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Gummi Bears DVD Volume One Review
Reviewed: 08/26/2007
Age Has Not Been As Kind To This Series....But it's still fun to watch!
Time for another DVD review from your friendly neighborhood rant man himself. This time around it's the first volume of Disney's Adventures of The Gummi Bears that will be under the microscope as a DVD set rather than the television episodes themselves. This series does have the quality to compete with the TaleSpin Volume One DVD; but since the show is about five years older than TaleSpin; did that mess up the quality of the video itself? Let's find out shall we....
The DVD Box
Like the previous two DVD sets that I have reviewed; Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears (which is the official name of this series in case you didn't know) comes in a sleeve box of cardboard which is not very durable and looks pretty cheap for the most part. The front has a white background with the show and Disney logo on the top; Grammi, Zummi, Cubbi, Tummi, Gruffi, and Sunni in the middle which is one of the few original artwork to not come from television since Disney did not release a VHS version of the series. The Cubbi/Tummi stance looks similar to Kit and Baloo in the original artwork of TaleSpin (before the final character designs were issued; Kit looked like a 1930's era Cubbi I should note) and even Gruffi cannot go one moment without doing his annoying pose. The females are on the edges which shows that they still aren't central to Disney Television Animation. The bottom contains the volume number, number of discs and number of season (one, three and one to three if you were counting along) and the Disney DVD logo on the bottom right side. It's simple and to the point which I like; but the show's logo is a little too close to the original artwork and it looks a bit sloppy. Good idea; not so good execution. The side contains the Disney logo and name of series straightened out and centered against a woody background (nice touch).
There is a smaller version of the volume number, number of discs and number of seasons just below the sideways name. It should have been lowered a bit as well. There is a serial number on the very bottom which is completely pointless to me so let's move on. The back side is mostly a white background with some blue sky airbrushed into the top half. On the upper left is a picture of Castle Dunwyn in the background which the top of it is covered in a sign which explains the number of discs, number of episodes (47 episodes) and the number of seasons in the usual silly advertising that Disney is known for. There is a wooden like scroll on the middle right that deals with the summary of the show and has the usual stuff to make people want to buy the DVD in Disney's own mind. The technical specs are on the bottom of the scroll and it's the same information as before along with the same symbols and legal information on the bottom as the previous Disney DVD's. Note that the G rating only applies to Ontario Canada only as the video is unrated elsewhere in North America. There is the usual ISBN/UPC codes along with cut away proof of purchase on the upper right side. On the middle left there are two boxes which is the part that I really don't like here. They are still pictures from the actual television series (the top one is from Secret of The Juice and the bottom one is from Zummi Makes It Hot). Both pictures have the colors looked really washed out and nothing like the television series that I was ranting on a month or so ago. There is one more original piece of artwork (there are like only three original pieces in the entire volume set) which shows Grammi and Gruffi posing. Grammi looks fine but Gruffi skin is much darker than usual and his green hat looks a lot lighter in color than usual. It might be a continuity error from the original television artwork; but it looks rather odd.
My Rating on the DVD Box: *** 3/4- It's nice and clean; but the washed out television still make this look like a 1970 series than something from 1985. The original artwork could have been placed a bit better too.
Disc One:
Disney still insists that the diamond shaped buttons are good enough for their plastic case DVD sleeves. I disagree with that since the buttons break easily. Unlike the previous two series that I have ranted on; Gummi Bears uses a lot of 11 minute episodes and therefore there are more episodes on each disc as a result. The first disc contains 16 episodes and 220 minutes worth of content. The front contains a super imposed Gruffi Gummi in his annoying pose which looks left of center. The disc is the same I should note.( but it has reflective substance on it for some odd reason) The side is pretty much the same as the box sleeve except smaller and more to the left with one solo disc number and Gruffi's picture below it. One the back it is the summary (on the same white background) and the slogan on the top (the slogan is on a chained wooden board). The extended scroll is in the middle and contains the 16 episodes and tech specs. The legal information and symbols are on the bottom of course. Again; the top television still has it's colors washed out which makes the episodes look like they came from 1970 rather than 1985. It's from either Zummi Makes It Hot; or A-Hunting We Will Go (It's hard to keep the shorts proper). There is also a recycled Sunni Gummi from the original artwork to the left of the still picture of Duke Igthorn playing with yarn. The disc contains the usual information but not much else.
Artwork Error #1: The television still showing Duke Igthorn playing with yarn in his fingers comes from the episode Just A Tad Smarter which is not on this disc. It is on disc three of this set. Although this still has much better color tone this time
Episode Rants For Disc One:
A New Beginning Rant- Well you got to start somewhere..DUH!!
The Sinster Sculptor/Zummi Makes It Hot Rant- Doing Double Duty is Not Hot Zummi!
Someday My Prints Will Come/Can I Keep Him? Rant- Can I keep him? No! Can I keep him? No! Can I keep him? No! Can I keep him? No! Can I keep him? WILL YOU SHUT UP AND QUIT BUGGING ME!!
Gummi In A Glided Cage Rant- Gummiberry....Gummiberry Juice...
The Oracle/When You Wish Upon A Stone Rant- Tummi becomes the ULTIMATE FAT JOKE on Lorenzo Music.
A Gummi By Any Other Name Rant- I knew changing names was SO EVIL!
Loopy Go Home/A-Hunting We Will Go Rant- Can I Keep Him? NO! Can I Keep Him? WILL YOU SHUT UP AND QUIT BUGGING ME! Part Two!
The Fence Sitter/Night of The Gargoyle Rant- Cubbi sits on the fence for the win!
Secret of The Juice Rant- The spot that they would recycle a million times.
Sweet & Sour Gruffi/Duel of The Wizard Rant- Nowadays that kindness spell would be called a mental illness.
My Thoughts: Now for the episodes themselves. I believe that they are played in air time order; but that's really hard to tell since there are some shorts that don't have a proper air date order due to the fact that NBC ran episodes as well. On a few points about the insides of the DVD's: The opening menu uses the Gummi Bears theme; but the inside menus use some Middle Ages music. I've never seen that in the previous two DVD set releases. The artwork in the menu looks really weird at times and it's like it was traced and then colored when it was in final production. Not exactly a great thing to say. And of course; the annoying stance of one chapter per episode is used here as well. Although with 11 minute shorts; it's only half as bad. Still; the laziness of Disney is clear here. The video quality as a whole was actually better than I expected (SD television fan here) despite some washing out of colors. However; The Fence Sitter episode contained some really choppy moments during the beginning where Cubbi Gummi enters the dining room trying to explain that the bird has returned. It was clear that it was the fault of the master tapes; rather than the DVD itself.
The quality of the episodes themselves were a mixed blessing. On the one hand most of the episodes were pretty good and some were excellent to watch. The pilot episode was a middling episode with several errors (including the ignoring of the one vial of Gummi Berry Juice per day rule on humans); but it got the job done in making me want more of this series. I loved Gummi In A Glided Cage, Can I Keep Him, A Gummi By Any Other Name, Loopy Go Home, The Fence Sitter and Secret of The Juice the most. There were a few stinkers in this disc set: A-Hunting We Will Go was a mess as the writers were tackling the stereotypes issues and it fell flat as the message was contradicting to what they were shooting for. Zummi Makes It Hot was just dull despite the character development of Zummi being good for the most part. The others are fair to good and they are episodes you could talk about at the supper table and not feel ashamed afterward. However; the real treat of watching the first disc episodes is how the writers were learning how to make a full series as the act lengths were all over the place and the action was a bit muffled in some places ( since the writers were still learning the fine art of suspense at this point.). Also; a lot of the episode would become templates for future DTVA episodes which made it a treat to watch since they were the original. Sadly; most of these template would be made better in other DTVA shows; but that's life.
My Rating for Disc One: **** - Much better than the Darkwing Duck DVD set in spite of the washed out colors and suspect tape quality at times. The episode quality really showed more on how much Darkwing Duck fell as a series then the effort showed in this disc set.
Disc Two
This disc uses Zummi left of center on the front and a sliding Zummi (which looks great I do admit) on the back below the scroll which kills the continuity that they were going for right there. Tummi should be there instead. The television stills in this one still look washed out; but not nearly as bad as the first disc. I don't see any artwork errors here which is a huge bonus.
Disc 2 Episode Rants
What You See Is Me/Toadie's Wild Ride Rant- What a wild ride of emotion for Toadie.
Bubble Trouble/Gummi In A Strange Land Rant- KABOOM BUBBLES! HAHA!
Light Makes Right Rant- Failed Attempt To Summon Great Gummi's Number One.
Up, Up & Away Rant- Chummi was a real _chum_ after all.
Faster Than A Speeding Tummi/For A Few Sovereigns More Rant- Speed and Cool Bounty Hunters Kill!
Over The River & Through The Trolls/You Snooze; You Lose Rant- ...To Gummi Glenn we go! I am sleepy...I am husky...riding through the Lazybones!
The Crimson Avenger Rant- Cubbi Gummi Rules Over All Of You. Deal With It!
A Hard Dazed Knight/Do Unto Ogres Rant- Toadie's Wild Ride Round Two!
For Whom The Spell Holds Rant- Wizards and Warlocks are SO Satanic!!
Little Bears Lost/Guess Who's Gumming To Dinner Rant- The first shrinking episode in DTVA and the Gummi's screw Sunni?! GET ALL THIS!!
My Thoughts: Again; a lot of shorts and several full episodes dot Disc 2 of this set. However; unlike the Darkwing Duck DVD; several of these episodes were important. Light Makes Right was a landmark episode because without it; the Gummi Bears series would have been over at 21 episodes rather than the 84 episodes that the series ultimately ended up with. Up Up & Away was really the first true attempt for Cubbi to become a knight and he did (in typical fashion of beating up Duke Igthorn) despite nearly killing his friendship with Cavin in the process. It was also the debut of Gadd and Zook as ogre characters. I loved For a Few Sovereigns More for it's cynical Vs. innocence plot line and a monster heel named Flint. The Crimson Avenger was an awesome one to because it began Cubbi's gimmick of dressing up like Zorro and fighting crime like Darkwing Duck. Cubbi somehow is better than Darkwing Duck except for the full of himself kind of heat. Do Unto Ogres was great as I got to see my favorite sidekick heel basically torment Sunni and of course it wouldn't be an ultimate Sunni episode without Guess Who's Gumming To Dinner as Sunni's jack off attitude to follow the letter of the law on Gummi traditions (which is ironic considering how little respect she has for said traditions in the first place) and the Gummi Bears get back at her without making them look like jerks themselves. And Calla got to pour Gummi Berry Sherbert on Sunni's head in the end which made it even more worth while. The other episodes were good; except for You Snooze, You Lose which had Princess Calla basically squash Duke Igthorn long before the sleep spell was over. This would have worked better as a full episode rather than short..and Little Bears Lost was a dull shrinking episode despite once again having some character development on Grammi and Zummi's childhood days. It seems Zummi got the character development; but also the dull episodes to go along with them.
My Rating On Disc Two: **** 1/2 - Only one thumbs down episode and only a few washed out television stills make this disc virtually mistake free. This is actually better than TaleSpin Volume One, Disc Two I should note.
Disc Three
Disc 3 is similar to most of the discs on this volume in style. Cubbi Gummi in his sweet victory pose left of the center on the front of the disc sleeve (and disc itself). Grammi is the recycled Gummi Bear on the back and the usual style is present in the past two discs. The colors in the television stills still look washed out here.
Artwork Error #2: The top television still is from Secret of The Juice which is on Disc One and not on Disc Three.
Artwork Error #3: The bottom television still is from an episode that is not present on this set. I suspect it is from an episode in Season four onward.
Disc 3 Episode Rants
My Gummi Lies Over The Ocean Rant- Gusto gusts into my heart and ends Season Two!
Too Many Cooks/Just A Tad Smarter Rant- Rest In Peace Dukie...Sleep well!
If I Were You/Eye of The Beholder Rant- The First Body Switching Episode in DTVA! RECYCLING ROCKS BABEE!!
Presto Gummo/A Tree Grows In Dunwyn Rant- Wow! Trolls Really Do Grow On Trees!
Day of the Beevilweevils/Water Way To Go Rant- Water Way To Recycle Title Names?!
Close Encounters of the Gummi Kind/Snows Your Old Man Rant- Gusto Is Such A Gas! HA HA!
Boggling The Bears/Knights of Gummadoon Rant- Cavin's only appearance in Season 3 is SO EPIC!!
Mirthy Me/Gummi Dearest Rant- Talk about a lack of humor here!
My Thoughts: Disc Three contains only 200 minutes of content instead of the usual 220 minutes mainly due to the fact that there are only three full episodes in this set. The three full episodes were awesome however as the writers introduced Gusto to the world in My Gummi Lies Over The Ocean. Gusto wasted no time when he was on the show being as vain as humanly possible like in this one and in the middling episode of Water Way To Go and the awesome short Close Encounters of the Gummi Kind. Day of Beevilweevils was also very good with the Tummi/Gusto relationship and the plot line that even the Gummi Bears can be seen as heels to some. All it needed was some sad dramatic music and that episode would have been perfect. Cavin's only appearance on Disc 3 (and in Season three and basically half of Season 2 to boot) in Knights of Gummadoon was a perfect blend of how much the ancient Gummi's hate humans and advancing the storyline between them and the humans. Sir Cubbi got to be a Gummi Knight for a day and a traitor all in the same episode. Duke Igthorn actually looked good for a while in this one after the diaster of an episode Just A Tad Smarter where the writers basically buried Duke Igthorn into a second rate villain. That was the only thumbs down episode from me. The remaining episodes were basically middling for the most part; except for Snows Your Old Man which would have been perfect if they didn't give away so many cues as to whom the real Chillbeard really was. Mirthy Me could have been the second thumbs down on the set without the great finish I should note as well.
My Rating For Disc Three: **** - Some artwork errors; the usual washing out colors of television stills and the middling nature of the shorts in this one prevent this disc from perfection.
Extras
It is exactly like the TaleSpin & Darkwing Duck DVD set. There are no extras present so therefore no rating.
Set Up
Like in previous DVD sets; there is an option for French audio and English subtitles. Again; I find it odd that Disney DVD sets contain French audio; but not Spanish audio which would be the second dialogue in the United States. Also; the English subtitles are a mess as usual for the crack Disney Captions team which had words missing, misspelled words and in one instance using a 1 instead of a !. The subtitle work is really sloppy; but not as big of a joke as the first volume of the Darkwing Duck DVD set. The sneak peak option on Disc one contains ads of course so there are really no changes that you didn't know from previous sets.
My Rating for Set Up: *** 1/2- The weakest part of the set bar none. Disney has to put a better effort (better font size perhaps?) in their captions because they are a joke for the most part.
My Rating for the Entire DVD Set: **** (80%)
The Review Line:
This is my third DVD review of a DVD box set and this was somewhere in between Darkwing Duck Volume 1 and TaleSpin Volume 1. The biggest problems with this set are basically the same problems as the other sets: lack of extras, bad caption quality, some bad video tape quality in some places and the one episode=one chapter rule Disney loves to use. There was only one real difference between this and TaleSpin and that was the little introduction Tummi gave in A New Beginning for the NBC viewers on Disc one. Otherwise; the episode quality was in line with most early DTVA productions during the 1980's. Still; since Gummi Bears isn't available on VHS; Gummi Bear fans should pick this one up in spite of the flaws since the show itself is still pretty good and it ultimately shows how a little team of former music producers and wayward animation producers can make television animation look really good and expose Hanna Barbera and Ruby Spears (and to a lesser extent even Marvel and Filmation for that matter) for the hacks that they are. Here's hoping that Volume 2 will be as good since the quality is going to take a dip from here on.
I give this DVD a thumbs up; and I'll see you next time.