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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.
Secret Show, The-The U.Z.Z Files-Volume 2 (2006)

Secret Show, The-The U.Z.Z Files-Volume 2 (2006)

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Released 5-Sep-2007

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Childrens Main Menu Introduction
Main Menu Audio & Animation
Informational Subtitles-Bunny Counter
Audio Commentary-Martian Dub of Super-Vic
Featurette-Making Of-Artists Drawing U.Z.Z.
Game-Changed Daily's Name Changer
Featurette-Professor Professor's Lecture
Storyboard Comparisons-Original Animatic of Dr Hypno
Easter Egg-2
Rating Rated G
Year Of Production 2006
Running Time 117:17
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 4 Directed By Tony Collingwood
Andrea Tran
Studio
Distributor

Roadshow Home Entertainment
Starring None Given
Case Amaray-Transparent
RPI ? Music Roger Jackson
Sue Harding
Ian Macbeth


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Dolby Digital 2.0 (256Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.78:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English
Active Subtitle Track
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 : The Secret Show

    Title of Disc : The U.Z.Z Files - Volume 2

    Year of Production : 2006

    Country of origin : United Kingdom

    What's included? :  9 episodes.

    Episode Length : About 13 minutes each.

    Details of episodes : 

This DVD includes the following episodes

      1. The Secret Room with Tom Baker as a guest voice
      2. Alien Attack
      3. Mirror Mirror
      4. Dr Hypno Returns Again!
      5. Secret Sleep
      6. Super-Vic!
      7. The Thing That Goes Ping
      8. The Trousers of Doom
      9. What's in the Box

    Style of Production : Computer Animation

    Premise of show : The Secret Show is a fantastic new kids show from the BBC which is just as funny for kids as for adults. On one level it is a fun and exciting kids show featuring secret agents battling baddies and on a more adult level it is a great spoof of spy shows. It features two secret organisations who try to foil each other's plans. They are the excellently named U.Z.Z. & T.H.E.M. Our heroes work for U.Z.Z. They include the main field agents, Victor & Anita; the brains of the operation, Professor Professor from Bavaria and their boss whose name is changed daily for security reasons (usually to something silly like Pattycake or Timmy's Cheeky Chipmunk). Whenever 'Changed Daily' appears he is accompanied by a fireplace (complete with fire). There are also a team of other agents led by an agent in sunglasses named Ray. Their arch nemesis from T.H.E.M. is Doctor Doctor, who Professor Professor seems to have a soft spot for. When each episode starts we seem to have come to the wrong show as we get The Fluffy Bunny Show which involves an old woman and some bunnies. This is then cleared out to make way for The Secret Show. The method of removing the old woman and the bunnies changes each time. There are great gags for both kids and adults.

    Age Group : 3-10

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

    Adult's view : I love this show and find myself singing along to the theme song all the time. The theme song is a classic spy theme but the main cast members sing along with it, scat style which is very funny. This show is very inventive, amusing and lots of fun.

    Child's view : This is a big hit with my two pre-school boys. They find it very funny and exciting at the same time.

    Other Releases of this show available? : This is the second volume of this show to be released.

    Overall : Great show. Great value disc with nearly two hours of episodes and lots of extras. Get it!

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Transfer Quality

Video

    The video quality is  very good.

    The feature is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio, 16x9 enhanced, which is the original aspect ratio.

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

    The colour was excellent.

    There were no noticeable artefacts.

    There are subtitles in English which are clear and easy to read.

     

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 great theme tune and incidental music sounds very good.

    The surround speakers were used for atmosphere and the subwoofer was not used.

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

Extras

    An excellent selection of extras are included.

Menu

    The menus are a major production in themselves. Like the show itself the first menu which appears is a menu for The Fluffy Bunny Show, which is then removed by Ray and replaced with one for The Secret Show. There are also some extras which require questions to be answered before you can access them and a couple of Easter Eggs.

Booklet

    A booklet is included which tells you what you need to do to access some of the extras and also about the website.

Bunny Counter

    One of the extras which requires an answer to access wants you to count the bunnies within each episode (they have escaped from The Fluffy Bunny Show). This feature which is encoded as a subtitle stream automatically counts the bunnies for you. It's a bit of a hoot really.

Martian Dub of Super-Vic (13:03)

    This is actually more like a comedic commentary rather than a different language dub. All of the main characters get together to record a Martian version of the soundtrack, however spend most of the time arguing. Funny stuff. Listen out for Professor Professor speaking in Southern Martian.

Artists Drawing U.Z.Z. (8:04)

    Changed Daily hosts a tour of the production offices of the show. Includes an interview with the Animation Director and other crew along with some early concept art for the show and characters. Funny.

Changed Daily's Name Changer

    This is an interactive feature which allows the viewer to automatically generate new names for Changed Daily.

Professor Professor's Lecture - Inside U.Z.Z. (4:04)

    This tour of the U.Z.Z base is only accessible once you have the answer to the question which is contained within one of the episodes. Funny stuff which is worth finding the answer for.

Original Animatic of Dr Hypno

    The answer to the counting of bunnies allows access to this multi-angle feature which allows you to flick between the animatic (storyboard style) version and the final show. Can't get excited about this one.

Easter Egg 1

    (SPOILER ALERT: highlight with mouse to read) If you leave the main menu without choosing anything two buttons appear. Press the blue one and then water fills the screen and you are returned to the original menu.

Easter Egg 2

    (SPOILER ALERT: highlight with mouse to read) If you leave the main menu without choosing anything two buttons appear. Press the red one and you get access to four outtakes including the extended and hilarious 'It was the Chair' fart joke.

R4 vs R1

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

     This disc is not available in other regions as far as I can tell, but it should be.

Summary

    A great new kids show on a great disc. You really couldn't ask for more in a kids DVD.

    The video quality is very good.

    The audio quality is very good.

    Lots of great fun extras.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Daniel Bruce (Do you need a bio break?)
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
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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