THE MOVIE

Basil Brush was a popular children’s television series created by Peter Firmin and broadcast in the late 1960’s. Well the show has been resurrected and given a bit of a makeover, although Basil’s jokes are still pretty bad. This series also stars three recurring characters, Stephen (Christopher Pizzey), Molly (Georgina Leonidas) and Dave (Michael Hayes). Basil Brush - Unleashed features three episodes from the television series. Each episode runs for approximately 25 minutes. Here’s a brief summary of each episode.

The Date
Stephen spots a lovely looking young girl called Amanda in the local café, but Basil is cramping his style. She just happens to be staying with her aunt who is rather gruff but Basil charms her with his wicked sense of humour. Amanda asks if Stephen would like to have dinner with her, only problem is that she brings her aunt along so it turns out to be the date from hell for poor Basil.

Mouse
A rodent has moved in and both Dave and Molly are trying to catch it. Stephen doesn’t seem too interested until he mistakenly eats mouse dropping, assuming they’re currents. Enough is enough, Basil declares war. However, catching the rodent could prove harder than they anticipated, especially considering they’re all somewhat clumsy. Why not just use a mouse trap or buy a cat…

Fakes Progress
Stephen has once again spotted a gorgeous girl at the local café, but he can’t seem to win a trick. Then a gypsy moves in next door, and offers to tell his fortune. However, she actually puts a curse on him and makes him look like an extra out of Saturday Night Fever. Soon life gets very complicated for him indeed.

THE TRANSFER

Video:

Basil Brush - Unleashed is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 full frame. The transfer is great, with an excellent level of detail. All of the material shot on set looks good, although there is a small amount of background noise to be observed when the set lights are dimmed during the second episode and again during the bluish gypsy scene in the third episode. The animations and the scene transitions also look really good. One thing is for sure, this series is incredibly colourful, Basil’s clothes, the sets, the animations, it’s all amazingly rich and vibrant.

Audio:

This DVD comes with an English Dolby Digital 2.0 channel soundtrack, which is really quite good. Dialogue and narration are clearly audible throughout all three episodes and the sound effects are also nice and clear even if they are somewhat cliché and over the top at times. Unfortunately this DVD doesn’t have any subtitles.

THE EXTRAS

Basil’s Joke Book
Here you will find approximately 8 minutes of Basil’s dreadful jokes. It is cut together with excerpts from a number of different episodes from the Basil Brush series. This montage of jokes is presented in 1.33:1 full frame with Dolby Digital 2.0 channel sound.

Basil’s Bloopers
This extra feature is similar to above, but this time it is a montage of outtakes from the series. Bear in mind that many of these outtakes come from episodes that aren’t actually on this DVD. Running time is 4.15 minutes. All outtakes are presented in 1.33:1 full frame with Dolby Digital 2.0 channel sound.

Basil’s Pin Board
There are a few different elements to be found here. You can view little snippets involving the key characters in the series including Stephen, Molly, Basil Brush, Dave and Anil. There are also some textual notes about the characters listing their occupation, what they do and don’t like, etc. There is also an option to view and print (assuming you have a DVD-ROM drive) a number of pictures of the main characters in the series.

The Jelly Baby Game
This is a relatively simple game. There are three animated cups, watch them move and pick which one is hiding the jelly baby to win. Unlike a real game I don’t think there is any chance to win legitimately as the cups move incredibly fast. You can always have a guess though.

Music Videos
There are two video clips on this DVD, one is Basil’s debut single ‘Boom Boom’, it runs for 1.02 minutes, the other is called ‘Bounce’ and it runs for 1.12 minutes. Both video clips are presented in 1.33:1 full frame with Dolby Digital 2.0 channel sound.

SUMMARY

Basil Brush - Unleashed is a rather silly but sometimes mildly amusing children’s DVD. The funniest fox on the box has been resurrected and given a bit of a makeover, although his jokes are still pretty bad. The DVD has an excellent visual transfer and a satisfactory audio transfer, the DVD also comes with Basil’s bonus bits (outtakes, jokes and a boomtastic song).