Noddy-Noddy and the New Taxi (2002)

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General		Extras
Category	Childrens	Main Menu Introduction Main Menu Audio & Animation Game-Explore Toyland, Picture Puzzle Music Video-Sing-Along
Rating
Year Of Production	2002
Running Time	64:26 (Case: 71)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Byron Vaughns
Studio Distributor	Chorion Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	None Given
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$19.95	Music	Steve Bernstein Julie Bernstein

    Noddy is a taxi driver in Toyland, a magical place where toys come to life. There are six of Noddy's adventures on this DVD, each of them offering good entertainment and lessons for children.

    1. Too Many Noddies (10:50) - Big Ears demonstrates a magic spell to Noddy and explains to him that magic should only be used for good, non-selfish reasons. The temptation is too great for Noddy and he abuses the benefits of the spell, creating havoc in Toyland.

    2. Noddy & The New Taxi (10:49) - Noddy is met with some competition when the goblins establish a rival taxi service. Greed soon takes over the goblins and they decide to sabotage Noddy's car so that they can have the market to themselves.

    3. Noddy & The Magic Bagpipes (10:49) - Big Ears gives Noddy his magic bagpipes, with strict instructions to play them daily. Noddy fails to adhere to the rules and the bagpipes take on a will of their own.

    4. Noddy Has A Visitor (10:46) - Noddy hosts a party for all his friends, but one guest refuses to leave. When he realises that the guest is outstaying their welcome he cleverly persuades them to go home.

    5. Noddy's Perfect Gift (10:32) - Noddy is stuck for gift ideas when it comes to Tessie Bear's birthday. After many suggestions from his friends he discovers that the best gifts come from the heart.

    6. Noddy's Lucky Day (10:40) - Mr. Sparks the mechanic offers Noddy a free trial of his new fortune telling machine, but Noddy is left disappointed after the machine promises him a lucky day that turns out to be anything but.

    Noddy and his friends were conceived by author Enid Blyton and originally developed into a series in the 70s using stop motion animation. This new production solely uses computer animation and in my opinion lacks any of the character of the original series, coming across as rather clinical in comparison. The original series was superbly narrated by Richard Briers, however he is unfortunately not responsible for the characterisations in this new production.

    Noddy is a fun and worthwhile program for children. Although this new series doesn't manage to match the magic of the original, it is still miles ahead of many other children's shows.

Video

    This video transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, and contrary to the disc's sleeve this is certainly not a 16x9 transfer.

    The quality of the computer animation is first class and comes across with a superb degree of detail. Along with the high degree of sharpness comes a little aliasing but this is restricted to a few minor jagged edges here and there. The colour palette is bright and bold at all times, with no examples of bleeding or oversaturation. Low level noise is similarly absent in this transfer.

    Compression artefacts are nowhere to be found in this transfer.

    There are no subtitles on this single layered disc.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    There is only one audio track included on the disc, an English Dolby Digital stereo track encoded at 224Kb/s.

    The character's mouth movements vaguely follow the dialogue that is heard, and don't present any major problems. I personally found the voice characterisations to be a little bland and lifeless, particularly the voice of Noddy.

    There are many great examples of stereo panning and the use of directional sound effects is very good indeed. I attempted to process the stereo soundtrack with Pro Logic II but the results were less than impressive.

    The soundtrack music is entirely electronic but succeeds in bringing across the playful nature of the show with ease.

    There was obviously no surround activity or subwoofer response in this soundtrack.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

    The main menu is preceded by a brief introduction that gives the viewer a quick tour of Toyland. The main menu itself is animated and features an audio clip from the show's theme.

Games (2)

• Explore Toyland - The viewer is presented with 5 short stories and must correctly answer a simple question after each in order to progress. An incorrect answer returns you to the beginning.
• Picture Puzzles - There are a series of spot-the-difference puzzles that can be solved using the remote control. The puzzles appear to be randomly generated and offer different selections each time.

Sing Along Song (2:05)

    This is simply an extended version of the show's theme, accompanied by burned-in subtitles so that kids can sing along.

    The video transfer is colourful and sharp.

    The audio transfer is a very well mixed, spacious stereo soundtrack.

    A couple of well thought-out extras are included and should present a challenge to kids who are adept with a remote control.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall