Brum-Airport and Other Stories (1992)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Childrens	Main Menu Audio & Animation Featurette-Bags Of Gags (3) Game-Quiz Featurette-Top Secret Files (3)
Rating
Year Of Production	1992
Running Time	52:41
RSDL / Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Vic Finch Emma Lindley Nigel P Harris
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	None Given
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$24.95	Music	Paul Honey Howard McGill

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	Unknown	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Brum is an English show about a small car (called Brum) , about one quarter scale. He is a reproduction of a vintage car and is alive in the same sense as Herby The Love Bug. He resides in a garage with a number of real vintage cars that show no signs of life, and escapes on a daily basis to go out into Big Town and have a series of adventures. In reality he is a remote-controlled little car with an amazing number of moving parts; the doors, starter handle, bonnet, and suspension all move.

    Fame appears to have gone to Brum's head. I have some of his earlier shows on tape and they were much more story-based and the opening and closing credits were much lower key. The whole show has become much more slapstick, in fact, really over-the-top. Despite this, my three and a half year old does like this show and will sit riveted when it is on.

    Each show only runs for just over ten minutes, including the standard opening and dance routine closing.

Brum and the Airport Adventure (10:42)

    A couple of very bumbling crooks attempt to steal a case full of jewels. Brum and a number of characters are off on the chase around the airport. This very much has the feel of a very old Keystone Cops routine.

Brum and the Naughty Dog (10:44)

    A very well-trained dog is off after a flying hot-dog. During the chase he ends up in deep trouble...really deep. In fact, down a hole and it is up to a very resourceful Brum to save the day.

Brum and the Pizzeria (10:36)

    The same two crooks as seen in our first episode try this time to make off with the daily takings from a pizza shop. After a food fight and a chase the crooks get their just deserts...

Brum and the Gymnast (10:13)

    A very cute little gymnast loses the hoop that she uses in her routine. The hoop makes a break for it out the door and through the streets of Big Town with Brum following close behind. Can he retrieve the wayward hoop before the gymnastic competition is finished?

Brum and the King of Thieves (10:12)

    Brum takes a trip to the local Big Town museum. While there, the Big Town baddie tries to steal the Big Town crown. Another Keystone Cops routine ensues to bring about the return of the crown.

Video

    The transfer is presented at 1.78:1 and is 16x9 enhanced.

    Non-moving parts of the image are quite sharp, but the minute they move they degrade very quickly. The robber making his getaway at 3:55 is a very good example of this, though even the slightest moment is a problem. For example, when Brum rocks from side to side, the word 'Brum' on his radiator blurs significantly. Shadow detail is good and there is no low level noise. In some scenes the white levels are very high and are just at the level where you start to lose white detail.

    There are lots of very bright primary colours in Brum and they are reproduced quite well - this is probably one of the reasons the little ones like this show.

    MPEG artefacts occur mostly in moving objects. The same example quoted above (3:55) that shows a loss of sharpness also contains examples of the pixelization that occurs in moving objects. I suspect that this show was shot on video and contains a lot of aliasing - every line staircases and shimmers its way through the show. Even hair is not exempt, such as at 3:47. Backgrounds also suffer from all the above. The fairly complex background at 4:17 is a very interesting example.

    There are no subtitles on this single layered disc.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    There is a single English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack on this disc.

    The small amount of dialogue present is easy to understand at all times. The audio sync is difficult to judge, but appears correct.

    The music is very over-the-top and consists of clear chase themes, bad guy themes and so on. It seems to work very well for the target age group.

    The surrounds and the subwoofer had little, if anything, to do.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

    Presented at 1.78:1 and 16x9 enhanced the main menu is a stylised picture of Big Town with Brum driving in and out of shot and making a fair amount of noise, particularly with his horn. Parents will not want to have this running for too long. It is accompanied by a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.

Bags of Gags

    A series of three short clips involving funny situations centred around Brum. Brum and the Grapefruit Grab (1:47), Brum and the Knicker Grab (1:30) and Brum and the Camera Caper (1:51). While the kids will enjoy the slapstick humour, adults will get tired of reaching for the remote. All are presented at 1.78:1 and are 16x9 enhanced with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.

Brum Quiz

    For some reason, the volume seems a bit higher in this section than the others. A series of ten questions appear. They are multiple choice with three possible answers. You select the answer with the up/down arrows on your remote and hit Enter to select. A correct answer shows a picture of a happy Brum. An incorrect answer, an unhappy Brum. The questions may be a bit hard for the target age group but with help they will get through. At the end, another menu is presented. On this there are a selection of ten different sound effects that you can play. Each sound effect is associated with one of the questions - if you got that question correct, then the effect can be played, if not, then the sound effect is greyed-out and not available.

Top Secret Files

    Parents may be driven a little nuts trying to get the questions right to let the kids hear all the sound effects, but other than that this is a very good disc for the kids. I still can't get the image of the Keystone Cops, or any other slapstick from that era out of my mind when I watch these episodes - the music, the over-the-top acting and expressions on the faces all add up to that.

    The video is a little disappointing.

    The audio is serviceable.

    The extras are short but not bad.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall