3-2-1 Penguins: Trouble On Planet Wait-Your-Turn
Warner Home Video
Cast:
Extras: Concept Art, Drawing Guides, Karaoke, Trailers
Rating:
Too often children’s programming is being released to DVD in a quality that is sub-par with feature film releases – fact that is inexcusable, especially considering that most of those releases are typically much shorter in length. Warner Home Video and Big Ideas have fortunately taken heart and present ’3-2-1 Penguins: Trouble On Planet Wait-Your-Turn’ in a presentation that doesn’t need to hide behind its animated feature films.
The episode ’Trouble On Planet Wait-Your-Turn’ is a nice opener that introduces us to the world of the Penguins with their mission to teach children rights and wrongs. The episode – like the entire series – is fully computer animated and very entertaining. The writing is fun and cleverly states a point and uses the remainder of the episode to drive home that point without being moralistic in any way. It is always highly entertaining and funny.
The DVD contains a fullscreen transfer of the episode that is clear and free of blemishes. Some banding is evident in the image but I presume it is actually part of the original renderings rather than a problem caused by the transfer. Colors are very powerful and rich, creating a rich film that is very pleasing to the eye.
The audio on the disc comes as a 5.1 channel Dolby Digital mix. It is engaging and surprisingly active. The frequency response is well-balanced and the track shows good dynamic range throughout.
The DVD contains a number of features that are directly targeted at younger viewers. Drawing courses, Karaoke, Bios, concept art and other extras make this a very well-rounded DVD that comes highly recommended if you want to get away from your traditional Disney/Nickelodeon fare for a change.