Dom Robinson reviews

Distributed by
PT Video

Cert:

Cat.no: PTDVD 8113

Running time: 144 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:

Brian Trueman

Jamie and the Magic Torch was the children's TV series which had one of the grooviest theme tunes of all time and ran for three complete series, all of which will be making their way to DVD.

The principle behind it is that Jamie is a ginger-haired kid who doesn't mind when it's bedtime because his dog Wordsworth emerges from under the bed with that torch. Jamie shines it on the floor and it opens up into another world named Cuckooland where they set off down a multi-coloured helter-skelter to have the most bizarre adventures meeting an Einstein-a-like professor named Mr Boo, a helper named Jo-Jo and policeman Officer Gotcha.

It has to be said that what you're about to witness owes a great deal to the Beatles' Yellow Submarine film.

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

• Mr Boo Loses a Mountain: Someone steals his mountain and smashes into 20,000 pieces, causing Mr Boo to have to count every single piece. Jamie's torch will help him out though.
• Sym-phoney: Strumpet is looking for a whole new collection of noises for his new composition and needs Jamie's help to get it together.
• The Flying Rabbit: Jamie uses his torch to send rabbit Billi Bundy flying high into the clouds, which causes Officer Gotcha to eat his truncheon(!)

The episodes presented here are :

1. Mr Boo Loses a Mountain 2. Nutmeg's House 3. Let There Be Music 4. Nutmeg's Box 5. The Runaway Trombonium 6. The Hair Stack 7. Sym-phoney

8. The Flying Rabbit 9. The Magician's Hat 10. The Wicked Wand 11. The House of Wellibob 12. National Wellibob Day 13. Spade-Work

Bouncy! Bouncy!

The picture is in 4:3 fullscreen with some minor print defects, but looks great for a near 25-year-old programme. The average bitrate is a fairly steady 6.73Mb/s.

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

There aren't any subtitles but the disc does have a neat animated menu with the classic theme tune in full and the chapter selection surrounding Jamie and Wordsworth. 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 :