Bob the Builder-The Knights of Can-A-Lot (2003)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Childrens	Main Menu Introduction Main Menu Audio Notes-Meet Bob's Parents Gallery-Bob's Photo Album Web Links
Rating
Year Of Production	2003
Running Time	43:13
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Sarah Ball
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Jimmy Hibbert Brenda Blethyn Richard Briers Kate Harbour Neil Morrissey
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$19.95	Music	Paul K. Joyce

    With his father going headlong into the project, Bob, Wendy and the crew head to the ancient castle where they find more work than they ever expected. With the mischievous Spud along for fun and mayhem, it's all the crew can do to stay focused on the work at hand. Still, Bob's dad seems more than willing to take the lead role in the whole production, and that annoys Bob the Builder as it's he that is known around the land as the man who can fix it all. As the gang works in restoring the castle, Bob tries to think of a way to approach his father and tell him that he's older now and capable of doing the job all on his own.

    But when Bob finds a secret tunnel in the castle that leads to a mysterious place, Bob might just find something that will bring he and his father together like never before.

    This is the third offering of Bob the Builder on DVD here in Region 4. The first two packages (Bob the Builder: Skateboard Spud and Bob the Builder: Pilchard Steals the Show ) were collections of episodes from the popular series, while this is a stand-alone mini film, a sort of extended episode if you will. As Bob the Builder episodes generally run for 10 minutes, this is a different type of episode for the little ones, but perfect for those who've grown up with Bob and want to see a bit more. As my own son's attention span has lengthened, so has the success of this type of show been assured. The characters of Bob and his fun crew are quite popular and those who are fans of this series will love this programme as well. It features some slightly more sophisticated camera work and the soundtrack is a bit more animated than usual, but it is still very much in the style of the popular show and the little ones will have a ball with this. If your child is a fan of this fantastic programme, then look no further than this disc for the next present for them. My son loves this, and I've seen it almost 10 times before writing this review. No doubt you'll do the same when you get it for your significant little friend. Enjoy!

Video

    This show is presented full frame (1.33:1) and looks to be the original and intended aspect ratio. With the Pilchard collection, we got the show in a matted aspect ratio of 1.66:1 without 16x9 enhancement and this looks to be the newer intended aspect ratio for the show. However, as this film was made before the show went into its 'widescreen' phase, we have the old full frame style on offer.

    The image here is reasonably sharp and is consistent with that seen in the previous offerings of the series. Shadow detail is adequate, but not a real issue as much of this series is so brightly lit. There is a somewhat extended darker portion of this programme, but I found the shadow detail to be quite acceptable. Low level noise isn't a problem here.

    Colour's use here is slightly exaggerated, but as this is an animated series for children, this is probably expected. There are many bright, simple colours used in this show's palette, and these are used to good effect. This disc seems able to portray these colours quite well.

    This show features a reasonable transfer to DVD with the average bitrate coming in at about 6.50 Mb/s. This is reasonably high and more than enough to provide the material with a decent portrayal on DVD. The print used for the transfer to DVD is quite clean and apart from some minor grain, I had no real issues in regards to the film used to transfer this programme to the disc. Unlike the first two offerings of this popular show, interlacing is completely absent with this programme. Edge enhancement is kept at bay and many of the expected nasties seem to keep away from this offering.

    There is only one subtitle option available here, that being an English stream. This is quite accurate and is more than able to convey the meaning of the goings-on on screen.

    This disc is formatted single layer and as such, there is no layer change.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    There is only one audio option here, that being an English Dolby Digital 2.0 surround encoded audio track.

    I found the dialogue quality to be quite good and at no time did I have any issues concerning the intelligibility of the material. For a 'claymation' animation programme, the audio sync is fairly accurate.

    Music for this programme comes from series score composer Paul K. Joyce. Whilst slightly more intricate than the score afforded the series, this is still very much in keeping with what we've seen in the show in previous offerings.

    This disc presents the audio in English Dolby Digital 2.0 surround encoded. This, as with the previous offerings, is fairly simple, but adequate enough to convey the emotion and intent of the programme. As the soundtrack is quite undemanding, the LFE channel doesn't really have much to do.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

• Play Feature
• Select A Scene (static image, Chapter number and Chapter title)
• Extras

• Subtitles On / Off (English)
• Meet Bob's Parents (Single page for each with brief introduction)
• Bob's Photo Album (26 static images from the film presented in Polaroid fashion)
• Bob's Website (www.bobthebuilder.com ) web link

     This disc was released in Region 1 in March of 2003 under the title of Bob the Builder: The Knights of Fix-A-Lot. From what little information I can gather (there are precious few reviews of Bob the Builder DVDs in Region 1), the Region 1 disc is a bare bones affair and features the North American dub which is standard practice for American releases of the Bob the Builder series in the North America. As we get some extras here as well as the original U.K. audio mix, along with local affordability and availability, the Region 4 disc would easily be the version of choice here.

    The video is adequate.

    The audio is adequate.

    There are a couple of simple extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall