Alan
Partridge (2013/Magnolia
Blu-ray)/Legends Of The
Super Heroes (1978/DC
Comics/Hanna Barbera/Warner Archive DVD)
Picture:
B-/C Sound: B-/C+ Extras: C- Main Programs: C
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Legends
Of The Super Heroes
DVD is now only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner
Archive series and can be ordered from the link below.
Here
are two of the oddest franchise comedy releases of late...
Declan
Lowney's Alan
Partridge
(2013) is a theatrical feature based on the long-running fictional
talk show and radio personality of the title as played by Steve
Coogan. Well known in Europe, et al, but hardly in the U.S. though
the BBC has issued Coogan as the character on DVD such as this set of
Coogan's works we covered at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9233/The+Steve+Coogan+Collection+(BBC+DVD+Box+Se
This
was a chance to have the character break wide, but that did not
happen and the reason is because the script is weak. A new
corporation bent on being flashy is taking over Partridge's radio
station, but he will do anything to keep his job including throwing
his longtime radio host friend (Colm Meany) under the bus. This
backfires after that friend is fired and invades an employee party
with a shotgun and takes hostages.
There
are a few chuckles outside of that perpetually unfunny situation, but
this is very disappointing and plays more like a package deal than a
comedy.
Extras
include an AXS-TV promo clip, Behind The Scenes and Making Of
featurettes.
Legends
Of The Super Heroes
(1978) offers two of the oddest programs ever made from a DC Comics
property, along with the ever-bizarre Superpup
pilot. Hanna Barbera was riding high on their Justice
League
cartoon TV hit, Superfriends!,
so they decided they'd follow the 1970s funny superhero subcycle and
do two cheaply videotaped comedy specials (that thankfully did NOT
become a TV series) with a surprising number of name talents and
several alumni of the 1960s live-action Batman
series (a massive hit in syndication at the time) including Adam West
as Batman, Burt Ward as Robin and Frank Gorshin as The Riddler!
Also
impressively signed here are comedian Charlie Callas as Sinestro,
Howard Morris (who had played a Batman
villain before) as Shazam!/Captain Marvel villain Dr. Sivana, Jeff
Altman (soon of the infamous Pink
Lady & Jeff
series) as The Weather Wizard, Ruth Buzzi as Aunt Minerva, Burt
Reynolds troop regular Alfie Wise as The Atom and Pat Carroll as
Hawkman's mother. They were joined by Gary Owens narrating both
shows, Bill Nuckols as Hawkman, Garrett Craig as Captain Marvel,
Mickey Morton as Solomon Grundy, Gabe Dell as Mordru, Howard Murphy
as Green Lantern, Rod Hasse as The Flash, Ed McMahon hosting the
second show and an unknown Marsha Warfield in a scene makes this the
oddest of curios.
So
is any of it funny? Not really. A laugh track plagues both and is
so badly added that the bad comic timing of the writing is outdone by
the bad timing of how the recycled laughs are edited into the
dialogue. All the animation studios were doing live action work to
save money and make quicker profits; this aired on prime time TV.
However, the makers were too self-amused for our own good, massive
talent was wasted and you have to see how bad these are to believe
it. Too bad they did not have better ideas. Instead, they have a
pair of weird duds that look as if Sid & Marty Krofft had the DC
licenses and wanted to match the Star
Wars Christmas Special
for ineptness in the worst possible way. You have too see them to
believe them.
A
small bloopers reel of about 10 minutes that somehow survived is the
only extra.
The
1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on Alan
is an HD shoot that is not awful, but not great. The look is dull
and uninspired as well as not necessarily as good as TV episodes of
the same, but it is better than the
1.33 X 1 image on Super
which has haloing, aliasing errors (and we are not counting the bad
analog video effects) and an rough image too often despite color
accuracy. The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on Alan
is well recorded and dialogue based (not joke based is not used) and
rarely takes total advantage of the multi-channel possibilities,
while the lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono on
You
can order the Legends
Of The Super Heroes
DVD by going to this link for it and many more great web-exclusive
releases at:
http://www.warnerarchive.com/
-
Nicholas Sheffo