Blog DVD Review: The Smurfs - True Blue Friends

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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Amazon.com

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

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Complete TV Listings

Sitcom Stars on Talk Shows (Week of April 13)

Monday, April 13

Henry Winkler (Barry/Arrested Development/Out of Practice/Monty/Happy Days) - Watch Henry on Jimmy Kimmel Live! at 11:35pm on ABC.
Tracy Morgan (The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins/Crutch/The Last O.G./30 Rock/The Tracy Morgan Show) - Tracy is a guest on a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon at 11:35pm on NBC.
Maya Rudolph (Loot/Bless the Harts/Forever/Up All Night) - Maya appears on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
Nick Offerman (Margo's Got Money Troubles/Parks and Recreation) - Nick stops by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS.
Rachel Dratch (Grimsburg/Imaginary Mary/30 Rock) - Rachel makes a special appears once on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35pm on CBS. Andy Cohen interviews Rachel on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen at 11pm on Bravo.
Kristin Chenoweth (Stumble/Trial & Error/Kristin) - Kristin is a guest on a repeat of Late Night with Seth Meyers at 12:36am on NBC.
Rachel Dratch (Grimsburg/Imaginary Mary/30 Rock) - Andy Cohen interviews Rachel on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen at 9pm on Bravo.
Elle Fanning (Margo's Got Money Troubles) and Michelle Pfeiffer (Margo's Got Money Troubles/Delta House) - Elle and Michelle talk about Margo's Got Money Troubles on CBS Mornings sometime between 7-9am.
Jennie Garth (Mystery Girls/What I Like About You) - Jennie talks about I Choose Me: Chasing Joy, Finding Purpose & Embracing Reinvention on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am, on Live with Kelly and Mark (check your local listings), on NBC's Today in the 10am hour, and on ABC's GMA 3: What You Need to Know at 1pm.
Sarah Chalke (Scrubs/Roseanne/Mad Love/How to Live with Your Parents (For the Rest of Your Life)) - Sarah talks about Scrubs on ABC's Good Morning America sometime between 7-9am.
Anthony Norman (Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat) - Anthony talks about Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat on NBC's Today sometime between 7-9am and in the 9am hour and on ABC News Live Prime with Linsey Davis at 7pm.
Bob Odenkirk (The Larry Sanders Show) - All Access sits down with Bob to discuss his life, career and new film Normal on ABC News Live Prime with Linsey Davis at 7pm.
Daniel Radcliffe (The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins/Miracle Workers) - Daniel tells Sherri about his new sitcom, The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins, and his hit Broadway play, Every Brilliant Thing, on Sherri, so check your local listings.
Jake and Jazz Smollett (On Our Own) - Jake and Jazz talk about their lifestyle series, Living By Design, on CLEO TV on Sherri, so check your local listings.
Dan Levy (Big Mistakes/Schitt's Creek) and Laurie Metcalf (Big Mistakes/The Conners/Roseanne/The McCarthys/The Norm Show) - Dan and Laurie talk to Drew about their upcoming comedy crime show Big Mistakes on The Drew Barrymore Show, so check your local listings. Drew is joined by the entire cast of Big Mistakes: Dan Levy, Laurie Metcalf, Jack Innanen and Taylor Ortega.
John Stamos (Palm Royale/UnPrisoned/Fuller House/Grandfathered/Jake in Progress/Full House/You, Again?) and Jodie Sweetin (Fuller House/Hollywood Darlings/Full House) - - John and Jodie are guests on Access Daily with Mario & Kit, so check your local listings.