Thomas & Friends-Thomas and the Jet Engine (1998) |
BUY IT |
General | Extras | ||
Category | Family |
Menu Animation & Audio Scene Selection Anim & Audio Karaoke-Thomas We Love You; Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover Karaoke-Rockin' On The Railway |
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Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 1998 | ||
Running Time | 50:50 | ||
RSDL / Flipper | No/No | Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Menu | ||
Region Coding | 1,2,3,4,5,6 | Directed By | David Mitton |
Studio
Distributor |
Roadshow Home Entertainment |
Starring | Michael Angelis |
Case | Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip | ||
RPI | $29.95 | Music |
Mike O'Donnell Junior Campbell |
Video | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None | English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) | |
Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.56:1 | ||
16x9 Enhancement | No | ||
Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | Unknown | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | No | ||
Subtitles | English for the Hearing Impaired | Smoking | No |
Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
Action In or After Credits | No |
There are nine episodes on this disc, each running for just over five minutes. Most of the old familiar characters from the island of Sodor are here; Henry, Gordon, Percy and the Fat Controller - and some new faces are introduced, including Jack the Digger-loader and Elizabeth the Vintage Lorry. Each episode has a moral or theme that intends to teach children the value of friendship - sometimes in a not-so-subtle way, but entertaining all the same. These episodes are playable separately or all together in one fifty minute block.
This is a generally good video transfer, with very few problems to be concerned about.
The transfer is framed at 1.56:1 and is not 16x9 enhanced. It appears that the same video source as the VHS release has been used for this DVD transfer. I would not be surprised if the director's intended ratio is 1.78:1.
The picture is pleasantly sharp and very easy on the eyes. Black levels appeared bold and true and there were no instances of low level noise.
Colours were bright and managed to maintain the attention of my youngest gremlin for a surprisingly long time. There were no signs of bleeding or oversaturation.
I didn't notice any signs of over-compression, which surprised me a little. Aliasing was quite well controlled considering the sharpness inherent in the transfer. Although there were a few minor examples present, they are hardly worth mentioning.
English hard of hearing subtitles were activated by default on my player. After watching them for a few minutes, I had to turn them off manually. Both of the English subtitle tracks appeared to be true to the spoken word and were paced accurately with the action on screen.
Given its short runtime, this disc is single layered.
Sharpness | |
Shadow Detail | |
Colour | |
Grain/Pixelization | |
Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
Film Artefacts | |
Overall |
I found the audio transfer unremarkable to say the least.
There is only one audio track present on this disc; English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s).
Both the narration and the character voices were very easy to understand at all times. None of the characters have moving lips, so sync wasn't an issue at all.
Besides the very recognisable theme song to the series, the musical interludes were limited to segue pieces, aiding the flow of the story and signalling when the story was moving along.
Although I did attempt to engage Pro Logic decoding, there were no examples of surround activity or subwoofer response. There was a little bit of panning evident in the stereo soundfield, but that's it.
Dialogue | |
Audio Sync | |
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
Surround Channel Use | |
Subwoofer | |
Overall |
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
I would definitely rate our nine episode compilation over the Region 1, for the length of our program and the absence of an American voice-over on our version of the series.
Video | |
Audio | |
Extras | |
Plot | |
Overall |
Review Equipment | |
DVD | Pioneer DV-525, using Component output |
Display | Panasonic TX76PW10A 76cm Widescreen 100Hz. Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable. |
Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
Amplification | Denon AVR-2802 Dolby EX/DTS ES Discrete |
Speakers | Orpheus Aurora lll Mains (bi-wired), Rears, Centre Rear. Orpheus Centaurus .5 Front Centre. Mirage 10 inch sub. |