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Dom Robinson reviews
Complete Series 2
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
# “Jump in, we’ll take you for a spin and show you round theWheelie world!” #
The cult of kids TV arriving on DVD continues with a series of stop-frameanimation from the late 70s which ran for three series. Fenella, the wickedwitch in Spout Hall who sounds like she might be the mother of Nige fromChannel 4’s late-night review show, Vids (albeit with less foul language),has drained all the colour and laughter from the usually-happy landof the Wheelies and you know someone’s been dropping a tab of somethingconspicuous when help arrives in the form of orange dragon Chorlton, as helands in a brightly coloured egg. He’s so-called because he comes from theManchester 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 Ministerhasn’t given them his permission! Who’s to blame? I can certainly guess…
- Double Trouble: Fenella’s sister, Quinine, comes to stay at SpoutHall and would you believe she’s even more bossy?!!
- The Keep-Fit Class: Chorlton’s always thinking about food and thewheelie 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 Chorlton8. 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 minorprint defects and, in a couple of episodes, a slightly jerky picture, but onthe 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 andclosing credits come round.
The quality of the sound is the same. It’s in mono which comes across clearlyin some episodes, while others sound rather muffled.
As with series 1, there are no subtitles nor extras, but the disc does have aneat animated menu with the classic theme tune and Fenella “pops up” all overthe 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.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
0OVERALL
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.