Melvin Furd was just a 90-pound weak mop boy working at the Tromaville health club, constantly harassed and abused by his peers. After a particularly mean incident involving a pink and blue polka-dotted tutu and a sheep in what seems to be a rather modest cancer wig, Melvin ends up diving head-first into a bucket of nuclear waste, turning little Melvin into (everybody with me now) a hideously deformed creature of superhuman size and strength.

Also known as The Toxic Avenger, if you haven't figured it out yet.

From this point in the rather loose storyline, The Toxic Avenger battles crime of any form. From your typical hoodlums robbing Mexican restaurants (that feature Samurai swords mounted on the wall... Wait, what?), to midget mob bosses, to government drug-runners who desire to poison the well-being of Tromaville's citizens. What this basically means is that the film is a collection of skits, skipping merrily from genre to genre, often mixing them to play with convention. On the fly, the film will go from a kung-fu action scene to the toxic avenger stuffing a man's mouth with ice cream and chocolate sauce before mangling his face with a blender. And absolutely no movie is complete unless it has a romantic love montage between a deformed mutant, and an understanding blind girl.

Nostalgia is a dangerous thing. It clouds your better judgment, leading you to believe that certain things from the past still hold true to this day. Yesterday, my brother went on a warm, gooey rampage about the eventual DVD release of The Garbage Pail Kids Movie. See what hazy nostalgia can do to a person? It can lead you to pine for midgets carrying around severed fingers in lunch boxes.

Very rarely does nostalgia ever hold up. However, it's safe to assume that no matter what your previous reaction to The Toxic Avenger is, be it good or bad, it still holds to this very second. Were you surprised? Amazed? Shocked? Horrified? Despite a long existence (this is the 21st anniversary DVD edition, after all) on cable, video and DVD, despite Hollywood now resorting to films that feature Barbara Streisand defecating on Ben Stiller's befuddled forehead as he masturbates to a picture of steamed cale, The Toxic Avenger still manages to seem fresh due to using subjects that are both universal and are still issues to this day.

Plus a 12-year-old-boy gets his head crushed.

That's pretty awesome.

Video
Well... It's... Uh... A Troma movie.

...yeah

Pretty much admitted by the Troma Team to be a direct rip of the 10-year-old Toxic Avenger laserdisc, the new Toxic Avenger DVD comes in a matted, near-1.85:1, non-Anamorphic Widescreen presentation. While Lloyd Kaufman always prefers to shoot and release his films in open-matte full screen (Due to the fact that Troma films are most often discovered on VHS and DVD), the matted Widescreen presentation seems the more likely route seeing as how for the time period, Troma was making an effort to release their films theatrically.

However, that's where the good news pretty much ends. Sadly, for some reason or another, the left side of the frame is inexplicably shaved off slightly. While you probably won't really notice this for the most part, it is visible in the credit sequence. Other than that complaint, picking on a Troma release for a sub-par image is redundant. Anyone picking up a Troma film knows what they're going to get: a dull haze and possible alcohol poisoning.

Also the labeling of the film "Tromorphic Widescreen" and putting the phrase "See more action with Tromorphic Widescreen!" on the back of the box is VERY misleading.

Audio
Presented in dual-speaker mono, the soundtrack comes through as clear as the original elements allow, which are surprisingly clean. The dialogue is easily understandable, the music pumps through in all its ‘80s synthesizer glory, and the heads pop with clarity.

Extras
The Toxic Avenger gets an extensive two-disc set, however parts might be viewed as disappointing to some. The original commentary track that appears on previous releases of the film was dropped and a newly created commentary for the film was recorded. Featuring Lloyd Kaufman and super fan Leonard Goodman (A Troma staff member in full-on fake nerd mode, which seems to rip off the Neil Goldman character from Family Guy. Boy, doesn't that sound not irritating), it does feature a lot of information but it eventually devolves into a Lennon/Chapman skit that runs on far too long.

Also included on the first disc are interviews with the cast and, more importantly, with the real Michael Herz. Despite being the reclusive side of Troma Entertainment, Herz is just as big as a ham as Kaufman is, spitting out amusing anecdotes and information about the history of Troma.

The Laserdisc intro and outtro are also included, and present from the previous releases (including the VHS) are deleted scenes.

Closing the disc is the "Where in the world is Toxie?" featurette, which is features 40 minutes ofpremiere footage from Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV, and other promotional plugs from around the world.

Disc 2 is where most of the extras can be found, starting with the fan submissions sections. A collection of wishes and love letters including birthday wishes, fan interviews, to the absolute insanity of 14-year-old's Russel Vincent Porter's Troma inspired short film Day of the Dead. Every person who ever saw a gore movie as a teenager and decided to hijack their parents' camcorder to make their own films (I had to film all my little movies by putting the camera in a plastic bag due to the overuse of ketchup) should feel a mixture of nostalgia (there's that word again) and outright pain while watching this short film.

Following up that is a nice selection of scenes from Toxic Avenger: The Musikill. Pulling just as much from Rocky Horror (It's announced during the opening that audience participation is encouraged, at least during regular non-taped performances), the stage adaptation is a multimedia presentation that incorporates footage from the film to make sense out of what seems to be a concept that was concocted in-between bong hits.

Finally, the disc is rounded off with a collection of Troma-related plugs, consisting mostly of movie trailers including all the Toxic Avenger and Class of Nuke'em High films, and some rather tasteless PETA propaganda to put everyone in a bad mood.

Parting Thoughts
If you've purchased The Toxic Avenger on DVD in its previous incarnations, the 21st anniversary edition is still a decent purchase due to the fan-made extras, which are both quite charming and rather creepy. However, hold on to your previous edition. It has the film in its intended aspect ratio and includes extras not available on the new edition. For those who do not own any other edition of the film, it's a highly suggested purchase, but at some point, make it an effort to track down either the original DVD release, or even the box set if you can find it cheap.