In the course of nearly three years the girls have notched up 8 chart-topping
singles - Wannabe, Say You'll Be There, 2 Become 1, Mama / Who Do You
Think You Are, Spice Up Your Life, Too Much, Viva Forever and
Goodbye - out of 9 released, the one that didn't make the grade
being Stop which stalled at No.2. All of the No.1 singles also
went straight into the top slot on its first week out, save for Wannabe
which entered at No.3 in July 1996 and then topped the charts the week after.
It's also worth noting that with 2 Become 1, Too Much and
Goodbye, they have had the Christmas No.1 single for three years
on the trot.
Since the film was made all five girls have taken a solo path of one form or
another :
Geri, most notably, split from the band in May 1998 to pursue a solo
career. After a £2million advertising campaign and a feature-length
documentary about her last twelve months on Channel 4, her debut single,
the excellent, energetic Look At Me failed to do the business
only making No.2, losing out to Boyzone singing yet another cover version.
Her first solo album, Schizophonic, the title changed from
"Schizophrenic", is due out soon.
Mel B, now Mel G since her marriage to dancer Jimmy Gulzar, had a solo
single with female rapper Missy Elliot, I Want You Back, which
made No.1 in September last year, with a solo album on the cards, while her
next achievement was to give birth to daughter Phoenix Chi earlier this year.
However, eight months after they wed, their marriage looks to be on the rocks
with a custody battle ensuing for the little one.
Victoria also followed the baby trail by giving birth to a boy, Brooklyn,
her fiancee being footballer David Beckham whose team, Manchester United, won
the Premier league yet again. They will be getting married later this year.
Mel C, probably the best singer in the band even if she is the ugliest,
released a duet with Bryan Adams, When You're Gone, making No.3
in December last year and I'd be surprised if a solo album *isn't* in
the offing.
Emma doesn't have any solo singles or babies planned, but as a
trained actress and having once played an extra in BBC's Eastenders
she's now destined for the part in a TV movie version of Sleeping Beauty
which was originally due to be played by the programme's long-time star Martine
McCutcheon.
The picture quality is excellent with no noticeable artifacts and just the
thing to bring out all the cacophony of colour that dominates the film,
especially the decor inside the TARDIS-inspired bus. At first I thought it
was a fault of the disc that the image is a little on the soft side, but
this appears intentional given the way the film has been made.
Both formats of the film are included on the disc. The widescreen side is
presented in anamorphic format - thus allowing extra resolution for
widescreen televisions - and is presented in 1.85:1, which is a tad wider
than the 16:9 (1.77:1) quoted on the back cover, thus replicating the
original cinema ratio. The flip-side is an open-matte 4:3 version which
looks fine composition-wise when blown up to fill a widescreen TV but you
don't benefit from the extra resolution that the anamorphic transfer provides.
The widescreen version has an average bitrate is a very good 6.59Mb/s,
peaking at 9Mb/s quite regularly, while the fullscreen version has an
average 5.55Mb/s.
As for the sound ? Well would you expect any of this quintet to be
particularly quiet ? No, I don't think so. A different track punctuates
each scene in their traditional loud style and if you have the
equipment for it, it's available in Dolby Digital 5.1. Even if you
have a basic surround system, the bass will eminate through the walls
just enough to annoy the neighbours.
Extras :
Chapters :
There are 17 chapters spread throughout the 89-minute film. These cover most
scenes but another 10 would do the trick. Alas there's no theatrical trailer
which would have been a nice inclusion.
Booklet and biographies :
For the girls the comments on the DVD are less biographical and more their own
thoughts on their experiences, while brief biographies are included for the
principal crew members and those in cameo roles. The booklet basically repeats
this information in both English and Spanish. I'm curious as to why the second
language is Spanish whereas the second of two languages on the disc is German.
Spice Girls interviews :
According to the original press release, the widescreen side was to contain
interviews with the girls and Richard E. Grant but I couldn't find any such
content. All is now revealed! It's actually on the fullscreen side although
there's no reason why it shouldn't be on both sides.
Languages & Subtitles :
The disc contains English and German dialogue in Dolby Digital 5.1 plus
subtitles for the same. It only covers the dialogue itself though, so no song
lyrics are included, which given the film's reliance on tunes - smacks of a
missed opportunity - and only by having the subtitles switched on will you see
the onscreen details for the girls' return flight from London to Milan and
their conversation with aliens.
Menu :
The static menu works fine, which as I stated earlier includes material from
the booklet, but it's a shame it wasn't given the loud, flashy treatment we'd
normally expect from a Spice Girls product. The copyright info can be bypassed
by accessing a previously bookmarked scene.
Overall, the film doesn't behave like a normal film with a coherent plot, but
more like a series of sketches, going round in a bus driven by Meat Loaf, with
the only hint of progression being made by the fact by the end of the film
they've transgressed from the Top of the Pops studio to the Royal Albert
Hall and each of the girls playing heavily on their trademark characters.
That said, anyone buying this DVD will not be looking for the next "Lawrence
of Arabia" and while it may be scant on extras - even the Region 1 release
manages some never-before-seen concert footage - at least the picture and sound
quality are spot-on.
DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TXW32R4 32" widescreen TV
connected to either a Creative Dxr2 DVD-ROM player or Microsoft Xbox and
played through a Sony STR-DB930 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
