Noddy-A Bike for Big Ears (2002)

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General		Extras
Category	Childrens	Main Menu Audio & Animation Game-Learn The Alphabet Game-Spot The Difference
Rating
Year Of Production	2002
Running Time	65:00
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	None Given
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	None Given
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$19.95	Music	None Given

    A collection of 6 episodes of the more recent CGI version of the classic Noddy TV series. All the same characters are there, Noddy, Big Ears, Dina Doll, Master Tubby, Mr Plod and the Goblins, but in all new stories. Thankfully the producers have retained the simplicity and innocence of the original series and haven't resorted to adding in violence or monsters to 'update' the show.

    The 6 episodes on this disk are:

    - Noddy and the Bumper Monster - Noddy thinks a monster is out to get him

    - The Magic Powder - the mischievous goblins create a powder to force the townspeople to dance against their will...

    - A Bike for Big Ears - Noddy accidentally runs into Big Ears' bike and damages it.

    - Noddy and the Voice of Plod - After Mr Plod loses his voice shouting at Noddy, Noddy offers to help him out...

    - Master Tubby's Opposite Day - Master Tubby decides to say and do everything in opposite!

    -  Don't be Scared, Noddy - Noddy hears scary noises as he's trying to get to sleep...

Video

    The video is presented in 4x3 fullscreen.

    The picture is sharp at all times and exhibits very good shadow details and no visible trace of grain or low level noise.

    Colour is rich, though perhaps not as vibrant as I'd have expected. There is no trace of colour bleed or over saturation.

    There is some slight aliasing on diagonal lines, but nothing major.

    Surprisingly there are no subtitles.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    Audio is provided in Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo.

    Dialogue is clear at all times and in sync with the onscreen characters as much as you could expect in an animated show.

    The music is bright and cheery and includes a song in just about every episode.

    The sound was reasonably well spread across the front speakers. The rear surround channels weren't used at all.

    The subwoofer chimed in on low notes in the music, though of course it wasn't fed by its own 0.1 LFE channel.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    Menu Audio and Animation

    Some scenes and music from the show were shown in the menu background.

    There were two extras included on this disc:

    Learn the Alphabet - A simple A-Z game showing the spelling of simple objects.

    Spot the Difference - a few pairs of pictures are shown, with the viewer having to spot the difference between each picture.

    This disk does not appear to have been released in R1.

    I like this series, compared to many of the TV shows for kids at present. It has reasonably interesting stories, without ever having to resort to violence, gadgets, monsters or suchlike. It preserves a childlike innocence and is just good clean fun.

    The video and audio quality on this release were good. The extras were limited but reasonable.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall