The Borrowers-Series 1 (1992)

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General		Extras
Category	Adventure	Menu Animation & Audio Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Blue Peter Interviews Gallery-Photo Quiz Trailer-The Borrowers Series 2
Rating
Year Of Production	1992
Running Time	173:08 (Case: 184)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (4:42)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	John Henderson
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Ian Holm Penelope Wilton Rebecca Callard Paul Cross Daniel Newman Siān Phillips David Ryall Tony Haygarth Stanley Lebor Pamela Cundell Victoria Donovan
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$24.95	Music	Howard Goodall

    Mary Norton was born in England in 1903, and her first book, The Magic Bedknob, was published in 1943. Her second, in 1947, was Bonfires and Broomsticks. These were later combined into a single story: Bedknobs and Broomsticks, made into a movie by Disney and starring Angela Lansbury. In 1952 she published the first of an award winning series, The Borrowers.

    The first book in the series won the Carnegie Medal, the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award, and was named an ALA Distinguished Book. Later books in the series are The Borrowers Afield (1955), The Borrowers Afloat (1959), The Borrowers Aloft (1961), Poor Stainless: A New Story About the Borrowers (1971), and The Borrowers Avenged (1982).

    The story follows the lives of a group of very small people (about 15cm high) that live in the walls and under the floorboards of normal people's houses. They survive by 'borrowing' things from the house and its occupants. They are very very careful about not being seen because terrible things happen to borrowers that are seen. The humans invariably call in the rat catchers or worse believing that they have vermin in the house. It is a very dangerous existence and one that makes them very careful about everything, especially going out into the house or worse into the big wide world.

    This first series revolves around a particular family of borrowers. The father, Pod, is played by Ian Holm (Lord of the Rings, Fifth Element, Alien, just to name a few) and he is absolutely brilliant in the part. He is totally believable as a 15cm high specialist in borrowing and really makes this series something special. His wife, Homily, is played by Penelope Wilton and is a slightly dizzy character that is a great one for Pod to play against. Their only child is a daughter called Arrietty, played by Rebecca Callard who also does a good job of making this series both fun and believable.

    The special effects are actually very good when you take into consideration that this show was made in 1992 and that it was made as a TV series. They mainly take the form of either blue screen type effects or very oversized props. While the blue screen does occasionally not work quite correctly (the proportions are wrong or there is shimmer around the characters), most of the time the world they inhabit seems perfectly real. This is reinforced by the excellent work of the cast in interacting with the large props or acting in front of the blue screen and making the whole package work.

    While the first couple of episodes are bogged down a little in setting up the world and may move a little slowly for the younger viewers, from there the series quickly picks up and there is action aplenty to keep both the kids and the adults on the edge of their seats. There are six episodes in the first series:

Episode 1: (29:09) The first episode sets the scene and introduces us to the main characters and starts to show us what it is like to be only 15cm high. We find out that they are the only borrowers in the house and also meet the humans that co-inhabit the house. The first of a series of problems start with Pod 'being seen'. Arrietty, who has never been allowed out of their below the floorboards home, is introduced to the art of borrowing.

Episode 2: (29:02) While on a trip out Arrietty is seen. Thankfully this is by a young boy that is living in the house and he does not have the usual adult reaction to the borrowers. Unfortunately, his naivety later leads to problems but initially Arrietty asks him to deliver a letter to a place she hopes might hold another family of borrowers.

Episode 3: (29:14) Things look too good to be true with their new human friend bringing them more presents than they know what to do with. Unfortunately, it is too good and the family of borrowers is discovered and the rat catcher is called in.

Episode 4: (28:16) The first two thirds of this episode are a wonderfully crafted and tense escape sequence with the rat catcher on the job and poisonous gas being pumped into the wall cavities. The last third sees our family out in the big wide world, and when you are only 15cm high the world is very big indeed.

Episode 5: (29:12) The family have taken up refuge in an old boot that they have found in the forest. This is the base camp for Pod's excursions out to try and find another family of borrowers, one that is supposed to live in a badger's nest somewhere nearby. This episode introduces a new borrower, a young boy about Arrietty's age that lives in the forest.

Episode 6: (28:15) Things take a turn for the worse as the boot that the family is sleeping in is picked up by the rat catcher and taken back to his caravan. The young borrower from the forest and the young boy from the house have to join forces to attempt a rescue.

Video

    Unfortunately, the source material is not in the best condition and this has led to many problems with the transfer.

    Presented at its original 1.33:1 aspect ratio, the transfer is of course not 16x9 enhanced.

    Lack of sharpness is one of the two major problems that this transfer has. Overall the image is very soft and in places, like long shots against the blue screen (27:05 1st episode), where objects and people are little more than indistinct blurs. Shadow detail varies and is borderline acceptable. There is quite a lot of low level noise triggered by the grain. Also, sometimes the whites burn out.

    With indoors shots, the colours are quite muted - outdoor material has much better saturation.

    There are no major MPEG artefacts present in the transfer. There is some posterization present, probably triggered by the ever-present grain. There is some minor telecine wobble in some scenes (5:34 episode 5). The major problem with the film source material is the excessive amount of grain. This is very obvious and continuous throughout the transfer and is quite annoying.

    The subtitles are easy to read and accurate.

    This is an RSDL disc with the layer change at 4:42, right at the start of the fourth episode. Whilst on a scene change, it is mildly annoying.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    There is a single English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack on this disc.

    Dialogue quality is very good throughout as is the audio sync.

    The music is typical English fare and works very well even if it is a little sparse.

    Engaging surround decoding adds some nice ambience to the soundtrack, particularly out in the forest.

    There was little subwoofer activity.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

    Before we get to the menus we have to sit through the usual copyright screens but this is followed by a trailer for other BBC children's specials. Thankfully, you can chapter skip forward past these even though the menu button is disabled.

    The menu is themed around the Borrowers lives with a picture showing a hole in the skirting board and some oversized toys and utensils. Somewhat strangely, the menu selections are not visible until selected. You have no idea what is available and moving around with the joystick highlights each of the hidden selections in turn. The menus available are 'Play All', 'Episode Selection', Extras' and 'Subtitles'. Presented at 1.33:1 and accompanied by a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.

Blue Peter (8:24)

    Blue Peter is a very long running kids show in Britain that does interviews, covers interesting activities and reviews the occasional show. It is a children's version of a making of and is quite good considering its target audience.

Gallery

    Forty-one pictures presented in an insert in the centre of the screen. They appear to be set shots of the characters in various poses from the show.

Quiz

    Five questions with three multiple choice answers. You are not told as you go along whether you are right or wrong but are given a score out of five at the end.

Trailer: Borrowers Series II (3:10)

    A 1.33:1 aspect ratio trailer for the next series of The Borrowers which we are told is coming soon. Video quality is similar to the main feature and the audio is Dolby Digital 2.0. I am looking forward to the second series as this trailer shows that things just keep getting better.

    There was a film loosely based on the books made in 1997 starring John Goodman amongst others. While I enjoyed the film on its own merits, it bears little relation to the books or this series. The series has a real charm to it along with the action and a wonderful world with great characters to explore. Just about all the series made by the British, the adult comedies especially, are really fantastic both in their scripts and their actors. Compared to what is passed off as children's television these days there is just no comparison to this quality show.

    The transfer is let down by the source material.

    The audio is good.

    The extras are a nice little inclusion.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall