Punk'd: Season One DVD Review:

Celebrities and general public beware, Ashton Kutcher and his Punk’d team are out to get you. Whether they are repossessing your home, giving you an extreme makeover, stealing your car, making you destroy someone’s house, sticking you with an extremely large bar tab or having a kid shout abuse at you on the red carpet, you can’t hide from them or stop yourself from getting Punk’d!

There have been many hidden camera shows over the years but none of them have done it as well and to as many big name celebrities as Punk’d.

The brainchild of movie star Ashton Kutcher and MTV, Punk’d takes the celebrity and public pranks to the extreme and then pushes them even more. Here we can enjoy Justin Timberlake have all this possessions repossessed, Mandy Moore destroy someone’s home or watch Pink’s boyfriend get arrested all in the name of fun. There is nothing better than watching celebrities squirm or panic and Ashton and his team have a real gift for doing it.

Series one of Punk’d hit the ground running and then accelerated on. For a debut show it already had a high calibre stars on its hit list. We are not talking C-List celebrities here; we are talking major A-List stars such as Britney Spears, Pink and Justin Timberlake. The team then comes up with pranks that will hopefully cause them a certain amount of embarrassment and stress to them, all in the name of fun. This might sound very familiar but Punk’d does it so well that you can’t help but watch the show.

Ashton Kutcher is the man who brings all these stars to the show. While he might not be the biggest celebrity name in the world, yet, he is a huge name in the US because of his hit TV show ‘That ‘70s Show” as well as starring in movies like “The Butterfly Effect”, “Dude, Where’s My Car?” and “Just Married”. What he brings to the show is a recognisable face for both the audience and the celebrities. While he doesn’t get directly involved with many of the pranks, he is behind the scenes telling his talented crew to push their victim that much further.

Some people might not see this as the most intelligent form of entertainment but it is entertaining all the same. Punk’d is very well done and with Ashton Kutcher at the helm, the big celebrity hits are guaranteed to continue. So if you are famous or even if you are not, if you see Ashton and his team hide because you might just get Punk’d.

Season Star Rating = * * *

PICTURE & SOUND

Presented in anamorphic 16:9 widescreen with a Dolby Digital 5.1 surround soundtrack, the transfer is very good. With the show been shot on Digital Camera, the transfer is first rate and the picture quality is just as good as when they shot it. The sound is also fine but don’t expect it to fill all of your speakers, as there is a strong emphasis on dialogue, as you’d expect with a show like this.

BONUS FEATURES

Disc 1

Deleted Scenes (21.22 mins)

Here you can watch the stuff from episodes 1 – 5 that was too strong to be put on TV (so Ashton says anyway). In this collection we have more Justin Timberlake, more Mandy Moore, more Seth Green and more of the kid on the red carpet. There is also extended footage from the shoplifting and babysitting pranks and of course there is more Ashton.

Episode Commentary from Ashton Kutcher, Dax Shepard and Jason Goldberg
For episode 1 – 5 Ashton is joined by friend and Punk’d actor Dax Shepard and co-creator Jason Goldberg for five extremely funny commentary tracks. The three of them end up not really talking about the show but their opinion on life, love and celebrities. We find out the origins of Ashton’s Trucker Hat, who thinks Christina Aguilera is orange and how many people they can make fun of. The commentaries are just as funny as the shows.

Disc 2

Deleted Scenes (4.48 mins)

Here you can watch the stuff from episodes 6 – 8 that Ashton and MTV thought was too strong for TV. In this instalment of deleted scenes you can watch more Pink, more Jessica Alba and of course more Ashton.

Download and Share (0.10 mins)

Ashton Kutcher voices his own opinion on downloading from the Internet.

Never before seen segments (7.02 mins)

Here is your chance to watch two segments that never aired on series one of Punk’d. The first one is entitled “Young Executive”, which has a ten year-old running MTV and the second one is entitled “Blind Tattoo”, which has a blind tattoo artist and two unsuspecting members of the public.

Episode Commentary from Ashton Kutcher and Dax Shepard
For episode 6 – 8 Ashton is joined by friend and Punk’d actor Dax Shepard. Again these are extremely funny commentaries as they promise to talk more about the show this time around. They do talk about creating and setting up Punk’d and the influences behind the show. Then the pair goes off on a tangent again when they discuss the celebrities on the show, what girls should know about guys and political and social issues that really get them riled.

OVERALL

Paramount and MTV have done a good job with the first season of Punk’d on DVD. The extras are very good with the deleted scenes actually adding more enjoyment to the pranks and the never seen before segments also been very funny. The commentary tracks are the main highlights however, as they are extremely funny and well worth listening to. Fans of the show will rejoice at this DVD release and for everyone else who missed it, Punk’d is well worth a rent.

DVD Star Rating = * * * *

Jamie Kelwick

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