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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.
Jay Jay the Jet Plane-Fun to Learn (2001)

Jay Jay the Jet Plane-Fun to Learn (2001)

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Released 11-Nov-2004

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Childrens Song Lyrics-Sing-Alongs (4)
Trailer-The Bear In The Big Blue House, New MacDonald's Farm
Rating Rated G
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

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    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:

  1. The Counting Game - The planes play a counting game.
  2. Jay Jay meets Captain Hightower - The airport gets very busy and Brenda decides to call in an expert.
  3. A Trip To Skylandia - Jay Jay gets caught in a storm and finds a city in the clouds.
  4. Jay Jay's Butterfly Adventure - Jay Jay meets his friend Breezy the Butterfly.
  5. Jay Jay & The Magic Books - Due to rain, Jay Jay's planned trip is called off and when he gets bored Tracy takes him to visit the library.
  6. Tuffy's trip to Pangabula - The return on the annoying tow truck with a speech impediment, Tuffy sees her wanting to visit an Island called Pangabula but because she can't fly it is a challenge.
  7. Tuffy's Adventure on Pangabula Island - Tuffy needs to save an important tree while in Pangabula.

    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.

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Transfer Quality

Video

    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.

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 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.

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

Extras

    The surround speakers and subwoofer were not used.

   

Menu

    The menu includes stills and the ability to select episodes.

Sing-a-longs

    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.

Trailers

    Short trailers for The Bear in the Big Blue House & New MacDonalds Farm on DVD.

 

R4 vs R1

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.

Summary

     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.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Daniel Bruce (Do you need a bio break?)
Sunday, January 29, 2006
Review Equipment
DVDPioneer DV667A DVD-V DVD-A SACD, using Component output
DisplaySony 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 DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials.
AmplificationPioneer VSX-511
SpeakersBose 201 Direct Reflecting (Front), Phillips SB680V (Surround), Phillips MX731 (Center), Yamaha YST SW90 (Sub)

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