Bucky O' Hare - R2 PAL Review

[Liete]

For those who dont know what Bucky O' Hare is,

http://80scartoonscontent.co.uk/videos/bucky.wmv Intro wmv 2 mb
The cartoon version, Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Wars, debuted in 1991 in the UK on the BBC, as well as in the U.S., and was created by Sunbow Entertainment, Continuity Comics, IDDH, and Marvel. It was animated at Sunset Animation Studios. The show is remembered for its distinctive and popular theme tune.

Bucky O'Hare was created by comic writer Larry Hama in the late 1970s. It was first published by Continuity Comics in comic book form in the mid-1980s, appearing in the anthology series Echo of Futurepast, with Hama writing and Michael Golden on pencils. The series was later collected into an oversized graphic novel. Hama wrote a second Bucky O'Hare arc, which was never published. The comic book spawned a TV show in 1991, along with a series of action figures. A Bucky O'Hare video game developed by Konami for the Nintendo Entertainment System came out in 1992, and a Bucky O'Hare arcade game was also released. The storyline follows a parallel universe (the aniverse), where a war is ongoing between the slightly inept United Animals Coalition (run by mammals) and the sinister Toad Empire. The Toad Empire is led by a vast computer system known as KOMPLEX, which has brainwashed the toad population.
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bucky_O%27_Hare

The review:



Bucky O' Hare is a classic cartoon series I watched growing up as a child, because there is no US release, I decided to import the only DVD release in the world, which is by Metrodome, a UK based company. The entire 13 episodes are avaliable packaged together on a 2 disc set (1 dvd-9, 1 dvd-5) $15 USD and it seemed like a great deal... the video quality its... its... ill let this picture speak for me...



No its not this bad EVERYWHERE, and it doesn't look this bad on an analog TV set (probably will on a HD though), but thats beside the point. This is a combination of pixelation from poor mastering and excessive macroblocking, only occurs in highly action oriented scenes. Ironically on amazon.co.uk I didn't see hardly any complaints on the customer reviews, which leads me to believe that people in the UK are accustomed to a much lower standard of DVDs.

This is what the set usually looks like, although an analog tv can usually hide the grain much better than the computer can,

Normal pic 2: http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-2/11...190925.jpg

Going on to the extras, in disc one there is absolutely none at all, besides a simple episode selection, while disc 2 has an episode selection and a somewhat medicore set of character bio's with no pictures included, passable I guess.

Disc 1 Menu: http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-2/11...192602.jpg
Disc 2 Menu: http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-2/11...193441.jpg

What it really comes down to is,



And I dont see how 1991 is really a "classic program", they make it sound like its from the 50's or something.

Content Score: A+
DVD Score: D-

In conclusion:

For the price any fan of the series should still pick this set up as its the only one in existance, but honestly the TV airing I seen on cable about 4 years ago looked consiterably better than this DVD set. I however think I will be wanting to avoid releases from Metrodome in the future whenever possible.

[Elcoholic]

Ow yeah, i remember that, sort of. There are so many shows I forgot excisted and this is one of them. I especially remember that little robot fella.

I won't buy it but seeing that package gave me flashbacks of sunday morning cartoon sessions. Good times.

[evilomar]

Shit the Bed! That's out? I loved the theme song to that show.

[Liete]

I have recoded the discs to Region Free NTSC, if anyone is interested PM me I guess.

[rav96]

OMG i Loved this Series when i was a Kid...Oh my the Memories come rushing back
i used to draw Bucky O'Hare pictures in my primary school text books

Damn i feel Old now but hey gotta love this classic its up there with Jayce and TMNT etc

PS is Jayce and the wheled warriors available on DVD or is there a torrent out for it?

[gubi-gubi]

I didn't see hardly any complaints on the customer reviews, which leads me to believe that people in the UK are accustomed to a much lower standard of DVDs.

I however think I will be wanting to avoid releases from Metrodome in the future whenever possible.

It depends. PAL discs are normally better quality than NTSC. This set will be like this due to how little they will sell means that it's not worth the expensive clean up job required on the source. Think of how little they would sell in the UK. I am thinking of getting this set though. I saw it a while back. I remember it well. I had all the toys lol.