The Flockton Flyer – Season One (1976 – 77/VCI DVD) + Garrow’s Law – Series One (2009/Acorn Media DVD) + MI–5: Volume 8 (2009/BBC DVD)
Picture: C/C+/C+ Sound: C/B-/C+ Extras: D/C/D Episodes: C+/B-/D
Here
comes three different British TV shows from different companies of different
time periods.
The Flockton Flyer – Season One is a family friendly show for
children in particular about the grand old train of the title is revived and it
line is alive again. The Carter Family
finds themselves having more fun and getting involved in more adventures and
wackiness than they could ever imagine, but this is not made in a condescending
manner. We get six half-hour episodes
and they are not great, but not bad and pleasant viewing. Patrick Mower (Callan) leads the cast and some familiar British character actors
do surface, though Gerald Harper (Adam
Adamant Lives!, Gazette) is not
here despite being listed as so on the DVD case.
Even
better is Garrow’s Law – Series One,
which is another British courtroom drama, but this one is set in 18th
Century U.K. and the teleplays are totally believable in this respect. I also liked the casting that includes Andrew
Buchan as Garrow, Alun Armstrong, Lyndsey Marshal and Rupert Graves. We get all four episodes on two DVDs, running
an hour long and though that sounds like too few for a whole season, the
writing is so good you’ll see why. This
is a nice break from all the tired police procedurals we have been getting for
too long.
That
trend has even affected related shows like the BBC hit MI–5, which I was not a big fan of to begin with, despite it being
a spy show. You can see our various
takes on the show in the following links:
Volume Four
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5124/MI-5:+Series+Four/Volume+Four
Volume Six
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/8291/MI-5+%E2%80%93+Volume+Six+(Sea
Now we
are somehow on Volume 8 and the show
has decided to start imitation 24 (a
cancelled show) making it long in the tooth and past its time. I have since lost track of the characters
(who I could never remember, but at least recognized the actors) and unless you
start at the very beginning of the series, will likely have little idea as to
what is going on. This is a three-DVD
set.
The 1.33
X 1 image on Flyer was shot on
professional PAL analog tape with some 16mm outdoor shooting, but is softer
than it should be, though some shots look good and the locations can be
nice. Video noise, video banding,
telecine flicker, tape scratching, PAL cross color, faded color and tape damage
are among the issues. The anamorphically
enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on the other sets look newer and better, yet they both
are HD shoots and have their weaknesses and softness of their own kind
throughout, along with motion blur and depth issues. MI-5
is more stylized to its disadvantage.
The Dolby
Digital 2.0 Mono on Flyer is also weak and a few generations down, though some
audio sounds good. The Dolby Digital 2.0
Stereo on the other sets are newer recordings and can sound better, but Law is the big surprise with healthy
Pro Logic-type surrounds that come from better recordings than expected. MI-5
is even slipping up on its audio.
Extras
are not on Flockton, but Law has text cast filmographies, stills
section, text Garrow biography and a behind-the-scenes featurette that runs
about 20 minutes. That leaves MI-5 offering two behind-the-scenes
featurettes and audio commentaries on select episodes.
- Nicholas Sheffo