Blankety Blanks (inc All at Sea) (1977)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Main Menu Audio Introduction-Disc 1 - Ugly Dave Gray, Disc 2 - Carol Raye Introduction-Disc 3 - John Paul Young Interviews-Cast-Panellists Short Film-All At Sea Trailer-Barry McKenzie Holds His Own, Don's Party, The Club
Rating
Year Of Production	1977
Running Time	666:10 (Case: 830)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered Multi Disc Set (5)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	None Given
Studio Distributor	Fremantle Media Umbrella Entertainment	Starring	Graham Kennedy Ugly Dave Gray Noeline Brown Noel Ferrier Carol Raye Stuart Wagstaff Barry Creyton Jon English Delvene Delaney Abigail June Salter Peta Toppano Marty Rhone
Case	Gatefold
RPI	$69.95	Music	None Given

    "Get ready to match the stars!"

    If you've never heard of Peter The Phantom Puller, Tony the Moustache Twirler or a series of jokes featuring Cyril or Dick then you are probably going to wonder what this DVD set is all about.

    For those that were around to watch early evening Australian television between 1977 and 1979, the antics of television legend Graham Kennedy on Blankety Blanks were a must-see. It was a game show that enjoyed massive ratings, due in no small part to the bawdy jokes of Kennedy and his band of celebrity panellists. Kennedy pushed the boundaries of good taste many times and with a decent dollop of double entendre, quick-witted banter between the guests and an almost vaudeville feeling to the show it is little wonder it became such a hit.

    At its heart it was supposed to be a game show, but it was a show where the contestants were placed a distant third behind the antics of Kennedy and his banter with the celebrities. The format was simple. Kennedy would read a statement with one word missing - something along the lines of "Cyril said - If I wasn't reviewing DVDs I'd probably be blanking them". The six celebrity panellists would then have around 30 seconds to scribble on a piece of card what they thought the blank word should be. The contestants then had to supply their own word for the blank and we'd then enjoy the antics of Kennedy as he made the celebrities reveal their answers. The contestant who matched the most with the stars won the game and had the chance to proceed to the super match stage where huge cash prizes of $1000 (!) were on offer. Sounds easy, but with the jokes, the banter and the innuendos flying each round usually took up most of the 22 minutes of each episode.

    Celebrity guests included the likes of regulars Noeline Brown, Jon English, Stuart Wagstaff and the ever-cigar chomping "Ugly" Dave Gray. Other guests included the who's who of 70s Australian television such as Carol Raye, Delvene Delaney, Tommy Hanlon Jr, Noel Ferrier, Abigail, John Paul Young, and Mark Holden (yes the judge on Australian Idol).

    More than 500 episodes were filmed over the course of the show's two seasons and this box set features 30 episodes over four discs. Discs one and two have seven episodes each, while disc three and four have eight episodes.

    This is a great snapshot of 70s Australian television and the work of the master comedian Graham Kennedy at work.

Video

    The aspect ratio here is 1.29:1, which is consistent with how it looked when shown on television.

    The image is surprisingly better than expected with semi-decent clarity and only a little softness caused by the source material being circa 1970s video tape. Shadow detail is excellent and there is no edge enhancement present.

    Colours are of course the highlight with some hideous blues and oranges on display on the sets (strangely these particular hues are making a bit of a comeback), while the fashions of both celebrity and contestant contain all the shades of the rainbow and some that must have only been available in the 1970s.

    There do not appear to be any glaring compression or video artefacts, except for the odd tracking line or small glitch on occasion.

    There are no subtitles.

    The first four discs are dual layered with layer changes occurring between episodes.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    There is only one audio soundtrack over the four discs, this being an English Dolby Digital 2.0 channel effort that is almost certainly mono.

    This isn't a great soundtrack by any means, but it's on a par with what it would have sounded like when shown on television back in the late 1970s. There is a fair amount of harshness and the dynamic range is really quite lacking. It is also quite a thin sounding effort with very little bottom end. Thankfully the thin sounding dialogue is clear enough and mostly easily understood.

    There is no surround channel or subwoofer use.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Main Menu Audio

Introduction

    There is an introduction on each of the first three discs featuring former cast members. Disc one features "Ugly" Dave Gray (5:44), Disc two has Carol Raye (4:00), and disc three has John Paul Young (2:10). These were recorded this year and each talks about the show, what their role was and their fondness for the recently deceased Graham Kennedy.

Interviews-Cast

    A longer interview with the same celebrity panel members on the show. "Ugly" Dave Gray, Carol Raye and John Paul Young reminisce about the show, Graham Kennedy and some of the fun they had. Runs for 13:06.

Short Film - All At Sea

    Not really a short film, this 1977 made for television offering runs for 76:15 and is housed on disc five in the set. Featuring many of the celebrity panellists who appeared on Blankety Blanks, including Abigail, Noel Ferrier, Mike Preston, Ugly Dave Gray and Stuart Wagstaff this is an appalling film in the mould of the British Carry On capers - but without the laughs. The plot involves a group of people running and holidaying on a resort called Sea Island. Plenty of boob and bum jokes, but little else.

Trailers

    Trailers for some other Umbrella Entertainment titles including Barry McKenzie Holds His Own, Don's Party and The Club.

    This set is not available in Region 1.

    Graham Kennedy's Blankety Blanks is a well-presented and packaged five disc set that captures a real snapshot of Australian television in the late 1970s. The show only lasted two seasons, but with more than 500 episodes over that time it was obviously popular. The 30 episodes on offer here contain a good taste of what the show was all about.

    The video is actually quite good considering the age and nature of the source material, while the audio is about as expected.

    There are a few extras, though the quality is a little on the average side.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall