retro-ACTION!
3: The Cool Age Of TV In High Definition
(Adventures Of Robin Hood
(1955)/The Baron/Danger
Man/H.G.
Wells' Invisible Man
(1958)/Return Of The
Saint/Shirley's
World/Zoo
Gang/Network U.K. Region
B Import compilation Blu-ray) + The
Universe - The Mega Collection
(History Channel/A&E Blu-ray w/Blu-ray 3D)
Picture:
B+/B (Blu-ray 3D)/B- Sound: B-/B Extras: D/C+ Episodes: B
PLEASE
NOTE:
The
retro-Action!:
Volume Three
Blu-ray edition is only available in the U.K. from our friends at
Network U.K. and can be ordered from them exclusively at the website
address links provided below at the end of the review.
This is a Region B Blu-ray and will only play on players capable of
handling that kind of software, so this excludes most U.S. players.
Two
new TV on Blu-ray collections compiling some fine programming are
covered here with an impressive action set and science mini-series
any home theater aficionado would enjoy.
First,
we have the third volume of a new import compilation series from
Network U.K. entitled retro-ACTION!
Volume
Three
has the most episodes of the three sets, all featuring stunning
transfers of 35mm hit TV shows from the ITC vault that we have
covered many releases of before on DVD. Network U.K. and A&E in
the U.S. have already issued stunning sets of The
Prisoner - The Complete Series
(not reviewed, but strongly recommended, a sample episode is even on
Volume
Two
of retro-ACTION!)
and Space:
1999 - Season One
as covered here in it's A&E edition:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10626/Space:+1999+%E2%80%93+Season
Now
for a look at the Volume
Three
episodes:
The
Adventures of Robin Hood:
The
Sheriff's Boots
- This still-impressive 1955 black & white series with Richard
Greene in the title role holds up well enough and this is as solid an
example of the half-hour show as you'll get. We previously reviewed
the U.S. Mill Creek DVD editions, including a Complete
Series
set at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/8938/The+Adventures+Of+Robin+Hood+%E
I
never thought I would see the show get such good treatment and to be
blunt about it, it looks as good as the new BBC series on Blu-ray,
any feature film that made Blu-ray, expect it will look as good as
Robin
Of Sherwood
due from Acorn Media on Blu-ray (Network U.K. already issued their
Season
One
set) and despite some print age can say this can compare well to the
full color 1938 Adventures
Of Robin Hood
Blu-ray from Warner Bros. I am always recommending. I just wish
ITC's Count
Of Monte Cristo
with George Dolenz was on one of these sets.
Shirley's
World:
The
Rally
is an episode form the short-lived Shirley MacLean TV series where
she plays a photojournalist, which puts her in interesting
situations. It only lasted for 17 half-hours before it was axed (she
was not happy with how the show was going) and is not a great show,
but worth a look and you can see it was meant to be an ambitious
show. I barely remember it, but its release on Blu-ray is welcome
(there is no DVD set in the U.S. to date, though Network U.K. did the
entire series on DVD) and is good viewing. John Gregson and Stuart
Damon also star.
The
Invisible Man:
Secret
Experiment
is the first episode of the 1958 black and white series (we missed
the U.S. Dark Sky/MPI DVD release) and again, WOW does this black and
white look good. The one gimmick for the show is that an actual
invisible man was running around, so the voice actors were not
credited (there would be two for the short run) and it would only
last 26 half-hours. Still, it is fun and worth seeing again,
especially in a copy this good.
The
Baron:
Something
For A Rainy Day
was ITC's first color action show (1966) and a big, expensive
production for the time. E1 just issued a basic DVD set in the U.S.,
Network U.K., did their DVD set a while ago and Umbrella in Australia
issued this special edition set of the complete series:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/8544/The+Baron+%E2%80%93+40th+Anniv
A
solid show, it only lasted for a season of 30 hour-long shows, as
audiences were apparently more loyal to Roger Moore's Saint,
but Steve Forrest was decent in the title role and it has the money
in it, so a Blu-ray really shows off how serious Lord Lew Grade was
in making it a hit.
Return
Of The Saint:
One
Black September.
This underrated series has never been issued in the U.S., but
Network recently did their DVD set and Umbrella delivered the first
Complete
Series
box set of DVDs for the show's 25th
Anniversary:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6250/Return+Of+The+Saint+%E2%80%93
I
am a big fan of the series and cannot tell you how thrilled I am to
see it in High Definition. Grade was spending the money for the
locations and this was his last big action show before departing ITC.
Ian Ogilvy was fun as Simon Templar, not trying to imitate Roger
Moore and the several actors who have tried to take over the role
since have not come close. This political thriller show pairs
Templar with an Israeli agent and was the 4th
episode, as well as one of the more serious ones. Still visually
colorful with some interesting moments of lighting, this Blu-ray
shows how superior the cinematography really was and this should have
been a bigger hit series. I hope HD gives it some new respect.
The
Zoo Gang:
Revenge:
Post Dated
was a show aimed at a somewhat younger audience with Barry Morse,
Brian Keith, John Mills and Lilli Palmer as the title characters, a
group of French Resistance veterans solving crimes. Only six
hour-long shows were made and even with the whimsy of a theme song by
Paul McCartney with this great cast did not last.
Last
but not least is the original half hour version of the Patrick
McGoohan hit series offering the first episode of Danger
Man:
View
From The Villa.
We have covered the show several times over the years (including a
few times from A&E) and Network U.K. debuted the new transfers of
the series in this import DVD box set:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9460/Danger+Man+%E2%80%93+The+Com
I
thought that looked great, but the Blu-ray offers the best black and
white presentation of all the monochrome shows here and compares well
with the first three seasons Image Entertainment has issued of the
original Rod
Serling's The Twilight Zone
and Network U.K.'s own Space
Patrol
Blu-ray. Hopefully, Complete
Series
releases of all these shows cannot be far behind and I hope to catch
up with the other retro-ACTION!
releases at their website.
The
1080p 1.33 X 1 image is centered in the 1.78 X 1 frame in all cases
and all look great for their age, as well as all offering
demonstration quality shots that will stun those who have never seen
TV look this good. The PCM 2.0 Mono is also pretty good throughout
the episodes, superior to their DVD Dolby Digital equivalents by
being warmer and without compression. Obviously, some audio might
not be perfect, but will surprise many and is even sounding better
than some tracks on the many CD soundtracks Network exclusively
offers of these shows, including this great best of CD set:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9167/The+Music+Of+ITC+(1962+-+1979/Bri
There
are sadly no extras and since we first posted this coverage, none of
these shows arrived in the U.S. market in new versions, nor did
Network U.K. issue complete Blu-ray series of any of them yet. Odd,
especially after they made Blu-ray releases of The
Persuaders
(reviewed elsewhere on this site) and The
Professionals CI-5
big events.
In
speaking of A&E, The
Universe - The Mega Collection
has all five seasons of the hit science TV series, plus the Blu-ray
3D
title we reviewed at this link with Season
Five:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10671/The+Universe+%E2%80%93+7+Won
Our
only other coverage had been the Our
Solar System
compilation reviewed here:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10282/The+Universe+%E2%80%93+Our+So
This
is the first time we have seen the first four seasons (though they
all saw separate release) and they are just as rich as the later ones
with fun, informative episodes and the newest thoughts on our future
and what is really out there beyond the stars. The first four sets
have three Blu-rays each, though Season
Two
has a fourth, so there is a wealth of material to watch and you could
watch them out of order, but I would recommend chronological in this
case.
The
1080i 2D 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition presentations across the 2D
Blu-rays are about even with some flaws and softness, but looking
about as good as HD-shot presentations with its level of digital
animation can. I still like the 1080p 1.78 X 1 MVC-encoded 3-D -
Full Resolution digital High Definition image on the Blu-ray 3D disc
the best and it is a nice way to wrap up the series. All the 2D
discs have DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) lossless 2.0 Stereo with some
surround information and the 3D has a DTS-MA 5.1 lossless mix that is
slightly better.
Though
the previous titles covered had no extras, three of the seasons here
do. Season
Two
adds a Backyard
Astronomers
featurette, Season
Three
adds Universe
Facts
in text and a Photo Gallery and Season
Four
adds two featurettes: Meteors:
Fire In The Sky
and Comets:
Prophets Of Doom.
Nice to finally catch up to the rest of the series.
As
noted above, you can order the
retro-ACTION!
Blu-ray imports (including the first two volumes we did not get to
cover) exclusively from Network U.K. at:
http://networkonair.com/
-
Nicholas Sheffo
