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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.
Frisky Dingo-Season 1 (2006)

Frisky Dingo-Season 1 (2006)

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Released 11-Jun-2008

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Animation Trailer-Adult Swim; Tim and Eric Awesome Show Season 1
Trailer-The Venture Bros. Season 1; Metalocalypse Season 1
Trailer-Squidbillies Season 1
Rating Rated MA
Year Of Production 2006
Running Time 144:11 (Case: 143)
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 4 Directed By Neal Holman
Studio
Distributor

Madman Entertainment
Starring Stuart Culpepper
Christian Danley
Mr. Ford
Roger Heng
Neal Holman
Case Gatefold
RPI ? Music Casey Willis
Killer Mike
Neal Holman


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame Full Frame English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio None
16x9 Enhancement No
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.33:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English for the Hearing Impaired Smoking No
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

Frisky Dingo is yet another outrageously funny animated series from the depraved minds at Adult Swim, and is broadcast on the Cartoon Network along with their numerous other creations such as Metalocalypse, Harvey Birdman and the brilliant Sealab 2021. If there's one thing that can be said for Adult Swim's production style, it's consistent (or repetitive, depending on your point of view). What I'm alluding to is that Frisky Dingo certainly maintains the style and humour of other Adult Swim series; the uncomfortable lengthy pauses and homosexual innuendo are here in spades.

The central character of this series is Killface; an unsightly, naked megalomaniac (his hideous visage graces the DVD cover) whose perpetual frustration and hilarious bad luck is the basis for much of the plot and humour. Killface has a scheme to destroy the Earth and all its inhabitants via his yet-to-be-completed Annihilatrix machine, and is keen to begin building a public image that would befit a villain. However, what with insurances, lawsuits, poor grammar, media buys and the like, Killface ("Mr. K" to his employees) struggles to manage his finances and is running $40Billion behind on his Annihilatrix project.

Enter Xander Crews, billionaire playboy and soon-to-be retired superhero by the name of Awesome-X, also your stereotypical rich bloke who's never worked a day in his life and treats women terribly. With the help of his underpaid team of armour-suited knuckleheads, the X-tacles, Xander has obliterated all of his foes and has no-one left to fight - a prospect that could prove disastrous for his action figure sales. Xander hatches a plan to use his media influence (namely his journalist girlfriend Grace Ryan) to help Killface in the short term and gain the rights to produce an action figure in his likeness. If only plans could actually go that smoothly!

This DVD contains all thirteen episodes of season one on a single, dual-layered disc. Past Adult Swim series I have reviewed have been spread over multiple DVD5 discs, so this is a new development (and a preferable one in my opinion). I should point out that these episodes are presented here as they were broadcast; swearing beeped out and genitals blurred. Makes the MA rating seem kind-of pointless, doesn't it?

If you're fond of the Adult Swim franchise and appreciate their humour (many claim it to be an acquired taste) and numerous bizarre twists and turns, Frisky Dingo is certain to please.

Don't wish to see plot synopses in the future? Change your configuration.

Transfer Quality

Video

This PAL video transfer appears to have been sourced from an NTSC master. Overlapping frames are visible in the animation, along with some distracting combing effects at times, particularly during motion. Colours hold up well, with no dire rendering or bleeding issues in the slightest.

This transfer is framed in its intended broadcast aspect ratio of 1.33:1, full frame. The image is tight to the frame on all sides.

The animation quality varies, but is generally is sharp and well detailed. Backgrounds are particularly nice in this series, I noted while watching.

Frisky Dingo was animated digitally, so there are absolutely no film artefacts to be concerned about. Some mild MPEG compression grain creeps in intermittently, usually in conjunction with the NTSC-PAL conversion artefacting. Clearly the corrupted frames are a task for a limited MPEG bitrate to render efficiently.

An English subtitle stream for the hearing impaired is provided and seems to do an accurate job of transcribing the dialogue. The pace of the dialogue is sometimes fast, so in these situations character names are listed on screen next to their dialogue.

This disc is DVD9 formatted. I wasn't able to discern any pause or layer transition during playback on my system.

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

Audio

A single soundtrack is provided, presented in English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo (224Kb/s). This is the original language and as you'd expect, there's little to report here.

The dialogue is crystal clear and the voice characterisations are easy to pick. I was slightly disappointed to find that swearing is beeped out throughout these episodes. Given that the title has received an MA rating based on the subject matter alone, bleeping out the four-letter words seems pretty pointless, really. Perhaps this is the only source Madman were provided with, but honestly Adult Swim, I'm a big boy now - I can handle a bit of bad language. Foley effects and sound design are excellent and the whole soundtrack is well balanced. Audio sync is as good as it could possibly be for an animated series.

The music that has been utilised is eclectic and varies greatly from one episode to another. I wouldn't say it is particularly memorable, nor is it integral to the series' humour or plot. Nobody seems to be credited for it, either.

I noted many examples of stereo panning within the soundfield, such as passing cars, moving objects and the like. There is obviously no subwoofer or surround activity to report.

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

Extras

Nothing of note.

Trailers (5)

The obligatory anti-piracy propaganda is followed by trailers for the Adult Swim franchise, Metalocalypse Season 1, Venture Bros. Season 1, Squidbillies Season 1 and Tim & Eric Awesome Show Season 1.

R4 vs R1

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

Aside from the usual PAL / NTSC formatting differences, this title is similarly void of extras across all regions.

Summary

Frisky Dingo is another great animated series from Adult Swim.

The video suffers from NTSC format conversion issues, but is otherwise on a par with broadcast quality.

The audio transfer is as good as could be expected from an animated television series.

No extras besides a few trailers.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Rob Giles (readen de bio, bork, bork, bork.)
Friday, July 25, 2008
Review Equipment
DVDDenon DVD-3910, using HDMI output
DisplaySanyo PLV-Z2 WXGA projector, Screen Technics Cinemasnap 96" (16x9). Calibrated with Video Essentials/Digital Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 720p.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to DVD player. Calibrated with Video Essentials/Digital Video Essentials.
AmplificationDenon AVR-3806 (7.1 Channels)
SpeakersOrpheus Aurora III floor-standing Mains and Surrounds. Orpheus Centaurus .5 Front Center. Mirage 10 inch powered sub.

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