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Jakers! Treasure Hunt On Raloo Farm
R1 - America - Paramount Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Rob Fields (21st February 2008). |
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The Film
 I don't remember much about being 6-years old, but one of the things I do remember were some of the shows that I watched. I may not remember all of the content, but I do at least know the names. There was "Sesame Street" (1968-Current), "Mister Rogers Neighborhood" (1968-2001), "The Electric Company" (1971-1977), and "3-2-1 Contact" (1980-1992). When I got older and finally got myself a girlfriend, her autistic child was made to watch certain children's shows on a satellite TV channel called Sprout. There was "Thomas & Friends" (1984-Current), "Teletubbies" (1997-2001), "The Berenstain Bears" (2003), and "Pingu" (1987). If you've figured out that these shows came from the Public Broadcasting System (PBS), then you're right. While I don't watch these shows anymore, the general premise of a lot of these shows was to help teach children some good morals, how to spell or count, and some other educational content. Many of these shows have either been live action, using puppets, animated, or a combination of any of these. Now I'm reviewing some episodes from a PBS series called "Jakers! The Adventures of Piggley Winks" (2003-Current). Actually, that's what the series is called by name. But the DVD I am reviewing has a different title. It's called "Jakers! Treasure Hunt on Raloo Farm". The premise is basically the same. Welcome to Raloo Farm in Ireland, where a spunky eight-year-old pig named Piggley Winks is always on the lookout for adventure, along with his best friends Ferny the bull and Dannan the Duck. This is the world of Jakers!, where the charm of Irish storytelling meets state-of-the-art 3D CGI animation. "Jakers! Treasure Hunt on Raloo Farm" is comprised on 4 episodes; I liked all four of the stories. While I don't watch PBS or PBS Sprout, I can definitely recommend this for children. I'd be willing to bet that they will have a great experience watching these episodes and learning some values at the same time. The characters certainly have personality for farm animals; they act more human than anything. Still, that's one of the things that children learn how to do when watching cartoons is suspending disbelief. While they do this, they can learn some true-to-life lessons. At least the gang gets into adventures that normal kids may or may not be likely to get into. The downsides? I can't really think of any, except that Paramount has only released separate DVD's with four episodes each. They are not available in complete seasons. Therefore, the episodes are fragmented in terms of the seasons. I guess it's a good thing they do not rely on episode continuity. My final word: If you're an adult and have kids that watch some of the shows that are on PBS, then I highly recommend the "Jakers!" series. Having these four episodes on a single disc is like having four separate storybooks all at once. They're very easy for children to follow and something good ALWAYS comes out of each story, besides a happy ending. Definitely look at adding this title to your child's/children's collection. The four episodes included in this collection are: - "Treasure Hunt" (23:02) : Mr. Winks paints a treasure map for Piggley and his friends, but this is a map with a difference! The trio sets about their tasks on the treasure trail and are having so much fun they don't realize they're doing their chores at the same time. (Original airdate: September 26th, 2004) : Season 2, Episode 3 - "Our Dragon's Egg" (23:02) : Piggley, Ferny and Dannan rescue an errant egg : which they decide must be a dragon's egg. They hatch all kinds of plans to keep the egg safe, but when the creature inside emerges, it turns out to be a not-so-sweet swan chick. That's when the real work begins. (Original airdate: August 1st, 2003) : Season 1, Episode 10 - "Dannan Does a Jig" (23:02) : When Dannan's grandma teaches the class to dance, Dannan proves an enthusiastic student of the art. When Dannan realizes that she isn't a very good dance, however, she becomes afraid that she will let her friends down and doesn't want to dance anymore. (December 6, 2004) : Season 3, Episode 14 - "Growing Pains" (23:01) : After griping about his parents' rules, Piggley wishes he were a grown-up so he could do as he pleases. When Dad sprains his ankle and puts Piggley in charge of the farm for a day, however, Piggley finds being a grown-up is a lot harder than it looks. (Original airdate: December 11th, 2004) : Season 3, Episode 8
Video
All four episodes are presented in anamorphic widescreen format (1.78:1 ratio). The 3D CGI animation is quite astounding. I think this may be the reason as to why I am unable to find any pixels or dirt that might come from other film releases (live action for example). Hey, not that I'm complaining. The animation makes very good use of the widescreen picture, which helps to tell all of the stories presented on this DVD. I've seen some movies that solely use 3D animation (a few of the Pixar films), but for a PBS series I was VERY impressed. And I don't impress easily. I first thought the animation of "Thomas & Friends" was impressive, but "Jakers!" beats it : big time!
Audio
The film features three Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo soundtracks in the following options: original English, dubbed French, and dubbed Spanish. There are no subtitles available. While only utilizing the front left and right speakers, it certainly sounds like Dolby surround quality. The audio is crisp and the dialogue is definitely not hard to understand, even in the Irish dialect. Even the dubbed audio tracks stand out, though they both suffer the slight loudness that comes with most dubbed audio tracks.
Extras
Paramount has included a "Jakers!"bonus trailer, a series of 8 additional clips and a read-along story. Below is a closer look at these supplements. There are four "Piggley's Storyteller Playhouse" clips. Each one features a different human storyteller telling a story to human children. Here are the stories: - "Who What Where" runs for 3 minutes 27 seconds. - "Pourquoi Stories" runs for 3 minutes 28 seconds. - "Stories Without Words" runs for 3 minutes 27 seconds. - "Heroes" runs for 3 minutes 27 seconds. There are four "Meet the Grandparents" clips. This features human children talking with an actual grandparent, who tells one of these stories: - "Ol' Bill" runs for 1 minute 3 seconds. - "Can Walkers" runs for 1 minute 3 seconds. - "Sneakers" runs for 1 minute 3 seconds. - "The Book" runs for 1 minute 3 seconds. "The Great Fairy Test" is a read-along story which runs 11 pages. You can go through this with audio narration or without. Rounding out the extras is a bonus trailer for: - "Other Jakers! DVD releases" which runs for 1 minute 4 seconds.
Overall
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