Beavis & Butthead-Mike Judge Collection

With the explosion of pop-cultural artifacts in the new millennium (thanks to DVD), it seems odd that it took this long to resuscitate MTV’s emblematic ‘90s hit “Beavis and Butt-Head” (the show spun off from MTV’s animation showcase “Liquid Television” and ran until 1997 but here it is—“Beavis and Butt-Head: The Mike Judge Collection.” Rather than offering the series package for completists, season by season, this 3-DVD set contains 40 of the series’ best episodes (including 23 “Director’s Cut” versions), hand-picked by series creator Mike Judge, along with a featurette, show promos, and the boys insightful commentary on videos from the likes of Wilco, The Beastie Boys, and Matthew Sweet.

Judge explains in an insert:

“I’ve often said that there’s about a third of Beavis and Butt-Head that I think is great and I’m really proud of, another third that is okay, and then another third that is really awful and embarrassing. A while back I talked with the folks at MTV and we agreed to put out a DVD set that would contain the two thirds that didn’t suck . . . this is the first volume of that two thirds.”

The series’ mixture of crude animation, crude humor and social satire hasn’t aged as well as that of, for example, “The Simpsons,” but, though the novelty is gone, much of Judge’s broad comedy and still works, and, in retrospect, the show proves very influential. It’s hard to imagine the host of similar animated series that emerged after the four year run of “Beavis and Butt-Head”ended in 1997—Judge’s own “King of the Hill,” Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s “South Park” or Seth MacFarland’s “Family Guy”—without it.

Don’t miss episodes: “No Laughing,” “Washing the Dog,” “Mr.Anderson’s Balls,” “Beavis and Butt-Head Versus the Vending Machine,” and “The Great Cornholio.”