Jay Jay the Jet Plane-Fun to Learn (2001) |
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General | Extras | ||
Category | Childrens |
Song Lyrics-Sing-Alongs (4) Trailer-The Bear In The Big Blue House, New MacDonald's Farm |
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Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 2001 | ||
Running Time | 91:19 (Case: 96) | ||
RSDL / Flipper | No/No | Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Menu | ||
Region Coding | 4 | Directed By | None Given |
Studio
Distributor |
Roadshow Home Entertainment |
Starring |
Eleanor Burian-Mohr John Semper Terence Taylor |
Case | Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip | ||
RPI | $19.95 | Music |
Craig Dobbin Brian Mann Oscar Dominguez |
Video | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None | English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) | |
Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.29:1 | ||
16x9 Enhancement | No | ||
Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | 1.29:1 | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | No | ||
Subtitles | None | Smoking | No |
Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
Action In or After Credits | No |
Some time ago, I reviewed one disc of Jay Jay The Jet Plane and was not overly impressed. I found it saccharine and politically correct in a completely over-the-top way. Despite that my young son really likes it so I decided to review another disc of this show. These episodes were slightly better than the ones on the previous disc although the same problems certainly existed. Can you possibly be any more politically correct than making the town librarian deaf?
Jay Jay the Jet Plane is an American produced animated children's show which is shown on PBS in the US, Discovery Kids in the UK and the Nine Network here in Australia. There seems to be two flavours of this show, one for American audiences and one for English audiences. We seem to have got the English version here. I cannot find any categorical evidence that this is true but rather this is based on a guess. It would seem that the actress who plays Brenda Blue (one of the few human characters) is different in this version than in the US version. Here she speaks with an English accent (as does the narrator), although the actress (Vanessa Stacy) is actually from New Zealand. The US actress looks completely different and I can only assume the producers decided to make it a bit more English before launching it in the UK. Unfortunately, the voices of the planes are annoyingly American.
The show is bright, cheerful, twee and completely and utterly political correct. Every episode has a message which is pounded home relentlessly. Despite this the characters are very cute and the songs are catchy. The show is computer animated with real actors added in. The main characters are:
This disc includes seven episodes, each of approximately 13 minutes duration. Each episode includes a number of songs sung by the aeroplanes. The episodes are:
If you have a limited ability to cope with American wholesomeness avoid this series. Young children will like the funny and cute planes, like my son does.
The video quality is very good.
The feature is presented in a 1.29:1 aspect ratio non 16x9 enhanced which is the original aspect ratio.
Clarity and sharpness were excellent. There was no low level noise.
The colour was excellent, bright and cheerful.
The only noticeable artefact was some mild aliasing. This will certainly not bother the kids.
There are no subtitles despite the case contending there are.
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Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
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Overall |
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 by Craig Dobbin & Brian Mann is very twee and annoying for adults but my son seemed to like it. The theme song tends to get stuck in your head.
The surround speakers and subwoofer were not used.
Dialogue | |
Audio Sync | |
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
Surround Channel Use | |
Subwoofer | |
Overall |
The surround speakers and subwoofer were not used.
The menu includes stills and the ability to select episodes.
This includes four of the songs from the episodes with sing along karaoke style lyrics along the bottom of the screen. The songs are Jay Jay's theme song (0:46), Breezy (1:26), Oceans of Fun (1:39), Going There With You (1:32). These include a glimpse of the American Brenda Blue and more Tuffy.
Short trailers for The Bear in the Big Blue House & New MacDonalds Farm on DVD.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
This is available in the same format in Region 2. The Region 1 releases of this series only contain three episodes so the local product seems to be the best.
A twee, wholesome and very politically correct American animated children's show. If you can't stand Barney, you will not like this, but the kids probably will.
Video | |
Audio | |
Extras | |
Plot | |
Overall |
Review Equipment | |
DVD | Pioneer DV667A DVD-V DVD-A SACD, using Component output |
Display | Sony FD Trinitron Wega KV-AR34M36 80cm. Calibrated with Digital Video Essentials (PAL). This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 576i (PAL)/480i (NTSC). |
Audio Decoder | Built in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials. |
Amplification | Pioneer VSX-511 |
Speakers | Bose 201 Direct Reflecting (Front), Phillips SB680V (Surround), Phillips MX731 (Center), Yamaha YST SW90 (Sub) |