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Warner Home Video presents

Atomic Betty: Volume 2 (2005)

"Faster, Sparky, faster!"- Betty (Tajja Isen)

Stars: Tajja Isen, Rick Miller, Bruce Hunter, Colin Fox, Len Carlson
Other Stars: Kristina Nicoll, Catherine Disher, Patrick McKenna
Director: various

MPAA Rating: Not Rated for (nothing objectionable)
Run Time: 01h:34m:57s
Release Date: 2005-10-18
Genre: animation

Style
Grade
Substance
Grade
Image Transfer
Grade
Audio Transfer
Grade
Extras
Grade
B+ B+A-B+ D+

 

DVD Review

After discovering the Cartoon Network's Atomic Betty show thanks to Warner Home Video's Volume 1 DVD, I was anxious to see the eight episodes that Volume 2 had to offer. For the uninitiated (heck, I feel like an Atomic Betty fanatic after getting through that first disc), the basic synopsis of the show is as follows: (Note that the next two paragraphs are identical to that of my other review because they are a synopsis of the series' general storyline).

Betty is seen by her friends and family as the nice, super-smart girl-next-door, but she is keeping a rather huge secret. Whenever a problem arises somewhere in the galaxy, she is called to action as "Atomic Betty, Galactic Guardian and Defender of the Cosmos." Fortunately for her, she has her own team of helpers, including Sparky, who takes the trait of hyper to the next level. Her other pal is X-5, a robot who knows everything there is to know about the universe. Sparky and X-5 don't always get along, but deep down they care for each other as much as they do for Betty.

Of course, Betty and her crew have an arch-villain that they constantly have to protect the universe from. This villain is the Supreme Overlord, Maximus I.Q., who, along with his assistant, Minimus P.U. (which stands for Portable Underling), is still trying to find out where Betty calls home, so he can destroy it. Amazingly, Betty has managed to hide the location of this "home base" and keep her family and the rest of Earth's inhabitants safe from Maximus.

The most impressive aspect of Atomic Betty is the incredibly high animation quality. Now that I've got the general storyline down, I spent most of my time with Volume 2 reveling in just how good the show looks. The episodes offer similar individual stories from the first batch (these shows are in no particular order as to how they originally aired), but the quality of these is slightly better on this disc.

There really isn't a bad episode this time around, but a couple stand out. Maximus Displeasure does the best job of capturing the Atomic Betty/earth-dwelling Betty dynamic, as our hero must stop Maximus from using a deadly biochemical mixture, and then go home and clean-up her Mom's garden. Cosmic Cake also hits heavily on this dynamic, when Betty gets called away from Penelope's birthday party to crash Maximus' birthday party to keep people from eating his cake which will turn them into his slave.

A couple of nice episodes with more of Sparky and X-5 than normal are here as well, including Crass Menagerie in which this dynamic duo are feeling ignored by Betty, but must suck it up and save her after she's kidnapped by Maximus. The tables are turned, to an extent, in Substitute. Sparky and X-5 are kidnapped this time, and replaced by impostors, who have nothing but bad intentions for the ship and Betty, herself.

The rest of the episodes are excellent, as well, with The Trouble With Triplets, Best (Mis)Laid Plans, and Infantor Rules! being slightly more entertaining than Attack of the Evil Baby. Regardless of which shows wind up being your favorite, you really can't go wrong with any of these.

Rating for Style: B+
Rating for Substance: B+

 

Image Transfer

 One
Aspect Ratio1.33:1 - Full Frame
Original Aspect Ratioyes
Anamorphicno


Image Transfer Review: The aforementioned excellent animation quality really shines in these full frame transfers. Again, the hand-drawn animation is flush with precise detail, as each image is extremely well-defined. The colors are always bright, and practically jump off the screen. The lack of print flaws of any kind is a nice plus as well.

Image Transfer Grade: A-
 

Audio Transfer

 LanguageRemote Access


Audio Transfer Review: The Dolby Digital 2.0 audio is effective again, with nice surround activity, and a few directional effects. The nice bass presence from the first disc carries over to this one too, and the dialogue is crisp and clear again.

Audio Transfer Grade: B+ 

Disc Extras

Animated menu with music
Scene Access with 8 cues and remote access
Subtitles/Captions in English, French, Spanish with remote access
3 Other Trailer(s) featuring Trollz, Hi Hi Puffy Ami Yumi, American Girl: Felicity
Packaging: Keep Case
Picture Disc
1 Disc
1-Sided disc(s)
Layers: single

Extra Extras:
  1. I Remember When... - Animated Short
Extras Review: The only extras are three trailers for other Warner Home Video releases and the 2-minute animated short I Remember When..., which shows Maximus and Minimus talking about their latest plan to thwart Atomic Betty.

Extras Grade: D+
 

Final Comments

The DVD introduction to the new Atomic Betty animated show continues, with Warner Home Video's Volume 2, featuring eight more episodes. The audio and video are just as solid and impressive as that of the first disc, and there's a decent extra feature along for the ride as well.

Chuck Aliaga 2005-10-19