Random Youtube-ery, Part 6

This yearly Youtube playlist comes in the midst of the streaming site's gradual takeover by corporate forces and the tyranny of the Content ID system. Frankly, it's depressing to see original content creators caught in the fallout of the ongoing fight between the pirates and the overzealous corporate lawyers. Along with the site being negatively impacted by the demise of net neutrality, this has been a bad year for Youtube. It remains, however, the default place to find video ephemera online. And I will continue to take advantage of that for the time being.

Since this has become a regular feature, I'm trying to focus on somewhat more current videos.

Legion Finale Cold Open - This is one giant spoiler for the second season of "Legion," but screw it. Seeing the showdown between David and the Shadow King should have little impact on anyone's enjoyment (or frustration) with the rest of the season, and it really deserves to be seen. I love the weirdness of the floating, singing Dan Stevens and Navid Neghaban. I love the use of the animation. I love the cover of "Behind Blue Eyes." Perhaps this season was less than the sum of its parts - but just look at the parts!

Ballroom Blitz - Of course "Wayne's World" had a tie-in music video. How could "Wayne's World" not have had a tie-in music video? Tia Carrere, who is a legit multiple Grammy winner, provided all of her own vocals for the film and its soundtrack. Of course, we're all really watching for the antics of Wayne and Garth, which are charmingly goofy and downright nostalgic at this point. The production values are almost nonexistent, but in the early 90s, productions values for most music videos were almost nonexistent. This brings us to...

I'll Make a Man Out of You - I'm a little embarrassed that I didn't know that this tie-in music video existed until very recently. I knew that Jackie Chan did some of the dubbing for the Chinese versions of "Mulan" and that he even recorded some of the songs. This bare bones video combining Chan's Cantonese version of "I'll Make a Man Out of You" with a martial arts demonstration is a neat little extra for fans, included in the Special Edition releases of "Mulan" stateside.

Duck Dodgers - The Cartoon Network series was, alas, terribly short-lived and rather mediocre. The theme song, however, remains a glorious thing. Yes, that is the real Tom Jones singing the theme, which was arranged by the Flaming Lips.

White and Nerdy Behind the Scenes - Everyone's favorite musical parodist, Weird Al, finally got his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame a few months ago. "White and Nerdy" is one of my favorites, and I was so tickled to find this video of the very first take of Donny "The Whitest Guy I Could Think Of" Osmond's full dance performance.

Lonely Island's Unproduced Oscar Number - After last year's Oscars, Lonely Island tweeted out this demo for a very expensive (and logistically bonkers) musical number they created for the big show. Entitled "Why Not Me?" it features multiple superhero actors questioning Oscar snubs, Michael Fassbender vainly defending "The Snowman," and a Groot cameo. The scary thing is, it seems like the Academy actually agreed with the sentiment when it announced the Popular Film category this year - at least temporarily.

Blue Song - An important predecessor to Edgar Wright's "Baby Driver" was his 2003 music video for "Blue Song" by Mint Royale, featuring "Mighty Boosh" actors Noel Fielding and Julian Barratt. Reportedly, Wright used this as a proof of concept to get "Baby Driver" made, and there's even a brief clip that shows up in the film itself. Wright continues to direct music videos occasionally, including a recent one this year for Beck.

Craig Ferguson Explains Doctor Who - I miss Craig Ferguson on late night. He clearly had no budget, but would still make great efforts to deliver with what he had. This musical explanation of "Doctor Who" for American audiences, for instance, was meant to air as a cold open the night he interviewed Matt Smith. Unfortunately they couldn't get the music rights cleared in time, so it was delayed. I'm happy we still got to see it though, especially as we get to see Craig's nerdiness on full display.

Impeachment - I could fill a whole list with "Schoolhouse Rock" parodies. The CBS series "The Good Fight" delivered a doozy, however, with a recent one written by Jonathan Coulton and animated by Head Gear Animation. Directly aimed at Donald Trump, it's as much a warning to the current administration as it is a primer on the impeachment process.

"Shadow" - The closing credits musical performances for the "Twin Peaks" revival were such a treat, in part because it's rare to have full closing credits on television shows these days that aren't interrupted by ads. There were several to choose from, but something about the Chromatics singing "Shadow" at the Roadhouse right after our first glimpse of the aged James, who we are assured "was always cool," still sticks in my mind. They set such a great, wistful mood for the revival. And in "Twin Peaks," the mood is everything.

---