Review of Terrahawks Box Set (Vols 1 to 3)

Introduction

Gerry Anderson`s animated series Thunderbirds, Stingray, Joe 90 and Captain Scarlet have a place in television history, years ahead of their time, and very successful. In 1983, Anderson tried to rekindle the success of the earlier series with Terrahawks, aimed at a new generation of viewers, but retaining many of the ideas that had made the earlier series such a success.

With the earth under threat from Martians under the command of Zelda, the Terrahawks are formed to stop them.

The series ran for 39 episodes, the first 13 of which are included in this three disc boxset from Revelation Films. Previous releases of Gerry Anderson`s work have come from Carlton.

Video

I`ve got at least one disc of all of the other Gerry Anderson programs that have been released so far, and as anyone who has seen them will testify, the picture quality is superb. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about Terrahawks - whereas the earlier series have been painstakingly remastered and cleaned up, Terrahawks looks like the same poor quality print used for TV broadcast. The image is dirty, very grainy, lacks contrast, is poorly focussed, has limited detail, and is generally of VHS quality. Very disappointing.

The visuals are pretty much as you would expect, although the puppets are a considerable improvement on the earlier series. There are spacecraft, underground bases and plenty of gadgets on display, all in the unmistakable Anderson style.

Audio

The soundtrack comes in Dolby Digital 2.0 (mono replayed through the front two speakers), and whilst not offering much excitement, adequately reproduces the effects and dialog.

One particular highlight was the opening sequence - the theme tune brought back memories of when I used to watch Terrahawks all those years ago.

Features

The previous releases have all brought with them some good extras, including a commentary from Gerry Anderson, but sadly, this release from Revelation Films is lacking in this area too, with just scripts, biographies and photo galleries etc on each disc. Not very exciting.

The menus are static, and easy to navigate.

This boxset comprises three discs, each housed in a clear Amaray case, which fit into a cardboard slipcase.

Conclusion

Overall, whilst Carlton have made great efforts with their releases of older Gerry Anderson material, Revelation Films have failed to get anywhere near the same standard with their release of Terrahawks.

The video is disappointing, and no effort has been made to clean it up at all. The sound is average, but the extras are of limited value.

As far as the series itself goes, it is actually reasonably entertaining (although I wouldn`t recommend watching all of the episodes in one go), but draws too heavily on ideas that have been seen time and again in other Anderson productions.

Ultimately, the lack of effort to produce a top quality DVD and the mediocre content make this hard to recommend. instead fans of Anderson`s work would be better off buying Thunderbirds, Stingray or Captain Scarlett, so that they get good video and some decent extras.