Wizards vs Aliens-Series 1 (2012)

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General		Extras
Category	Science Fiction	Main Menu Audio & Animation Deleted Scenes Outtakes
Rating
Year Of Production	2012
Running Time	329:00
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Joss Agnew Daniel O'Hara Griff Rowland
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	None Given
Case	?
RPI	$19.95	Music	Sam Watts Dan Watts

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     How far can you go, making spinoffs from spinoffs? Well the new Doctor Who spawned The Sarah Jane Adventures which ran for 5 seasons until the untimely death of lead actress Elisabeth Sladen, who also played the same character in older seasons of the original Doctor Who. So then what can the producers do, now that they can't make any more of The Sarah Jane Adventures? Well, the answer is this series, Wizards Vs Aliens, now in its second season on UK television. It is aimed at the same demographic, pre-teens and young teens and has quite a similar feel to it, focused on young earth dwelling humans fighting off alien invasions.

     This series is not a straight clone of the previous one and has a few differences. This time the aliens are a specific race, The Nekross (led by a character voiced by the wonderful Brian Blessed) and they are trying to steal all the magic on earth for their consumption. They do this by capturing all the wizards on earth and sucking their magic out of them making them very old very quickly. The resistance is led by young wizard Tom (Scott Haran) who is still learning his craft and his geeky mate, Benny (Percelle Ascott). They are assisted by Tom's grandmother, Ursula (Annette Badland, who Doctor Who fans will recognise) who is also a wizard. An interesting 'rule' in this particular version of wizardry is that they can only cast three spells a day each.

     This series is quite good for young fans of Doctor Who or Sarah Jane, however it doesn't really go anywhere too different from those series and so feels somewhat formulaic. It is fun and quite exciting and worth a watch, certainly for the core audience. The first season includes 12 episodes, split into six, two-part stories across 2 DVDs.

     Worth a look!

Video

     The video quality is good.

     The series is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio which is the original aspect ratio. It is 16x9 enhanced.

     The picture was reasonably clear and sharp throughout although was affected by some graininess which sometimes trended into mild macro-blocking. Shadow detail was good.

     The colour is very vibrant, occasionally too much so. There is also a little chroma noise at times.

     Other than those mentioned above the only artefacts were some motion blur during fast motion and a little aliasing.

     There are no subtitles.

    There is no obvious layer change during the episodes.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     The audio quality is good.

     The discs contain an English soundtrack in Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo. The sound is obviously quite front focused.

     Dialogue was a bit difficult to understand at times and subtitles would certainly have been useful.

     The music sounds great and fits the show well, although does tend to drown out the dialogue at times.

     The surround speakers and subwoofer were not used.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

     The menu featured an intro, music and motion and was themed to the show.

Deleted Scenes (14:06)

     A decent selection of deleted and alternate scenes.

Outtakes (1:52)

     Mostly laughing and silliness. Nothing too exciting.

    This show is available in the UK in the same format. There is also a Blu-ray version in the UK.

    The video quality is good.

    The audio quality is good.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall