Fifi and the Flowertots-Fifi's in Charge (2005)

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General		Extras
Category	Childrens	Menu Animation & Audio Game-Explore Flowertot Garden Additional Footage-Sing-Along-Song
Rating
Year Of Production	2005
Running Time	50:27
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Tim Harper
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Jane Horrocks
Case	Handle
RPI	$19.95	Music	Alan Coates Kim Goody Bridget Appleby

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (256Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	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 : Fifi and the Flowertots

    Title of Disc : Fifi's in Charge

    Year of Production : 2005

    Country of origin : UK

    What's included? : 5 episodes

    Episode Length : 10 minutes each

    Details of episodes : 

1. Fifi's in Charge - Fifi and Violet are looking after Poppy's market stall while she is away. They get Pip to help with deliveries which is a bad idea.
2. Sports Day - The Flowertots are having a Sports Day and Stingo decides to get fit so he can win the prizes.
3. Stingo Gets Stuck - Fifi is spring cleaning but the dust she causes makes Webby's web lose its stickiness.
4. Fee-fi-fo-fum Fifi - Fifi tells Pip the story of Jack & The Beanstalk and he wants to tell everyone.
5. Hole Lot of Fun - Stingo suggests a golf competition with peas.

    Style of Production : Puppet animation

    Premise of show : Has been referred to as Bob the Builder for girls. It is set in Flowertot Garden where Fifi Forget-me-not (voiced by the ubiquitous Jane Horrocks) lives with her friends. She is a flowertot (a flower with legs and arms) as are her friends Violet, Primrose, Poppy & Aunt Tulip. Also living in the garden are Slugsy (a slug), Stingo (a wasp), Bumble (a bee), Mo the Mower, Grubby (a baby), Pip (a gooseberry) and Webby (a spider).

    Age Group : 2-6

    Related to any other children's shows? : A bit like Bob The Builder but not that much.

    Adult's view : Very cute show which doesn't fall into the American kids show trap of being too much sweetness and light where everyone is always nice to each other. They have their squabbles and disagreements but it never gets out of hand. Would certainly appeal to girls more than boys but pre-schoolers of either sex will enjoy it.

    Child's view : My young boys like this show, especially the more boyish characters like Bumble, Stingo and Slugsy.

    Other Releases of this show available? : There are two volumes of this show now available locally. Another one is due to be released soon 

    Overall : Recommended.

Video

    The video quality is excellent.

    The feature is presented in a 1.75:1 aspect ratio 16x9 enhanced which is probably the original aspect ratio.

    The picture was very clear and sharp throughout, with no evidence of low level noise. The bitrate is uniformly high.

    The colour was wonderful, rich and solid throughout.

    No artefacts were noticeable.

    There are subtitles in English for the hearing impaired. They are clear and easy to read but summarised from the spoken word.

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 very catchy and lots of fun featuring a poppy theme tune.

    The surround speakers and subwoofer were not used.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

    The menu included an intro, music, action and the ability to select episodes and subtitles.

Explore Flowertot Garden

    This is an interactive game where you have to guess who lives in each house in the garden.

Sing-a-long Song (0:45)

    The theme song with sing-a-long lyric subtitles.

    This disc is available in the same format in Region 2 and has not been released in Region 1.The Region 2 disc includes a recipe leaflet. This was not included in the local test disc however it might be in the retail release.

    The video quality is excellent.

    The audio quality is very good.

    Two small extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall