Why So Blu?

BraveStarr – The Complete Series (DVD Review)

The 80’s and early 90’s was the platinum time for cartoons. With Saturday mornings jam-packed on several networks schedule list, no Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon blowing up after a Canadian TV series called You Can’t Do That On Television. The 80’s definitely had to have bee the prime decade for cartoons. Waking up early to start my weekend to marathon every cartoon became very routine for me. I would sit in one room watching toon after toon while the VCR was taping more content for me in another room. Now BraveStarr I caught a few times when it originally aired in 1987, I wasn’t a huge fan of it, but remember it being quite watchable. 

 

The Series 

It’s the 23^rd century on a planet called New Texas, which resembles the earth’s American Wild West. The planet is populated by Prairie People who resemble prairie dogs. Kerium is a rare powerful crystal located on the planet which must be protected by Marshall Brave Starr (Pat Fraley). Marshall is a galactic Marshall stationed on New Texas. Brave Starr has special abilities which assist him with villains like Tex Hex (Charlie Adler) and Outlaw Scuzz (Alan Oppenheimer). When in need, during battles with these vicious antagonist, Brave Starr has special spirit animal powers like, Eyes of the Hawk, Ears of the Wolf, Strength of the Bear and Speed of the Puma. Not only does Brave Starr have to protect the Kerium during the 65 episode series. Brave Starr must fight off the Solacow which are large cattle creature in New Texas.

BraveStarr really has a retro feel and vibe to it. I know fans will be thrilled to have the whole series on a complete set. Complete means one purchase to have the entire series in full not having to buy multiple sets. Old school fans will still find Brave Starr humorous and somewhat futuristic. Majority of the episodes conclude with an average living moral lesson especially the famous episode called ‘The Price’. I’m not quite sure how newcomers will take the series with the graphics not being up to par of today’s modern cartoon series. I’m not even sure how today’s generation is toward the Wild Wild West. The villains allow the series to have a change of pace. Although the outcome is always predictable, it’s still good to have different scenery besides viewing the good guys.

My main complaint would be the majority of the episodes become repetitive. Several episodes have different backgrounds, heck they even have a different villain but the series seems to have the same pattern that repeats itself. The episode storylines remind me of Pushing Daisies with so much repeating all the time. By the time I got to episode 25 I began to have a hard time finishing the complete series. The multiple villains and the Solacow helped me the further I got into the season as the good guys just flat out got boring.

Now I know my review appears negative but the series is quite watchable. I just don’t recommend trying to marathon the series like I did. Older generations will appreciate the creativity and shout outs to the old west. It also will take them back to memory lane and want to pickup other series like He-Man and She-Ra. BraveStarr isn’t on the level of the original series but does have some resemblance to it.

Video 

Presented in 480p (upscaled on my Samsung Blu-ray Player) and framed at 1.33:1. BraveStarr has a vintage 80’s look. There are instances where colors don’t match characters appropriately or there outfits. Kind of reminds me of Transformers: Generation 1 when Starscream and Thundercracker have the same colors on. The creativity of certain animals and characters still stand as original. Detail on BraveStarr is pretty sharp especially for a 1987 series. Not quite sure how this will look on Blu-ray but I’m sure it will be much improved. Out of all 65 episodes they all seem identical with consistency and never downgrading.

Audio 

Dialogue is crisp, clean and clear. There’s plenty of action for an old series with lots of pop. Explosions, gun shots clearly make the audio fun to listen to even for an 80’s show. Voice talent Charlie Adler is included as well Ethan Wright and Pat Fraley which most will recognize and remember from Disney’s Talespin.  Musical score give the 65 episodes a nice treat never allowing dialogue to bore and setting the right tone for certain scenes. Even though I’m not a fan of the show’s theme song, it is a bit catchy.

Special Features  

The pickings are slim.

• Feature-Length audio commentary track for episode ‘Eye of the Beholder’

• Spotlight interviews with Producer and Filmation creator Lou Scheimer, Voice actor Pat Fraley, and Directors Tom Tataranowicz and Tom Sito.

Final Thoughts 

Personally, I think BraveStarr is for the old school. If you’re a fan of the series then the 65 Episode Complete Series is the way to go. At such an affordable price this is a no brainer for fans and for those that are curious. The series come in a thick case with all 7 DVD’s in a paper sleeve and a nice booklet with the storyline of all episodes. Not many features but for the price this isn’t a bad buy at all.

 

 

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