Synopsis
If you have any interest in this series, then a synopsis is surely unnecessary. I can’t imaginenew fans flocking in droves to this soggy material. Punky Brewster (Soleil Moon Frye) is thespunky former street urchin who is now the ward of lovable curmudgeon Henry (GeorgeGaynes). We follow Punky to school and elsewhere, and see her learn all sorts of life lessonsthrough what passes for humour. This is total pap, and a reminder of just how depressingly badthe sitcom form can b….
Audio
The 2.0 sound is clear but unexceptional. Not that there would be much surround anywayin sitcom, but there are only faint traces of anything at all coming from the rear speakers, vaguelyaudible during the opening credits, which points to this in fact being a slightly screwed up mono.What’s with the audio bleed? There is also some unfortunate wraparound dialogue.
Video
The boxed set of the first season looked wretched, and this is no improvement. The coloursare acceptable, but the image is soft. Most distracting is a truly hellish shimmer that afflictsvirtually any straight edge in the frame. The overall picture quality is of a level you might expectfrom Madacy.
Special Features
You have three hours of the cartoon series, and it doesn’t look much better than the live-action version (grainy, soft, and the animation is crap to start with). The interview with GeorgeGaynes runs barely 11 minutes, and he seems pretty eager to remind us that he did work otherthan this. The menu’s intro is animated and scored, while the main screen is scored.
Closing Thoughts
Bad series, middling sound, awful picture. But someone out there will snap this up.
Special Features List
- Punky Brewster Cartoons
- Geroge Gaynes Interview
