Syndication Strikes Again!
by Gord Lacey (All reviews) |
9/02/2002 |
As a huge fan of 3D animated series, I was excited when I received the first two "Heavy Gear" discs to review. I didn't know much about the series, except that it was based on a role playing game (which spawned some video games) and was animated by Mainframe Entertainment (creators of ReBoot and many other 3D shows).
The Heavy Gear Championship Tournament (HGCT) was created by "Boom Boom" Von Maddox, a fight promoter nearly ruined by the Interpolar War. After the war ended he asked his creditors to erase all his debt and he would create the new dueling league. He already had most of the Gears and all the equipment he needed and with their help he could make the HGCT one of the biggest media events ever seen.
The show takes place in 6132 and pits Marcus Rover and the Shadow Dragons from the South against Major Drake Alexander Wallis III and the Vanguard of Justice from the North.
This DVD features episodes 7, 9, 10, 11 and 12. Yes, that means episodes 6 and 8 are missing from this DVD. In the filmmakers' commentary track Audu Paden explains that 26 of the 40 episodes were sold to UPN for syndication and this has caused them to leave those episodes off the DVD. Who knows what this means for future DVD releases. When I watched this DVD I had no idea I missed episodes, unlike with the "Roughnecks: The Starship Trooper Chronicles" where it was very obvious something was missing.
Video
Presented in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen, you may be seeing more on this DVD than you saw if you watched the show on TV. When the show initially aired on Fox it was presented in 1.33:1, but has since aired on UPN in the letterboxed format. Colors and nice and bright and blacks are nice and black. A 3D show provides better material for DVD release since there won't be film grain, video noise or dust specs. The only problem this release suffers from is moire patterns in the textures (usually background ground, or rocks). Audio
Ahh...now THIS is how the show should sound! The rear speaker errors from the first volume aren't present here, and it provides for a much nicer listening experience. Nice ambient sound effects and directional effects can now be heard and it draws you into the Heavy Gear world a bit more. The bass from the sub is excellent...my apartment was shaking when explosions went off (no noise violations just yet). Extras - How we rate extras
Filmmaker's Commentary
Audu Paden has to be one of the best commentary hosts ever. He takes full control of the commentary and makes sure it stays on track. He knows what questions to ask whom, and prods them for more information if they don't provide enough. Audu's commentary tracks are so smooth I'd swear they are rehearsed.
Technical Commentary
Listen to the Mainframe people talk about their work on the show. Audu shines again.
Conceptual Art Galleries
Drawings in the following categories:
Southern Characters - 18
Weapons - 18
Southern Gears - 20
Props - 11
Exteriors - 10
Cockpit - 10
Interiors - 10
Trailers
Columbia TriStar has provided 3 trailers for other releases on this disc. Cowboy Bebop (0:40), Osamu Tezuka's Metropolis (1:39) and Roughnecks: The Starship Troopers Chronicles (1:36). Summary
I'm glad this disc didn't suffer the audio problems found on the first one. It's a little annoying that episodes 6 and 8 were left off the disc, but at least there's some kind of explanation (unlike Roughnecks). I have a bad feeling we'll see more missing episodes in the future discs, but one can always hope that they will remain intact. |
