For anyone who isn't old enough to remember Schoolhouse Rock! when it originally aired on ABC, it is a series of short cartoons that taught basic skills, mostly basic verbal and math skills, by setting them to a catchy tune. While the series is known for a number of well-known shorts, The Election Collection plays home to one of the series' most famous, and parodied shorts, "I'm Just a Bill". The short depicts a sad bill who, when consoled by a little boy, describes (in song) how a bill becomes a law.
Not only is "I'm Just a Bill" one of the series' shining moments, it is probably the DVD's as well. The other segments are mostly lesser-known songs like "Walkin' on Wall Street", "Tyrannosaurus Debt" and "Three-Ring Government". Even the mid-card segments are informative and worth checking out if you need a bit of a civics lesson, especially since most are still incredibly relevant looking at the headline-making events going on as I type this. Considering a few of these segments pre-date me, they either show how stagnant our government is or that maybe there's something to this whole, "history repeats itself" theory. A few, like "Energy Blues" even cross over into science, so it isn't all politics.
The only extra on the disc is a new, never-before-scene "Presidential Minute", a brand-new segment that details the election process. This dovetails into the other extra, a map of the United States that shows the number of Electoral Votes for each state. A set of fifty blue and red dots is included with the map so you can follow along on election night... or at least make your own projections based on unscientific exit polls. It isn't CNN's awesome "Magic Board", but it works.
Schoolhouse Rock!: The Election Collection isn't a traditional DVD release, but it is still entertaining and, if your average talk radio caller is any indication, something several Americans could benefit from.
