SCHOOLHOUSE ROCK! ELECTION COLLECTION

It can't be a good sign when that poor scroll of paper starts warbling that he's "just a bill on Capitol Hill" and you think to yourself, "Good, I hope you die there."

The mere mention of Schoolhouse Rock! is enough to put a smile on my face and send me into a nostalgic reverie. Songs like "Lolly, Lolly, Lolly Get Your Adverbs Here" and "Three is a Magic Number" immediately start running through my head, and I feel like I'm five years old again, sitting on the heat duct and watching Saturday Morning Cartoons. These were the happy thoughts that came to mind when the Schoolhouse Rock! Election Collection fell into my lap, but once the DVD got going, I started to remember that some of the songs would cause me to drift off, switch channels, take a bathroom break, or go looking for snacks. After about twenty minutes, I realized that The Election Collection had successfully gathered all of those dodgy songs in one place. Oh dear.

Just about everyone who grew up in the 70s or 80s will remember these catchy tunes intended to teach kids about our great country, its government, and its history. Though the animation is a bit dated, the songs themselves are surprisingly relevant. Thirty years ago "Energy Blues" outlined the need for conservation and alternative fuel sources, and in this era of inconvenient truths, it couldn't be more appropriate. Songs about the democratic process, taxes, the economy, and U.S. history remain informative and timeless, and the idea of using animation and music to present these subjects to children is still flat brilliant.

Here's the catch: Schoolhouse Rock! originally aired during Saturday Morning Cartoons, and you never had to watch more than one short at a time. It came as a welcome surprise, and if you'd already seen that particular short five or six hundred times, you were free to use that time as a handy little intermission. When you pile together all of the Schoolhouse Rock! songs about a topic that never interested you in the first place, it's a little hard to revisit. In fact, after about half an hour, you start having really dark thoughts. It can't be a good sign when that poor scroll of paper starts warbling that he's "just a bill on Capitol Hill" and you think to yourself, "Good, I hope you die there." And it wasn't awesome when I actually checked to see if the disc was stuck after the zillionth repetition of the line "The Great American Melting Pot" in the aptly titled song. I tried to imagine working around the house as a child watched this DVD in the background, and eating glass somehow seemed like a more tolerable fate. No, The Election Collection and I simply were not meant to be.

I imagine the ultimate fan of The Schoolhouse Rock! Election Collection would be an Alex P. Keaton type—someone who grew up with these songs, then went on to passionately pursue a career in government or finance. The DVD comes with a nifty map so you can track the votes on election night, and for the right viewer, should be lots of fun. The rest of us might have a better time with something a little more varied, like the Schoolhouse Rock! (Special 30th Anniversary Edition).