Review of Complete Flumps, The

Introduction

Pom-pom, pom-pom, pom-pom-pom-pom..........
Pom-pom, pom-pom, pom-pom-pom-pom..........

(repeat ad infinitum)

Yes, the theme tune is flying around my head already. Who needs The Phantom Menace on DVD when you can have The Flumps ? All 13 episodes, over 3 hours of classic kids television. All here on one DVD. All for less than ten of your hard earned pounds !

I remember watching this show as a kid, and watching this DVD, the memories come flooding back. Watching the episodes again was great fun. It`s scary how many little things you instantly remember despite not having seen it for years !

Video

The first thing most people will notice is the video quality - it`s pretty poor at best, and very poor at worst. There`s quite a bit of wobbling going on and plenty of artefacts littered all around your screen. This is no widescreen masterpiece!

This is a kids TV programme that`s nearly 25 years old ! You really have to bear that in mind whilst watching !

It`s never going to be the Criterion edition of Armageddon. At least I`ve found a use for the DNR button on the DVD player now - it cleans the image up quite nicely in places, and it becomes almost watchable.

Audio

Sound is good, just stereo, but The Flumps was never going to be a 5.1 masterpiece. You`ll never get to hear the Flumpet in glorious DTS. But again, think of the age of the programme, it`s probably older than some of the readers of this review !

Despite this being a 70s show there isn`t much cliched 70s music, just plenty of kids TV-type songs, but they sound good. And of course there`s that theme tune which you`ll be whistling for ages ! It really should carry a health warning ! It`s highly infectious.

Features

No extras to speak of, but highly unlikely that anything exists anyway. Would you really want a director`s commentary ?

A quick mention of the menu system, which is cool (little video clips of each episode) on first use, but can prove annoying if you want to get to episode 6 or 7.

Conclusion

Basically, if you`ve ever seen The Flumps you`ll probably want to see it again, and at 10 quid for 3 hours entertainment, it`s good value. I can see this becoming one of those classic post-pub DVDs.

Classic kids TV - go and buy it. When I originally wrote the review, the rumour was that if The Flumps did well, they`re would release Willo the Wisp next ! Well, it was true, because it`s out ! And yes I will be reviewing it !