Best Of COPS + COPS – V.1 + Johnny Test – The Complete First &
Second Seasons + He-Man & The Masters Of The Universe – V. 2 + Paddington
Bear – The Complete Classic Series (1975) + Paddington Bear – Marmalade Madness + Sabrina – The Animated Series (1998/Cookie Jar/Mill Creek
Entertainment DVDs)
Picture:
C/C/C+/C+/C/C/C Sound: C+ Extras: D (Paddington: C+/Test: C) Episodes: C/C/C/B/B-/C-
In the
latest round of Cookie Jar animated DVD releases with Mill Creek, we get some
more reissue material that is in print, out of print and should have been
around a while ago.
Best Of COPS and COPS – V.1 repeat the DVDs already issued by Shout! Factory that we
covered over the following two volumes:
One
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/3447/C.O.P.S.+-+The+Animated+Series+(Sh
Two
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9803/C.O.P.S.+%E2%80%93+Volume+2+(1
That
latter linked set is a website exclusive and the larger first set has some of
the episodes from that set. Having Hey Vern, It’s Ernest sample episodes
as bonuses is odd and a lame extra.
Johnny Test – The Complete First
& Second Seasons
is another one of those loud smack, bam shows that are so silly that they
backfire and trip all over themselves trying to be hip. As seen on Cartoon Network and not to be
confused with Johnny Quest by any means, the title character (here in 26
episodes over 3 DVDs) has a genetically engineered dog and gets carried away
with science experiments to supposedly funny effect. With a few bonus episodes of five other shows
and DVD-ROM content, this has more extras than most sets here, but this is for
fans only.
He-Man & The Masters Of The
Universe – V. 2
has 20 more episodes over two DVDs reprinting the original 1983 show that was
imprint from BCI Eclipse until they folded.
This set pretty much repeats the older content of the out of print sets
including the cover of this Season One.
Volume Two set:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/3428/He-Man+&+The+Masters+Of+The+Uni
The
problem is that it is not quite as good looking in playback and much worse, the
great extras across those sets by Andy Mangels is not here, so serious fans
will want to tracks down copies of the older editions.
The best
releases here and by Cookie Jar to date are Paddington Bear – The Complete Classic Series (1975) and a
single-disc release called Paddington
Bear – Marmalade Madness featuring the terrific British stop-motion
animated series that was first featured in the U.S. during the original run of Romper Room. The charming and often hilarious show had the
title character in stop motion and everything else as paper stop-motion. I liked the approach and they made it
work. These transfers might be a bit
weak, but this filmed show would be a real gem if Mill Creek and the owners
could create a Blu-ray set. Two revival
series followed, each with a different approach. The 15 Bonus Episodes noted on the case are
of the charming shows Huxley Pig and
The Wombles, plus there is DVD-ROM
activity content for children. At this
price, it is a good deal.
Finally
we have the lame Sabrina – The Animated
Series, an inferior 1998 animated show playing off of the shrill, horrid
live action hit (which we have sadly suffered through elsewhere on this site)
and no match for Filmation’s version of the character’s adventure. You can read more about the 1971 original
series with additional informative links at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6943/Sabrina+The+Teenage+Witch+%E2%8
The dumb
bonus is a single episode of the even lamer Sabrina’s Secret Life show you likely have not heard of for good
reason.
It is the
kind of smarmy series that inspired Johnny
Test, but this is worse. Test is in an anamorphically enhanced
1.78 X 1 presentation, but Bear (at
1.33 X 1 like the rest of the sets here) has the most character despite its
softness and supposed digital restoration, which might be better with more of a
bitrate or in HD based on how good the color can be. Hope they kept the film prints. All have Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono, with Test and Sabrina in Stereo.
- Nicholas Sheffo
