The Amazing World of Gumball-The Amazing Volume 1 (2011)

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General		Extras
Category	Animation	None
Rating
Year Of Production	2011
Running Time	132
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Mic Graves
Studio Distributor	Cartoon Network Madman Entertainment	Starring	None Given
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	?	Music	Ben Locket

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 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

     Cartoon Network has been responsible for a number of new children's animated shows, especially in the comedy area such as Adventure Time, The Regular Show & this one, The Amazing World of Gumball. All of these are characterised by their wacky and off the wall humour combined with some social commentary. They are designed for children from about 7 or 8 probably up to mid-teens, although these particular shows have quite a decent adult following.

     This one features a not-so-normal American family, featuring the older son, Gumball (who is a cat), his adopted younger brother, Darwin (who is a goldfish with legs), their lazy and juvenile father, Richard (who is a rabbit) and their long suffering mother, Nicole (who is also a cat). They also have a younger sister Anais who is also a rabbit. Gumball and Darwin go to the same school where their friends are variously a ghost, a piece of toast, a T-Rex, a peanut with arms and legs and other bizarre characters. Gumball and Darwin get themselves into all sorts of trouble whether it is getting into fights, pranking friends, Gumball trying to admit his feelings for the girl he loves (the peanut) or being possessed by a ghost who wants to eat junk food. This show is quite funny with some great surreal humour, pratfalls and witty one liners.

     This one disc collection of episodes features 6 double episodes (12 stories in all - each of about 11 minutes) which are all from early in Season 1 of this show which began in 2011. Kids love the wacky humour in this show which stylistically is a mixture of 2D animation, real backgrounds plus a variety of 3D style animation mixed in. Interestingly, despite being set in America and made for a US network, this show was made in the UK & Ireland.

     Recommended (by me and my young sons).

Video

     The video quality is very good.

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

     The picture was quite clear and sharp throughout.

     The colour was very good without being stunning.

    There were no major artefacts.

     There are no subtitles.

     There are no obvious layer changes during playback.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

     The audio quality is very good.

     This disc contains a English soundtrack in either Dolby Digital 5.1 or Dolby Digital 2.0.

     Dialogue was generally clear and easy to hear and understand.

     The surround speakers were well used on the 5.1 track for atmosphere and some mild effects.

     The subwoofer was only used occasionally.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

    The menu was a simple affair allowing for episode selection.

    This series is available in Region 1 on about 3 separate one disc releases to date, however none of them directly correlates to this release. Have to call it a draw.

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio quality is very good.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall