Saturday, March 28, 2009

Blog DVD Review: The Smurfs - True Blue Friends

It is Saturday, so that must mean it is time for weekly Blog DVD Reviews! Today we take a look at Warner Home Video's The Smurfs: True Blue Friends. The Smurfs of course is the classic Saturday morning animated series about those little blue people. It is Smurftastic! See my Blog DVD Review of The Smurfs: True Blue Friends:

The Smurfs: True Blue Friends (Warner, $14.98) brings us five episodes from the second season of the classic Saturday morning animated series that lasted nearly a decade on DVD. Handy, Hefty, Grouchy, Brainy, Jokey, Clumsy, Lazy, Dreamy, Smurfette, Papa Smurf and more of your favorite little blue people bring you the greatest show on Smurf are all back in more fun adventures. For some reason they are going away from the season sets that of The Smurfs, to a single disc set of five episodes. The Smurfs, home of the powder-blue pixies who have a way with words and have way-out adventures as they come face to face with Gargamel, a marsh monster, and an evil potion maker!
The previous two sets was a season set of the first season, split into two volumes. But for some reason now they are going with just a one-disc set with five episodes from season two. It doesn't make sense to me, since the second season has even more episodes than the first season! Anyway, the episodes we get on this set are "S-Shivering S-Smurfs," "Turncoat Smurf," "The Smurf Who Couldn't Say No," "The Haunted Castle," and "The Black Hellebore." They are not even in any order it seems...just five randomly picked episodes from season two. Come on Warner!
Let's now move on to the packaging. We have a very thin keep case. The front cover sees a big mushroom with Papa Smurf and some of the other Smurfs around it. The title of the show is on the top, with a mention below that that this "True Blue Friends." To the back of the case we go, we get a nice synopsis of the series, along with details on the "5 Cartoons" and "Enchanting Extra." We see three Smurfs, including Smurfette in the green grass as the evil Gargamel is watching. When we open the case, on the right side we see the disc. The disc is in a red background with four Smurf characters. Compared to the first season sets, this is very cheap.
The menu screens are very nice. We see the land of Smurf in the background with Azrael the cat watching. It is very colorful. The catchy theme is playing in the background. Auto trailer for not pirating DVDs starts off the disc before the main menu comes, along with trailers for Snoopy's Reunion and Scooby Doo. Options for the main menu are: Play, Episodes, Special Features, and Languages. A flower is out selector. Languages has an option to turn on English or French subtitles. Episodes have a list of episodes obviously. And Special Features list the one featurette and Trailers for other Warner Home Video sets like the Charlie Brown Holiday Collection.
The video and audio is OK...it is not as good as the first season sets to me. They have cheapened this set. The packaging doesn't state that the episodes are remastered like they were with the first season sets. I am very disappointed, since the first season sets were remastered. One good thing they have added on this set are chapter stops. At least they added that. The first two episodes on this set are mini episodes (as some Smurfs half-hours had two stories per episode) that run 13:48 with 3 chapter stops. The last three on this set are full episodes that run 24:04, 25:39, and 25:33 with 5 chapter stops. You know on the first season, volume two review, I said season two should be on one set...but they have made it worse now. They should go back to the splitting of the season into two volumes. That is certainly better than this!
As for special features, we get the "Meet the Smurfs!" Basically this is a character profile of a Smurf. We get three of them. Papa Smurf (1:27), Grouchy (1:00) and Tracker (1:17). You select each character to view their profile. Next to Papa Smurf, there is a green bag. Looks like that is an Easter egg, because if you select that, you get "Smurfy Storyboards: Gormandizing Greedy." It runs 2:19. And of course we get Trailers for other Warner Home Video DVDs.
I am not sure if I do recommend this set for any Smurfs fan. The set is not Smurftastic, as the first season sets. I hope they are just marketing this for non-fans or casual fans and continue with the season sets soon. Because this is not good to give a popular show that has many episodes and ran 9 long seasons a one-disc set. The special features are not as good either. I wasn't too pleased with the episode situation being split in two volumes, but now I will take that back in a heartbeat. The episodes on this set are of course great but don't look great, especially "The Smurf Who Couldn't Say No," that looks terrible in video. I hope the full season two is out very soon and we get it all in one shot rather than two volumes...but I'll take two volumes anyway over this one-disc crap. They better Smurf to it and get the job done. Anyway, any die-hard would click below to order this DVD, if you haven't already. So Smurf to it!
-- Reviewed by Pavan
(3/5 stars)

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Related links:
SitcomsOnline.com Full DVD Reviews Page
The Smurfs TV.com Page
The Smurfs Official Page


Sitcoms Airing Tonight / Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows

Friday, October 10

Vampirina: Teenage Vampire - "First Final" (Disney Channel, 8:00PM ET/PT)
Vee leaves Transylvania for boarding school to chase her musical dreams. As she keeps her vampire identity a secret, unexpected obstacles threaten to return her to the shadows.

Vampirina: Teenage Vampire - "First Holiday" (Disney Channel, 8:30PM ET/PT)
Vee leaves Transylvania for boarding school to chase her musical dreams. As she keeps her vampire identity a secret, unexpected obstacles threaten to return her to the shadows.

Complete TV Listings


Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of October 6)

Friday, October 10

  • Seth Rogen (The Studio/Platonic/Undeclared) and Aziz Ansari (Master of None/Parks and Recreation) - Watch Seth and Aziz on a repeat of Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
  • Carrie Preston (Crowded/Happyish/Emeril) - Carrie is a guest on a repeat of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
  • Rose Byrne (Platonic/Physical) - Rose appears on Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC. She also chats about If I Had Legs I’d Kick You with the ladies of The View on ABC at 11am ET/10am CT-PT and on ABC News Live Prime with Linsey Davis at 7pm.
  • Bill Bellamy (Mr. Box Office/Men, Women & Dogs/Cousin Skeeter) - Bill is a guest on a repeat of Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen at 12:37am on CBS.
  • Michael J. Fox (Family Ties/Spin City/The Michael J. Fox Show) - Michael discusses his new book Future Boy: Back to the Future and My Journey Through the Space-Time Continuum on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am.
  • Kenzi Richardson (Vampirina: Teenage Vampire) - Kenzi talks about Vampirina: Teenage Vampire on ABC's The View at 11am ET/10am CT-PT and on GMA 3: What You Need to Know at 1pm.
  • Morris Chestnut (Out All Night) - Morris sits down for a DAYTIME EXCLUSIVE to chat about the Season 2 premiere of Watson on Tamron Hall, so check your local listings.
  • Maya Rudolph (Loot/Bless the Harts/Forever/Up All Night) - Maya stops by the studio to discuss Loot on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
  • Greta Lee (HouseBroken/Russian Doll) - Greta talks about Disney's Tron: Ares on Live with Kelly and Mark, so check your local listings.
  • Dermot Mulroney (The Righteous Gemstones/Four Weddings and a Funeral) - Dermot is a guest on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am.
  • Idris Elba (Turn Up Charlie) - Idris and Rebecca Ferguson talk about A House of Dynamite on NBC's Today sometime between 7-9am.
  • Aubrey Plaza (Parks and Recreation) - Aubrey talks about her new book Luna and the Witch Throw a Halloween Party on NBC's Today in the 10am hour and on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
  • Sheryl Lee Ralph (Abbott Elementary/Fam/Instant Mom/Moesha/It's a Living) - Sheryl stops by to chat with Sherri about the new season of Abbott Elementary on Sherri, so check your local listings.
  • Henry Winkler (Barry/Arrested Development/Out of Practice/Monty/Happy Days) - TV legend Henry shares details about his 40th book, Detective Duck: The Mystery at Emerald Pond, on Sherri, so check your local listings.
  • Valerie Bertinelli (Hot in Cleveland/Cafe Americain/Sydney/One Day at a Time) - Valerie appears on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings.
  • Teri Hatcher (The Odd Couple/Sunday Dinner/Karen's Song/The Love Boat) - Teri and her daughter Emerson Tenney talk about the Desperately Devoted podcast on a repeat of Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.
  • Jeremy Piven (Entourage/Ellen/Pride & Joy/The Larry Sanders Show) - Jeremy is a guest on New York Living on WPIX in New York at 10:05am.


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Frasier (2023) - Season Two Abbott Elementary - The Complete Third Season The Drew Carey Show - The Complete Series* (missing 4 episodes and some music has been replaced or altered) Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray) Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage - The Complete First Season

01/28 - Wait Till Your Father Gets Home - The Complete Series (Blu-ray)
02/04 - The Wayans Bros. - The Complete Series
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04/01 - Abbott Elementary - The Complete Third Season
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06/06 - Shoresy - Season 2
06/17 - Looney Tunes - Collector's Vault - Volume 1 (Blu-ray)
07/22 - Bewitched - The Complete Series - 60th Anniversary Special Edition (Blu-ray)
08/26 - The Huckleberry Hound Show - The Complete Original Series (Blu-ray)
10/07 - Georgie & Mandy's First Marriage - The Complete First Season

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