Archie’s Weird Mysteries: The Complete Collection (1999)/The
Best Of C.O.P.S., V.2/Gadget Boys –
Adventures In History: The Complete Series (1997)/Heathcliff: Season One, V.2/iKnow,
V.1 + V.2/Jayce & The Wheeled Warriors, Volume One/Sherlock Holmes In The 22nd Century: The Complete 26 Episode
Series (1998)/Where On Earth Is
Carmen Sandiego: The Complete Series (1993 – 1996/Mill Creek DVDs)
Picture: C
(Archie/Gadget: C+) Sound: C+/C+/C+/C+/C+/C/C/C Extras: C- (iKnow: D) Episodes:
C+/C/C/C+/B-/C/C/C
Mill
Creek has yet another round of children’s programming and this time, a few
surprises…
Archie’s Weird Mysteries: The
Complete Collection
(1999) is a later animated series based on the Archie franchise I had not seen
before. Made by a combination of Archie
Comics, Hong Kong and French studios, it is an
amusing, not bad attempt to place the Riverdale High gang in a Ghostbusters/Scooby-Doo Horror/Comedy situation.
Running only 40 shows, the animation is not much of an improvement from
the Filmation series that remain the most successful incarnation of the gang
outside of the comic book medium, but it is the best in several decades just
the same.
Color
helps, though the animation is still limited.
However, the stories are not great, even though they are not badly
written. My biggest complaint is the
flat voiceover work, where everyone sounds flat and like they are talking at
each other, instead of too each other.
This cuts into the energy and believability, as well as spoiling some of
the humor that works. Fans and the
curious will want to look into the set, but we also recommend these early
series previously covered:
The Archie Show
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5967/The+Archies/The+Archie+Show+%E2
Archie’s Funhouse
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6602/Archie%E2%80%99s+Funhouse+(1971
In one of
the most confusing releases to date, The
Best Of C.O.P.S., V.2 is the third DVD release to have a Volume Two on it, versus the full V.2
collections from two different companies as these links will show:
Full Volume Two: Shout! Factory
Version
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9803/C.O.P.S.+%E2%80%93+Volume+2+(1
Mill Creek version
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/11214/COPS+%E2%80%93+Volume+2+(Mill
For the
record, here are all Vol. 1 Mill
Creek sets:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10775/Best+Of+COPS+++COPS+%E2%80%
So this
is just more of the same, yet less of it in a smaller package. Wonder how many more of these we will
see. Guess some kind of Volume Three
release will be next before they run out of episodes.
Gadget Boys – Adventures In
History: The Complete Series (1997) is an Inspector Gadget spin-off of sorts that is
less obnoxious than its forerunner, but lite and only slightly amusing at
best. Not harmful and child-friendly
enough, I was only mildly amused (I don’t remember this show being made) and
you get all 26 episodes here. This is
not bad otherwise and you could do worse.
Heathcliff: Season One, V.2 really includes episodes we
covered of Heathcliff & The Cadillac
Cats in a full set at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/2866/Heathcliff+&+The+Catillac+Cats+(Anim
Playback
is slightly better on the older set, but these shows need HD transfers for fans
to enjoy along with some restoration, so you could do worse. I am surprised the character has not made a
comeback, but who knows.
iKnow, V.1 + V.2 is a developmental educational
show for young children to learn the alphabet, spelling and the world around
them. It is a live action series with
various graphics that is not bad and amounts to the best offering on the
list. Not as well-rounded as I might
have liked, it is still very child friendly and recommended.
Jayce & The Wheeled Warriors,
Volume One is a
compressed reissue of part of the full set of the series we reviewed at this
link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6846/Jayce+&+The+Wheeled+Warriors+%E2
I agree
fully with my fellow writer about the show and it is only for nostalgia and the
very curious only.
Sherlock Holmes In The 22nd
Century: The Complete 26 Episode Series (1998) is a wacky transplant of the detective in the
future where he gets frozen and reawakened to battle new enemies. His “elementary” observations help those
around him cut through the distraction of technology, but the show is only so
good, yet it is still more watchable than the Robert Downey, Jr. films.
Finally
we have the geography action of Where On
Earth Is Carmen Sandiego: The Complete Series (1993 – 1996), which is
watchable, but as an animated show loses any charm the original live action
series had. It is still smart and
child-friendly enough, but has also dated with it limited animation.
The 1.33
X 1 image on all the sets are weak since so many episodes are squeezed on each
disc, though Archie and Gadget manage to look fuller, but all
have detail issues, aliasing errors and other issues. The Dolby Digital 2.0 on all the sets are
simple stereo at best, but Jayce, Sherlock and Carmen have more compression issues than expected. Extras on the animated shows usually include
episodes of other shows to see if you are interested in buying more sets.
- Nicholas Sheffo
