The cartoon is a series of strips that have been animated or in one or two cases, individual strips have been expanded from the original single panel and extended somewhat to draw out the gag. Anyone who read "The Far Side" pretty much knows what to expect. All of Larson's basic standards-cows. bears, et cetera-are here in all their glory. If you like Larson, you'll like this.
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llltdesq21 October 2000
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lee_eisenberg3 April 2017Gary Larson's single-panel cartoon series "The Far Side" ran for fifteen years, offering surreal, twisted takes on our world. Right before it ended, CBS aired "Tales from the Far Side", featuring a number of the characters from the series doing various and sundry things. Quite an enjoyable special. I'd say that my favorite part was the bugs watching "The Fly" in the airplane, but I also liked the zombie camp.
I understand that there was a sequel in 1997, but I've never seen it. I guess that until I do, I'll be content with this special. Worth seeing. Since the series ended, Larson has apparently done a lot of environmental stuff.
Three-legged race indeed! -
culwin25 July 2021People (or at least anthropomorphic creatures) die in various comedic ways. Just like the comic strip that inspired it, the situations are weird, dumb, and funny. Continued in a longer sequel which is more of the same.
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microx9600229 October 2005Saw this and taped it on it's original showing. Absolutely hilarious, it's Gary Larsen come to life! I was inspired to dust off the tape and watched it again, I was not disappointed. Fave scenes are "I'll Be Seeing You" "Deep in the Heart of Texas" "In-flight Movie" and "Dead Ranch". Why isn't this available on DVD? If the "powers that be" read this, please release it! If you are a Farside fan, this is a must see, although hard to find, I believe it only ever was shown once. I didn't even know about FSII. These are available (at least, they were) in the UK, but why not here? OH, and I almost forgot, the "inflatable kid" gag, puts Disney's Monsters Inc to shame! Makes you wonder if it inspired the folks at Pixar/Disney.
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rosco2925 May 2004I am a HUGE fan of Gary Larson, but I've got to admit, this one creeped me out. I only watched it once, on its original airing, but I remember walking away from it thinking "I'm not sure I really liked that."
Something about the translation from printed page to animation didn't quite work. It took on more of an air of a horror flick as opposed to the strip's sense of on-the-edge humor.
In some ways, it's kind of like a creepier, less funny version of the Simpsons "Treehouse Of Horror" episodes. Another way to look at it: an animated "Tales From The Crypt."
Worth a look if you can find it, but expect more "ewww" than "ha-ha." -
madsmalme5 January 2006This is just great!! It's so typical Gary Larson, the drawings and the humor. Add some animation, and Puff - you've got you're self some quality cartoon out of the ordinary! Much better than the Disney junk (lately) or the stuff on Cartoon-Network (bad)! Hard to say what I like the most about these to wonderful cartoon-treasures, but I know one thing for sure, all of them are great. Some are just greater than others. Gary Larson's Tales from the Far Side come in two parts, Far Side 1 and 2 (they come from your TV or in the mail)(to bad they don't come on DVD :( ) and they serve quality humor. You will laugh. You will smile. It's highly recommendable.. :) IF you are lucky enough to get one, though, I live in Norway and I've never seen it for sale. Might be in the UK, but you're lucky if you find one.
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eichler217 November 2023I was a big fan of the Far Side comic strips, but I had forgotten this TV special existed until I went through some old VHS tapes and found one that included Tales From the Far Side 1 recorded from its original TV broadcast.
I was excited to watch this lost gem...and then I realized why I had forgotten about it over the years. It's not very funny. Much of the humor is based on animals (and insects) acting like humans, which gets old pretty fast. Most of the funniest bits are lifted straight from previously seen Far Side comic strips. Larson's humor seems to work better as a one-panel image and a punchline - several of the sketches in this TV version were just dragged out far too long.
There no dialog, and hardly any vocals apart from one narrated bit and some singing.
There are bits that are amusing. Like another reviewer, I laughed at the insects on the plane breaking into applause while they watched the horror movie "The Fly". To balance that out though, the part at the end with the guy running from monsters through the woods seemed to go on forever and never really landed a punch line.
Even if you're a huge Far Side fan, don't feel like you missed out if you never saw this. -
Horst_In_Translation4 June 2016"Tales from the Far Side" is an animated cartoon that runs for slightly under half an hour and was written by Gary Larson and directed by Marv Newland. It is from 1994, so had its 20th anniversary already 2 years ago. I personally felt there were some okay snippets in this collection of short films, but overall, it was just really more absurd than funny or interesting. I would say that this little film here is pretty much on par with the sequel that followed a couple years later. Ultimately, I found both extremely forgettable and nowhere near what I would have hoped for based on the rating they got. I guess it must have been fairly successful as otherwise they would not have greenlit a sequel. I myself give it a thumbs down. Not recommended.
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magellan3338 April 2002Saw this years ago and thought it was hilarious. I seem to remember it coming out around Halloween. I recall it opening with a scarecrow bearing a "PECK ME" sign on it's back. There was also a "trick kid" gag for monsters wanting to scare small children and a funny short involving butterfly hunters and aliens. I would love to see it again if I could find it.