User Reviews

That's right, it's come to this: a Home Improvement clip show. Better yet, an HOUR long clip show. This one will be dedicated to the best, worst, intriguing, embarrassing, memorable, creative and tragic moments on Tool Time. It all began when Tim went up to Hamtramack to his favorite Polish restaurant and got a jumbo take-out order for dinner that night. Polish food is Tim's main vice, even though it gives him severe indigestion. So, he stuffs himself with Polish cuisine and, as expected, he was wide awake at 3:30 in the morning with gastritis and stomach pains. He goes downstairs and plops on the couch, and while drinking stomach medicine from the bottle through a twisty straw, Tim peruses through the channels. Unfortunately, the only thing on is an in- depth surgical documentary and an incredibly tragic Mexican soap opera. He decides to look back on some fond memories, so he pops in an old Tool Time tape. That should help him sleep. First up, Tim watches the time the K&B boys appeared on the show and demonstrated how to make lunch on the job site. Then there was the time Tim lost control of a power sander, and remember when he glued his head to the table? The dumbkopf became too overconfident in working with glue, getting into a battle of wits with Al, and then when he knocked the stoppers off the table and bent down to retrieve them, his forehead smacked against the table and bonded with it. And then there was the time Bob Vila first guest starred on Tool Time. His head met with a piece of wood too, which was also Tim's fault.

After watching the classic episode where the K&B boys put on their own tool band and rock the day away, Tim gets a painful reminder of the time he fell through the roof of their project house. It's at this point Jill comes downstairs to join him on the couch. Good, she's just in time for the episode where Tim loses control of a bulldozer and smashes Al's tea set. Then, Al proves himself a secret Karate expert, which Tim finds out when he easily breaks a board with his head, and so the Tool Man tries itself and gives himself a skull fracture. Remember the lawnmower race with Bob Vila? How about the time Al claimed he could tell a piece of wood by its scent? Sure, he got the first two right, so Tim decided to play a trick on blindfolded Al by placing one of his socks on the board. It backfires right on his bare foot. Then, we move on to the time Al shows the viewers at home how to remove a broken bulb from a lamp using a potato...or rather Tim tries to demonstrate it while the lamp was plugged in and receives a shock. Then he takes a camera to the face when demonstrating a powerful magnet. And who could forget the time he plummeted right down into a porta-potty? Part 1 of our clip show concludes with the bittersweet tribute Tim gave to John Binford: a 21- nail gun salute...with predictable results. In the next part, we'll look at more Tool Time memories, such as the Man's Bathroom, when the Endeavor astronauts visited, the Color Al, the Man's Kitchen, and many more.

And so ends Home Improvement's first clip show, or the end of the first part anyway. For me personally, clip shows were okay when the show was still in production, because it was a chance to look back on older episodes and remember the first time you saw them. They're pretty pointless when the series is in syndication and the old shows air all the time. Not to mention the advent of DVDs. I don't think many shows do clip shows anymore. Even The Simpsons haven't done in 10 years. In Home Improvement's case, I guess they figured doing a Tool Time clip show would have more material than just family moments. So anyway, if you want to look back on old Tool Time memories and see how Tim lives the other half of his life...and wonder to yourself why he isn't either in a mental hospital or a casket, check out Tool Time After Dark. Stay tuned, for there is more to come.

Tim is still awake with indigestion, looking back on some fond memories of Tool Time. First up, remember when Tim set his sleeve on fire? How about the soundproof booth trick Tim played on Al? Bringing out a booth that he boasted was entirely soundproof. He walks in, makes a spectacle of himself and then invites Al to do the same. First, Al puts down Tim, then he sings "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General." Again, I'm not sure what point Tim was trying to prove by pulling this trick. If it was all an elaborate ruse to humiliate Al, then I guess he got pretty good mileage out of it, but still, a perfectly good waste of a booth. So anyway, on to the time the Space Shuttle Endeavor crew visited Tool Time, only to have Tim steal their tools. What a likable guy. And now, the Man's Bathroom. Remember this? Stainless steel, man's can, John's john and all that? I'm sure Tim wishes he actually had that bathroom about now, feeling sick to his stomach the way he was. Fortunately, Wilson seemed to be awake, so Tim goes outside in the cold to chat with him. It doesn't really go anywhere, so Tim goes back inside to watch some more Tool Time's Greatest Hits. Remember when Tim painted Al? Meaning, he actually made a color out of him and then painted him right on a wall? What'll they think of next?

Remember when Tim fashioned himself a pair of pneumatic hydraulic drywall stilts? He went through the roof. Then, after he and Al compete with left-handed pruning shears, it's time to revisit another Man's relic from the past: the Man's Kitchen. It came fully equipped with a Binford Macrowave that will nuke a potato, a stainless steel fridge containing a live butcher (Benny), and then Tim proceeds to waste two perfectly good slabs of meat by pouring 20 pounds of salt all over them and throwing them away. Moving on... after Tim literally loses his shirt, courtesy of a powerful lathe, it's on to... THAT one. Remember when Tim was allowed to operate a crane? Or rather, the time he forced his way into a crane cab? Remember where he dropped that beam? Thankfully, Jill was still fast asleep on the couch when that clip came on. But now, they've saved the best for last: where it all began, figuratively speaking, the Tool Time "pilot". You remember that from Season 3's "Fifth Anniversary"? Mrs. Binford was the tool girl, Tim had a beard, and Al did not. If you recall, they were driving stakes. Al got hurt, and if you listen closely to the audio as the camera does a loop- around to move in on a sleeping Tim holding a Tool Time video box, you can hear the aftermath: Al smarting over his injury and openly wondering why Tim got a show like this. Because Binford was a moron, that's why, Al. I'm sorry, but it's true.

And there you have it. Tool Time After Dark, looking back on episodes of the show within a show from the first four seasons. I'm surprised they didn't do another one of these in Season 8 to look back on moments from Season 4 onward. Just as well, because the show got completely ridiculous after that. Tool Time becomes a complete and utter joke, and it's just more of the same: Tim doing something stupid and either he or Al get hurt because of it. Just gimmick after gimmick, trying so hard for a laugh. At least the Tool Times of the first four seasons had more substance, which is all put on display in this hour-long clip show. If you want to look back on classic moments such as the Man's Kitchen, Tim falling through a porta-potty, setting his sleeve on fire, getting electrocuted, falling through a roof, dropping a beam on Jill's car, the Man's Bathroom, the K&B boys making a jamming tool band, and so on, then I suggest popping in Home Improvement seasons on DVD...or just watch this episode. Either way, you'll have a good time. Tool Time may be a stupid show, but there is a charm to it. It balances Home Improvement out nicely and is a prominent staple to the series... but, as I said before, both become utterly ridiculous in the later seasons. Incidentally, after Tim watched all these clips, you think he'll learn from his mistakes? Looking back and maybe thinking, "I shouldn't have done that?" Nah, probably not.