Dom Robinson reviews

Distributed by
PT Video

Cert:

Cat.no: PTDVD 8089

Running time: 145 minutes

Year: 1976

Pressing: 2001

Region(s): 0, PAL

Chapters: 13

Sound: Mono

Languages: English

Subtitles: None

Fullscreen: 4:3

16:9-Enhanced: No

Macrovision: Yes

Disc Format: DVD 9

Price: £9.99

Extras: None

Director:

Chris Taylor

Producer:

Brian Cosgrove and Mark Hall

Written by:

Jo Kemp and Brian Trueman

Music:

Joe Griffiths

Narrator:

Joe Lynch

The cult of kids TV arriving on DVD continues with a series of stop-frame animation from the late 70s which ran for three series. Fenella, the wicked witch in Spout Hall who sounds like she might be the mother of Nige from Channel 4's late-night review show, Vids (albeit with less foul language), has drained all the colour and laughter from the usually-happy land of the Wheelies and you know someone's been dropping a tab of something conspicuous when help arrives in the form of orange dragon Chorlton, as he lands in a brightly coloured egg. He's so-called because he comes from the Manchester area of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, despite having a Yorkshire accent.

This DVD contains the entire first series of 13 episodes, including :

• Happiness is hatched: Chorlton makes his grand entrance and wakes up Wheelie World from its enforced slumber. Everyone's spellbound, but is that because their saviour hails from 'oop North?
• Many Happy Returns: It's been a whole year since Chorlton came to town and everyone's celebrating. Well, everyone apart from Fenella.
• Chorlton's Gift of Happiness: Chorlton attempts to instill some sense of Christmas cheer into wicked witch Fenella when she doesn't warm to the festive period.

The episodes presented here are :

1. Happiness is hatched 2. Happiness is Dragon-shaped 3. Chorlton says it with Flowers 4. The Lost Wheelie 5. Chorlton and the Crime wave 6. Chorlton gets his Wheels 7. The Great Drought

8. The Wheel Hockey Derby 9. Many Happy Returns 10. The Dancing Lesson 11. The Day of the Grand Race 12. When the Band Played On and On 13. Chorlton's Gift of Happiness

The picture is in 4:3 fullscreen with some minor print defects and, in a couple of episodes, a slightly jerky picture, but on the whole it looks very good for a 25-year-old programme. The average bitrate is a fairly steady 6.55Mb/s.

The sound is in mono which comes across clearly in some episodes, while others sound rather muffled.

"I caught one and it was THIS big!"

There aren't any subtitles but the disc does have a neat animated menu with the classic theme tune and Fenella "pops up" all over the place as ever. There's one chapter apiece for each of the 11-minute episodes.

Sadly, there's no extras at all to be found on this DVD but I can overlook that given the low price so it's still a must-buy.

FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS	0
OVERALL

The following is a list of all the PT Video, Freemantle Home Entertainment and Telstar Video Children's DVDs reviewed online to date :