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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.
The Classic Adventures of Thomas & Friends-Series 2 (1986)

The Classic Adventures of Thomas & Friends-Series 2 (1986)

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Released 13-Apr-2006

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Childrens Main Menu Audio
Rating Rated G
Year Of Production 1986
Running Time 144:18
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 4 Directed By David Mitton
Studio
Distributor
Hit Entertainment
Roadshow Home Entertainment
Starring Ringo Starr
Case Handle
RPI $19.95 Music Mike O'Donnell
Junior Campbell


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 English for the Hearing Impaired Smoking No
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

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

Plot Synopsis

    Title of Show : Thomas & Friends

    Title of Disc : The Classic Adventures of Thomas & Friends - Series Two

    Year of Production : 1986

    Country of origin : UK

    What's included? : The complete second production season of 26 episodes which makes for an excellent value disc.

    Episode Length : About 5 and a half minutes.

    Details of episodes : This disc contains the entire second production series of Thomas & Friends, made in 1986 and narrated by Ringo Starr. Some of these have previously been released on other DVDs but many have not. These are the classic stories, mostly based directly on stories written by Rev W Awdry. The episodes included are:

    1. Thomas, Percy & The Coal
    2. Cows
    3. Bertie's Chase
    4. Saved from Scrap
    5. Old Iron
    6. Thomas and Trevor
    7. Percy and the Signal
    8. Duck Takes Charge
    9. Percy and Harold
    10. The Runaway
    11. Percy Takes The Plunge
    12. Pop Goes The Diesel
    13. Dirty Work
    14. A Close Shave
    15. Better Late than Never
    16. Breakvan
    17. The Deputation
    18. Thomas Comes To Breakfast
    19. Daisy
    20. Percy's Predicament
    21. The Diseasel
    22. Wrong Road
    23. Edward's Exploit
    24. Ghost Train
    25. Woolly Bear
    26. Thomas and the Missing Christmas Tree

    Style of Production : Models

    Premise of show : One of the best children's shows ever, especially for boys. A group of engines both steam & diesel work on the railways of the Island of Sodor having mild adventures and trying to be really useful. The long term engines are the most famous including Thomas, Henry, Edward, Gordon, James & Percy. This original series includes the debut episodes of many characters such as Duck & Trevor.

    Age Group : 2-10

    Related to any other children's shows? : Not really, although many other shows have adopted a similar concept such as Busy Buses.

    Adult's view : Great children's television. Likeable characters, good stories, messages which are not beaten over your head. These are the classic episodes before the series became more Americanised. We also learn in this series that Duck's real name is Montague and why he is called Duck!

    Child's view : These episodes have all of the classic characters the kids love, without the potentially scary bits included in later episodes. Simply the best.

    Other Releases of this show available? : There are numerous releases of Thomas available including a 60th anniversary box set.

    Overall : Highly Recommended.

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Transfer Quality

Video

    The video quality is as good as you could expect for 20+ year old children's television.

    The feature is presented in a 1.29:1 aspect ratio non 16x9 enhanced which is the original aspect ratio.

    The picture was not overly sharp but no worse than you would expect. There was no evidence of low level noise. Grain was present throughout. Shadow detail was poor.

    The colour was OK but nothing special being a bit dull generally and including colour artefacts such as chroma noise and bleeding.

    Artefacts included some splodges here and there, mild aliasing on railway tracks and some walls and tape tracking errors.

    There are subtitles in English for the hearing impaired which are easy to read but slightly summarised.

     

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

Audio

    The audio quality is fine.

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

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

    The music by Mike O'Donnell & Junior Campbell is fun and catchy as usual with Thomas.

    The surround speakers and subwoofer were not used.

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

Extras

    None, but considering the number of episodes included this is not a big issue.

Menu

    The menu included a short intro, the theme tune and allowed for choosing episodes or subtitles.

R4 vs R1

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

    I cannot find any evidence of this disc being available in Region 1.

Summary

    The second season of Thomas & Friends from 1986 collected on one disc which includes 26 episodes.

    The video quality is as good as you could expect.

    The audio quality is fine.

    No extras.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Daniel Bruce (Do you need a bio break?)
Monday, May 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
SpeakersMonitor Audio Bronze 2 (Front), Bronze Centre & Bronze FX (Rears) + Yamaha YST SW90 subwoofer

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