Rebus-The Falls/Fleshmarket Close (2001)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Drama	Main Menu Audio
Rating
Year Of Production	2001
Running Time	139:32 (Case: 180)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Martyn Friend
Studio Distributor	Warner Vision	Starring	Ken Stott
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$31.95	Music	David Ferguson

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Rebus is a Scottish TV series based on a series of popular detective novels by Ian Rankin. The titular character is Inspector John Rebus an Edinburgh based police detective who is tough and uncompromising but also sometimes strays into his own personal darkness. In these two feature length episodes from 2006, the character is played by Ken Stott, a well known Scottish actor in TV shows and movies. When the series first started in 2000, the character was played by John Hannah, who made four episodes. These two (which make up all of Season 2) were the first two episodes to star Stott. In total, four series have been made but it seems that there will not be any more as Stott no longer wants to play the character.

    The two episodes included here are as follows

1. The Falls (70:11) - Rebus and his new partner (a young female officer) investigate the murder of a well known doctor who used to run a local maternity ward in a major hospital before retiring. A tiny coffin with baby effigy is left at the crime scene. This is a high quality episode.
2. Fleshmarket Close (69:21) - This time a young Kosovan girl goes missing from an underprivileged area and a Kurdish man is found dead on the same estate. The link between the two takes some time for Rebus to unravel. Unfortunately, this episode is not up to the quality of the first and can be quite confusing in its narrative.

    This is a tense and gritty series of mysteries which will appeal the fans of similar shows from the UK. They are shot in a very realistic and close up style, adding to the shows 'on the scene' feel. Ken Stott makes for quite a good Rebus. Annoyingly, the original advertisement break bumpers are included during the show.

    All in all, these are competent but not spectacular murder mysteries from Scotland.

Video

    The video quality is average.

    The feature is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio 16x9 enhanced which I would assume is the original aspect ratio for these 2006 episodes.

    The picture was fairly sharp and clear although hampered by a very low bitrate which showed itself mostly as some macro-blocking and light grain. Shadow detail was pretty good. The macro-blocking became more prevalent during the second episode and could be seen around moving objects.

    The colour was pretty dull and lifeless, partially due to the colour scheme of the show.

    Other artefacts on show included some edge enhancement and moire.

    There are no subtitles.

    There is no layer change during the shows.
    

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The audio quality is decent but let down by unclear dialogue.

    This DVD contains an English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtrack encoded at 224 Kb/s.

    Dialogue was usually pretty clear but some lines were quite hard to make out due to a combination of accents and mumbling combined with the average nature of the audio.

    The music is quite effective and adds significant tension in the right places.

    The surround speakers were used to add atmosphere, such as music, cars sounds and off-screen dialogue when played using Pro Logic.

     The subwoofer was not used in any obvious way.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    Nothing.

Menu

    The menu design is very simple only allowing for choosing which episode to watch.

    The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;

• Trailer
• Filmographies
• Biography of Ian Rankin
• Separate Disc for each show

    The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on;

• Nothing

    On this basis it is Region 1 by a short half head, however, I don't think the difference should drive you to buy in Region 1.

    The video quality is average.

    The audio quality is decent but let down by the dialogue quality.

    No extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall