American Gladiators – The Original Series: The
Battle Begins (1989/Shout Factory
DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C Episodes: C+
In one of
the most unlikely combinations of game show, Battle Of The Network Stars, Rambo
and pre-reality TV, American Gladiators
continued the 1980s into the 1990s with physical competition contests with all
the vim and vigor of ABC’s Wide World Of
Sports and the result was one of the biggest syndicated hits of its
time. Successfully revived in later
years, Shout! Factory is now issuing a DVD of the earliest shows under the
banner The Original Series: The Battle
Begins.
The show
included a crew of one-named athletes/bodybuilders like Nitro, Blaze and Zap
who are out to stop the contestants from completing a variety of events or
beating them in amusing one-on-one battles like “Human Cannonball” and “Jousting”
among the many amusing bits the producers put together. The infamous Joe Theismann was joined by Mike
Adamle as co-hosts and the result was a unique show and guilty pleasure for
more than a few viewers.
The 3-DVD
set has 14 full shows and you can get the idea (if you have not seen the show)
what was still possible on analog TV to have a hit with. To its credit, the show is good-natured and
has a sense of corny fun, but the professionals hired to stop the contestants
can just about stop anyone who plays. It
is often that anyone who wins is allowed to, depending on the game. If a contestant is rude and mean, watch how
they get stopped cold.
The
result is an interesting howler of TV entertainment that holds up a bit better
than expected. Just by being different
and respecting the audience just enough, the success was justified and in that
respect, it is looking much better than most of what we are getting now.
The 1.33
X 1 image can be soft because this is off-the-cuff analog taping like any other
sports event, but the sources used are faithfully transferred better than many
similarly produced TV shows (like bad sitcoms) so it’s not too bad. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is also as clear
as a slightly compressed TV recording of the time is going to be, so it is
good, but don’t expect much. Extras include
an illustrated book profiling the cast, interview with contestant/actor Billy Wirth (The Lost Boys) and audio commentary tracks on select shows by Don
“Nitro” Clark, Raye “Zap” Hollitt and Jim “Laser” Starr.
- Nicholas Sheffo