It's interesting to watch the careers of the stars of Jackass since the show disappeared from the airwaves of MTV. Johnny Knoxville has cleaned up a bit and gone Hollywood, while Bam Margera and Ryan Dunn have gotten their own show with Viva La Bam! which concentrates more on terrorizing Bam's parents than on the foul and crude antics of the show he was involved with a few years ago. Steve O is keeping it real though. He's not concerned about finding a wider audience, nor is he concerned about appealing to the masses. He and fellow Jackass alumni Chris 'Party Boy' Pontius have left behind their skateboards for safari hats and headed off to remote locations to interact and harass dangerous animals and play with poo and puke a lot. This is the genesis of Wildboyz.

The show has been on the air for a few years now and this time around Paramount/MTV 2 has compiled the complete third and fourth seasons for your viewing pleasure. Throughout the episodes contained in this set Steve-O and Pontius bring us around the world and back again as we visit Russia, Thailand, Louisiana, Argentina India, Kenya, Mexico and even California. Along for the ride, periodically at least, are Hollywood hunk Johnny Knoxville and Wee-Man, skateboarder extraordinaire. A few guest stars join the crew from time to time, like Methodman, Loomis Fall, and the one and only David Hasselhoff who joins the boys on a shark fishing expedition. It's interesting to see not only Chris and Steve-O interact with the various animals and strange natives that they encounter throughout their travels but the rest of the cast members as well. Guest stars, however, do not a great show make. There are really two primary reasons to check out this series – the scenery and the wild life, and the retarded antics of the retarded cast – the show is at its best when the two worlds collide and more often than not it makes for really entertaining television.

Let's start with the scenery, the wild life and the locals. Highlights this time around include a scene where the boys spend a night in the jungle with some Massai warriors and go on a lion hunt with them. In Thailand the boys join the cast of a transgendered stage show and in India the dance around the sound stage of one of Bollywood's largest movie factories. In Russia they go to the circus and train with bears and swim across a river holding onto inflatable love dolls before testing the limits of gravity at a cosmonaut training camp. A trip to Mexico finds them trying out some of the local cooking and partying with some of the locals. Throughout their trips you get a nice, albeit brief, look at a few odd customs from around the world as well as a good look at a lot of the more dangerous animals that live there like lions, tigers, snakes, sharks, and crocodiles.

That being said, without the charisma and completely stupid charm that the cast members show on the series, this would be little more than a collection of National Geographic outtakes. The show is, after all, a comedy first and foremost so it's important that it actually turn out to be funny – and it is. A game of Twister in the deep south of Louisiana finds Pontius getting nipped on the wrist by an alligator and later a few episodes down the road we see him covered in carpet fending off a tiger who thinks he's a scratching post. He brings back his Party Boy persona, one of the funniest running gags ever to appear on Jackass and his tendency to 'gay it up' for the camera, while far from politically correct, is so stupid that you can't help but laugh at it. Steve-O, always a bit of a lunatic, pulls off some pretty deft juggling moves, tosses out one liners and talks the natives into saying 'dude' a lot. His reaction while getting a traditional tattoo done the old fashioned way while in Thailand is classic, particularly when he brings the Angelina Jolie factor into play.

The show's biggest flaw is that it relies too much on vomit. A strange criticism to make, maybe, but at least once an episode one or more of the cast members end up puking on camera, usually after eating something strange like fried bugs or drinking blood. While it's obviously a natural reaction to an extent, they obviously play it up for the camera, Steve-O intentionally making himself spew while in the zero gravity chamber and the camera following the lingering chunks while the float. This is funny sometimes, but more often than not it's simply vile.

That being said, there are too many funny moments in here to dwell on what doesn't always work so well. Knoxville, drunk off his ass and passed out in the hallway of a hotel and raving nonsense at those who pass by him and dare to come into 'his room' is good for a laugh, and the constant slap attacks of the 'black mamba' are always funny even if they look pretty funny. Steve-O breaking the speed of sound twice in a Russian MIG is interesting and amusing as are the constant 'Mahkok' jokes that are littered throughout the episodes. All of this nonsense is set to a great soundtrack featuring music from Turbonegro, The Supersuckers, and Canadian heavy metal god Thor which only adds to the fun.

Video:

The series is shot on digital video in sometimes rather unusual locations and under sometimes rather unusual conditions. As such, the video quality isn't perfect as a result of the source material being created under less than ideal circumstances. That being said, for the most part each of the episodes looks pretty good. Sure, there are moments when the lighting isn't perfect and things are a bit dark but that's the only real complaint I can make. The colors come through looking pretty strong and for something that was shot on video, there's a nice level of detail present throughout the entire set. Some mild edge enhancement is obvious in some scenes and there's a little bit of shimmering in a couple of spots but other than that, the video quality on this set is perfectly acceptable. Each of the episodes is slightly letterboxed (at approximately 1.78.1) but is not enhanced for 16x9 sets.