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ReviewsFor the last couple of years, there have been many releases of old Cosgrove Hall shows, as well as merchandise relating to newer ones. When I get my grubby little mitts on anything that strikes me as particularly interesting, I'll write something about it here, and maybe even give it some kind of rating. Not that my opinion counts for much, of course... 15/04/03 – Most Wanted Classic Kids TV DVD
Cat.no: FHED 8152
Contains the following episodes:
When I heard about this DVD, I was really excited, yes I was. Now of course, Dangermouse has been doing the rounds on DVD for a while now, but some fans have been waiting for the other three shows to appear on DVD for ooh, God knows how long. Not only that, but the promotional material promised never-before released episodes. Oh yes, I thought, oh yes. Thank you, Fremantle Media, for listening to the fans. I'm a fool. This release disappoints on so many levels. Let's start with the sleeve. It's made up of images taken from wildly different sources, producing a very odd "patchwork" effect which makes the whole thing look cheap (and at £9.99 for 80 mins, it isn't particularly). This is just nitpicking though, because I'm a real stickler for good design, which of course doesn't necessarily reflect the quality of the disk. Unfortunately though, in this case it does. There are no extras whatsoever, and the picture quality of the episodes looks no better than a VHS release. How do I know this? Well, all the episodes have previously been released on VHS, so I can do direct comparisions. Now maybe I'm missing something here, but if the fans have been badgering Fremantle to release these shows (and goodness knows they email this site asking about them, so it's entirely possible), surely Fremantle would have the good sense to know that what the fans would really like are unreleased episodes to add to their collections? In fact, come to that, why didn't they just put out one DVD of say, three episodes of each of these series? I mean, an Alias fan who doesn't like Avenger Penguins or Victor & Hugo isn't going to pay a tenner for one ten-minute episode, are they? Eh?? Oh, it makes me mad. Mad, mad mad. It's not the first time Fremantle have been guilty of this sort of thing either, as they have very cunningly released several previously released Duckula and Dangermouse episodes on DVD too, when they could've taken their pick of many unreleased ones. Are you feeling the anger yet? I decided to do something about it. Scroll down and see. And yes, I am aware that this review will probably prevent me from ever getting another free review copy of anything, but with standards this low, that won't cause me too many sleepless nights. Summary: In the words of certain oriental ladies, sucky, sucky, sucky. But you'd better buy it anyway, because if sales are poor Fremantle might use it as an excuse to not put out any more episodes of these series. And now, my rant at Fremantle. Fremantle Media need a stern talking to! Fremantle Media have been releasing episodes of various Cosgrove Hall series for a while now. Thanks to them, we have access to the complete Jamie and the Magic Torch and Chorlton and the Wheelies - this, of course, is a good thing. But I've recently realized that they are criminally underselling some series by only releasing episodes that have been available in the past, when there are in fact loads of previously unreleased ones they could be giving us. I think that stinks, and I wrote the following email to them saying so. If you agree, use the link at the end of the message to tell them so too. (oh, as you probably gathered above, I did get my hands on a final rather than a preview copy in the end, and it was no better). Hi, I run the Cosgrove Hall Ate My Brain website, a homage to all those great Cosgrove Hall toons - Dangermouse etc. - you have stashed in your video vault. It's come to my attention that you're releasing the above title, a compilation of several rare Cosgrove Hall shows which are indeed often requested by fans - who usually send emails to my site - so if you really have received lots of requests for them, a lot of the senders probably came from there! At any rate, it's very good news to see episodes of these series finally made available, and I can only hope you'll give the fans what they really want and eventually release them as individual titles rather than a compilation. However. I must take you to task about something. A review I have seen online - and maybe this was a preview copy, maybe the contents of the final one are different - quotes the DVD box as saying it contains previously unreleased episodes of the four series: Alias the Jester, Dangermouse, Victor & Hugo, and Avenger Penguins. And yet, every episode on the DVD has been previously released on VHS! Now it may seem like just a little white marketing lie, but consider this: there are 30 episodes of Victor & Hugo and 26 episodes of Avenger Penguins. Of the latter, only around 9 of those episodes had been previously released, and of the former, only 3! So in other words, you had 27 unreleased episodes of Victor and Hugo to chose from, and 14 unreleased Avenger Penguins, and still you're giving the fans duplicates - and claiming not to? What gives?? The fans who are dedicated enough to email you requesting these shows will already have dug out the previously released episodes, so this new release will therefore be of little interest to them. Would it have been so much trouble to pick some genuinely unreleased episodes? I can only hope, if this Most Wanted DVD achieves poor sales, that you don't try to use that fact to justify not releasing the titles separately. I had also noticed that your Duckula DVDs only contained previously released material - again, with a wealth of unreleased material to choose from - but at least with those, there was no kind of claim that they had never been released before. You are doing us fans a disservice in your lazy choice of episodes. Please try to see your way clear to doing something about it. I've put up a copy of this message on my website, together with your email address, so other fans who might also feel somewhat cheated can make a contribution. And of course, if it was a preview copy online and there are different episodes on the final release, I will be eating humble pie! Regards Laura (webmistess, Cosgrove Hall Ate My Brain) www.nyanko.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/chamb - If you want to tell them to get their act together and give us a better variety of episodes, here's the email address to do so: videodvd@fremantlemedia.com (Um, I feel like I should point out at this stage that a) Despite how I come across on this page, I'm not naturally belligerent - well, alright, maybe a little; and b) I do have better things to worry about in the real world, but this is the Internet, and if you care so much about Iraq why are you here and not on the BBC News website, hmm??) Back to the Loot page |
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