Titan Maximum-Season One (2009)

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General		Extras
Category	Animation	Audio Commentary-2 tracks Featurette-Behind The Scenes Featurette-Anatomy of A Scene Featurette-Crew Mugshots Deleted Scenes Featurette-Design Showcase Bonus Episode-Episode Re-dub Trivia Informational Subtitles Featurette-Table Read TV Spots
Rating
Year Of Production	2009
Running Time	113:50
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Chris McKay
Studio Distributor	Adult Swim Madman Entertainment	Starring	None Given
Case	Custom Packaging
RPI	$29.95	Music	Shawn Patterson

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (224Kb/s) English Audio Commentary 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	English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	Yes

     Adult Swim does Voltron. That pretty much sums up Titan Maximum in a nutshell. The show takes Robot Chicken style animation and humour (unsurprising given that this shares a lot of talent with that show) and throws it at a semi-serious ongoing plotline that spoofs Voltron and the many Mighty Morphin Power Rangers series.

     The show follows the exploits of Titan force five, a group of supposedly elite fighter pilots whose fighter planes/space craft thingies meld together to form the super-powerful robot Titan Maximum. The five bungle their way through encounters generally thrown at them by an evil mastermind who once was one of their crew. The crew consist of the trampy Paris Hilton-esque sex bomb daughter of the President, a brainy blonde ditz, a cocksure leader who thinks he is God's gift to the world, that cocksure leader's nerdy kid brother and a monkey.

     The series is one of the more entertaining time-wasters to come from the Adult Swim stable in the last few years. Arguably the best since Frisky Dingo, although it barely holds a candle to that absurd masterpiece. The series features the noticeable voice talents of Seth Green, Rachel Leigh Cook and Breckin Meyer.

     This set includes the 9 episodes that comprise the show's first season. Save for the first episode, which runs double length, each is the usual Adult Swim 12 minute running time.

Video

     The show is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio and is 16x9 enhanced. The video looks decent without being particularly spectacular. The animation looks a little muddy and image slightly soft thanks to interlacing artefacts being present (likely from the way in which NTSC to PAL conversion was done), although that is about all that can be complained about. The colours are good, and there are no compression related issues noticeable at any point.

     This is a RSDL disc with a layer break placed between episodes.

     English subtitles for the hearing impaired are present and look to be reasonable based on the portion sampled.

Video Ratings Summary

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Audio

     The show features a single English Dolby Digital 5.1 track, which sounds quite good given the low budget look of the show. The audio is clear and easy to understand. There are no issues with audio sync. There is a decent dynamic range to the audio.

     The surrounds and subwoofer get used reasonably well during action scenes, although are not particularly noticeable otherwise.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Cast And Crew Commentary

     Two commentary tracks exist for each episode, typically from cast or crew (either animators or producers). The commentaries are a mixed bag, with the crew ones usually a little technical and anecdotal whilst the cast ones usually play for laughs.

Anatomy of A Scene Featurette (4:41)

     The same 30-40 second segment of the pilot episode played in each of the 7 stages of putting the show together. Interesting stuff.

Behind The Scenes Featurette (15:22)

     A decent "making of" type featurette that runs through all kinds of aspects of the production, including the initial concept, animation, character creation and voicing.

Crew Mugshots Featurette (1:30)

     A pointless parade of mugshot style photos of the show's crew. Pass.

Deleted Animatics (17:11)

     10 animatics for scenes deleted from the show before primary production, along with introductions from the show's writers/creators and in some cases Seth Green. Well worth a look.

Design Showcase Featurette (47:57)

     Essentially four design featurettes covering general production design, character design, robot design, and design of the main team's look. Done as a narrated slideshow, this is very dry but will be particularly interesting to would-be animators.

Episode Re-dub Featurette (4:41)

     A jokingly redubbed episode, made up by Seth Green and Breckin Meyer as they go along. More like a crappy commentary than a real redub, this one is very hit and miss, although more the latter.

Pop-up Trivia

     A subtitle track of random facts for one of the show's episodes. Worth a look.

Table Read Featurette (2:21)

     Clips from a table read along with voice actors explaining why they do table reads. Meh.

Promos

     Five 30 second promos for the show, each themed around a different character.

    The Region 1 and Region 4 editions are identical save for regional branding and PAL/NTSC differences.

     This spoof big robot action series is one of the better Adult Swim time wasters to have come along in a while. Although it often seems to have trouble deciding whether to play for laughs or as a serious action cartoon, Titan Maximum is a fun watch throughout its run.

     Audio and video are decent, without being particularly notable. The extras are generous and largely worthwhile.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall