Postman Pat-Ice Cream Machine (2003)

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General		Extras
Category	Childrens	Menu Animation & Audio Game-Ice Cream Machine
Rating
Year Of Production	2003
Running Time	60:21
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Chris Taylor Ivor Wood Bridget Appleby Stewart Selkirk
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	None Given
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$19.95	Music	Brian Daly Simon Woodgate

    Postman Pat is an English children's show which has been produced sporadically over the last 20 years or so. The first series was made in the early 1980s, followed by another series in the mid-1990s and now by a third series, made in 2004 and subsequently shown on the BBC. The series follows the adventures of a small village's postman, Pat Clifton and his friends, neighbours and family. His constant companion is his cat, Jess. He also lives with his wife, Sarah and son Julian. Other featured characters include the lady who runs the Post Office, Mrs Goggins; the school teacher, Jeff Pringle; the local handy man, Ted Glen; a farmer, Alf Thompson and his wife; the local policeman, PC Selby; and Ajay Bains, who runs the railway, and his wife Nisha, daughter Meera (who is Julian's best friend) and their other child. Technically, the series is a mixture of puppets and computer animation.

    The disc includes four episodes from the latest series (Episodes 2,3,4 & 5), which are:

1. Postman Pat & the Ice Cream Machine (15:03) - Ted Glen arranges a picnic and decides to build an ice cream machine to make ice cream for the people who attend. Unfortunately, all does not go as planned and he needs to get help from Pat & PC Selby to get the machine working. The village children collect ingredients for the ice cream including a special surprise flavour.
2. Postman Pat & The Great Greendale Race (15:06) - The villagers decide to race the various vehicles around the countryside to find out who is quickest but also safest. The competitors are Ajay on his motorbike, Alf on his tractor, Pat in his van, Ted in his truck and PC Selby on his pushbike. The result is a bit of a surprise!
3. Postman Pat & The Hungry Goat (15:06) - Pat accidentally lets Alf Thompson's goat out of Alf's yard and the goat proceeds to eat everything in sight including the labels on Pat's parcels. Meanwhile, Julian & Meera are trying to set up a tent and have a picnic.
4. Postman Pat & The Jumble Sale (15:06) - It is recycling week and Nisha organises a Jumble sale. The school kids are making their own garden. Pat is conscripted to pick up all the items for the sale.

    This series is good fun for small children and contains some very hummable songs, such as the theme tune.

Video

    The video quality is very good.

    The feature is presented in a 1.33:1 aspect ratio non 16x9 enhanced which is the original aspect ratio.

    The picture was very clear and sharp throughout, with no evidence of low level noise.

    The colour was excellent with no issues whatsoever.

    The only artefacts which I noticed was some aliasing on fences, blinds and door mats and some mild shimmer on camera pans but I am sure the kids will not care.

    There are no subtitles.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The audio quality is very good.

    This DVD contains an English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtrack encoded at 256 Kb/s.

    Dialogue was clear and easy to understand and there was no problem with audio sync.

    The music by Simon Woodgate is reasonable but the theme song by Brian Daly really stands out.

    The surround speakers and subwoofer are not used.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

    The menu includes an introduction, stills and music, however only includes symbols which may be confusing, especially for children.

Game : Ice Cream Machine Game

    A easy game which lets you help Ted fix his ice-cream machine by solving simple puzzles. The kids will probably like it.

    This disc has been released in the same format in Region 2. May as well get the local product.

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio quality is very good.

    The disc has only one simple game in the extras department..

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall