Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		2.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		3.0

Jackson 5ive: The Complete Animated Series Blu-ray Movie Review

You know what should be "simple as Do-Re-Mi" at this stage of the Blu-ray era? Lossless audio.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman January 5, 2013

I grew up in Utah and so was well aware of The Osmond Brothers (as they used to be called) long before their Top 40 heyday and beyond. In fact, my ex-brother-in-law was a Speech Therapist who provided therapy to George and Tom, two older Osmond siblings who are deaf. It always struck me as a little odd when The Osmonds (as they redubbed themselves) remade themselves more or less in the image of The Jackson Five (or The Jackson 5ive as they were sometimes billed, including on this animated television series) after the Jackson quintet hit the big time with “I Want You Back” in late 1969. A little more than a year later, under the tutelage of Mike Curb, The Osmonds had their own number 1 with their first single as a pop group, “One Bad Apple”, a song which Michael Jackson evidently once told Donny Osmond The Jacksons were going to record but passed in favor of “ABC”. Despite their obvious differences, the two groups were sonically quite similar in the early years (no doubt by design—on the part of The Osmonds), and another thing they shared in common were Saturday morning animated “adventures” which copiously featured their recordings. The Jackson 5ive debuted in September 1971, and once again The Osmonds followed suit a year later, not even bothering to try a different network (both series aired on ABC) or production company (both series were done by Rankin-Bass, again no mere coincidence). The “pop group goes animated” idea had actually been done quite successfully a few years previously with yet another ABC Saturday morning show called The Beatles which ran beginning in 1965. (Interestingly, all three of these animated outings lasted at most two seasons in their original runs, though The Beatles ran continuously in reruns for a couple of years after its original broadcast premieres had ended.) As with The Beatles animated series, The Jackson 5ive did not actually utilize the real life humans to voice their animated versions (despite the credits saying "Featuring the voices of The Jackson Five", evidently a reference to the music). Some sources report that Diana Ross did provide her voice for the series’ debut episode, but she is not credited and my personal hunch is Miss Ross did not voice the episode. The Partridge Family had become something of a phenomenon for ABC a couple of years previously, and that template is pretty much followed to a tee in The Jackson 5ive, with not very serious sibling issues cropping up amid various publicity tours and performances.

Jackson 5ive is often a sweet little show, one that utilizes various travels of the quintet to set up different scenarios that often find one or more of the brothers in a bit of a pickle. For instance, one episodes finds the brothers visiting an Army base to give a performance, when two of the lads are inadvertently inducted into the service. There’s nothing earth shaking about the series, but it’s enjoyable and coasts along on a fair degree of decent humor (aided by a ubiquitous and ultimately annoying laugh track).

What sets the series apart is its quite distinctive animation style, something that is quite at odds with Rankin-Bass’ typical look and is in fact much more in tune with the more anarchic style of Jay Ward (Rocky and Bullwinkle). (In fact, The Bullwinkle Show’s magnificent voice artist Paul Frees, AKA the inimitable Boris Badenov, is on hand here voicing many of the characters. In the unbelievable but true department, Frees also voiced John Lennon in The Beatles animated series.) The character designs, aside from the Jacksons themselves (who look relatively realistic), have that slapdash, slightly surreal look of many of the old Bullwinkle characters.

Speaking of surreal, the most distinctive thing about Jackson 5ive is the little mini “music video” inserted into each episode. These often feature flat out hallucinogenic effects (hey, it was the early seventies), with lots of paisley, multicolored stripes and bizarre creatures dotting the landscape. In fact a couple of the videos offer such flashing lights and weird strobe effects that they might indeed be dangerous for those prone to seizures. They do add a really colorful and playful ambience to what is otherwise a pretty standard series. Occasionally there are little glimmers of actual intelligence in the writing, as in the “Rasho-Jackson” episode, which (believe it or not) revisits Rashômon courtesy of a plotline where the Jacksons break up and each of the brothers gives their perspective on how it happened. (For you trivia lovers, one of the show’s credited writers is Hal Hackady, a man who at that point in his career had just penned lyrics for a little remembered Broadway musical about another famous act featuring sibling brothers —Minnie’s Boys, which was about The Marx Brothers.)

There is a certain nostalgic quality listening to these fantastic early pieces by the Jacksons and by Michael as a solo artist (all of the tunes came from the earliest albums by the group and Michael). The sheer vocal talent on display is a little overwhelming at times and can’t help but conjure up images of the trials (literal and figurative) that were to follow in the intervening years. The complete list of episodes and included songs follows here:

• It All Started With. . .

  ABC
  Goin’ Back to Indiana

• Pinestock, U.S.A.

  I’ll Be there
  The Young Folks

• Drafted

  I Want You Back
  2-4-6-8

• Mistaken Identity

  I’ll Bet You
  Sixteen Candles

• Bongo, bab, Bongo

  My Little Baby
  It’s Great to be Here

• The Winner’s Circle

  The Love You Save
  How Funky Is Your Chicken

• Cinderjackson

  Reach In
  Can I See You In the Morning?

• The Wizard of Soul

  The Love I Saw in You Was Just a Mirage
  Oh How Happy

• The Tiny Five

  The Wall
  I Will Find a Way

• The Groovatron

  Maybe Tomorrow
  Nobody

• Ray & Charles: Superstars

  (Come ‘Round Here) I’m the One You Need
  (We’ve Got) Blue Skies

• Farmer Jacksons

  My Cherie Amour
  Honey Chile

• Jackson Island

  Ready or Not (Here I Come)
  La La (Means I Love You)

• The Michael Look

  Darling Dear
  Don’t Know Why (I Love You)

• Jackson Street, U.S.A.

  Petals
  She’s Good

• Rasho-Jackson

  One More Chance
  I Found That Girl

• A Rare Pearl

  Never Can Say Goodbye
  Mama’s Pearl

• Who’s Hoozis

  Rockin’ Robin
  Wings of My Love

• Michael White

  Sugar Daddy
  I Wanna Be Where You Are

• Groove to the Chief

  I’m So Happy
  In Our Small Way

• Michael in Wonderland

  Got to Be There
  Maria

• Jackson and the Beanstalk

  Love is Here
  Girl Don’t Take Your Love From Me

• The Opening Act

  Little Bitty Pretty One
  If I Have to Move A Mountain

Jackson 5ive: The Complete Animated Series Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Jackson 5ive is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Classic Media with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.34:1. Purists will probably appreciate the fact that the elements here have obviously undergone no restoration whatsoever, so the original look of the series—warts and all—is recreated here. Colors are especially bold and vibrant, and line detail is reasonably sharp. However, there are a number of issues, including things like the occasional hair in the gate, manifest specks and flecks and outright dirt that dot the landscape. Rather interestingly, the abbreviated second season looks noticeably more ragged than the first, but the series may have been winding down at that point anyway, leading to a generally more haphazard appearance.

Jackson 5ive: The Complete Animated Series Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Every so often a Blu-ray disc will come along that proves to be a head scratcher from a technical standpoint. Why oh why would Classic Media go to the trouble of releasing this series on Blu-ray, tout the fact that the 46 songs had been remastered, and then provide only a lossly Dolby Digital 2.0 audio option on the discs? Even more amazing, the actual menu has an uncompressed LPCM 2.0 mix of the series' theme song playing, and the difference between the uncompressed and compressed versions of the tune are unsettling, to say the least. The series sounds just slightly muffled at times due to the compressed soundtrack, without really clear highs or lows. The midrange sounds best here. There is some rather artful stereo separation in the actual songs (you'll clearly hear things like drums in the right channel and rhythm guitar in the left, for example), but the basic episode dialogue and effects sound more like a mono mix being pumped through two channels to me. Fidelity is acceptable, but unremarkable. This is a real shame and no doubt a deal killer for many audiophiles.

Jackson 5ive: The Complete Animated Series Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

There are no supplements included in this two BD/two DVD set.

Jackson 5ive: The Complete Animated Series Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Jackson 5ive is a fun time capsule back to a manifestly more innocent era. A lot of this animated series is pretty hackneyed, and the nonstop laugh track doesn't help matters. But the animation style is often quite winning and the "music videos" in each episode are often psychedelic wonderments. It's impossible to recommend this release with its lossy audio, but those who grew up with the series may well be able to overcome that issue in order to revisit their childhood.