Series creator/voice actor Mike Judge has teamed up with co-writer Lew Morton and directors John Rice and Albert Calleros on this latest adventure, which uses a tried-and-true plot device that sees the central duo sentenced to “space camp” , in which they were selected for a mission that would inadvertently send them through a black hole from 1998 to 2022.
As always, if Butt-Head is an idiot, Beavis is somehow a rung or two below him on the evolutionary ladder, at one point prompting the former to sarcastically observe, “You really brought your ‘A’ game today. .” Their main attraction is that they’re still so happy and unabashedly stupid that it’s hard to resist, even when they come into contact with observer-like creatures that represent the best version of an alternate universe.
Just like the movie released 25 years ago, extending the TV fake episode of Pals to a nearly 90-minute frame represented a challenge, and the repetitive nature of the gimmick couldn’t help but produce diminishing returns. Still, “Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe” is usually creative enough to justify the return’s involvement, knowing that the judge’s creation is largely an artifact of the time, inclined to think it was in the It’s an inopportune time to push into the 2020s.
Still, “Do the Universe” captures the success of the show as the “B” games go. Sure, it’s another throwback aimed at squeezing value out of nostalgia, but executed with a relentless folly that, like its “star,” can never be accused of overthinking.
“Beavis and Butt-Head Do the Universe” will premiere on Paramount+ on June 23.