Fireman Sam-Fun Run (2005)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Childrens	None
Rating
Year Of Production	2005
Running Time	50:20
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,6	Directed By	Timon Dowdeswell
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Andrew Offiler John Sparkes
Case	Handle
RPI	$19.95	Music	None Given

    Title of Show : Fireman Sam

    Title of Disc : Fun Run

    Year of Production : 2003

    Country of origin : UK

    What's included? : 5 episodes

    Episode Length : approx. 10 minutes each

    Details of episodes : 

1. Pizza Palaver - Bella gets a new Pizza oven delivered but the installation doesn't go smoothly.
2. Fun Run - A village fun run is organised but this don't go well and the kids get lost.
3. Trouble and Squeak - Norman is looking after the school pet, a mouse, for the holidays which leads to disaster.
4. King of the Jungle - Norman thinks he's Tarzan.
5. Norman's Invisible Friend - Norman invents a friend in order to get two serves of everything.

    Style of Production : Puppet animation

    Premise of show : The series follows the adventures of the residents of the town of Pontypandy in Wales which seems to have an inordinate amount of situations which require help from the Fire Department. Obviously the lead character is Fireman Sam, the local fire fighting hero and all round good guy. The other firefighters include the slightly dopey Elvis Criddlington, Penny Morris and their boss Station Officer Steele. A new addition to the fire service is a rescue helicopter, Wallaby One, flown by the intrepid Aussie Tom Thomas. The townsfolk who need rescuing include Bella Lasagne, who runs an Italian restaurant, and Dilys Price, who runs the local general store. The main source of business for the fire station is the town's kids; Norman Price, Dilys' son; Mandy and the twins Sarah & James (niece & nephew of Sam). Each episode generally sees someone getting into trouble and being rescued by the fire service.

    Age Group : 2-8

    Related to any other children's shows? : Not really

    Adult's view : Good children's show which has good stories but also subtly teaches fire dangers and the importance of not lying.

    Child's view : My boys enjoy the music and the show but the older one is a little wary of the fires.

    Other Releases of this show available? : There are four volumes of this show now available locally with another one being released soon. I have previously reviewed two other discs.

    Overall : Heartily recommended.

Video

    The video quality is excellent but a bit odd when compared to previous releases.

    The feature is presented in a 1.33:1/1.36:1 aspect ratio non 16x9 enhanced which is different to previous releases which were 1.75:1 widescreen. The kids won't be overly worried but it's a bit odd. Two episodes are 1.33:1 and the other three are 1.36:1 windowboxed.

    The picture was very clear and sharp throughout with no evidence of low level noise.

    The colour was wonderful, rich and solid throughout.

    There were no noticeable artefacts.

    There are no subtitles.

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 256 Kb/s.

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

    The music is a lot of fun and the theme tune really sticks in the head, which may or may not be a good thing depending on your point of view.

    The surround speakers and subwoofer were not used.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    None

Menu

    The menu was still but allowed for the ability to select episodes.

    This disc is available in the same format in Region 2 but not in Region 1.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall