Ulysses 31 - Vol. 1 [1981] [DVD]

Well, about 9 months ago I bought the French 5-disc boxed set, not knowing if, or when, the English version would be released on DVD. The French packaging is lavishly designed with images taken straight from the cartoon, and there's a handful of extras on each disk. You have the option of full opening and closing credits with each episode (albeit in French), and each episode has been digitally remastered so the colours and effects can be seen in all their intended glory. It's quite simply a quality piece of work.

Truth be told, the UK release suffers badly by comparison. By cramming all 26 episodes onto 3 discs, Fox have had to truncate the opening and closing credits. This is a real pity, because every fan will tell you that the theme is one of the most memorable things about this series. The box art is shoddy (sorry 'Extremist', whoever you are), and gives the impression of one of those cheap Disney rip-offs where the characters have obviously been plagiarised, but don't look *quite* right.

As for the quality of the transfer, my initial impression is that it's just not as clean or crisp as the French release, but I might be wrong. Could it be that Fox has released an un-remastered version? I'd love to be able to find out for sure, but since www.kult-tv.co.uk (the distributor) was taken over by The Contender Group, you can't get specific product details on the website any more. Throw in a complete lack of extras, and some pointlessly re-named episodes (I'm certain that 'Trapped Between Fire And Ice' was originally called 'Scylla And Charybdis'), and you end up with something that is only so-so when it could have been GREAT, purely because someone, somewhere, decided to cut corners unnecessarily.

Shame.

This DVD features the entire series of Ulysses 31, including all the episodes featured on all 4 of the currently released DVD volumes, so if you've bought the volumes individually you might not want to bother with this unless you're a completist who must own everything.

Classic 80s animation at its best is the only other way to describe Ulysses 31, the storylines, although based on Greek mythology and legend lend themselves excellently to the modern space age theme of the show.

Overall, if you're a fan of classic animated sci-fi, you'll be well advised to snap this up.

Well worth the money in my opinion.

You could wait for a remastered version or one with extras to come out - but I doubt they'll ever be released, sadly.

Having bought this box set a few days ago I'd recommend it to - anyone. This is the best children's cartoon ever made IMO. 'Mysterious Cities of Gold' seems to be more widely remembered - the shows have a lot in common - but I'd sooner watch Ullyses any day. The music is still great, the sci-fi setting is a lot of fun, but crucially the fact that the stories are based on greek legend means the show can be serious and sometimes quite dark - something you very rarely see in kid's cartoons.

Guardian of the Cosmic Winds, Cronos - Father of time, Song of Danger and Trapped between Fire and Ice (which is the same title as we recorded for this episode in the 80's, btw) are great action episodes... And The Eternal Punishment, The Seat of Forgetfulness, Calypso and The Kingdom of Hades are great dramatic episodes. The last two are particularly good - as emotionally involving as anything you'll see on TV.

Buy this box set! You know it makes sense! :o)