Far Far Away Idol (2004) (VHS Version)

A real sign of the times moment here. Simon Cowell originated his find-a-random-person-and-make-him-or-her-a-pop-sensation concept as "Pop Idol" in the 1990s. He quickly adapted it for North American audiences as "American Idol" and "Canadian Idol", and for other nations under names that all ended in "Idol". The franchise as a whole was an international sensation in the 2000s and, naturally, it was inevitable that the "Shrek" franchise would have its own take on it. In this, an extra on the VHS and DVD versions of "Shrek 2", the fairy tale folks from Far Far Away stage their own singing competition, with the judges being Shrek, Fiona, and, indeed, Simon Cowell, who voiced himself.

The VHS version, unlike its DVD counterpart, lacked interactive capabilities. This is because no one figured out how to make VHS tapes interactive much, despite the ample presence of VCR games, the "Life on Earth" two-tape set from Warner Home Video incorporating Index Search, and ill-fated gizmos like the ViewMaster Interactive. As a result, the "Far Far Away Idol" segment of the tape just ends in a still graphic announcing that you, too, can select the winner of the talent contest by going on the film's website, archived here (https://web.archive.org/web/200411060... ). Those who did ultimately decided that the winner of the contest was . . . Doris, whose entry was "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" (https://web.archive.org/web/201404070... ). However, none of the DVD masters were ever updated to reflect this.

If you select anyone other than Shrek, Fiona or Puss in Boots in the "Far Far Away Idol" portion of the disc, you will get Simon Cowell singing "My Way". Except it's not really Simon Cowell singing that song. Instead, the reality TV mogul and music producer had his voice dubbed by Rick Riso, an "established recording and concert vocal artist" from Monterey, California. Rick Riso is apparently still active and has his own website (https://www.rickriso.net/ ).

This is run from a copy of the "Shrek 2" VHS that I got for Christmas back in 2004. It was printed on September 6, 2004. Under the mistaken impression that I got rid of that copy, I later ordered a near-mint one from Amazon; that copy was printed on September 23, 2004. The short is shown as presented on the VHS, where it was followed by the end credits of both the film and the short.

VIDEO CONTENT RATING: General.