Smash up the government, big style!
Relentlessly bold character-performer, Marc Wootton, makes his first mark on television comedy in 2002 with Cyderdelic, a little-known but fresh piece of comedy that has still yet to be released on DVD in Australia and the U.S. As stated by narrator John Peel in the show's opening titles, Cyderdelic are a direct-action group and dance collective within the growing anti-capitalist movement. Leader Su Long (Marc Wootton) is a new-age eco-warrior with an anarchic agenda. Lifelong friend and fellow activist Beetle Smith (Barry Castagnola) is a veteran of the south-west free party scene. Little is known about Frogger (Liam Woodman) who is named for his legendary traffic-dodging skills.
The show is a mockumentary in a similar style to that of Da Ali G Show. Wootton, Castagnola and Woodman portray fictional characters that interact with real-life folk unaware the characters aren't real people. However, the odd scene does seem scripted. The series, as well as Ali G, works best when it makes sly jokes at the expense of real-life interviewees through the characters. Cyderdelic makes the main characters the joke in the majority of scenes though. It's great, but another whole layer is added when you get a real-life person to expose a flaw in their thinking or push a question on them that they aren't comfortable answering. So lets say Cyderdelic is more a satirical look at new-age hippies. The hippies that rebel against the government by taking pills and listening to shitty techno music. To make comedy out of hippie culture the characters are quite exaggerated, but I'm sure there are many just like these guys. They have very little understanding of capitalism to be anti-capitalism, highlighted by their hilarious philosophy "overthrow capitalism and replace it with something nicer". I actually found a facebook group with that title - and it was completely straight-faced! These people must really exist. Beetle especially contradicts his so-called beliefs several times an episode. It really feels like he has no understanding or interest in politics and everything is an excuse to be loud and obnoxious. At least Su believes in the cause, he just has no idea what it really is.
Cyderdelic is very, very light on plot, sometimes to its detriment . Each episode revolves on a single event like a music/folk festival or an issue the group tackle; for example, the group protest outside a Burger King, are asked to leave by police, then open their own 'su-per veggie burgers' restaurant- which offers very little as an alternative to somewhere like Burger King. The place is dirty and unhygienic with terrible customer-service and to top it all off, there's a tiny fenced off area in the shop with farm animals in it. The subtle joke is that Cyderdelic are undertaking this as a reaction to animal cruelty, but keeping animals in a minuscule area for people to look is a form of animal cruelty. These kind of ironic jokes litter the whole series, as I previously said, the joke is usually always on Cyderdelic.
Unfortunately the episodes become quite repetitive if you watch more than one at a time, which is never usually an issue for me. Another criticism would be that the show has no real character or plot development. Any character conflict is neatly resolved in the same episode and there are no plot-threads that span more than one episode. I know what you're thinking; what is this guy bitching about, there are plenty of shows that work with only stand-alone episodes - and yeah, that's true... However, the characters really lend to internal conflict and there was huge potential to to tell a story over the seven episodes; alongside all the hilarious situations with the characters interacting with various members of the public.
Part of the reason the show isn't widely known can probably be attributed to a few incidents. The show got in some hot water for showing the cross covered in shit during an episode. Also, Marc Wootton was interviewed on Jonathan Ross and went as Shirley Ghostman, apparently offending a lot of people - stupid, stupid people, who obviously didn't get the joke. I hear Cyderdelic is never repeated on television either.
Amazon have a very affordable U.K. Region 2 DVD of Cyderdelic available to buy. Buy this or obtain it by other means. I think the show just needs more exposure and that there is a bigger audience for this show, they just don't know about it yet.
Cyderdelic is refreshingly original and those who love the mockumentary format should check it out. It is an important step in the movement and a precursor to other shows by Marc Wootton - in fact, it's his very first show. I will be reviewing each one of his shows in chronological order. Following from Cyderdelic are My New Best Friend, High Spirits with Shirley Ghostman, and his most recent, La La Land. I hope this review will let a few more people in on the series and eventually we can have a Region 1 and 4 DVD release. La La Land is being released on DVD everywhere in the coming months, so if it sells well, we'll see...
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