Good socio-political satire is hard to get right. Making it legitimately funny is harder still. You'd think that adding grotesquely caricatured rubber puppets would make it easier.
There's no point in downplaying the fact that the original Spitting Image was a cultural milestone. A satire show so witty, so deranged, so acid, that it actually held some sway over the nation's future. Some speculate that the show's occasionally sympathetic portrayal of Margaret Thatcher lent her some pity when public opinion of her was seriously declining. The puppets, the impressions and humour all coalesced brilliantly, giving us some iconic jokes at the expense of the powerful, from Neil Kinnock's blithering incompetence to Ronald Reagan's senile absent-mindedness.
Spitting Image' (2020) is, aptly, less than a globule of spit in the saliva gland of the original long-running series. It's really rather bad. The satire is safe, crude, paper-thin and toothless. "Haha, Do Nal D tRuMp's aN arSehOlE, haha, B OrisJo H Ns On's a mOrOn, HAHA, Do M In Ic cuMmInGs iS An aLiEn, HA" is about the level of depth to expect from this iteration. For the longest time, this current political climate has felt ripe for an eagerly awaited return from the deranged puppeteers... perhaps too ripe, in hindsight. The modern world is so brazenly insane that parodying it feels too easy and hollow. Many have done it before (to death, some might say) and have done it far better. Part of the original series' appeal was that there wasn't really anything quite like it. Recreating the old style doesn't feel nearly as innovative or authentic.
There are some redeeming elements that may elicit some sniffles. Boris Johnson is the prime target of this series for a reason and his puppet self naturally lends some levity as the Face of the Band, similar to Maggie Thatch before him. But for every Boris Johnson, there's a Dominic Cummings, easily the least impressive caricature in the cast. There could've been some great commentary to be made at his expense in lieu of seeing Puppet!Cummings constantly allude to being a baby-eating creature from Epsilon V or whatever. It's just not funny.
Above all, the reboot lacks energy. The original show was constantly off-the-wall, assaulting your senses with loads of puppets clamouring for the screen. Thatcher's cabinet and Kinnock's club of conspirators both feel alive in the original. Boris's is just a dead room.
Also, is it me, or is the audio quality really inconsistent? Most of the impressionists don't sound like they were recorded in the same country, let alone the same studio. Stay away.
Series The 2020 Reboot: Appallingly unfunny
Good socio-political satire is hard to get right. Making it legitimately funny is harder still. You'd think that adding grotesquely caricatured rubber puppets would make it easier.
There's no point in downplaying the fact that the original Spitting Image was a cultural milestone. A satire show so witty, so deranged, so acid, that it actually held some sway over the nation's future. Some speculate that the show's occasionally sympathetic portrayal of Margaret Thatcher lent her some pity when public opinion of her was seriously declining. The puppets, the impressions and humour all coalesced brilliantly, giving us some iconic jokes at the expense of the powerful, from Neil Kinnock's blithering incompetence to Ronald Reagan's senile absent-mindedness.
Spitting Image' (2020) is, aptly, less than a globule of spit in the saliva gland of the original long-running series. It's really rather bad. The satire is safe, crude, paper-thin and toothless. "Haha, Do Nal D tRuMp's aN arSehOlE, haha, B Oris Jo H Ns On's a mOrOn, HAHA, Do M In Ic cuMmInGs iS An aLiEn, HA" is about the level of depth to expect from this iteration. For the longest time, this current political climate has felt ripe for an eagerly awaited return from the deranged puppeteers... perhaps too ripe, in hindsight. The modern world is so brazenly insane that parodying it feels too easy and hollow. Many have done it before (to death, some might say) and have done it far better. Part of the original series' appeal was that there wasn't really anything quite like it. Recreating the old style doesn't feel nearly as innovative or authentic.
There are some redeeming elements that may elicit some sniffles. Boris Johnson is the prime target of this series for a reason and his puppet self naturally lends some levity as the Face of the Band, similar to Maggie Thatch before him. But for every Boris Johnson, there's a Dominic Cummings, easily the least impressive caricature in the cast. There could've been some great commentary to be made at his expense in lieu of seeing Puppet!Cummings constantly allude to being a baby-eating creature from Epsilon V or whatever. It's just not funny.
Above all, the reboot lacks energy. The original show was constantly off-the-wall, assaulting your senses with loads of puppets clamouring for the screen. Thatcher's cabinet and Kinnock's club of conspirators both feel alive in the original. Boris's is just a dead room.
Also, is it me, or is the audio quality really inconsistent? Most of the impressionists don't sound like they were recorded in the same country, let alone the same studio. Stay away.