Astro Boy-Volume 5 (2004)

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General		Extras
Category	Animation	Trailer-Kermit's Swamp Years, Muppets From Space, Trailer-The Muppets Take Manhattan, Swan Princess Collection
Rating
Year Of Production	2004
Running Time	80:49
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Kazuya Konaka
Studio Distributor	Sony Pictures Home Entertain	Starring	Candi Milo Wally Wingert Dorian Harewood Bill Farmer Faith Salie Susan Blu Lara Jill Miller
Case	?
RPI	$19.95	Music	William Kevin Anderson

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.75:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Our story so far: The battle for Cybertron continues, as the Transformers millennia long war rages on. Who will emerge triumphant - the evil Decepticons and their leader Megatron, or will the brave Autobots and their leader Optimus Prime save the galaxy? What's that? ... oh, sorry, wrong Japanese animated TV show. I've done so many of these things lately I seem to be a bit lost. Oh, yes, Astro Boy. Well, you'd better take a look back at some of my reviews of earlier volumes in the series while I get myself sorted out.

    Now, let me see, Astro is being tested by Dr Tenma (who is even more crazed than I am). Tenma seems to think that robots are the next stage in evolution and he is determined that Astro should "Evolve, or be destroyed". In the earlier volumes we met a growing group of villains, as well as a likeable bunch of robots including Astro's sister Zoran and the weather robot Epsilon. The stories themselves have started to encompass a few more themes than just 'robots on a rampage' so once again this volume was much anticipated in the household to see if this development continued. I won't keep you waiting- the answer is yes: the stories here are varied, and the pace is a little more relaxed and contemplative, which might disappoint some; but for my part this sort of variety is essential if the show is to hold its audience over the length of the series.

    The first episode on the disc, The Fall of Acheron is the conclusion of a story which started in the last episode of Volume 4. At the end of that episode we left Astro in combat with the giant robot Pluto (apparently built by Dr. Tenma as another test for Astro). When the police raid Tenma's headquarters, Dr. O'Shay (who named Astro) is taken hostage by the mysterious Shadow, and a new, even more powerful, robot emerges - Acheron (which is the name of the mythological river over which Charon ferries the souls of the dead to Hades). Can Astro and Epsilon survive these new challenges? (Oh, for those of you into Spy Kids 3 - there is some molten lava here).

    Well, Astro did survive (surprised?). In Dragon Lake we meet the final group of new characters who we have seen in the credits but not in the show to date - the naughty (but cute) Repo Girls. The story is relaxed, with a nice touch of Loch Ness and Bigfoot about it. The variety continues in Lost in Outland in which Astro saves the world from a falling killer satellite but loses his memory in the process. He runs into an escaped criminal called Boon with interesting consequences for all concerned.

    The final episode on the disc, Deep City is perhaps the weakest of the series so far. It has a decent ecological message which is delivered with a sledgehammer - it needed to be far more subtle ("Stop killing the forest" we are told). Even the jokes are worse than usual ("Don't make it too sappy" - ouch). Still, any show of this length is bound to have the odd bad patch, and my family audience and I are still enjoying the series a lot.

    Well, only one more disc before my current reviews of Astro wind up. From feedback I have received about my Volume 1 review it seems we will be getting a boxed set of the whole series sometime in mid-September here in Region 4 - I will certainly review it if we receive a set of review discs here at Michael D's. Another piece of feedback was critical of the voice acting in this series. Personally I feel it is very good, particularly the multi-talented Wally Wingert who provides the voices for Dr. O'Shay, Skunk and Katari (amongst others). Whatever you think of the show, you are welcome to join me again soon for a look at Volume 6 .

Video

    The video transfer continues to be fine, as it has been on all of the discs in the series to date. I have been a little surprised to see some variance in quality between discs (the picture here is not quite as good as it was in Volume 4 - but is still fine).

    The aspect ratio of the transfer is 1.75:1, 16x9 enhanced, which is acceptably close to the likely original aspect ratio of 1.78:1. It is worth noting that the animators really make excellent use of the wide screen; on my projector the shows are sweeping and panoramic - this looks really great on a large screen.

    The focus is a little soft for my liking, but still acceptable. The picture is nice and bright with good shadow detail and no low level noise. There is a nice shot of Zoran running through some trees at night at around 11:15 in the first episode which is a great example of the picture in a low light scene.

    The colours are vivid, and the artists use a nice palette; bright at times, with nice pastel shades for contrast, and some very dramatic computer effects at others. As one example try at 13:17 in episode 3 for an excellent use of colour and light.

    There is an occasional minor positive or negative artefact in the transfer, though I often had to use freeze frame and slow motion to spot them. There is also an occasional hint of grain, but the picture is generally in excellent shape.

    The English subtitles are good, the English Caption (Hearing Impaired) titles are adequate, but use an annoying black box to frame the text.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The audio transfer is a good example of how effective surround sound can be in a TV show.

    The only audio track is an English Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded track which has been encoded at a bitrate of 192 Kb/s. Make sure you switch your amplifier to ProLogic mode to take advantage of the sound. The volume level varies between episodes so that you may have to reach for the volume controls if you watch all of the episodes in one sitting. Yet again I lament the lack of an original language Japanese audio track.

    The dialogue quality is good, though some variation in volume level makes some lines a little difficult to pick up. The audio sync is acceptable for an animated show dubbed from Japanese to English.

    The music is great - it is evocative and supports all elements of the story nicely. The volume level is mixed well in relation to dialogue and effects work.

    There is a decent sound field here, with nice projection of the music and some of the sound effects. It does not have the presence of a big action film but does the job very well for a TV show. The subwoofer is subdued and sees little use even if directed to manage bass activity.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    There are no real Extras here, just the same set of unrelated trailers as on all the other volumes. If I have to watch them one more time I will scream (what's that - they are also on Volume 6? AAAAAARRRRRGGGHHHHH).

Menu

    The menu is static with no audio. Your menu choices: Play All Episodes, Episode Selections, Subtitles, Trailers. While there are chapter stops in the individual episodes they are not selectable from the menus.

Trailers

    Trailers for Kermit's Swamp Years, Muppets From Space, The Muppets Take Manhattan and the Swan Princess Collection (yes, the same ones from Volumes 1-4).

    The Region 1 boxed set of the series has a Pan & Scan transfer (missing out on our wonderful sweeping widescreen print) and so is to be avoided.

    While this disc is not quite as impressive as the last entry in the series it was still enjoyed by one and all in the review household. With a boxed set apparently on the horizon this may be best as a rental.

    The video transfer is good.

    The audio transfer is fine.

    Extras - nada.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall