On the Buses-Series 2 (1969)

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    On The Buses - Series 2 is a show I remember fondly from my early youth. It is another of those shows that I used to watch avidly, and found to be rather funny. I also used to own a Sinclair ZX81 computer, with 1K of memory and a membrane keyboard, with programs entered by typing basic listings for hours on end from the early computing magazines. The ZX81 was a passable computer in those days, but is nothing more than an historical oddity now. I fear that the same can now be said for On The Buses.

    The show revolves around the life of Luxton bus driver Stan Butler (the twinkling Reg Varney) and his extended family, living in London during the late 1960s. Butler is supported by his lecherous, chain-smoking offsider Jack, played by Bob Grant. Sexually deprived sister Olive is portrayed by Anna Karen along with her acerbic husband Arthur (the always droll Michael Robbins). One of the standing jokes which runs through every episode of every series (and the three subsequent movies) is the disdain with which Arthur treats Olive. At the time this seemed funny. Now, it just seems sad. The cuddly but slightly daffy Mum is played by Doris Speed.

    Stan and Jack are forever trying to outsmart Inspector Blake (an occasionally funny Hitler caricature by Stephen Lewis). Their main aim in life is to pick up "birds", rort the system as often as possible and do as little work as is humanly possible. The swinging sixties were coming to an end as this series aired, but the sexual innuendo which became so prevalent among comedies of the time is refreshingly underplayed in this one. Some of the set-ups are still mildly amusing, but only because of the naiveté of the humour and the sense of nostalgia they evoke.

    The six episodes on offer are as follows:

• Family Flu - Stan has to look after the entire family as they succumb to the flu. Cookery is clearly not one of his greatest strengths.
• The Used Combination - Arthur acquires a rickety old motorcycle and sidecar combination. Stan's attempts to repair the gearbox do not go to plan.
• Self Defence - Blakey teaches the crew the oriental art of the open fist after Stan and Jack are roughed up by some Saturday night thugs.
• Aunt Maude - Stan's Auntie comes to stay and brings little Marcus (a huge hound) along for the holiday. Stan gets very little sleep as he has to share a bed with Arthur.
• Late Again - Stan oversleeps yet again after a night out on the town with the mini-skirted Doreen.
• Bon Voyage - The bus garage holiday is about to get underway. Jack and Stan are looking forward to a cracking time with the "birds" - if they ever make it to Spain.

    On The Buses - Series 2 is no longer very entertaining. There may be a naive charm about the cardboard sets and the innocent double-entendres, but that's about it. I found the hammy acting and the need to try and get a laugh from every second line (whether funny or not) annoying. Possibly the main redeeming feature is the charm of the characters, who (provided you don't watch too many episodes in sequence) are still capable of raising the odd smile. This is really a series which will best be enjoyed by die-hard fans, or old UK comedy collectors. There is nothing of significant comedy value here for the casual DVD buyer looking for a laugh.

Video

    The video quality of this transfer is adequate given its age, but is a little ragged around the edges.

    The series is presented in a fullscreen ratio of 1.33:1, which is of course the original televised aspect ratio. The video quality is rather variable although it has been encoded at a surprisingly high bitrate, averaging over 7 Mbps. The contrast between the grainy outside location shots and the much crisper studio set is rather obvious and somewhat jarring.

    The series is presented in it's original black and white, although cross colouration and overmodulation provide annoying speckles of colour throughout. Greyscale is acceptable generally. Black levels are just acceptable but shadow detail is poor in the darker outdoor shots.

    There is some noticeable aliasing and shimmer in the image, with moire effects cropping up whenever items such as striped pyjamas or shirts appear. Edge enhancement is not noticeable. Telecine wobble crops up from time to time, but is most obvious during the title sequences.

    There are many brief glitches in the video, with the odd dropped frame and jump apparent. The transfer is riddled with scratches, flecks and other film artefacts throughout. These are perhaps unsurprising, but unwelcome nevertheless.

    Unfortunately, given the likely age of its primary audience, there are no subtitles available.

    The episodes are presented on two single layered, single sided (DVD 5) formatted discs, so there is no layer change present on either one.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The overall audio transfer is acceptable for a television series of this age.

    The sole English audio track is presented in Dolby Digital 2.0 mono, encoded at a measly 192 kbps.

    Dialogue is generally clear and there are no issues with audio sync. The canned/studio laughter is often overly loud, as seemed to be the norm in those days, and is mildly irritating. It does manage to drown out some dialogue, for example the punch line in Arthur's dialogue at 22:23 in Episode 1.

    The musical score is used only during the title sequences and is generally jaunty and did bring back a few memories. Music is, however, not a major component of this series.

    The surrounds and subwoofer are, of course, unused.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    There are no extras on these discs.

Menu

    The menus are static, silent, vibrantly coloured cartoons of the main actors in front of a cartoon bus. They each allow the meagre options of selecting individual episodes or playing them all in series.

    This disc does not appear to be available in Region 1. In Region 2, the series is available as two individual discs, featuring three episodes each, or as part of a four disc box set carrying all the episodes from Series 1 and 2. They seem to be similarly bare-boned efforts. Buy whichever is cheapest.

    On The Buses - Series 2 is television for a different generation. The humour does not stand up well against the best of more recent British shows (Linda Green, The League of Gentlemen) but does stand the test of time better than some of its contemporaries (Love Thy Neighbour for instance). One for fans or collectors only I would suggest.

    The video quality is adequate for a thirty-year old series, but is little better than VHS standard.

    The audio transfer is adequate, given the source material.

    There are no extras present.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall