The Brick Connection – A novice Lego fan explores the great brick world of LEGO

Ho, Ho, Ho my fellow LEGO fans, the holiday season is in full swing now!

And while some people might fine this a stressful time of year, I find it to be quite the opposite. It’s the time of year to relax. Lay on the couch, eat a lot of delicious holiday treats, binge-watch one of those shows all your friends keep talking about, but you’ve been too busy to watch. It’s the ultimate “Treat Yo Self.” Regale in the joy of the holiday season and leave all of life’s problems to be solved in the new year.

Speaking of binge-watching, it’s time again to take a look at our favorite relatively internet-famous minifigures, Ian and Chris from Minilife TV.

For those not in the know, I have previously reviewed the first two seasons of this YouTube LEGO stop-motion animation series. Season 1 here and season 2 here. Now I will take a look at season 3.

A quick recap: Chris and Ian decide to start their own TV show called Minilife TV. “A show about everything.” So the show is about them doing their show. It’s a show within a show! They have many quirky and random adventures, along with some hilariously weird commentary on important issues. The wacky cast of supporting characters includes Snowball the vampire, Archie the robot, Michael, Claire, Death, guy with no arms, and annoying cashier guy.

When we last left Chris and Ian, their friend Michael had turned into a giant green monster after an experiement gone wrong. Michael then ate Chris and Ian. They are stuck in his Michael's monster stomach with Jack the Janitor. What will happen next...

Here is the YouTube playlist for Minilife TV Season 3:

Episode 31: Mini-Monster Mayhem – It’s up to Snowball the vampire to save Chris and Ian from the monster version of Michael. He asks Claire to help him and fortunately, as we know from last season, she just started taking an intro to magic class. Will Chris and Ian being saved? Will Michael be un-monstered?!

Nice special effects in this one. Also, we get to see someone in their birthday suit. Oo la la!

Funny Lines:

Snowball the vampire: Is it really necessary to wear that [wizard] hat to cast a spell?

Claire: Is it really necessary for you to wear a Dracula cape all the time?

Snowball the vampire: Fair enough

Episode 32: That’s So Gay! – Don’t let the title fool you. This episode is not meant to be insensitive to the gay community. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Chris and Ian make it their mission to change the connotation of the phrase “that’s so gay” from an insult to something positive. They take it waaaaaay too far though; like in a creepy, stalker way.

This might be my favorite episode in the first 3 seasons. Lots of laughs…literally out loud.

Funny Lines:

Chris: Can we do it after we eat? I don’t like to change people’s lives on an empty stomach.

Todd: Do these inspirational moments happen to you guys a lot during breakfast?

Chris: No, it’s usually during lunch.

Episode 33: WORLD RECORD BREAKING!!! – Chris and Ian attempt to break the record of number of heads stacked on top of each other. Apparently, the record was 194,160 so they got 194,161 people to volunteer their heads for the attempt. But did they do it? You’ll have to see for yourself.

Episode 34: Of Pancakes & Baseball Caps – An ordinary morning for Chris and Ian takes a dark, mysterious turn. Also, time travel and a cliffhanger!

Funny Lines:

Future Chris to present day Chris: Do you really think I would play a prank on myself?!

Episode 35: Of Pancakes & Baseball Caps Part 2 – The conclusion to the previous episode. My favorite character, Death, makes an appearance and we learn his real name. Also, we find out whose voice we heard in episode 1. Overall, a funny and interesting commentary on religion. Or it’s all just silly nonsense. Funny nonetheless.

Funny Lines

Chris: I’m going to meet God, wearing my pajamas.

Chris: But..I don’t believe in you.

God: Well gee, that’s kind of mean. I believe in you.

Episode 36: The Late Night Snowball – Another episode of Minilife City’s favorite late night talk show. Snowball’s guest is a newsman named Robert Vylan who is actually an evil mastermind named Malifios from the planet Figuria. He tries to convince Snowball to be evil with him and destroy Minilife City. But hey, not all vampires are evil! Stop the stereotype! Also, a mention of that whole, Ian became mayor of Minilife City thing from season 1.

Funny Lines

Snowball: That’s a stereotype!

Robert Vylan/Malifios: Well I don’t know anything about types of stereo. In fact I get most of my records in mono.

Episode 37: Poking the Pilot – Chris and Ian get into a prank war with their new friend, God. Not a good idea. God pranks them by putting them through multiple alternate realities of their lives. And some of them are pretty dark. Have you ever wondered what would happened if Chris and Ian switched outfits? You don’t want to know.

Funny Lines

Ian: Today we’re going to show you how to cook a full eight course meal without any ingredients.

Episode 38: The Late Night Snowball – Chris and Ian’s gay friend, Todd McFabulous appears on the show. Chris and Ian are watching the show, but Chris gets sidetracked when he finds out Ian has been using his facebook. I would transcribe their entire exchange about this for my list of funny lines, but instead I'll just leave you with these couple moments.

Funny Lines

Chris: How did you find out my password?

Ian: Chris, come on, you used the classic password formula. Your favorite number, your must spoken abstract noun, underscore, the name of your favorite Spanish soap opera, your favorite number times three, pound sign, and the name of the current president. Everyone does that!

Chris: Are you the reason I’ve been receiving so many messages from anthrophamorphic cats?

Ian: Well, I’ve also kind of been using your name in an underground gang I’ve been participating in for the last couple months. Guess they must have found me…er, you on facebook.

Chris: *Sighs* You’re lucky you’re pretty.

Episode 39: One Year Anniversary – Chris and Ian celebrate one year of Minilife TV. It’s a great callback to episode 1 and a tribute to the entire cast of crazy characters. Dummy demolitions FTW!

Funny Lines

Ian thanking people: …and of course our great production team that we’ve all come to know and love. I can’t remember any of their names at the moment, but gosh I love them!

Episode 40: A Day in the Life of [Melvin] the Ninja – It’s another day in the life episode like the one about Death from season 1. This time we follow Melvin the Ninja. Apparently it’s hard out there for a ninja.

Funny Lines

Annoying Cashier Guy: Hi, how are you doing today?

Melvin: 28, single, and still living with my mother. How do you think I’m doing.?

Annoying Cashier Guy: Sounds good to me!

Episode 41: Trouble Ian Paradise – Hey! We get to see Ian performing his mayoral duties. Chris still doesn’t know that Ian is the mayor of Minilife City. Ian’s double life starts to cause issues with Chris. Will Ian finally confess his secret?! Also, lots of fun callbacks to previous episodes.

Funny Lines

Chris to Ian: Pee for your life!

Episode 42: Snowball’s Birthday – It’s Snowball’s first birthday and Chris and Ian are planning a surprise party. We get a flashback to when Chris and Ian first created Snowball and learn how he got his name. Snowball’s party preparation goes awry. Cliffhanger!

Episode 43: Snowball’s Birthday Part 2 – Snowball ends up in a parallel universe. All of his friends are there, but they’re different and don’t know who Snowball is. Fortunately, parallel universe Chris and Ian and their monster friend, Damien try to help Snowball get back to his universe.

Episode 44: City Hall – Oh my gosh!! It’s a parody of one of my favorite TV shows, Parks and Recreation!! YAAAAAY!! Chris shows off City Hall. This documentary style episode of Minilife TV includes knowing looks at the camera and little interviews directly to camera that we in the TV business call "talking heads." LOVE IT! (I'm actually not in the TV business.)

Funny Lines

Snowball: Hey, Ian.

Ian: Oh my god, Snowball! Do you ever shut-up?!

Episode 45: Season Finale!!! – Minilife TV ups the weird factor again with the season finale. I don’t even know if I fully understand what was happening in the first half of this episode. An evil group is introduced as a future foil of Chris and Ian. Also, Chris has a friend coming to visit. There’s not really a cliffhanger, but obviously there is a lot of weird, crazy stuff ahead for Chris and Ian in season 4.

Funny Lines

Ian: It’ll be nice to meet Abel in person after you told me so much about him in our off-camera conversations.

So there you have it; season 3 of Minilife TV. Probably my favorite season yet. So many great throw away lines and funny plots. Thanks to the real Chris and Ian for another great season. I look forward to doing a blog post for season 4 the next time I run out of interesting things to talk about…soooo probably very soon.

Until next time…don’t move off that couch! No really, it’s the holiday season. Treat yo self to at least 45 episodes of Minilife TV. 

*Compliments, general feedback, and constructive criticism are welcome. Any haters that are gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate can go step on some Lego with their bare feet.*