Family Guy-Happy Freakin' Christmas (1999) |
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Family Guy-Happy Freakin' Christmas (1999) |
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| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Comedy | Featurette-The Best Of Stewie | |
| Rating |
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| Year Of Production | 1999 | ||
| Running Time | 44:04 | ||
| RSDL / Flipper | No/No | Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Ads Then Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 4 | Directed By |
Sarah Frost Seth MacFarlane Neil Affleck Greg Colton |
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Studio
Distributor |
 Twentieth Century Fox |
Starring |
Seth MacFarlane Alex Borstein Mila Kunis Seth Green |
| Case | ? | ||
| RPI | $19.95 | Music |
Ron Jones Walter Murphy |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | Full Frame | English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) | |
| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | None | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement | No | ||
| Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 1.33:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | No | ||
| Subtitles | English for the Hearing Impaired | Smoking | No |
| Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
| Action In or After Credits | No | ||
Christmas might be over, but it is never too late to watch a couple of Family Guy episodes. Unfortunately Family Guy – Happy Freakin’ Christmas only contains two episodes, Da Boom from Season 2 and A Very Special Family Guy Freakin' Christmas from Season 3, and even then Da Boom doesn't have a Christmas theme - it has a New Year's Eve theme.
For those of you who haven't seen Family Guy, it is an animated series featuring the dysfunctional Griffin family. There is the not-too-bright husband, Peter (Seth MacFarlane), his lovely wife, Lois (Alex Borstein), his moody daughter, Meg (Mila Kunis), his half-witted son, Chris (Seth Green), the intellectually sophisticated one year old, Stewie (Seth MacFarlane), and the talking alcoholic dog, Brian (Seth MacFarlane).
If you want to know more about Family Guy, check out Edward M’s Family Guy - Season 1 review here, Aiden O’s Family Guy - Season 2 review here, or my earlier Family Guy – The Freakin’ Sweet Collection review here.
It's December 31, 1999, and Peter is informed by a man in a chicken suit that the world is going to end on account of Y2K. Peter decides to lock his family in the basement for a week and when they emerge they discover that civilisation has been destroyed. Running low on food they make their way to a well-stocked Twinkee factory in Natick and establish New Quahog, with Peter as Mayor.
When Peter accidentally gives the family's Christmas presents away to charity, Lois drags the whole family off to the mall to buy some more, leaving Brian at home to look after the turkey. Shopping on Christmas Eve is hell and Peter's greatest concern is the fact that he is missing out on the television special, Kiss Saves Santa. When they return home they discover that the house has caught fire and the turkey is burnt, but Lois manages to calm the situation down by stating that Christmas Eve "is a night for magic and wonder and joy", only to go berserk when there is no paper towel to clean up the mess.
Apart from aliasing the transfer is near perfect.
The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 and it is not 16x9 enhanced.
The animation is clean and sharp. There is no visible noise or grain.
As you would expect from a cartoon, the colours are vibrant.
I did not notice any MPEG artefacts, but once again aliasing is a problem and it becomes quite annoying after a while. Some examples are Da Boom at 4:54 and 18:24.Interestingly, the episode A Very Special Family Guy Freakin' Christmas doesn't suffer from aliasing nearly as much as Da Boom, but it does have a softer look.
English subtitles for the Hearing Impaired are offered for both episodes and the featurette. They are clear and easy to read, but do tend to move around the screen in an effort not to obscure the action.
This is a Single Layer Single Sided disc so there is no disruptive layer change.
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The only audio track for both episodes and the featurette is English Dolby Digital 2.0 (Surround).
Dialogue is always clear and easy to understand and, being an animated series, audio sync wasn’t a problem.
All dialogue and sound effects sit firmly in the centre sound stage with only the music making its way to the surrounds.
Subwoofer use is minimal.
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The only extra on the DVD is a featurette called The Best Of Stewie.
The main menu follows the obligatory anti-piracy ads which, thankfully, can be skipped through. The menu is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 and is not 16x9 enhanced. It is not animated and contains no audio. The main menu allows you to select the episodes individually, Play All, or access the Featurette.
Seth MacFarlane discusses Stewie's character at length, covering character development in later episodes and exploring Stewie's sexual uncertainty. The featurette is essential a montage of Stewie's greatest moments and is well worth a look. Unfortunately it also suffers from aliasing.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
A search of the internet has failed to turn up any differences between the Region 4 and Region 1 versions of this disc.
Apart from some aliasing issues the video and audio transfers are very good.
The featurette, The Best Of Stewie, is good and certainly worth a look, but it doesn't justify the cost of the disc.
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| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | Pioneer DV-533K, using Component output |
| Display | InFocus Screenplay 7200 with ScreenTechnics 100" (16x9) screen. Calibrated with Digital Video Essentials (PAL). This display device is 16x9 capable. |
| Audio Decoder | Built in to Amplifier. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
| Amplification | Denon AVC -A11SR |
| Speakers | Jamo D6PEX wall mounted Speakers and Powered Sub (7.1) |