarlane temp track for "The Sensitive Male" song. Cartoon Network Hall of Fame: Johnny Bravo: Season One also comes with commentary and pencil tests for several episodes, but the biggest special feature is "Bringing Up Johnny Bravo." In this retrospective, you get to hear from the original creator and the many people who made Johnny Bravo what it is as they talk about their experiences creating the show.
Johnny Bravo is an iconic character that has to be enjoyed by all. While he is a male chauvinistic pig, he always gets exactly what is coming to him, usually because of his over-cocky nature. This is a lot of the fun of the series and having the show present these 13 episodes as a series of shorter animations really makes the comedy rapid-fire and non-stop. Johny Bravo is a series that should be enjoyed by all, especially younger kids who didn't get a chance to see the show from the beginning over a decade ago.
