Saber Rider Complete Collection
The Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs Complete Collection is a six-disc DVD box set that contains all 52 episodes of the series. In addition to this, special features appear on discs one, two, and four of the set.
The first disc contains two special features. The first is labeled as "Commercials." This contains four commercials for a Saber Rider fan club and each commercial runs for about 30 seconds each. Also, the only two characters featured in these commercials are Saber Rider and Colt. All four commercials play back-to-back in one feature.
The other extra is labeled as "Photo Gallery." This feature runs for seven minutes and 10 seconds, and it features line art, production art, books, and promotional materials for Saber Rider. This is done as a slideshow; however, the viewer has no control over when the pictures change. The song "I Computer" by RadioRadio is used as the background music; however, this song has no direct connection to the Saber Rider property. The slideshow opens and closes with an ad for the song.
On the second disc, it lists that the special features are theme songs and bios. What you get are bios for Ramrod, Saber Rider, Colt, Fireball, and April; the bios have one of the character's themes playing in the background as you read the bio text. Ramrod's bio is one minute in length, Saber Rider's bio is 56 seconds in length, Colt's bio is one minute and two seconds in length, Fireball's bio is 41 seconds in length, and April's bio is one minute and six seconds in length.
The fourth disc contains two extras. The first is labeled as "Sei Juishi Bismarck Clips." I was expecting this extra to feature some clips from the original series. However, what you actually get is the original opening from Bismarck, one short scene of Bismarck's transformation sequence and a battle, and then the original ending from Bismarck. There are no subtitles provided on this feature.
The other extra is an audio interview with Dale Schacker, the man who composed the music for Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs. The interview itself is audio only, and is accompanied by stills from the show, production art, and pictures of promotional materials. The interview runs for almost 13 minutes in length.
When it comes to the set as a whole, I do have a couple of complaints. First, the volume levels are not consistent across each disc. The opening bump at the beginning of each disc is mastered really loud, then the volume gets very soft when the menu comes up, and then the audio level changes again when an episode actually starts. Fortunately, the audio levels do remain consistent within the episodes themselves. Unfortunately, I found myself constantly having to change volume levels whenever I put one of these discs into my player, which became an annoyance rather quickly.
My other complaint is that the first two discs were authored very differently from the remaining four in the set. On the first two discs, you can't skip over the logos at the beginning of the disc, there are no chapter marks within episodes (which means you either have to watch the beginning and the ending credits in addition to the entire episode, or you have to fast forward through them), and the commercial break bumps are not included. However, on discs three through six, you can skip over the opening logos, there are chapter marks within each episode on those discs, and the commercial break bumps are included. It really gives the impression that the first two discs of the set were authored by different people than the remaining four.
Between the audio mastering issues, the inconsitsent DVD authoring, and the relative lack of special features, it would be very hard for me to recommend this set to casual fans or to people who are unfamiliar with Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs. However, since this is the only DVD pressing that exists for the property, I have to recommend it to Saber Rider fans who want to own the series on DVD.
I wrote this review after watching a copy of this DVD set that I purchased.
The first disc contains two special features. The first is labeled as "Commercials." This contains four commercials for a Saber Rider fan club and each commercial runs for about 30 seconds each. Also, the only two characters featured in these commercials are Saber Rider and Colt. All four commercials play back-to-back in one feature.The other extra is labeled as "Photo Gallery." This feature runs for seven minutes and 10 seconds, and it features line art, production art, books, and promotional materials for Saber Rider. This is done as a slideshow; however, the viewer has no control over when the pictures change. The song "I Computer" by RadioRadio is used as the background music; however, this song has no direct connection to the Saber Rider property. The slideshow opens and closes with an ad for the song.
On the second disc, it lists that the special features are theme songs and bios. What you get are bios for Ramrod, Saber Rider, Colt, Fireball, and April; the bios have one of the character's themes playing in the background as you read the bio text. Ramrod's bio is one minute in length, Saber Rider's bio is 56 seconds in length, Colt's bio is one minute and two seconds in length, Fireball's bio is 41 seconds in length, and April's bio is one minute and six seconds in length.
The fourth disc contains two extras. The first is labeled as "Sei Juishi Bismarck Clips." I was expecting this extra to feature some clips from the original series. However, what you actually get is the original opening from Bismarck, one short scene of Bismarck's transformation sequence and a battle, and then the original ending from Bismarck. There are no subtitles provided on this feature.
The other extra is an audio interview with Dale Schacker, the man who composed the music for Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs. The interview itself is audio only, and is accompanied by stills from the show, production art, and pictures of promotional materials. The interview runs for almost 13 minutes in length.
When it comes to the set as a whole, I do have a couple of complaints. First, the volume levels are not consistent across each disc. The opening bump at the beginning of each disc is mastered really loud, then the volume gets very soft when the menu comes up, and then the audio level changes again when an episode actually starts. Fortunately, the audio levels do remain consistent within the episodes themselves. Unfortunately, I found myself constantly having to change volume levels whenever I put one of these discs into my player, which became an annoyance rather quickly.
My other complaint is that the first two discs were authored very differently from the remaining four in the set. On the first two discs, you can't skip over the logos at the beginning of the disc, there are no chapter marks within episodes (which means you either have to watch the beginning and the ending credits in addition to the entire episode, or you have to fast forward through them), and the commercial break bumps are not included. However, on discs three through six, you can skip over the opening logos, there are chapter marks within each episode on those discs, and the commercial break bumps are included. It really gives the impression that the first two discs of the set were authored by different people than the remaining four.
Between the audio mastering issues, the inconsitsent DVD authoring, and the relative lack of special features, it would be very hard for me to recommend this set to casual fans or to people who are unfamiliar with Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs. However, since this is the only DVD pressing that exists for the property, I have to recommend it to Saber Rider fans who want to own the series on DVD.
I wrote this review after watching a copy of this DVD set that I purchased.
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