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Metacritter
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- Joined
- Sep 16, 2005
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I was going nuts from the lack of new Fraggle swag! I broke down and ordered three FR DVDs from amazon.co.uk. Two arrived yesterday 
, so I thought I'd post some impressions and a few screenshots.
Overall, the US releases are a bit higher quality... better video, menus, and extras. That said, if you're jonesing for fresh episodes, hankering for a peek at the Captain, or dying for some new Gobo footage, these do very nicely.
Shake, Fraggle, and Roll:
-Boober's Dream
-Mokey and the Minstrels
-A Friend in Need
The intro screen and menus are in 16:9 format. Gave me a bit of a start, wondering if my PAL->NTSC conversion was doing weird things to the picture or if maybe I was going to see widescreen Fraggles, but this was not the case. Title screen and Main Menu have attractive but static posed scenes, and the episode selection screen has three screenshots from the episodes as the menu. Main menu and Episodes both have the intro soundtrack playing as a loop. Extras all appeared to be trailers for HiT's other fare, so I didn't pay much attention.
Video and sound quality are better than VHS, but not quite as good as the US releases. Quite watchable and not distracting, and far better than recorded or traded episodes.
The alternate outer space setting is interesting and pleasant, not jarring as I'd half expected (the US version is pretty well burned into my retinas by now). The Captain is a likeable fellow, and the lighthouse is huge in comparision to the workshop.
I was surprised to discover that the Uncle Travelling Matt footage for 'A Friend in Need' is different than what I had seen with the US version. In the in the US version, Uncle Matt is locked in a supply closet, while in the UK version, he is brutalized by department store shoppers at an annual sale.
Screenshots from 'A Friend in Need' at:
http://www.metacritter.org/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=ShakeFraggleRoll&page=1
An FYI for any other obsessive fans out there who want to see these for themselves
: A commonly available and cheap DVD player (Cyberhome CH-DVD 300, about $30) can be easily hacked to be multiregion. (See http://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks for instructions.)
, so I thought I'd post some impressions and a few screenshots.Overall, the US releases are a bit higher quality... better video, menus, and extras. That said, if you're jonesing for fresh episodes, hankering for a peek at the Captain, or dying for some new Gobo footage, these do very nicely.
Shake, Fraggle, and Roll:
-Boober's Dream
-Mokey and the Minstrels
-A Friend in Need
The intro screen and menus are in 16:9 format. Gave me a bit of a start, wondering if my PAL->NTSC conversion was doing weird things to the picture or if maybe I was going to see widescreen Fraggles, but this was not the case. Title screen and Main Menu have attractive but static posed scenes, and the episode selection screen has three screenshots from the episodes as the menu. Main menu and Episodes both have the intro soundtrack playing as a loop. Extras all appeared to be trailers for HiT's other fare, so I didn't pay much attention.
Video and sound quality are better than VHS, but not quite as good as the US releases. Quite watchable and not distracting, and far better than recorded or traded episodes.
The alternate outer space setting is interesting and pleasant, not jarring as I'd half expected (the US version is pretty well burned into my retinas by now). The Captain is a likeable fellow, and the lighthouse is huge in comparision to the workshop.
I was surprised to discover that the Uncle Travelling Matt footage for 'A Friend in Need' is different than what I had seen with the US version. In the in the US version, Uncle Matt is locked in a supply closet, while in the UK version, he is brutalized by department store shoppers at an annual sale.
Screenshots from 'A Friend in Need' at:
http://www.metacritter.org/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=ShakeFraggleRoll&page=1
An FYI for any other obsessive fans out there who want to see these for themselves
: A commonly available and cheap DVD player (Cyberhome CH-DVD 300, about $30) can be easily hacked to be multiregion. (See http://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks for instructions.)