The powers that be at Braveworld Video must have been racking their collective brains to find a way of centering at least one entry of their early nineties Saturday Night Live video collection around Wayne's World, which was just about to become SNL's biggest movie hit to date. The problem was that their series consisted not of compilations, but of slightly edited episodes on tape. What they eventually came up with was this curiously titled "Special Edition featuring Waynes World": three episodes of decreasing length, each prominently featuring Wayne and Garth.
First up is the February 1990 Tom Hanks episode with Aerosmith that gave us the 'most memorable moment in SNL history' ever (if you can believe E!'s 101 moment countdown). This one deservedly takes up the bulk of the video's running time. Apart from WW, it also has Tom Hanks's astral form meeting the ghost of Abe Lincoln (Late Night fans will recognize the writing style of Conan O'Brien here), 'Tales of Ribaldry' with foppish Jon Lovitz and Tom and Jon as Girl-Watchers (created by O'Brien and Robert Smigel) on an old age pensioners cruise. Very funny stuff. 9 out of 10
Next is a strange choice, even taking into account that these episodes were picked not for their host but for the Wayne's World it contained: a May 1989 show hosted by Wayne Gretzky. Wayne plays himself on his namesake's World, as well as in every other sketch. His wife Janet Jones appears in a pre-recorded dream sequence. Most of this episode's airtime is taken up by "Waikiki Hockey" , starring The Great One in an Elvis movie. It must be noted that Mike Myers was merely a featured player in this episode and Dana Carvey still dominated the show. Phil Hartman appears as the Anal-Retentive Sportsman along with Gretzky once again playing himself. Despite of this, the show has some amusing moments. 7 out of 10
The last and least represented show stars Delta Burke and the infamous 'Madonna Dream' Wayne's World. Yes, it's another pre-recorded dream sequence and like the previous episode, broadcast around Mothers day (almost exactly two years later) in May 1991. Madonna was obviously the key factor in adding this show, for her name is literally pasted all over the video box cover. The credits mention Chris's Farley and Rock, Julia Sweeney and Tim Meadows as featured performers, but only Meadows appears in a short Hollywood Minute skit (with Hartman doing Sinatra). By this time Mike Myers had hit it big, made evident by the inclusion of an early Coffee Talk skit which main interest is that he was still playing Linda Richman as a guy, Paul Baldwin. Sort of a cross between his mother in law and an older Wayne Cambell. This part has little going for it, unless your a big fan of the Material Girl. 5 out of 10
Average: 7 out of 10
