Monsuno: Combat Chaos

First Monsuno We've Ever Seen
Honestly we have never seen Monsuno before but that didn't stop my 5 year old son from enjoying it. He liked that the main characters were kids and that there were monsters. We didn't think it was that scary, but obviously you'll want to screen it before hand if you are worried. The show is pretty basic, good guys versus bad monsters. It is good for a boy looking for a boy-show since so many seem geared towards girls. The animation was decent and my boys really enjoy the characters. We have watched this more than I would have liked but it does promote friendship, teamwork and decision making, well as much as an animated show like this can!

I received this DVD to review in exchange for sharing my honest opinion.





Click to Editorial Reviews

Sapphire & Steel: The Complete Series

More than a mere 'precursor of the X-Files'!
Nice to see this show finally get released by mainstream channels. (current fans will have found the set elsewhere...)

If you're a fan of The X-Files, you'll LOVE Sapphire And Steel. Especially if you prefer intellectual horror above quantitive gore, guts, and circus acts. Made between 1978 and 1982, this low-budget BBC series used inventive plotlines, a strong atmosphere, and strongly written and acted characters to sell it self. And it packs a whollop. Indeed, some of the stories are so complex that they could be benefitted from a second viewing. (pity VCRs didn't exist when this show was first aired!)

I personally recommend Story 2 ("The Railway Station") for first viewing. It's got the series' premise down pat and despite a lengthy 8 episodes, remains taut and gripping all the way through so the padding to fill out the timeslot isn't noticed. The story puts a new dimension on ghosts and their influence, and episode 8 has some excellent make-up and a...

Welcome back Sapphire and Steel, on DVD at long last!
This was a real attempt at intelligent sci-fi and though I loved it I knew it would never be a hit in the way that the X-Files was, simply because it was far too intelligent for your average sci-fi watcher.

I was amazing it lasted as long as did.

I am really glad the whole series is on DVD as the VHS versions are real clunkers in that each adventure is on two tapes, so you end up with a HUGE collection of video tapes if you wanted the whole series.

I think Joanna Lumley and David McCallum are great as Sapphire and Steel, two beings sent to sort out rips and problems in time that could devastate the universe if left unchecked.

My favourite adventure was the railway station, it was very atmospheric but all of the adventures had their own merits and I loved the quirky way that Lumley and McCallum bounced off each other, one wry, the other droll, both human but not human.

Many people think this series has dated badly but I actually...

British Cult Sci-fi at its best
I was very happy to learn that Sapphire and Steel was FINALLY coming out on DVD. Once I got the set and watched the series, I was not disappointed. The show has an eerie, claustrophobic feel that makes it unlike many other shows out there. One can forgive the limited sets and average quality video effects because the stories are so entertaining and original (A creature that exists in photographs, a darkness that lives off of the bitterness of the dead, time itself being a destructive force, etc.).

While the show itself is excellent the DVD's themselves don't live up to their potential. The extras are rather thin (although the introduction voice-overs by P.J. Hammond and Shaun O'Riordan at the beginning of each assignment are very insightful). The other problem is that the episodes were not transferred from PAL to NTSC (the U.S. video encoding standand) properly so the video images have a slightly jerky film-like motion to them. (Episode 5 of Assignment 5 is the only episode...

Click to Editorial Reviews