J-squad, The Best of-Volume 1 (2002)

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General		Extras
Category	Childrens	Menu Animation & Audio Featurette-Poochini Pilot Biographies-Character-Junior Rocks; Jane Rules; Jaz Raps Deleted Scenes Game-Trivia Quiz x2 Featurette-Boarding Button Music Video-One Step Closer Music Video-Best Friends Biographies-Crew-S Club Juniors; allSTARS Interviews-Crew-allSTARS
Rating
Year Of Production	2002
Running Time	88:24 (Case: 100)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Geoff Watson
Studio Distributor	Yoram Gross EM.TV Universal Pictures Home Video	Starring	None Given
Case	?
RPI	$29.95	Music	Robert Carins

    Best Of J-Squad: Volume 1 is a collection of short cartoons from the channel Seven Saturday morning children's show J-Squad.

    Included on this disc are two episodes, each containing three cartoons and short segments from J-Squad. I had never seen these cartoons before but I found that they were typical of low budget morning or afternoon cartoons with clichéd storylines and little substance. The following cartoons are included on this disc:

    Poochini: Abandoned, The Gopher
    What About Mimi: Second Honeymoon, The Great Campaign
    Weird-Ohs: Diary Of A Mad Sister, Black-Eyed Babysitter

    If you are a fan of the show you might find this disc entertaining but I feel most viewers will be disappointed with the lack of substance and presentation of the content.

Video

    This is a very disappointing transfer containing numerous artefacts that will be disruptive to all viewers including the young target audience.

    The transfer is presented at its original aspect ratio of 1.33:1.

    The transfer is consistently sharp throughout and always displays high levels of detail. No low-level noise was detected at any time during the transfer. There were no problems with shadow detail at any time during the brightly-lit transfer.

    The colour palette is always vibrant and well saturated and is able to reproduce the bright original animation.

    A large number of very distracting MPEG artefacts may be seen during the transfer. Some examples of these artefacts may be seen at 1:01, 1:31, 9:49, 10:08, 12:08 and 12:29 during the first episode and at 0:21, 10:52, 12:30 and 15:31 during the second episode.

    Numerous aliasing artefacts may be seen during the transfer. Some examples of these artefacts may be seen at 2:10, 2:30, 3:02, 3:54 and 8:03 during the first episode and at 4:35, 7:41, 10:47 and 13:15 during the second episode. Due to their frequency and severity, these artefacts are very disruptive.

    No film artefacts were detected during the transfer.

    No subtitles are included on this disc.

    The episodes are placed on separate layers and consequently no layer change is detectable.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    The dialogue is clear and easy to understand at all times.

    As this is an animated feature there are the expected obvious problems with audio sync for each soundtrack. No dropouts were detected at any stage during the transfer.

    The musical score was very typical of children's cartoons but suited the material presented.

    The surround and subwoofer channels were not utilized during the transfer.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

    The animated menu is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1.

Poochini Pilot (7:32)

    This is the pilot episode for Poochini and it is presented with a MPEG 2.0 soundtrack at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1.

Character Biographies

    Single page biographies are provided for J-Squad members Jaz, Jane and Junior.

Multiple Choice Questions

    Two groups of ten multiple choice questions about the episodes provided are included to test your memory.

Cut Scenes (1:47)

    This is a collection of bloopers and cut scenes from the show. They are presented with a MPEG 2.0 soundtrack at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1.

SMP Clip (2:20)

    This is a short clip sponsored by SMP clothing showing various extreme sports clips. This is presented with a MPEG 2.0 soundtrack at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1.

Video Clip: S Club Juniors - One Step Closer (3:36)

    This music video is presented with a MPEG 2.0 soundtrack at an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and it is not 16x9 enhanced.

Music Video: allSTARS - Best Friends (3:36)

    This music video is presented with a MPEG 2.0 soundtrack at an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and it is not 16x9 enhanced.

Band Biographies

    Short band member biographies are provided for both allSTARS and S Club Juniors.

    This disc does not appear to be currently available in Region 1.

    Best Of J-Squad: Volume 1 is very disappointing and should only be considered by dedicated fans of the show.

    The transfer displays a significant number of distracting aliasing and MPEG artefacts throughout.

    The basic MPEG 2.0 soundtrack is adequate for the material presented.

    The small collection of extras included may be of minimal interest for fans of the show.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall