'The past and the future coming together, to make something not quite as good as either of them ...'
Although it's been online through the corporation's website for the last week, last night the Mighty Boosh Three had its first televisual outing.
New rave, eels, guns, peppermints, trinkets, second hand objects d'art, it had it all. Well, it had those things. And its passionate and widely-spread fanbase will have been most pleased.
Did you see it? Did you love it? Or did you hate it? No, you see, just 'thinking it was all right' isn't an option. Because whenever you see anything written about the Mighty Boosh, it always seems to begin with 'It's a love it or hate it comedy ...' or 'You never know what to expect, but you know that it's a case of 'love and hate' with The Mighty Boosh ...' or 'Call it genius or call it extremely irritating, it's immensely popular' ...
It's just one of those shows that no one in mainstream media ever wants to take a stand on, so they point out that some people love it, and some people hate it.
But there is some middle ground, and I feel it's an unrepresented I want to make my voice heard. I'm not scared to put my head on the line and say: "The Mighty Boosh: I neither love nor hate it. I think it's quite good. It's all right, but, you know..." I might form a society for those who feel excluded by the media and their widespread generalisations on the matter. I will call it the MB:INLNHI.ITIQG.IAR,B,YK club. No, that's rubbish. That will obviously be it's official name, but we will call it the Meh... Society (to be performed with a shrug), for short.
So how did the first episode of series three (which was briefly going to be called 'series four' to confuse future TV historians, according to one interview) measure up to the previous two television series, the live shows, the radio series and, you know, the hype?
It seems to me that the linear parts of each show are becoming more linear: the whole 'Zoouniverse' of the first TV series, set in an imaginary zoo, settled in the second series to a flat in Dalston, rooted in the (slightly) more realistic London, with third series in a curio shop in London's Shoreditch, the Nabootique. With occasional adventures into the 'Booshiverse', of course.
During the earth-bound moments, the writing is smoother, making the interjections of surreality somehow more awkward. The direction was slick, and the new rave song was very funny.
Or that's what a critic might well have said in this morning's papers. Me? Meh ... I thought it was pretty good. Particularly at the beginning, and also very good at the end. The beginning of the middle I liked, but the middle of the middle and the end of the middle I was less hot on, but overall, it was good, and I enjoyed my Booshy half-hour.
What about you? Love it? Hate it? REALLY Love it/Hate it? Not aware of it? Think it was all right? How are you? Are you Booshed-out?
