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Airwolf Season 1 Review |
Article by
Haakon Kjole  32 /
Published 25 May 2005, 02:55
Last updated 25 May 2005, 05:02
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Its finally here - the DVD we´ve been awaiting for years! The full set of episodes from the 1st season of Airwolf. So lets go right at it and find out if its up to standards, and if this is indeed a must have for every Airwolf fan.
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| DVD: Main menu Photo: Universal Studios |
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| DVD: Episode List menu Photo: Universal Studios |
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| DVD: Languages menu Photo: Universal Studios |
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| DVD: Episode Index menu Photo: Universal Studios |
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| DVD: Episode Summary menu Photo: Universal Studios |
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| DVD: Scenes menu Photo: Universal Studios |
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| AUDIO STREAM: And They Are Us - Region 1 audio stream Photo: airwolf.org |
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| AUDIO STREAM: And They Are Us - Region 2 audio stream Photo: airwolf.org |
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| REGION 1: 720x480 R1 frame Photo: Universal Studios |
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| REGION 2: 720x576 R2 frame Photo: Universal Studios |
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When looking at the set, the first thing that was noticeable on the packaging was the inclusion of 4th season promotional pictures on the back of the cover. This is quite annoying as these actors are not part of this season. The artwork on the packaging looks fresh and appealing though. I personally like the original red logo better than in this color, so I would have preferred a black/red/blue colorscheme.
Box contents:
The set consists of 2 double sided, dual layered discs inside two DVD cases with the same artwork on the front as the packaging. The back lists the episodes with a short summary. As the discs are double sided there is no artwork on them.
DVD Menu:
The Menu system for this set is simple, but easy to use. It contains a "play all" feature, and lists every episode with its original airdate and a short summary. There are 4 chapters available for each episode. There is no audio in the menus and no moving video - just plain stills. But the look & feel of these are fine. The scheme of the graphics is Airwolfs own computer-system with blueprints, radar-screens, aircraft-identification, the works. Viewers can choose between English, French, Spanish subtitles. The captions are good, and I could not see many mistakes. Most of what is said, word-for-word is on the screen.
Video quality:
Universal has made a high quality transfer to DVD, and the video looks nice. The episodes contain some dust here and there, but concidering the age of the show its as good as expected. Each episode includes the 30-sec opening teaser, and also the "File A56-7W" narration variations. The version of the pilot episode is the one-parter titled "Airwolf" - uncut. The Universal logo/theme after the end of every episode has been replaced with their new version before every episode.
Audio quality:
They have retained its original mono track and its of good quality.
Summary:
All in all a very good release for such an old show. The lack of extras is disapointing, but if you want to build an Airwolf collection on DVD this is the set you want! Hopefully we see a Season 2 release in the near future. And maybe a Region 2 release as well.
Comparison between DVD releases:
Airwolf Season One has been released on Region 1 only. It is unknown at this time if a Region 2 release will come available for fans overseas. The comparisons made here are between the "Airwolf Season One R1 release" (NBC Universal) and the "Airwolf Vol2 R2 release" (Universal Playback) of the episode "And They Are Us". R1 have a lower resolution than R2, at 720x480 pixels compared to 720x576 pixels. They also have different frames/second, so running time is different (approx 50 minutes for a R1 episode and 47 minutes for R2). What is noticeable is that this R1 transfer is loosing part of the bottom of every frame compared to R2, while it gains a little on the top of every frame. The audio is not as vibrant as on the R2 release which came in AC3.
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