Terry Tate, Office Linebacker: Sensitivity Training

Terry Tate is back tackling the staff at Felcher & Sons with his usual indomitable style! This is another painfully funny episode and watching Triple T attempting to control the office germ without the use of his trademark tackles is another beautifully observed gem. It pokes more fun at office life and the way some people really do seem to be born to make other's lives difficult.

There's predictably some more timely wisdom from Ron Felcher, who is once again convinced that an Office Linebacker really is the only way to improve productivity by 46% and control the recent increase in horseplay!

Terry Tate's unique style of office justice has raised productivity by over 40% at Felcher & Sons but the CEO cannot show favourites. So when an employee claims Terry assaulted and insulted him, a sensitivity trainer is brought in to change the ways things work. Forced to scale back his violent style, Terry finds himself stuck at a desk, unable to tackle the foolishness all around him.

The main sequel to the original Terry Tate film continues the hard hitting, trash talking style of the original short film and it is still very funny, even if the "plot" forces it to spend some scenes just setting the film up. Tate is forced into the world of frustration and resentment that will ring true with many office workers (guy on speaker phone etc) and this carries the middle section of the film well, even if some viewers dislike the lack of impacts and shouting. The start and end of the film still has this and it works well, plenty of winces all round. The cast are all good – obviously the guy playing Tate is great fun and dominates the film but the guys being annoying and taking the hits deserve praise too. The sensitivity woman is a bit bland and appears to have been cast for her breasts – I'd have preferred it if she hadn't been so vampy but I suppose the plot required it.

Overall an enjoyable short film that is high in energy and will draw laughs from all of us who have watched our colleagues walk away from a paper jam in the photocopier.

As a college student, I know little or nothing about companies let alone office environment. However, as I imagine, it might not be so different from school; there are people who are strict about rules and those who are not. In this short film, Terry Tate (aka Office Linebacker) is a symbol of rules. He is relentless to anyone who corrupts office moral. I personally like the contrasts depicted in the film. The characteristics of Terry Tate is very simple but well considered. The first impression of him is a masculine, tough, and probably simple-minded guy. However, as the cases show up, it turns out that he also have many counter aspects to the impression, such as kindness, weakness, and working skills. One comic book writer told me that this is a classical technique to develop a personality of a character. In other words, to give two opposite aspects to the character can make him/her appear to be like a human. Contrasts are also used in the story line, such as that of the CEO and Terry Tate, and justice and damage caused by protecting justice. Overall, I like the short film. It was so short that I could watch it as if I read a comic book, and I would love to watch the succeeding series of Terry.

I happen to love the whole Terry Tate, Office Linebacker series, and I was happy about this new sequel. However, it wasn't quite up to par with the other ones. The only reason I really watch these is to see Terry bring down the Pain Train on some unsuspecting worker. In this one, there were not very many hits from Triple T. Still it's free online, and worth a look, if not for the hot sensitivity trainer.