Review of Joe 90: Complete Series Box Set (5 Discs)

Introduction

Gerry Anderson made Joe 90 in 1968, following his successes with Stingray in 1963, Thunderbirds in 1964 and Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons in 1967.

Joe`s dad has invented a machine to capture brain patterns and transfer them to other people. This allows him to transform 9 year old Joe into a test pilot, surgeon (or anything else for that matter) as required. Joe becomes an agent for the World Intelligence Network.

The whole series, comprising thirty half-hour episodes, has been released in a five disc boxset, however please note that this review applies to discs one, two and three only.

Video

The video is presented in 1.33:1 full-frame, and like the previous releases of Gerry Anderson material, the image has been cleaned up and looks very good, despite the 34 year vintage.

Anyone familiar with Anderson`s other animated series, will immediately recognise the visuals, featuring the slightly ungainly puppets with numerous ingenious gadgets saving the world from a variety of villains.

Audio

The soundtrack is presented in Dolby Digital Mono, and as you might expect is not particularly exciting, instead providing competent reproduction of the dialogue and effects.

The lack of a multi-channel soundtrack results in a flat and lifeless tone, but the dialogue is clear and understandable throughout each episode.

Features

The other Gerry Anderson discs that I have reviewed have included some top-notch extra materials, but sadly this isn`t the case with Joe 90, which only includes some screens of text, but also no documentary or commentary track.

The discs have nice Joe 90 style menus, which are well animated and easy to navigate.

Conclusion

I never liked Joe 90 as much as Thunderbirds and Stingray, and viewing it again after many years reinforced my feelings. Most of the plots and scenarios in Joe 90 had already been seen in the previous series, this lack of originality means that the series simply is not as entertaining as the earlier programs. Indeed, the series becomes quite formulaic after a while, with the episodes rather repetitive.

The production values are as high as ever, and as usual the ingenious sets and models show that the designers has a good feel for how technology would progress throughout the years. However, again, this quality of design is offset by the fact that we`ve seen it all before in the previous series, so there is little in the way of new material.

Overall, despite Joe 90 being the most polished of Gerry Anderson`s animated series, it doesn`t have the magic or enduring appeal of Thunderbirds, and whilst it`s nice to own a little bit of television history, it`s not the most enthralling viewing.