Posted by tonester on 11th November 2002 03:57 PM:

Russell Coight’s All Aussie Adventures – Series 1 and 2
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“No animal was intentionally hurt more than once in the making of this program”

Taking the mickey from the last 30 years of Australian outback travel shows, Russell Coight (Glen Robbins) cuts a swathe through the Australian bush as he slips, falls, hits his head and cops some hits in the nuts as everything he does goes horribly wrong. Everyone from The Leyland Brothers to The Bush Tucker Man to Steve Irwin gets a serve as Russell meets the usual collection of property owners, bushmen, and blokes in the pub, with the obligatory shoddy production values which gave those shows their charm.

It’s all slapstick, oxymorons, and running gags involving miserable attempts by Russell to rescue bogged cars. As far as the humour goes, I get the feeling that if you’ve seen one episode, you’ve seen them all, and pretty soon, you can see the gags coming from a mile off (especially as a number of the jokes are repeated throughout). Notwithstanding that fact, though, what keeps the series somewhat fresh is the different locations, and the “travelogue” value as the series makes its way through outback Australia.

Production company Big Crack, the makers of All Aussie Adventures, seems to be a subset or Working Dog (who also get a production credit), the company behind such television as "Frontline" and "The Panel", as well as movies like The Castle. Comedian Glenn Robbins is certainly the on camera face of the series, but fellow panel members such as Santo Cilauro (camera, additional material), Rob Sitch (additional material) and Tom Gleisner (writing, directing) also receive credits. These guys certainly are doing good things, and hats of to Network Ten for seemingly giving them a fairly free reign.

Despite the “one joke” feel, All Aussie Adventures has become one of the highest rating shows currently on Australian television, and its successful first season led to a second run following: both series are reproduced here in this 2 DVD set. A little annoyingly, the little “lead in” to the commercial breaks have been left in. Thankfully, the ads themselves have not. Here are the episodes:

Disc One, Series One

• 1 - “Red Centre 1” (22:12): Russell makes his way across the outback to see a friend in need of assistance with a cattle muster.
  
  2 - “Red Centre 2” (21:53): The journey started in episode 1 continues.
  
  3 - “Daintree” (22:01): Russell leaves his usual trail of carnage through this ancient rainforest.
  
  4 - “High Country 1” (22:39): Russell takes 3 city kids on an educational tour of the bush
  
  5 - “High Country 2” (22:42): The trip of a lifetime continues for the kids.
  
  6 - “Cooktown” (22:41): Russell is invited to a bush wedding, and takes in a little fishing.

Disc Two, Series Two

• 1 – “Muster” (22:11): see Episode 1 in series one. Sound familiar?
  
  2 – “Tourists 1” (23:17): This time it’s four overseas tourists rather than kids who join Russell on another educational trip.
  
  3 – “Tourists 2” (22:10): The fun continues.
  
  4 – “Explorer 1” (23:29): On the trail of the grave of explorer Oscar Forbes, Russell gets into some camel husbandry.
  
  5 – “Explorer 2” (23:01): Russell finds the grave, and leaves his own unique mark.
  
  6 – “Rare Roo” (23:14): Russell has an important mission: to repatriate a rare kangaroo into its native habitat.
  
  7 – “Rogue Croc” (23:04): Russell and his offsider are on one of their more dangerous missions.

Technical Specifications
Distributor: Roadshow Home Entertainment
Studio: Big Crack
Cinema Release: 2001, 2002
DVD Release: 2002
Video Format: 1 & 2: 1.33:1. Balance 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced
Audio Format(s): Dolby Digital 2.0
Classification: m15+


Video
The firs two episodes of Disc 1 are presented at 1.33:1, with the balance at 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced. Occasionally throughout the first episode there is something of a drop in the level of detail and sharpness, as well as a washing out of colour. This may be as a result of changing camera equipment from standard broadcast quality to handheld video cameras – at least that’s what it looks like. At these times a bit of grain creeps in as well.

Some of that handheld stuff in low light conditions produces the expected grain, as well as a little moire (on some flannelette shirts) and some very minor aliasing on some hard edges.

Very occasionally throughout the balance of the material, there is a touch of aliasing, but again, nothing too severe at all.

Despite the packaging, none of the programme appears in 2.35:1.


Soundtrack
There’s not alot that can be said about a Dolby Digital 2.0 track accompanying a TV series, other than to comment on the dialogue (which is very clear and easy to understand).

As for the rest of the sound, the theme music which gets a fair go throughout each episode is nicely represented, with a nice stereo image.

Otherwise, there wasn’t too much in terms of sound effects across the front, although I don’t think that it’s ever really required, and what we get is as good as it can be. The surrounds and subwoofer are of course absent.

I don’t know where the Dolby Digital 5.1 listed on the packaging appears, though.


Extras

Disc One
Russell’s Bonus Bits - 13:12) (1.33:1, Dolby Digital 2.0): Deleted scenes from various episodes in the series.

Russell on Good Morning Australia - (7:08) (1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced, Dolby Digital 2.0): Bert Newton interviews Russell in a sequence that is even funnier than the series itself. It’s beautifully presented, presumably taken from the Network 10 digital feed.

Russell Coight’s Favourite Phrases - (Dolby Digital 2.0) 5 audio grabs of Russells catch phrases (audio only).

Disc Two
Russell’s Bonus Bits - 14:30) (1.33:1, Dolby Digital 2.0): More of the same sort of deleted scenes, but for some reason, it appears that the 1.78:1 format of the original program has been squeezed into 1.33:1. A little disappointing on that score.

Time to Hit the Publicity Road - (5:17) (1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced, Dolby Digital 2.0): This is credited as “A Documentary by Meredith Coight” who, if you watch the end credits of each episode carefully, seems to be one very busy lady. It is a brief piece following Russell from his Good Morning Australia interview, to a network promo, and then finally to The Panel.

Exclusive Behind the Scenes Interview - (5:24) (1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced, Dolby Digital 2.0): An intimate portrait of Russell as he answers the questions that the fans want to know the answers to.

Photo Gallery - 17 very classy stills of Russell


And The Survey Says...
If you like Russell Coight, you’ll love taking him home on DVD. It’s nice to see that both series have been included in this release, rather than putting them on drip feed. Video and audio quality are very good, and the extras, although brief, are quite amusing. A good value package.


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Posted by DVD Plaza on 18th November 2002 12:05 PM:

Please note Roadshow have advised us the 2.35:1 aspect ratio and Dolby Digital soundtracks listed on the back cover of this DVD are, as per our review above, incorrect. The sleeve for this DVD has been corrected in time for the release of this title on Wednesday.