The clever use of Microsoft Sam, and Microsoft Mike as the voices of Arbiter and The Chief adds an interesting, unique depth to the characters. Their simple monotone voices spouting out intellectual and nonsensical sentences is the perfect juxtaposition for such a bizarre comedy series.
The whole series is subtitled, Arbiter’s speech is written and punctuated perfectly, where as The Chief’s speech is full of slang, text speak, emoticons, bad spelling and has a complete lack of punctuation, making a complete parody out of the way some of us talk to one another over the internet.
The back and fourth between Arbiters intellectual down to earth comments and The Chief’s nonsensical, ‘Your Mom’ joke ridden, logic, is as clear and funny as ever.
"Chief: butt i wantz 2 go 2 teh zuu
Arbiter: We’re homeless, and if anyone sees us we’re screwed. Going to the fucking zoo is the last thing on the list of shit we should be doing right now.
Chief: y cannot peepul c us?
Arbiter: Because we’re action figurines. We’re alive, don’t ask me why, and it’s completely illogical. So illogical that if people find out we’re alive, we’ll probably get taken by the government.
Chief: c00
Arbiter: No, not cool. They’d perform experiments on us constantly and probably never let us go.
Chief: liek in dick strik 69?
Arbiter: District 9. Yes, they’d dismantle us, shove stuff up our asses… God knows what else.
Chief: dat muvi waznt r337 faggut
Arbiter: No shit, but alien experimentation is!
Chief: ur belivz in… al3enz!1?
Arbiter: Yeah, I do!
Chief: LOLOLOLOLOL u r belivz in al3enz!
Arbiter: Yes, I happen to believe that within our massive, ever-expanding universe, there are some other forms of life. How fucking farfetched.
Chief: ROFL dumba$$
Arbiter: Well if Earth is the only populated planet, why is the universe so immense?
Chief: bcuz dipsh17, g0d iz fukin hug3 n nedz a lot of r00m 2 sit n waatch uz n mak suer wez r alll g00d.
Arbiter: Wow, that is so retarded. Why is the universe constantly expanding then?
Chief: cuz g0d r alwyz sittng dowrn n ateing stufz whil h3 watchz uz s0 he getz reely fat and ned moar r00m 2 sit.
Arbiter: So not only has God been sitting on a fucking bean bag chair in outer space for the past hundred billion years, eating from some outer space mini-fridge, but he’s a giant life form susceptible to hunger and obesity? Why hasn’t he died of old age or diabetes or something?
Chief: bcuz hez g0d n he e4t hellthee stufz liek selad.
Arbiter: Eating a fucking salad doesn’t make you invincible! Plus you said God gets really fat! And how does he even breathe in space if there’s no fucking oxygen?
Chief: g0d doezn ned oxyGENz. hez g0d, reTard…
Arbiter: Why the hell does he need food then?
Chief: cuz hez hungree. h3rp turp.
Arbiter: I can’t comprehend the stupidity of this conversation. You’re completely illogical.
Chief: sew iz teh fax taht wez iz aliv3 u evan sed. s0 fux u.
Arbiter: How the hell did I lose that argument? Jesus Christ I should just kill myself. Hey! Where are you going!
Chief: teh zuu.”
- From Arby ‘n’ the Chief in LA: Episode 3: “Lost”
Characters who spend the most of their time playing computer games, and mouthing off at one another is always a good watch, my advice is to give both the old, and new versions of this show a watch, you never know, you just might like it.
On the downside the episodes aren’t nearly as long as the episodes in the last series, but the standard is still high. The use of music is a lot different from the original series too, instead of using music from popular culture, it has its own limited sound track. The music fits well, adding tension and suspense at the right moments. The only thing I could say that is missing from the spin off series is the lack of tender moments between Arbiter and The Chief. At each others throats all the time, the tender moments really showed the friendship between them.
New characters such as Mario, Luigi and Sonic all feature in the new series, playing on Italian and drug addict stereotypes, adding a new dimension to the show. Mario the violent, pasta loving, leader of the new characters, has outbursts of domestic violence towards his brother Luigi and Drug addict Sonic. Making use of real voice actors, instead of using the Microsoft voice programmes, works well, however, if listening to the series with the speakers on loud, some of the voices, *cough* Sonic *cough*, can begin to get annoying. Although the annoyance is probably somewhat intended, it’s still annoying, and that’s never good.
The series features a lot of references to computer games, and some game footage too, it doesn’t detract from the story line, if you’re into computer games, then this is an extra bonus, and if you’re not, like me, don’t worry, it’s still easy to understand and just as entertaining.
Both the original and the spin-off are equally as brilliant, but have their differences. The spin-off does seem to appeal more to the gaming community, whereas the original series was more accessible to everyone.
Some of the episodes start off slow, so, for any first time viewers if you don’t like the first minute or two, give it a chance, if you still don’t like it by the end, chances are this is not for you.
Arby ‘n’ the Chief in ‘L.A’.: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCV4idPiE0M
Arby ‘n’ the Chief:. The Original Series. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2JWVHiYcyo&feature=PlayList&p=BE47CC060B078CB0&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=12
Arby ‘n’ the Chief The Short Movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6T79yApVCBg
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