Captain
Planet and The Planeteers: The Complete Franchise
(1990-1996/Warner DVD Set)/Despicable
Me 4 4K
(2024/Universal 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray)/Jonny's
Golden Quest/Jonny
Quest Vs. The Cyber-Insects
(1993, 1995/Blu-ray*)/Top
Cat: The Complete Series
(1961-1962/Blu-ray Set/*both Hanna Barbera/Warner Archive)/Ultraman
Taiga: The Complete Series + Movie
(2010-2020/Mill Creek Blu-ray Set)
4K
Ultra HD Picture: B+ Picture: C/B-/B & B-/B/B+ Sound: C &
C+/B+/B- & B/B-/B+ Extras: D/C+/D/B-/C- Main Programs:
C+/C+/C+/B-/B
PLEASE
NOTE:
The Jonny
Quest
Blu-ray and Top
Cat
Blu-ray set are now only available from Warner Bros. through their
Warner Archive series and can be ordered from the link below.
Next
up are the latest group of family/child-friendly entertainment
releases...
In
the late 1960s, NET (later PBS) were part of a great push to make
children's television more educational and respect the intelligence
of young viewers. This lasted until the early 1980s when new
government deregulation sadly undid all that and ruined TV for
younger viewers just to make them angry and sell them toys. A rare
revival of that approach happened with Captain
Planet and The Planeteers: The Complete Franchise
(1990 - 1996) spearheaded by Ted Turner himself as the Cold war was
continuing.
Unexpectedly,
the USSR fell in the show's first season, but that did not stop the
show from being a hit and adjusting to the era that followed. Though
I was not a big fan, I give the show points for being ambitious if
not effective and seeing it now, guess most people did not get the
message with the unthinkable now happening.
It
still has some of the 'rah rah' attitude of 1980s loud action
cartoons that just yell to yell at times, but this was better than
most of the animated fare at the time for what that says. As you may
know, a supernatural entity sends five power rings to five special
young people around the world and they help the title character fight
evil... and pollution. Either you'll buy it or you won;t but they
are consistent and sticking with it all the way to their credit.
There
are no extras, despite some on the previous releases of the series
for some odd reason. For more on the show, try this link of our
coverage of the First
Season
DVD set a long time ago:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/10914/Captain+Planet+&+The+Planeteers+%E2%80%93
Despicable
Me 4 4K
(2024) brings back the minions and the rest of the familiar gang for
more criminal mischief, chases and a new character: Gru Jr.! The
script does what it can to integrate him into the well-established
world of the film and franchise, but the energy is not as good as the
last few films and though I am not a giant fan of the films, I did
expect more than I got here and they had enough screen time to budget
to do more than they did.
The
voice actors are fine, the animation is not a step backwards and the
pace is not bad, but it was not as big a hit as the last one or two
and I can see why. Hope they do a better job next time.
As
has been the case on all previous home video releases of the previous
feature films in the franchise, extras include Game
Over and Over:
After stumbling upon a powered-up game controller inside Gru's lair,
the mischievous Minions discover its ability to control one another,
unleashing mayhem as they compete for high scores.
Class
of '85
Minions
at the Reunion
Minions
at Home
Big
Day Out
Karate
Round 2
Gru
vs. Treehouse
Defibrillator
Mega
Minions Mega Mix
Mega
Minions in Lockdown
Meet
the Cast: Get to know the actors behind your favorite characters!
Featuring some of your old favorites like Gru, Lucy, and their girls
as well as new favorites like the Prescotts and villains Maxime and
Valentina.
Steve
Carell: Gru
Kristen
Wiig: Lucy
Joey
King: Poppy Prescott
Miranda
Cosgrove, Dana Gaier, and Madison Polan: Gru's Girls
Stephen
Colbert & Chloe Fineman: The Prescotts
Sofia
Vergara: Valentina
Will
Ferrell: Maxime
Making
Of:
The cast and crew of DESPICABLE ME 4 share a behind the scenes look
at the creation of the fourth installment of this iconic franchise!
Learn about the story, the new characters, the animation process and
more!
How
to Draw:
Join Head of Story, Habib Louati, as he shows us how to draw the
Mega Minions Dave, Mel, Jerry, Gus and Tim!
Mega
Dave
Mega
Mel
Mega
Jerry
Mega
Gus
and
Mega Tim.
For
more on the previous films, start with this link to Despicable
Me 3 4K
at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/15100/Albert:+A+Small+Tree+With+A+Big+Dream+(201
Jonny's
Golden Quest (1993) and Jonny Quest Vs. The Cyber-Insects
(1995) are two of the post-Cold War efforts and they happened between
two revival TV series, none of which really could outdo the original
show for reasons we cannot get into here. The first film rewrites
Quest history, which I guess the makers thought was fine since the
Cold War was over, while the latter adds Race Bannon's daughter.
Though
they are quality productions and have aged a bit better than
expected, neither are too memorable, even though they are still
fighting Dr. Syn (whom some might consider politically incorrect or
at least semi-stereotypical by today's standards) and we have seen
worse. The first telefilm deals with fake gold and an old love
interest of Race Bannon who looks like Carmen Sandiego's twin, the
latter with the title killers.
Will
Estes and Kevin Michael (aka Kevin Smets) voice Jonny in the two
films, Don Messick reprises Dr. Quest in both, Granville Van Dusen is
really good voicing Race Bannon in both, the prolific voice actor Rob
Paulsen is Hadji and Jeffrey Tambor takes over as Dr. Syn. JoBeth
Williams, George Hearn, Meredith MacRae, B.J. Ward and Frank Welker
add voices for the first film, while Teresa Saldana, Hector Elizondo
and original Jonny Quest Tim Matheson (as 4-DAC) add voices for the
second.
Hardcore
fans will love the set and it is as good as both will ever look or
sound, as I doubt 4K would work with these releases, but despite some
ambitious moments and ideas, they never really add up to the action
or adventure of the original show or similar entertainment for older
children. Still, they deserved this treatment and I'm glad they got
them.
There
are no extras, but I hope this release means a 4K version of the
Original Series might be under some kind of consideration with
new extras to go with the old ones.
Top
Cat: The Complete Series
(1961 - 1962) is the hit TV series that Hanna Barbera made between
their
earlier children's TV shows that put them on the map and breakout
hits like The
Flintstones
and The
Jetsons,
which used to get syndicated and shown as often as those classic for
decades. Then, for some odd reason, not so much and it was relegated
to cable TV and the like, so this underrated gem is more so in resent
times and that's sad because it is funnier than you might think or
remember.
Roughly
based on the even less-seen live action military hit TV comedy series
You'll
Never Get Rich
aka The
Phil Silvers Show
(where he plays Sgt. Bilko, a character Steve Martin tried to revive,
but it did not work out) where the main antagonist is now an alley
cat who wants to live the high life, but has to come up with endless
schemes to pul it off and the cast is not in the military and also
all cats!
With
its amusing theme song, TC (as his friends refer to him, as the song
tells us and we see in each episode) is seen riding in a Rolls
Royce-type luxury car (but the knock off has the 'HB' initials versus
'RR' for the production company) and we immediately know what we are
in for. The character are a hoot and give the voice actors more than
a few funny moments for humor in the 30 half-hours that did get
produced originally. I had not seen the show in a while, but was
happy with how well it held up and how charming it had become in all
the years since and the voice actors involved are at the top (no pun
intended) of their game here.
I
cannot imagine why this show has not had the constant revivals Hanna
Barbera (and its owners since) have given their other popular
characters, but Top
Cat
is a minor classic of television animation and its great it has
finally arrived on Blu-ray.
Extras
include (partly per the press release) the documentary: Back
to Hoagy's Alley: The Making of TOP CAT,
Audio Commentaries on episodes HAWAII, HERE WE COME, A VISIT FROM
MOTHER and THE LATE T.C.; STORYBOARD/FINISHED CARTOON SEQUENCE for
THE MISSING HEIR; Documentary: COOL CATS IN INTERVIEW ALLEY with
archival interviews with members of the voice-cast including Arnold
Stang, Marvin Kaplan (Henry from the hit TV sitcom Alice
and much more,) Leo de Lyon and writer Barry Blitzer; TOP CAT
SING-ALONG; TOP CAT Collection of Art, Stills, Sketches, and
backgrounds and a nice section (if too short of) VINTAGE COMMERCIALS
where the characters appear in ads for the sponsors of the series in
its original run.
Ultraman
Taiga: The Complete Series + Movie
(2010 - 2020),
the 31st entry in the Ultraman series, and gets an excellent release
on Blu-ray in one nicely packaged set from Mill Creek. The set
includes the full season of the series in addition to the feature
length film entitled Ultraman
Taiga the Movie: New Generation Climax,
clocking in at 697 minutes of content across four Blu-ray discs.
Taiga
captures the spirit of the Ultraman franchise with a more modern spin
and still utilizes many of the classic old school special effects
that are seen in the classic (and some modern) Godzilla and other
giant monster films.
The
Ultraman
Taiga
series is almost like a live action cartoon that I would compare in
spirit to Power
Rangers
in terms of execution, but a bit more respectable. There are several
fun kaiju monsters in the mix here, and they each have a unique
personality. Some are pure evil, whilst others you tend to root for.
All in all, I found the series and the movie to be creative and fun
in a child-like kind of way.
The
series stars Yuki Inoue, Ryotaro, Ayuri Yoshinaga, Kou Nanase, and
Chiharu Niiyama.
26
Episodes of the first season include Buddy
Go!, Tregear, Avenger of the Star, Requiem of the Wolves, The Future
You Decide, The Flying Saucer Is Not Coming, To The Demon's
Mountain!!, Defeat the Demon, The Present for Each, Warriors in the
Evening Glow, One Afternoon When The Magic Was Lost from the Star,
Even Then The Universe Will Go On Dreaming, E.G.I.S. Major
Confrontation, The Power to Protect and the Power to Fight, I Can't
Hear Your Voice, We Are One, Guardian Angel, For the New World,
Withstand the Lighting Strike!, Sand Castle, Friend in Earth, What's
Up With Takkong?, Clash! Ultra Big Match!, I'm Pirika, Buddy Steady
Go!,
and And
Taiga Is Here.
Special
Features include a Collectible Booklet, Packaging and Playable Card
for the Ultraman Card Game.
If
you're an Ultraman fan and are looking for modern material, look no
further than this collectible set which combines the movie and the
series into one solid package.
Now
for playback performance. The 2160p HEVC/H.265, 1.85 X 1, Dolby
Vision/HDR (10; Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition
image on Despicable
Me 4 4K
looks pretty good and has some good color in keeping with the look
and feel of the previous feature films in the franchise and is the
best performer on the list, but we don't get enough new visual
either, so it is good, but not groundbreaking. Still, some shots
really do impress. The
1080p 1.85 X 1 digital High Definition image on the regular Blu-ray
is a little weaker and softer than expected, but it could not compete
with the 4K version no matter what anyhow. Both have lossless Dolby
Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 mixdown for older systems) mixes that are
just fine and in keeping with previous films, but nothing is more
surprising here than usual either, professional and thorough as the
mix is.
The
1.33 X 1 image on Captain
Planet
is from the same video masters used for the Shout! Factory releases
and they can have aliasing errors and look softer from certain shots
being finished on analog or early standard definition digital video.
They are passable, but whether Warner will ever spend the serious
money it would take to upgrade to even regular HD as Paramount did
for Star
Trek: The Next Generation,
et al, is hard to say. The
lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 sound (Mono for all the seasons, until the
show turns simple Stereo for Season 5 & 6) is better on the later
stereo shows than the earlier mono, but we suspect the master tapes
and films would yield better results somewhere down the line.
The
1080p 1.33 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer on the Top
Cat
episodes can show the age of the materials used, but these are far
superior transfers to all previous releases of the show and the color
is the best thing about them. However, despite that this is the best
way to see the show outside of a color film print without fading,
there is still some odd softness here and there, which is odd for an
animated series with such simple and limited animation, but it is
still watchable enough. The
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mix has the boxy sound and
feel of all the early Hanna Barbera TV shows that started to change
in later episodes produced of The
Flintstones
and The
Jetsons.
Despite that, it is the best the series will ever sound.
The
1080p 1.33 X 1 digital High Definition image transfers on the Jonny
Quest
telefilms can show the age of the digital and other analog-era
finishes, but color is consistent in both, though better on the first
film, while the
DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Stereo lossless mixes with Pro Logic
surrounds on
both TV movies are not bad, but better on the second film. Sorry to
say the sound design is never as clever or smart as the original
series at its best.
Ultraman
Taiga
is presented in 1080p high definition on Blu-ray disc with an MPEG-4
AVC codec, a widescreen aspect ratio of 1.78:1 and an Japanese DTS-HD
MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Stereo (48kHz, 24-bit) lossless mix with
English subtitles. The transfers are all very nice with clean images
throughout. The series has a mix of VFX elements with practical
costumes and digital effect enhancements. Some of the effects are a
bit cartoonish on purpose, which gives the series a lighter approach
that makes it appropriate for all ages. Nevertheless, it's nice to
watch the series on disc as opposed to streaming.
To
order the Top
Cat
Warner Archive Blu-ray set, go to this link for it and many more
great web-exclusive
releases at:
https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/ED270804-095F-449B-9B69-6CEE46A0B2BF?ingress=0&visitId=6171710b-08c8-4829-803d-d8b922581c55&tag=blurayforum-20
-
Nicholas Sheffo and James Lockhart (Ultraman)
https://www.facebook.com/jamesharlandlockhartv/
