Warner Home Video presents

Real Wheels Rescue Adventures: Mega Truck Adventures (1994-5)

"If you're going to visit a construction site, always wear your hard hat!"- Construction Foreman Dave (Dave Hood)

Stars: Dave Hood, Becky Borg
Director: Dave Hesson, Dave Hood

MPAA Rating: Not RatedRun Time: 01h:27m:02s
Release Date: 2003-09-16
Genre: television

Style Grade	Substance Grade	Image Transfer Grade	Audio Transfer Grade	Extras Grade
B-	B-	C+	C	C+

 

DVD Review

The members of the target audience for this disc are years away from getting their learners' permits, so as they wait for the calendar to take care of business, here are three opportunities for them to check out some very, very large pieces of machinery.

Lots and lots of cool machines are on display in the title story. Our man Dave is doing duty as Construction Foreman Dave, but there's so much stuff here that there's little time for Dave's antics—no great loss, but the real stars here are the bulldozers, huge drills, and backhoes, the great big machines that tear down buildings and help to put up new ones. There's a decidedly if unintentional Southern California feel to the proceedings, too. We see one shopping mall being razed, because in its place is being built another shopping mall. Dave also spends a good bit of time talking about making sure that newly constructed buildings fare well during a possible future earthquake, not necessarily a consideration in all portions of the country. And future Peter Eisenmans will take note, too, because Dave and his film crew visit the site of the Getty Center, during its construction, just off of the 405 in west Los Angeles.

Couldn't score a ticket to the big tractor pull? A look at the second episode, There Goes a Monster Truck, will make a handsome substitute. Becky is back—Dave teams up with his sometime partner, as they learn about the wacky world of monster trucks. They meet a series of drivers with names and profiles worthy of the WWF—these include Bigfoot and Big Dummy—but a funny thing happens on the way to the monster truck meet: Dave and Becky lose the truck entrusted to their care. Oops! And if big trucks weren't enough, the kids get introduced to the crew preparing the indoor arena for the event—yes, children, these are professional mud makers. Those mud pies obviously took these guys to the big time.

The future Donald Rumsfelds out there can get a head start on their wish lists with the final entry here, There Goes a Tank—it features Dave with tanks, of course, and all kinds of other tricked out military vehicles. Occasional reference is made to such archaic terms as "Vietnam" and "the 1980s," but little mention is given to the mission statement of those who use these things, and those who give the orders to do so. Just what are those big guns on the tank for, Daddy? Dave doesn't much care, as long as he gets to play with the gear. (Sadly, these days, he's not alone in this.)

All in all, some information, lots of big machines, and more eco-friendly than sitting in traffic.

Rating for Style: B-
Rating for Substance: B-

 

Image Transfer

	One
Aspect Ratio	1.33:1 - Full Frame
Original Aspect Ratio	yes
Anamorphic	no

Image Transfer Review: There's a contrasty, video look to all of this, and the colors can get sort of runny, but nothing too egregious, really.

Image Transfer Grade: C+
 

Audio Transfer

	Language	Remote Access
DS 2.0	English	no

Audio Transfer Review: The monster trucks are especially loud, and you can hear them max out the limited audio equipment on hand for the shoot. But Dave is always clear as a bell.

Audio Transfer Grade: C 

Disc Extras

Static menu with music
Scene Access with 3 cues and remote access
1 TV Spots/Teasers
1 Featurette(s)
Packaging: Snapper
Picture Disc
1 Disc
1-Sided disc(s)
Layers: single

Extra Extras:

1. two sing-alongs
2. interactive glossaries
3. game

Extras Review: Bloopers With Dave (08m:13s) is self-explanatory; also, two industrial strength sing-along songs are here, so warm up the pipes for those chart-toppers Heavy Equipment and Mighty Bulldozer. We Make It Go Boom! features Dave narrating a reasonably interactive little game, and What's That? is a video glossary, offering clips from the features defining all the aspects of monster trucks you might care to know. The Video Preview is for previous VHS releases of some of these same episodes.

Extras Grade: C+
 

Final Comments

You've got to love the gear to love this disc; fortunately, its biggest fans are at least a good decade away from asking to borrow the keys to the car.

Jon Danziger 2003-10-29