FTPD – Fairy Tale Police Department: The Complete
Series (Tango DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: D Episodes: C+
FTPD: Fairy Tale Police Department is an Australian animated series
that attempts to take some already pretty amazing and classic tales and twist
them into something new and exciting. FTPD places the audience right in the
middle of fairy tale action with a crack team of police detectives that are
investigating why the classic ‘happy endings’ of fairy tales are oddly and
suddenly turning out all wrong.
Detectives
Johnny Legend and Christine Anderson (see the puns) are a couple of super
sleuths that get into some pretty heavy messes while they are tramping through
the fairy tale kingdoms. There are cases
like misplaced puppets [Pinocchio] and stolen poison apples [Snow White] that
are sure to get a chuckle out of even the slightest fairy tale fan. On top of the piles of cases the duo
investigates, they manage to get into their own fair bit of trouble; trying to
please their unappeasable Captain and getting shrunk down to the size of a
mouse or into a horse by a bumbling Fairy Secretary. Think of the series as a lighter version of
the Shrek tales without as much
innuendo or pop culture references. The
series may not please adults as much as children, but in all honesty this
series held this reviewers interest throughout and all in all was just a
pleasant experience.
The
technical features on this 5 disc set are by no means amazing, but adequate for
a full set of children’s tales. The
picture is presented in a slightly stretched feeling 1.33 X 1 full screen that
has crisp animation lines and bright colors.
The style of the show may be simplistic at times, but overall is
creative and adventurous. The sound is
a bit light and distant at times in its Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo format, but
this reviewer would have to call the presentation adequate if nothing
else. The extras are sadly nonexistent;
this reviewer would have personally like to hear the inspiration for some of
these episodes or storylines. Whereas
some of the story arches and happenings were extremely simple and childish,
others were down right creative. Let’s
see some extras people! Make my
fantasies come true.
In the
happy end, these tales are funny, creative and great for kids of all ages. Though FTPD
may be more kid oriented, parents won’t cringe at the thought of watching
these on a nice Saturday morning with the kiddies. Plus it is funny just to hear Australian
detectives, right?! It just goes to show
classics never die…they just sometimes go missing.
- Michael P Dougherty II
