Thomas & Friends-60th Anniversary Box Set (1998)

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    "I feel all out of steam," puffed Thomas as he was leaving the engine sheds.

    "I'm not surprised," said Gordon, "How old are you now?"

    "Sixty," replied Thomas.

    "Sixty!" exclaimed Gordon. "You should think about retirement."

    "I can't retire," said Thomas, "All the children rely on me to take them on little adventures, and I enjoy taking them. No, I can't sit down."

    "Why not?" enquired Gordon.

    "Because I have a tender behind," said Thomas as he puffed off on his next adventure.

    "He's a plucky little engine," said Gordon, "We should do something for his sixtieth birthday."  So Gordon chuffed off to see the ABC's Fat Controller.

    "You know Thomas is turning sixty, and that's a fair age for a little tank engine. We should do something to commemorate it," said Gordon to the Fat Controller.

    "You're right," said the Fat Controller. "Thomas has done a lot for us. He's very popular with the children and his DVDs sell well. Not to mention all the money his merchandising makes for us. I'll work something out."

    So the Fat Controller thought long and hard about how to celebrate sixty years of Thomas The Tank Engine, and finally decide what to do. The Fat Controller collected together seven of his favourite Thomas The Tank Engine DVDs; The Very Best Of Thomas & Friends, All Aboard The Steam Train, Engines To The Rescue, Three Cheers For Thomas, Truckloads Of Fun, Twin Trouble and Thomas & The Jet Engine; and put them all into a special Sixtieth Anniversary Limited Edition Boxed Set.

    When Thomas heard about the boxed set, he was stoked and was full of steam again.

    The Fat Controller was happy as the boxed set brought more money into the ABC's burgeoning coffers.

    The children were happy as the boxed set meant they could go on many adventures with Thomas and his friends.

    The Mums and Dads were happy as many Thomas adventures meant many hours of quiet children.

    And even Ringo Starr was happy to have finally found success after The Beatles.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Thomas & Friends-All Aboard with the Steam Team (2004)

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General		Extras
Category	Childrens	Main Menu Introduction Main Menu Audio Scene Selection Anim & Audio Quiz-Know Your Engines
Rating
Year Of Production	2004
Running Time	55:45 (Case: 89)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	David Mitton
Studio Distributor	Hit Entertainment Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Ringo Starr Michael Angelis George Carlin Alec Baldwin Michael Brandon
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$19.95	Music	Junior Campbell Andreas Fehrle Graeme MacArthur

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/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

    Thomas the Tank Engine is a huge favourite around our house. My 2 year old son has the DVDs, the slippers, the pyjamas, the T-shirt, the track suit, the books, the wooden train set and much more. Therefore, this new disc was greeted with great excitement.

    It is interesting to note that there are actually two versions of this show globally; an American one, with similar stories but an American story reader and the English one, as we get here. I recently purchased a disc of the series from Region 1 and was disappointed to find the annoying American voiceover. My son doesn't seem to mind but I find it a little difficult to cope with. This disc has a similar format to that one, although with an English voiceover. Unlike previous local releases which I have seen, this disc is designed as one program with six stories interspersed with various songs and games. Accordingly there are actually 14 segments included here in the 55 minute run time, despite there only being 6 chapter stops. Each of the six stories runs for approximately 7 minutes. They are brand new 2004 productions.

    The 14 segments are:

1. Introduction
2. Thomas to the Rescue - Thomas is sent to the quarry to help Mavis with an important job. Diesel is there and starts causing trouble for Thomas, however, when Diesel is given the wrong fuel he needs Thomas' help.
3. Sounds of the railway activity
4. Henry & the Wishing Tree - Henry gets sick of pulling trucks and wishes that he could pull the express instead. When his wish comes true things don't quite go the way he thought they would.
5. Picking which engine is which game
6. Song - Sounds of the Railway
7. Thomas & The Tuba - Thomas has to collect a Brass Band for Lady Hatt's birthday party but inadvertently leaves the tuba player behind. He then scours the island looking for him.
8. Maze style game
9. Squeak, Rattle & Roll - Gordon has an argument with Diesel and gets concerned that the Fat Controller will scrap him. When he develops a squeak he decides to slow down rather than tell anyone. When the Fat Controller gives him an urgent job, the trouble really starts.
10. Picking which engine is which game
11. Percy's New Whistle - After being teased, Percy decides to practice so he can whistle louder, but this annoys the other engines and causes confusion.
12. Sounds at Knapford Station
13. Thomas & the Fireworks Display - James is chosen by the Fat Controller to collect fireworks but this makes Thomas angry because he wanted to. This causes trouble.
14. Singalong with karaoke style lyrics.

    Another excellent set of Thomas stories which all little Thomas fans will enjoy.

Video

    The video quality is very good but lacking a little in sharpness.

    The feature is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio 16x9 enhanced which is the original aspect ratio. This is the first 16x9 enhanced Thomas disc I have seen.

    The picture was clear and sharp throughout although could not be described as crisp. There was no evidence of low level noise.

    The colour was wonderful, rich and solid throughout.

    There were no noticeable artefacts.

    There are subtitles in English for the hearing impaired. The English subtitles were clear and easy to read, however I felt they were placed too high on the screen, obscuring the picture.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The audio quality is very good and quite subtle.

    This DVD contains an English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtrack encoded at 224 Kb/s.

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

    The music is good fun and the songs are great for little kids.

    The surround speakers were not used.

     The subwoofer added bass to the music but this was a function of my amp's bass management.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

    The menu is simple and easy to use.

Know Your Engines Quiz

    An easy quiz for the kiddies. My two year old got every answer right, probably assisted by the picture of the answer appearing on the screen with the question. There are 12 questions in all.

    There is no real comparison available here as the US discs contain the American voiceover.

    On this basis, I would recommend the Region 4 version.

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio quality is very good.

    The set has one extra which the kids will enjoy.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Thomas & Friends-Engines to the Rescue (2004)

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General		Extras
Category	Childrens	Menu Animation & Audio Quiz-Know Your Engines Trailer-Preview - Days Out With Thomas Bonus Episode-'Train Driver Tubb' From Rubbadubbers
Rating
Year Of Production	2004
Running Time	44:16 (Case: 55)
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	David Mitton
Studio Distributor	Hit Entertainment Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Ringo Starr Michael Angelis George Carlin Alec Baldwin Michael Brandon
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$19.95	Music	None Given

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	Unknown	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Thomas The Tank Engine is an institution. No-one who has had anything to do with young children will not have heard of Thomas - certainly every toddler knows who Thomas is.

    Even as an adult it's hard not to be impressed by the Thomas TV series. These short stories are so well told and so charmingly filmed that even I find that I am drawn to watch if they are on. The model work alone is worth watching. For a five minute or so children's story, the work put into the models is most impressive.

    Unlike many children's TV shows, Thomas does not irritate adults. Sure, when little Johnny is watching the same Thomas DVD for the two hundredth time today, Mum may get a bit frustrated, but at least Thomas doesn't annoy from the first viewing as many children's shows tend to.

    Thomas and Friends - Engines to the Rescue is a collection of eight episodes all with the theme of the engines saving the day. They are simple stories that are well filmed and often provide a little bit of learning for children of all ages.

Gordon and Spencer (5:32)
    A Duke and Duchess are visiting the island and they bring their own engine, Spencer.

Harold and the Flying Horse (5:33)
    It's time for the Vicar's fair and Harold the Helicopter feels left out because he is on rescue duty and can't go.

The Grand Opening (5:32)
    A new line is opening on the island and all the engines are excited.

It's Only Snow (5:32)
    It's winter and Thomas has to deliver the village Yule tree but breaks his snow plough.

The Refreshment Lady's Tea Shop (5:32)
    The refreshment lady has to open another tea shop and Peter Sam must help her find another location.

Trusty Rusty (5:31)
    Rusty the diesel has to help a steam engine that is stranded on a collapsing bridge.

Salty's Stormy Tale (5:32)
    The island's lighthouse breaks down during a storm and the dockside engine Salty has to help repair it.

Something Fishy (5:32)
    Thomas is unhappy about having to work on a new line that runs to the fishing village.

Video

    This is a very nice 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced transfer. Colours are bright and vibrant and the images are crisp. The only artefact I could find was some very minor MPEG blocking in large areas of colour such as the sky. I can't see too many toddlers complaining about that though. Aside from this the transfer is excellent, although a slight lack of sharpness sometimes suggests the source material was video.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    Audio is Dolby Digital 2.0. While nothing spectacular, it is a good, clean audio transfer with the dialogue clear and easy to follow. There's not much else to say - this is not a disc that will test out your surround system and impress your friends with ground-shaking base. It is a basic soundtrack that does its job well.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu
    An animated menu with audio is provided after an ad for ABC children's videos. The menu features nice big selection icons in keeping with the age of its target audience.

Know You Engines Quiz
    A series of multiple choice questions about each episode. The answer is selected by the remote control. The voice over is supposed to say "well done" when a correct answer is elected, but on my system the audio was badly clipped.

Days Out With Thomas
    A brief ad for live Thomas events in the UK.

Train Driver Tubb - Story From the Rubbadubbers (10:13)
    An animated story from another children's series that, quite frankly, isn't in Thomas's league.

    I could not locate this collection in Region 1. There is a Region 2 version that appears to be identical.

    If you have a child who is a Thomas fan, they will love these eight episodes. If you haven't introduced you child to Thomas, do so. They will be entranced by this series and you will have 44 minutes of peace and quiet.

    Video is excellent.

    Audio is good.

    Extras are few, but the kids will probably enjoy them.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Thomas & Friends-The Very Best of

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General		Extras
Category	Childrens	Main Menu Audio & Animation Scene Selection Anim & Audio
Rating
Year Of Production	?
Running Time	88:16
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	David Mitton
Studio Distributor	Britt Allcroft Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Ringo Starr Michael Angelis George Carlin Alec Baldwin Michael Brandon
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$19.95	Music	Mike O'Donnell Junior Campbell

    It restores my faith in the Thomas & Friends franchise to see a disc like this after reviewing the truly atrocious feature film Thomas and the Magic Railroad. While the feature film is scary, confusing and a poor combination of the original engines and poor human acting, the television series is fun, light, simple and enjoyable for the kids. My fifteen month old son loves the theme tune and the trains, although he is a bit too young to understand the stories yet.

   This disc contains 16 episodes of the television series spanning the time period 1984 to 1998. This means that approximately half the episodes are read by Ringo Starr (for those from another planet, the drummer from The Beatles). He does an excellent job on these episodes and is many people's favourite narrator of this series. He reads the episodes from 1984 and 1986. The later episodes feature more special effects and action, however the earlier ones have a charm all of their own. All of the episodes run for approximately 5:30.

    In detail, the episodes featured are as follows:

• Thomas & Gordon - (1984) This seems to be the first ever episode as it introduces Thomas and the big engine, Gordon. Thomas gets into trouble by being cheeky to Gordon.
• James & The Coaches - (1984) This episode introduces James and shows that he is impetuous and gets himself into trouble.
• Cranky Bugs - (1998) A cranky crane at the docks causes trouble for Thomas.
• Rusty & The Boulder - (1998) Rusty, a little diesel engine helping to construct a quarry, tangles with a runaway boulder.
• Dirty Work - (1986) A diesel engine makes trouble by talking to the trucks behind the other engines' backs.
• Paint, Posts & Queens - (1995) The engines must prepare for a visit by the Queen.
• Buzz, Buzz - (1991) James causes trouble while trying to move some bee hives for a farmer.
• Thomas & The Special Letter - (1995) A letter arrives from the big city asking for the engines to visit.
• Thomas, Percy & The Dragon - (1991) Thomas is sent to collect something unusual from the docks.
• Trust Thomas - (1991) Thomas has an embarrassing accident after trying to help.
• Thomas comes to Breakfast - (1986) Thomas gatecrashes breakfast after deciding he doesn't need a driver.
• No Joke for James - (1991) James is too big for his boots and gets himself into trouble.
• Pop Goes The Diesel - (1986) A diesel engine joins the team on a trial basis.
• Ghost Train - (1986) Percy pretends he is a ghost to scare Thomas. NB: This episode may scare the youngest children.
• Percy Runs Away - (1984) In Percy's first episode, he gets out of control after making a mistake.
• Gallant Old Engine - (1995) In a flashback episode, Rheneas fights to save the railway from being closed down.

    Overall, this is top quality children's entertainment and is a well selected group of episodes.

Video

    The video quality ranges from reasonable to excellent dependent upon the age of the episode.

    The episodes are presented in a 1.29:1 aspect ratio which is most likely the original aspect ratio.

    The picture was generally clear and sharp throughout, with no evidence of low level noise. The 1984 & 1986 episodes have quite significant grain, however later episodes are better and the newest have no grain. Shadow detail was good.

    The colour was very good throughout with all colours being well saturated and free from colour bleeding. Again, colour vibrancy improved with the newer episodes.

    The older episodes had a few specks of white and some minor tape tracking marks, however the newer episodes showed no such artefacts.

    There are subtitles in English for the Hearing Impaired. They are summarised and do not reflect the entire text which would probably help the core audience (those who can read at all).

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 only one audio option: an English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack encoded at 224 Kb/s.

    Dialogue was clear and easy to understand.    

    The music by Mike O'Donnell & Junior Campbell is very catchy and certainly got my little boy bopping along.

    The surround speakers were used for some train noises and music when played using ProLogicII.

    The subwoofer was used for music when played using ProLogicII.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

    The menu includes an episode selection function & subtitle selection.

    This disc is available in Region 2 in exactly the same format but does not seem to be available in Region 1.

    The video quality ranges from reasonable to excellent dependent upon the age of the episode.

    The audio quality is good.

    The disc has no extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Thomas & Friends-Thomas and the Jet Engine (1998)

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General		Extras
Category	Family	Menu Animation & Audio Scene Selection Anim & Audio Karaoke-Thomas We Love You; Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover Karaoke-Rockin' On The Railway
Rating
Year Of Production	1998
Running Time	50:50
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	David Mitton
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Michael Angelis
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$29.95	Music	Mike O'Donnell Junior Campbell

    There are nine episodes on this disc, each running for just over five minutes. Most of the old familiar characters from the island of Sodor are here; Henry, Gordon, Percy and the Fat Controller - and some new faces are introduced, including Jack the Digger-loader and Elizabeth the Vintage Lorry. Each episode has a moral or theme that intends to teach children the value of friendship - sometimes in a not-so-subtle way, but entertaining all the same. These episodes are playable separately or all together in one fifty minute block.

• Thomas and the Jet Engine - All the engines look up to Gordon as the fastest in the yard, and it is Thomas' dream to one day be as fast as his hero, until a special delivery arrives that sends Thomas speeding out of control.
• Percy's Chocolate Crunch - Percy has a run-in with the troublesome trucks and finds it hard to control his temper. As long as there's a wash-down at the end of the day, he is happy.
• No Sleep for Cranky - Cranky the crane is renowned for throwing tantrums in the shed and failing to pay attention to his job. He learns his lesson the hard way after a long sleepless night.
• Harvey to the Rescue - Harvey is a new arrival to the railway, and all the engines comment on his bizarre appearance. When Percy has a bad accident, Harvey saves the day and proves his worth to the team.
• Bad Day for Harold the Helicopter - Poor Harold has a very unfortunate accident in the wind and is unable to complete his delivery. Percy steps in to help his friend, who is very grateful.
• Elizabeth the Vintage Lorry - Thomas breaks down a long way from home and discovers an old steam lorry who is friends with the Fat Controller. The Fat Controller is delighted to see his friend again, and restores her to her former glory.
• Jack Goes to Work - Jack the digger-loader has to deal with the pesky trucks during his first day on the job in a quarry, with the help of Thomas.
• A Friend in Need - Thomas has an accident while working at the quarry and is saved by his new friend Jack.
• World's Strongest Engine - Diesel is a nasty engine who wants to do away with all the steam engines in the yard. He hatches a plan, but it turns against him when the trucks refuse to play along.

Video

    This is a generally good video transfer, with very few problems to be concerned about.

    The transfer is framed at 1.56:1 and is not 16x9 enhanced. It appears that the same video source as the VHS release has been used for this DVD transfer. I would not be surprised if the director's intended ratio is 1.78:1.

    The picture is pleasantly sharp and very easy on the eyes. Black levels appeared bold and true and there were no instances of low level noise.

    Colours were bright and managed to maintain the attention of my youngest gremlin for a surprisingly long time. There were no signs of bleeding or oversaturation.

    I didn't notice any signs of over-compression, which surprised me a little. Aliasing was quite well controlled considering the sharpness inherent in the transfer. Although there were a few minor examples present, they are hardly worth mentioning.

    English hard of hearing subtitles were activated by default on my player. After watching them for a few minutes, I had to turn them off manually. Both of the English subtitle tracks appeared to be true to the spoken word and were paced accurately with the action on screen.

    Given its short runtime, this disc is single layered.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    I found the audio transfer unremarkable to say the least.

    There is only one audio track present on this disc; English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s).

    Both the narration and the character voices were very easy to understand at all times. None of the characters have moving lips, so sync wasn't an issue at all.

    Besides the very recognisable theme song to the series, the musical interludes were limited to segue pieces, aiding the flow of the story and signalling when the story was moving along.

    Although I did attempt to engage Pro Logic decoding, there were no examples of surround activity or subwoofer response. There was a little bit of panning evident in the stereo soundfield, but that's it.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

Sing Along Songs (9:56)

• Read-along story.
• Percy's Puzzle - an interactive game.
• Sodor spelling game.
• Character biographies.
• Sing-along song Little Engines.

    I would definitely rate our nine episode compilation over the Region 1, for the length of our program and the absence of an American voice-over on our version of the series.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Thomas & Friends-Three Cheers for Thomas (2004)

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General		Extras
Category	Childrens	Main Menu Introduction Main Menu Audio Scene Selection Anim & Audio Game-Cargo Challenge
Rating
Year Of Production	2004
Running Time	57:12
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	David Mitton
Studio Distributor	Hit Entertainment Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Michael Angelis
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$19.95	Music	Junior Campbell Andreas Fehrle Graeme MacArthur

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/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	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Thomas the Tank Engine is a huge favourite around our house. My 2 year old son has the DVDs, the slippers, the pyjamas, the T-shirt, the track suit, the books, the wooden train set and much more. Therefore, this new disc was greeted with great excitement.

    It is interesting to note that there are actually two versions of this show globally, an American one, with similar stories but an American story reader and the English one, as we get here. I recently purchased a disc of the series from Region 1 and was disappointed to find the annoying American voiceover. My son doesn't seem to mind but I find it a little difficult to cope with. This disc has a similar format to that one, although with an English voiceover. This disc is designed as one program with seven stories interspersed with various songs and games. Accordingly there are actually 11 segments included here in the 55 minute run time, despite there only being 7 chapter stops. Each of the seven stories runs for approximately 7 minutes. They are a brand new 2004 production.

    The 11 segments are:

1. Introduction
2. Thomas Saves the Day - Thomas has to ferry workers each day to a new station which is being built, however there is a dangerous bend along the way which worries him. When Annie & Clarabel are sent for a refit he gets very nervous about it.
3. Don't Tell Thomas - The other engines are keeping a secret from Thomas and he is desperate to find out what it is.
4. Percy memory game
5. Fish - Thomas has an accident involving stinky fish when he is not careful enough. Involves an engine I haven't seen before called Arthur.
6. Halloween - Arry & Bert try to scare Thomas and Emily on Halloween. It annoys me that this show is becoming more and more Americanized with episodes like this.
7. Song - Surprises 
8. Spic and Span - There is a competition for the smartest engine but Thomas and Percy have trouble getting and staying clean.
9. Chickens to School - Thomas volunteers for three extra job however gets so tired that he starts mixing them up.
10. Thomas repaint interactive activity
11. Thomas & the Circus - Thomas gets the job of collecting the circus which is coming to Sodor, however because he is greedy things go wrong.

    Another excellent set of Thomas stories which all little Thomas fans will enjoy.

Video

    The video quality is very good but lacking a little in sharpness.

    The feature is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio 16x9 enhanced which is the original aspect ratio.

    The picture was reasonably clear and sharp throughout although could not be described as crisp. There was no evidence of low level noise.

    The colour was wonderful, rich and solid throughout.

    There were no noticeable artefacts.

    There are subtitles in English for the hearing impaired. The English subtitles were clear and easy to read, however I felt they were placed too high on the screen obscuring the picture.

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 224 Kb/s.

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

    The music is good fun and the songs are great for little kids.

    The surround speakers were not used.

    The subwoofer added bass to the music but this was a function of my amp's bass management.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

    The menu is simple and easy to use.

Cargo Challenge Game

    With significant help from the voiceover the player must decide how many trucks to take and at what speed for various jobs to see if they will arrive safely. Not bad.

    There is no real comparison available here as the US discs contain the American voiceover.

    On this basis, I would recommend the Region 4 version.

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio quality is very good.

    The set has one extra which the kids will enjoy.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Thomas & Friends-Truckloads of Fun (2004)

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General		Extras
Category	Childrens	Main Menu Audio Song Lyrics
Rating
Year Of Production	2004
Running Time	66:06
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	David Mitton
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Ringo Starr Michael Angelis George Carlin Alec Baldwin Michael Brandon
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$19.95	Music	Junior Campbell Andreas Fehrle Graeme MacArthur

    It's hard to believe that Thomas was created by Rev. W. Awdry in 1945. In a world where fads come and go, Thomas is a constant that most of us grew up with, either in books, on TV or on video.

    The Thomas empire still steams strongly on, an oasis of yesterday with its steam engines and simple stories, and this disc gives us ten Thomas adventures interspersed with three songs for the kids to sing along with.

   I believe one of the reasons Thomas has been so successful is because of the high production standards. While many children's programmes can be of second rate quality as they are "only for kids", Thomas is always well filmed and the time put into the modelling is evident to see. Thomas and Friends - Truckloads Of Fun maintains the usual high standard of the Thomas series.

Thomas And The Trucks (5:36)
    Thomas wants a change so he swaps with another engine so he can pull trucks instead of carriages.

Troublesome Trucks (5:36)
    James has to deal with some troublesome trucks when the couplings break.

Accidents will Happen (3:34)
    A song that the kids can sing along with.

Tenders And Turntables (5:31)
    Thomas has been sent to work on a branch line and the bigger engines are angry at having to do their own shunting.

Trouble In The Shed (5:31)
    The big engines refuse to do shunting so the Fat Controller decides to teach them a lesson.

Off The Rails (5:32)
    Gordon gets stuck in a ditch when he runs off the rails.

The Snow Song (5:32)
    Another song the kids can sing along with.

Thomas, Percy and The Coal (5:36)
    Percy has an accident loading coal and buries Thomas.

Mavis (5:34)
    Mavis the quarry engine gets stuck on icy rails when she doesn't listen to advice.

Heroes (5:34)
    Two small shunting engines are heroes when they save the quarry workers from a rock-fall.

Sir Topham Hatt (3:14)
    Another sing along song.

Four Little Engines (5:34)
    Scarloey, despite his age, is told to pull some passenger carriages and his springs break.

Make Someone Happy (5:33)
    Percy is grumpy until he is sent on a run to bring a special passenger to the village fair.

Video

    These episodes are from the older Thomas TV shows and so are in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1. The quality is not as good as the later series with some low level noise being present and the overall picture being more grainy. Many of the episodes look to be from a VHS transfer. A couple of the episodes display some telecine wobble.

    These quibbles aside, the video is acceptable and is quite watchable. I doubt that the target audience of toddlers will be too upset by these minor video flaws.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    As is usual with this series, audio is Dolby Digital 2.0.Another good, clean audio transfer with clear and easy to follow dialogue. Not much is expected of the surrounds and sub-woofer, but again, I don't see the target audience complaining too much.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    There are no extras. The menu is static with the Thomas theme behind it.

    I could not locate this collection in Region 1. There is a Region 2 version that appears to be identical.

    Another collection of Thomas adventures that every toddler will love.

    Video is average.

    Audio is good.

    No extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends-Twin Trouble

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General		Extras
Category	Childrens	Main Menu Audio & Animation Scene Selection Anim & Audio
Rating
Year Of Production	?
Running Time	45:32
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	David Milton
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Michael Angelis
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$24.95	Music	Mike O'Donnell Junior Campbell

   For this review I am going to dispense with the standard plot synopsis and review for Thomas & Friends-Twin Trouble. Now as I see it there are two tests any good children's show should be able to pass. Firstly, the enjoyment factor. Now for us adults, spending forty five minutes with Thomas The Tank Engine might seem painful, but millions of children throughout the world would disagree. So, to test the enjoyment factor, I played the disc to my three year old son and then sought his opinion. Now the first pleasant surprise came when I noticed that he was captivated for the entire 45 minute running time of the show. This for a parent is worthy of a purchase in itself. Then to my delight he wanted to watch it again. I was most impressed. At the completion of the second viewing I asked him what he thought, to which he replied, "It's my favourite, Daddy". This was great - the first test was passed with flying colours.

    The second crucial test is obviously education. This is not necessarily the standard Maths and English education, but life lessons. Teaching a child right from wrong, friendship, forgiveness, and so on. All these thing are extremely important to a toddler and I'm happy to say that the eight mini stories on Thomas & Friends-Twin Trouble have them in abundance. I would have no trouble recommending Thomas & Friends to any parent. Not only does it keep the little ones occupied for a short period, but the time spent watching the show is educational in the best way possible.

Video

    Thomas & Friends-Twin Trouble is presented in 1.33:1 full frame as it was broadcast on television and it is not 16x9 enhanced.

    Sharpness levels were strong with no signs of aliasing. Shadow detail was pleasing with strong black levels. There were no grain or low level noise problems.

    Colours were natural and well defined. There were no bleeding issues detected.

    There were little to no video artefacts apparent.

    All-in-all, Twin Trouble had a very good transfer, but I wouldn't expect anything else from the ABC.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    Twin Trouble has a solitary English Dolby Digital 2.0 surround audio track.

    Dialogue is always clear and strong and there are absolutely no audio sync problems.

    The music by Mike O'Donnell and Junior Campbell nicely adds to each story and never distracts.

    Surround channel usage is minimal at best. Other than the theme music which can be heard in the rear speakers, I couldn't detect any directional effects.

    The subwoofer helps were it can, but strong bass is not really needed by this title.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Main Menu Audio & Animation

Scene Selection Animation & Audio

    From what I could find, both the R4 and R2 versions of this disc are the same.

    Thomas & Friends-Twin Trouble is a fine selection of eight stories from the island of Sodor. It keeps the kids entertained and educates at the same time. A great children's show. The disc has a fine audio and video presentation with no extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall