The Classic Adventures of Thomas & Friends-Series 2 (1986) |
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General | Extras | ||
Category | Childrens | Main Menu Audio | |
Rating | |||
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 |
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:
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.
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.
Sharpness | |
Shadow Detail | |
Colour | |
Grain/Pixelization | |
Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
Film Artefacts | |
Overall |
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.
Dialogue | |
Audio Sync | |
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
Surround Channel Use | |
Subwoofer | |
Overall |
None, but considering the number of episodes included this is not a big issue.
The menu included a short intro, the theme tune and allowed for choosing episodes or subtitles.
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.
The video quality is as good as you could expect.
The audio quality is fine.
No extras.
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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 | Monitor Audio Bronze 2 (Front), Bronze Centre & Bronze FX (Rears) + Yamaha YST SW90 subwoofer |