Finally, some nitpicks! And I do mean *nitpicks*.
When I first learned that there were going to be videos made of SWAT
Kats, I was very pleased, but I was also hoping that they would would be
done the right way. To me, it's important that videos not just have high
technical quality, but that they are put together in the right format and have
good packaging. I want the box to look good on my shelf too, and I know that
if it does, then it will sell more copies by being so eye catching.
As soon as I could I placed an order for all three of them at Suncoast
Video (I've said it before and I'll say it again: You should too!), and they
arrived just a couple weeks later. The price was excellent IMO, $13 for two
eps is a good deal. Though I'm a big advocate of stuffing as many eps as
possible onto a video while keeping it recorded at SP, two eps per video is
entirely understandable and being fairly standard in the industry, fine.
(Though ideally they should have released four videos with all of the
episodes for under $25 per video.)
I have no criticims of the eps themselves, or at least none here since
that's irrelevent. What I will argue is the choice of which episodes they
released. I think trying to base the videos on villians was a mistake since
the series can't be readily classified as such; There would have to be
breaks in the consistency to include all of the episodes, some of the videos
would have to be about the other villians, or in the case of Cavern of
Horrors, none at all. And even of what episodes were released, there is
inconsistency since they aren't always about those particular villians as is
the case with Katastrophe. I'm glad that a disproportionate amount of
Mook's first season episodes were released, since those are more important for
home video, IMO. But unfortunately the lack of a Pastmaster video kept my
favorite ep, The Pastmaster Always Rings Twice from being released. I
consider the best looking of second season eps to be the most important for
release, and I feel that sales would have been higher if The Deadly Pyramid,
for instance, had been among the videos, so the idea of restricting the
release to first season eps was another mistake. I'd say in order of
importance, Unikely Alloys ranks highest becuase of its animation quality, and
the fact that it was shown so infrequently in syndication. After that, I rank
according to how good the animation is, becuase storyline doesn't improve with
picture quality.
I feel the packaging for all three videos is quite good. I've seen
animated series released to video with horrible box art (ExoSquad's box art is
one example), and thankfully SWAT Kats was sparred such a fate. While I do
somewhat prefer the style of animation art to the Tremblay's artwork, their
work looks excellent, and backed with what looks like computer coloring, it's
terrific. But something I'm a little upset by is the way the artwork on
video two is offset a little ways to the right, leaving the far left side
blank save the coloring. Don't people get fired when things like that occur
in comic books? The other glaringly obvious detail is that of Razor's white
nose, something repeated on all three videos (It's dark gray dangitt!). For
some reason the SWAT Kats logo isn't once the correct color either. All they
needed to do was use a certain color for the border to provide some contrast,
and then they could have made the logo red and blue for all of them and it
would have looked just fine. Too bad that they didn't becuase the
miscoloring sticks out like a sore thumb.
On the back of the videos we find 3 peices of artwork, which I'm guessing
is by the Tremblays, but may not be. They look fine and I'm glad that they
were included. For some reason, however, T-Bone and Razor don't appear but
Jake and Chance do (and I do like the artwork of each.) Don't you think it's
odd that we never see those guys in the same place at the same time? ;-> I
would have preffered to see larger images of T-Bone and Razor and accompanying
synopses since those who don't know who the SWAT Kats are would better be
introduced to the characters that way. It would also have been nice if there
were perhaps different images for every video, but what we got was OK.
On the videos themselves, the label is rather cheap. A simple photocopy
decal (And one of the decals of mine is from a machine that was low on toner.)
that's not stuck on there too well, and like so many cheap videos out there,
it's sometimes on crooked. At least I can be thankful the labels at least
stay put, because I've had others come off.
The write ups of the series and the individual epsiodes on the back of the
videos, while better than nothing, are not anywhere as near good as they could
be. I would have preferred a less juvenille, more accurate description
(*Rocket*-blasting action?) of the episodes cointained within. For some
reason I keep hearing Krusty the Clown read these things in my head and scream
"Hey Kids!" with the occasional laughter.
And as for what's contained on the videos themselves? Well, I'm not gonna
nitpick the episodes. After all, who can argue with perfection? But I do
find much to criticize about how everything is organized on them. To begin
with, there'a an episode of Space Ghost - I like it, and I'm glad it was
included for free, but I might prefer to see it at the end of the video rather
than at the begining as I've heard it has been done for the recent Jonny Quest
videos. Fast fowarding through 13 minutes of tape to get to the first episode
can be tiresome.
When the time for the first commercial break comes, we see the first
secret file instead. I actually have sort of mixed feelings on the inclusion
of the secret files where they are, in place of some of the commerical breaks.
On the one hand they might appear to "get in the way" of the episode and
destroy the pacing of some scenes, but on the other hand, watching the action
build to a climax, fade out, and immediately fade right back in again wasn't
intended. The writers had to adjust for the commercial breaks, and they wrote
the episodes with those gaps in mind. It's a lot like what Patrick Stewart
was saying in regard to ST:TNG on home video. In his opinion the problem
should be sidestepped entirely with special versions of the episodes made
specifically to get around the commercial gap, and given the tendency of
ST:TNG to build up prior to the commercial breaks, I can see why he felt that
way. The erasure of the gap is analogous to including them in a movie for
broadcast on television - It is ultimately destuctive to the timing. The
inclusion of the secret files fills the gap and provides the needed pause, and
I know if they weren't there, I'd probably not have seen them as many times as
I have. I recall there being character data at the the end of Guyver videos
as well, and having them tacked on like that at the end was ackward and made
for boring viewing. But going back to the previous hand (I'm not an octopus
;-> ), I find myself sometimes fast forwarding through the secret files or at
least being tempted to, and simply relying on my familiarity with the episode
to carry me through the lack of a gap (Though of course fast forwarding in
itself can take time and provide a gap as well). So ultimately, I'd have to
say that they should not be in place of any of the commercials, but I can
certainly understand why they might choose to place the secret files where
they are in the videos.
After the secret files listed at the end of the first episode play, we
aren't treated to the credits, but instead get the second episode title. I
don't know all the differences between the two episode credits, but certainly
the listing of whether the animation studio was Hanho or Mook is one. By
deleting the first season episode titles, Turner is crediting Mook with
Hanho's animation (Shouldn't there be some type of legal precedent against
that?), and hiding that information from anyone who might be curious as to
why the episodes look different. *Very* irresposible.
And since the second intro is gone, we, the fans, have been deprived the
opportunity to see it again and give us that important and oh-so-needed
adrenaline rush before beginning the second viewing. I want to watch the
opening so bad that I sometimes cue up the tape to the first one before
fast forwarding to watch the second episode (Well, when I intend on
only watching the 2nd episode that is.) The opening is there for a reason,
and it should never be removed. The best example of an animated series I've
seen released to video in the right format has got to be The Adventures of
the Galaxy Rangers. There are not only five episodes per video in SP mode,
but their opening and credits proceed and follow every one, just as they
should. I just wish more releases were done that well, and SWAT Kats is
sadly one that's misseed the mark due to incompetent editing.
Thankfully the videos are recorded in the highest quality possible. The
speed is of course SP, and the image is about good as video tape will allow,
as is the sound quality, crisp stereo which doesn't contain the slightest hint
of crackle even at high volume. It's good to know that Turner is at least
making certain his video releases are technically good.
Still conscious after all that? Well, maybe my next post, Poster Nitpicks,
will be sure to put you to sleep...
|\ __ /| Kevin L. Knoles klknole_at_rs6000.cmp.ilstu.edu |\ __ /|
| | | |
\ / Check out SWAT Kats on the Web: \ /
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Received on Fri May 10 1996 - 23:02:45 PDT