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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Terrahawks-Volume 2 (1983)

Terrahawks-Volume 2 (1983)

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Released 6-Aug-2003

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Science Fiction None
Rating Rated G
Year Of Production 1983
Running Time 89:12
RSDL / Flipper No/No Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 1,2,3,4,5,6 Directed By Alan Pattillo
Desmond Saunders
Tony Bell
Studio
Distributor
Anderson Burr Picts
Beyond Home Entertainment
Starring Denise Bryer
Windsor Davis
Jeremy Hitchen
Anne Ridler
Ben Stevens
Case Alpha-Transparent
RPI $29.95 Music Gerry Anderson
Christopher Burr
Richard Harvey


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame Full Frame English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio None
16x9 Enhancement No
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.33:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles None Smoking No
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

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Plot Synopsis

Producer Gerry Anderson is perhaps best known for the 1960’s science fiction supermarionation television show Thunderbirds, which today still has a devoted cult following. After a string of unsuccessful shows similar to Thunderbirds the producer joined with Christopher Burr to create Terrahawks, a show which relaunched Anderson’s career in the early 1980s.

Terrahawks had a short lifespan of two years on television but the show has also gained a worldwide cult following due to its absurdity. Nevertheless the show is weird and wonderful mainly due to the marionette characters that have surprising yet memorable personalities.

Set in the year 2020 and hidden in South America is the base of the Terrahawks Earth Defence Squadron (Hawknest) where an elite fighting force is lead by a clone named Dr 'Tiger' Ninestein. Dr Ninestein is an aggressive leader whose southern drawl sounds like a mixture of John Wayne and Jack Nicholson. He is a strong leader of this top secret team and has a firm belief that humans are higher beings then androids.

Other members of his team include Captain Mary Falconer; who is a civilian pilot, Lieutenant Hiro; who provides intelligence, Captain Kate Kestrel; a tribute to Tina Turner and pilot and Lieutenant Hawkeye, a southerner who provides weaponry for the team. The team is aided by Zeroids who act as foot soldiers and two bickering thinking robots in Sergeant Major Zero and Sergeant 101.

The team’s primary goal is to protect Earth from the evil android alien Zelda, who attacks Earth from her base on Mars. Zelda’s plan is to enslave humans as revenge for humans using androids as slaves on her planet. Zelda has the ability to control matter and create something from nothing. She is aided by her dim-witted son Youngstar and her sister Cystar. Zelda controls her foot soldiers, Cubes through mind control and also offers a variety of antagonists in the form of monsters, androids and bears.

Each 25 minute episode explores Zelda’s often failed missions to destroy Earth as Terrahawks is concerned with the simple ideal that good will overcome evil.

In volume 2 of the Terrahawks DVD collection, there are four episodes:

Firstly Close Call, which opens with a reporter who is close to uncovering the secret Terrahawks organisation. Zelda becomes aware of this breach of security and uses the reporter in scheme to kill Dr. Ninestein.

In the second episode titled From Here to Infinity, Zelda plants a gravity bomb and sends it hurtling to its target of Hawknest.

The third episode Space Samurai finds Tamura, a peacekeeper, trying to unite the two enemies of Dr. Ninestein and Zelda. Predicably Zelda uses the situation to try and kill Dr. Ninestein.

Finally, the forth episode titled The Sporilla sees Crystal, Hawkeye, and Ninestein travelling to the distant moon Castillo for repairs but they are faced with one of Zelda’s menacing monsters The Sporilla.

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Transfer Quality

Video

As expected the transfer quality is below par.

This television show is presented in an aspect ratio of full frame 1:33.1, it is not 16x9 enhanced

The picture is soft yet the colour remains bright and vivid.

Film artefacts, Chroma Noise and Telecine Wobble are all evident on the master print. The overall picture is grainy and dirty.

There are no subtitles provided on this DVD.

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

Audio

Sound quality is poor but tolerable.

There is a single English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) track available.

There are no major problems evident with audio synchronisation.

The music is largely based on the synthesizer theme composed by Gerry Anderson. In some episodes the character of Captain Kate Kestrel sings eighties inspired ballads to the crew.

The surround channel usage is poor, with most sound occupying the front.

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

Extras

There are no extras. The main menu is static and practical, although each episode on this DVD consists of only one chapter.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

The Region 1 version of the show comes in a 5 disc set containing:

The Region 2 contains all of the above features and includes various features spread over three box sets such as:

The entire series is spread over three separate box sets with total of 9 DVDS.

Box Set 2 includes the following extras

Box Set three includes:

The technical specifications remain the same for all releases.

NOTE: The local boxsets are identical to the Region 2. Priced at around $30 each

Summary

The 80s nostalgic television show Terrahawks has been released locally in dire quality in separate volume releases.

The local or international box sets may be better suited to fans of the show.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Vanessa Appassamy (Biography)
Sunday, December 11, 2005
Review Equipment
DVDDenon DVD-1910, using DVI output
DisplayPanasonic PT-AE 700. Calibrated with THX Optimizer. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with THX Optimizer.
AmplificationYamaha DSP-A595a - 5.1 DTS
Speakers(Front) DB Dynamics Polaris AC688F loudspeakers,(Centre) DB Dynamics Polaris Mk3 Model CC030,(Rear) Polaris Mk3 Model SSD425,(Subwoofer) Jensen JPS12

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