Friday Vid Picks: Man Vs. Beast

There is an unrivaled purity of concept in FOX’s late Man vs. Beast specials. The show, which originally aired in 2003, lived up to its name by pitting human beings against animals in a variety of competitions, including a tug-of-war, a foot race, and a hot-dog eating contest.

The closest we come to combating the animal world in our day-to-day lives typically involves a battle with a kitten over a tin of cat food, though my own father has personally been waging his own war against the resident deer population, installing a fence and super high-pitched sound emitters. Below, following in Melville’s tradition, some other intrepid warriors do battle with the animal kingdom — with varying degrees of success.

Motion-Activated Sprinkler Vs. Pigeons

This reminds me of the sentry-gun scene in Aliens. I can just see the pigeons figuring out how to circumvent this machine and get to Ridley — I mean, the spa.

Elephant vs. Little People

I first heard about this show via an urgent e-mail telling me to: “TUNE INTO FOX! A small army of little people is racing an elephant to see who can pull a plane faster!!!!” Truer words have never been e-mailed — excessive punctuation, capitalization and all.

Childproof Drawer

A young Scooby-Doo villain finds himself stymied by the wherewithal of a meddling pooch.

Kangaroo vs. Man

While I’d seen it a million times in Looney Tunes, I wasn’t convinced that kangaroos could actually box until the magic of YouTube brought this clip to me. What a strange marriage Mr. and Mrs. Kangaroo-Wranglers/Promoters must have.

Hunter Gets His Butt Kicked By A Deer

A deer in a rut is a force to be reckoned with. Perhaps I shouldn’t make so light of my father’s cervine crusade.