Annie
Oakley: The Complete Series
(1954 - 1957/Cinedigm/VCI DVD Set)/Beethoven's
Treasure Tail
(2014/Universal Blu-ray w/DVD)/Scholastic
Storybook Treasures: Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site
+ Hi! Fly Guy
(Cinedigm DVDs)
Picture:
C/B- & C/C+ Sound: C+/B- & C+/C+ Extras: B/C-/C
Main Programs: B/C/C+
Here's
the latest child/family releases for you to know about...
Annie
Oakley: The Complete Series
(1954 - 1957) is the entire series finally brought together for the
first time from Gene Autry's very successful Flying A Productions
with Gail Davis forever immortalized in the title role. Over a
decade ago, VCI issued a set of the shows on what has been the best
set of them to date that we covered at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/575/Annie+Oakley+TV+Set+(VCI
Now
VCI has outdone themselves with a superior set that belongs together
the best-looking set of all the shows to date with a nice, surprise
selection of extras. This has been a season for many classic TV
shows finally arriving in complete series sets long overdue and that
now includes this orphan show getting its due. I hope we see many
more and VCI has already delivered some key shows on DVD (like Honey
West), making it yet
another great moment for the enduring independent. All 81 half-hour
shows are here, Jimmy Hawkins played young male sidekick Tagg and
Brad Johnson played the local Sheriff. Slim Pickens, James Best,
Fess Parker. L.Q. Jones, Denver Pyle, Lee Van Cleef and Alan Hale Jr.
show up in a few episodes each and we also get turns from Keye Luke,
Gloria Talbott, Dorothy Adams, Shelley Fabares, Clayton Moore and
character actors associated with Westerns fans will recognize.
Another fun show worthy of rediscovery, this set finally brings it
all together.
Extras
in this almost VHS-tape-like, clamshell shaped DVD case (with
translucent plastic) include an Episode Guide booklet on the show
with a few stills, while DVD 11 adds the original Pilot of the show
that did not sell, but is interesting to see, 7 Photo Galleries, two
new documentary featurettes: Pig-Tails
& Six-Shooters: The Making Of TV's Annie Oakley
and Bulls-eye!: The
Director's Of Annie Oakley and near 12 minutes of commercials Davis
and Hawkins did for their sponsors, including Coleman Dairy products
(milk, chocolate milk & ice cream) and the former bakery that
produced Wonder Bread and Hostess Cakes (chocolate cupcakes, Twinkies
& Sno-Balls for only 10-cents a set!)
before they dumped the unions and original ingredients making them
for the worst. It does not include the Carnation Dairy ad we've seen
before, but Davis did not film anything new for that one.
Ron
Oliver's Beethoven's
Treasure Tail (2014) is
at least the 8th
release featuring the the St. Bernard dog that debuted in the 1992
film with Charles Grodin that was a hit. All that is left is the
breed of dog (who knows what happened to the original 1992 dog) as
this fluff (oops, a pun) showing up in a spy caper until we find out
it is just a movie production where he is the star. However, his
fired and is banished with his owner (Johnathan Silverman, who was in
a previous installment), leaving Hollywood.
The
bad luck might be good when they run into a map that might lead to
real pirate treasure, but it never gets much more interesting than
that. Morgan Fairchild and Kristy Swanson also star, but this is for
children and fans only at best. Not bad enough to be dog
of the week, but part of
an unintended series well past its prime.
Digital
Copy and trailers for other Universal family releases before the film
starts are the only extras.
Scholastic
Storybook Treasures: Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site
+ Hi! Fly Guy
are two more DVD singles in the long-running educational shorts
series that also encourages reading in the best way. Each offers
four shorts with Goodnight
joined by I'm Fast
(narrated by Stanley Tucci about a train), Officer
Buckle & Gloria
(narrated by John Lithgow, who wrote it from his children's writings)
and That Book Woman.
Guy
is joined by And Then
It's Spring, The
Ant & The Grasshopper
and The Mysterious
Tadpole. I just wish
they both had a little more on each disc, but these are well done,
child-friendly, educational and entertaining.
Extras
include Read-Along subtitle function on all shorts and interview
featurettes with almost every author of every short (including all on
Goodnight).
The
1.33 X 1 black and white image over the three seasons of Annie
Oakley has some good points and uses some good prints, but there
are still a few too many moments where the image is softer than I
would like, or the transfer is softer than the better episodes on
this set. Still, its about on par with most Western TV on DVD we've
seen at the time. That all the shows survived at all is amazing.
The various 1.33 X 1 presentations on the two Scholastic DVDs,
all in color, may have some aliasing errors and minor flaws here and
there, but look better overall for eight shorts on average, mostly
newly produced.
The
1080p 1.78 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on the Treasure
Blu-ray is the best performer here by default, but has some softness
issues that are so poor on the
anamorphically enhanced DVD version that the Annie
Oakley
episodes look no worse. A flat HD-shot production, it does not look
as good as the original 1992 film and has few really good shots
throughout.
As
for sound, the DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on Treasure
is again the best sounding
here by default, with a capable mix that is still a little
inconsistent, so the
lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 mix on the DVD version is weaker to the point
that the rest of the DVDs here can more than compete. The
lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo on the Scholastic
DVDs are pretty clean and clear for their simple mixes, but the real
surprise is how good the lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono on the Annie
Oakley
shows sound. Even more than the limited DVD set from a decade ago,
the sound is not bad for its age at all.
-
Nicholas Sheffo
