Dom Robinson reviews

Distributed by
PT Video

Cert:

Cat.no: PTDVD 8092

Running time: 146 minutes

Year: 1977

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:

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 second series of 13 episodes, including :

• The Up-and-Down Plants: Plants are jumping up and down and the Minister hasn't given them his permission! Who's to blame? I can certainly guess...
• Double Trouble: Fenella's sister, Quinine, comes to stay at Spout Hall and would you believe she's even more bossy?!!
• The Keep-Fit Class: Chorlton's always thinking about food and the wheelie gang challenge him to a race around Wheelie World.

The episodes presented here are :

1. The Up-and-Down Plants 2. Toady Trouble 3. Tyred Out 4. Chorlton and the Silence Spell 5. Chorlton and the Singing Stones 6. Inside the Kettle 7. The Day of the See-Through Chorlton

8. Double Trouble 9. The Keep-Fit Class 10. The Wishing Tree 11. Take Your Partners 12. Octoblob 13. Chorlton and the Snow Dragon

Is Chorlton trying to have his wicked way with Fenella?

As with the first series, 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 near-25-year-old programme. The average bitrate is 5.3Mb/s, peaking close to 7Mb/s when the opening and closing credits come round.

The quality of the sound is the same. It's in mono which comes across clearly in some episodes, while others sound rather muffled.

As with series 1, there are no subtitles nor extras, but the disc does have a neat animated menu with the classic theme tune and Fenella "pops up" all over the place as ever, so at this low price it's still a must-buy. There's one chapter apiece for each of the 11-minute episodes.

FILM CONTENT PICTURE QUALITY SOUND QUALITY EXTRAS	0
OVERALL

Review copyright © Dominic Robinson, 2001.

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