Even if you don’t know who Bill Plympton is by name, chances are you’ve seen his work. His animation is award winning and has been featured on everything from MTV to Spike and Mike festivals. His cartoon, Plymptoons, was syndicated in newspapers throughout the U.S. He has even drawn cartoons for men’s magazines like Playboy, Penthouse and Hustler. He’s the animator who is not quite a household name but probably should be.

Plymptoons – The Complete Early Works of Bill Plympton collects 24 shorts, ranging from his early student films to the Academy Award nominated Your Face. It also serves as a decent introduction to the artist and his work.

Beginning with his earliest attempts at animation using a dry-erase board and a 35mm camera, the DVD illustrates (pardon the pun) how, through years of trial and error, Bill Plympton developed the style he has now. Short films like Lucas The Ear of Corn are shot with paper cut-outs in the style that South Park has now made famous. His early attempts at animation feature characters that resemble Ziggy more than the characters of his later films, but in all of them, there is an undercurrent of the quirky sense of humor that marks the best of Plympton’s work.

The good news is that, of the 24 films here, only about a third of them don’t deliver on “the funny”. Some of these films are only fifteen seconds long, but they make the most of their time. The MTV short featuring the iconic letters crawling out of a man’s ears and nose before blasting their way out on the tip of his tongue is an excellent example.

In addition to a fascinating look at the artist's evolution, this DVD offers some truly classic animations, mostly in the form of his longer efforts. The real meat, as far as the animation goes, is the inclusion of Your Face (featuring a constantly morphing head that defies explanation), 25 Ways To Quit Smoking (which will have you ducking every time you light up), How to Kiss (proper etiquette and techniques that everyone should learn), and the brilliant Plymptoons (featuring a veritable smorgasbord of weirdness). Even with the less-than-stellar early stuff and the inclusion of the Trivial Pursuit commercials, all in all, this collection is not a bad way to spend an hour.

Presentation
The transfer of these films to DVD is really very good. Some of the films Plympton made early in his career are a little worse for the wear, but the DVD looks about as good as can be expected. The sound here is fine also, but Plympton’s cartoons aren’t really noted for sound quality. You’ll hear the tape hiss quite clearly on almost all of them. As for the extras, the interview and timelapse documentaries listed below have a washed out quality to them. There’s really nothing here worth noting when it comes to picture or audio.

Extras
First up is an extra called Artist in Motion which is literally a silent, nine-minute timelapse movie of Plympton drawing and then a slow pan across the pictures he’s been working on. This is one of the most boring things I’ve ever watched.

Next is an interview sprinkled with bits of animation called Sunday with Bill. This is somewhat entertaining, although it’s nothing you won’t learn by just looking him up on Wikipedia. There is one exception, though. In this interview, he addresses the idea of trying to hit it big like Matt Groening and Mike Judge. His answers here may surprise some people, and personally, they made me admire the man a bit more than I already did.

Finally, you get a Sketch Gallery with some stills from the shorts and an Animator Biography.

What’s the Verdict?
Any animation fan worth his/her salt should at least give Plympton’s work a viewing. However, all of these films have been released on DVD before with the exception of the two documentaries. Those aren’t exactly anything to jump up and down for if you already have the animations, so… I give it three pants. I’d say don’t rush out to replace your old copy of Plymptoons with this one unless you are a Bill Plympton completist (which puts you in an extremely small demographic). However, if you haven’t got these and are interested in learning what the fuss is about, you should definitely check out Plymptoons – The Complete Early Works of Bill Plympton.