Brum-Crazy Chair Chase and Other Stories (2005)

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General		Extras
Category	Childrens	Menu Animation & Audio
Rating
Year Of Production	2005
Running Time	49:41
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	None Given
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Toyah Willcox Robert Berk Steve Murphy Merlyn Rice Rosie Wilde
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$19.95	Music	None Given

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Brum is an English children's show which features a small vintage car named Brum. He is a superhero who defeats crime by himself in Big Town. He is a great favourite of the people in the town and a scourge of the baddies. This is a gentle show and is suitable for children from pre-school up. There is certainly no feeling of threat from any of the baddies - they are far too slapstick for that. My son, who is 2, responded very strongly to this show and has asked for this disc many times since. Each episode runs for about 10 minutes and is basically Brum chasing something or someone. The show is live action and plays like a silent movie except for the voiceover by a child. There is no onscreen dialogue spoken - everything is mimed.

    The episodes included on this disc were made in 2002 and are as follows:

• Brum and the Crazy Chair Chase - Gorgeous Gordon, the Big Town hairdresser buys a new barber's chair with a remote control. Unfortunately the remote gets broken and the chair takes off with Gordon on board. Brum must chase it down to save Gordon.
• Brum and the Bank Robbers - A rich lady deposits her jewels in the bank, but the safe gets stolen by some baddies. Brum must catch them to save the jewels.
• Brum and the Mischievous Mouse - A young girl buys a mouse at a pet shop but it escapes. Brum must rescue it before it gets hurt.
• Brum and the Cream Balloon - A man at a children's party accidentally fills a balloon with cream instead of air and then it escapes. Brum must try to stop it exploding all over people.
• Brum and the Paint Pandemonium - Some baddies steal a bag of money from the local Big Town portrait painter. They try to hide in the art gallery and Brum must catch them to recover the money.

    This series is shown locally on the ABC and the kids will certainly find it fun.

Video

    The video quality is very good with no major issues to report.

    The feature is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio 16x9 enhanced which is most likely the original aspect ratio. I would guess that the credits might have originally been 1.33:1 and have been cropped to fit widescreen as they appear older than the rest of the show.

    The picture was quite clear and sharp throughout, with no evidence of low level noise. The shadow detail was excellent but generally not required. The credits were softer than the rest of the show.

    The colour was very good with no issues to report.

    The only noticeable artefacts were aliasing at one spot in one episode and some cross colouration on Brum's grille during the credits.

    There are subtitles in English for the hearing impaired. The English subtitles were clear and easy to read.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The audio quality is good.

    This DVD contains an English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtrack encoded at 192 Kb/s.

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

    The surround speakers added quite a bit of atmosphere and music when played with Dolby ProLogicII.

     The subwoofer was not used.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    None.

Menu

    The menu includes motion and car noises.

    This disc is available in Region 1 & Region 2 in the same format.

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio quality is very good.

    The set has a large collection of extras, some of good quality, others which are a waste of time.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall