The Complete Comic Strip Presents... Channel 4 Films Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		1.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		3.0

The Complete Comic Strip Presents... Channel 4 Films Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 22, 2023

If you were asked to name a television show featuring a repertory group of comedians doing sketch comedy, any number of reasonable candidates might instantly occur to many, including such landmarks as Monty Python's Flying Circus: The Complete Series, Saturday Night Live, and The Kids in the Hall , to cite only three from what is really an impossibly long list, especially if one goes back into the misty era of black and white and cathode ray tubes. For some reason, and despite having members who would go on to considerable renown, the aggregation known as The Comic Strip and their own series The Comic Strip Presents. . . never seemed to have an outsized impact on this side of the pond, despite being quite popular (if infamous) in their native United Kingdom. As difficult as it can be to assign a "national flavor" to comedy, there is definitely a British air to the proceedings here which may prevent the show from achieving the lunatic heights of other English offerings like the inimitable Monty Python series and films (which were of course British in their own way), but the fact that The Comedy Strip featured Adrian Edmondson, Rik Mayall and Nigel Planer, who would more or less simultaneously achieve separate fame in The Young Ones: The Complete Collection (note that the link points to a UK release), as well as Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders, who would of course themselves more or less simultaneously achieve separate fame in their own French and Saunders sketch show, should certainly give this collection some appeal for a certain target demographic of fans. That said, this is another kind of peculiar release by Severin Films from the annals of international television, kind of like Severin's recent release of Tales to Keep You Awake: The Complete Series, where the series itself is presented in standard definition and only some of the supplementary material is in true HD.

There's some really good background information on the formation of both the troupe and the series itself in some of the supplements Severin has aggregated for this release, but this particular collection offers episodes from the show's first three "series" (i.e., seasons), which aired on Britain's "alternative" network, Channel 4 (later the series would matriculate to the arguably more prestigious BBC Two). That said, The Comedy Strip Presents. . . was, despite its genesis in the eighties, almost more like a limited series offering on a niche cable network, since its episodes were not particular numerous for any given series (and/or season), and they also didn't necessarily air in regular weekly installments. Each episode was a standalone "movie of the week", even if some characters occasionally recurred. The Comedy Strip Presents. . . got off to a scurrilous start in late 1982 with the daffy Five Go Mad in Dorset, a scabrous takeoff on a beloved series of English children's tomes by one Enid Blyton, with the adult members of The Comedy Strip portraying goofy kids on the hunt for adventure. This particular episode evidently caused great umbrage in the staid and proper British population, who reportedly did not appreciate a cherished childhood memory being so ruthlessly dissected, which may beg the question as to what the reaction may have been to the hilariously named second season opener, Five Go Mad on Mescalin.

One kind of interesting pop culture trivia point with regard to this series is that one of its best remembered episodes, The Bad News Tour, a mockumentary about a spectacularly ill equipped rock band, actually was originally broadcast January 24, 1983, and therefore presages This Is Spinal Tap by over a year. Other trivial lovers will want to pay attention to guest casts, writers and directors, as there are any number of surprises waiting in those categories.

The Complete Comic Strip Presents... Channel 4 Films Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Complete Comic Strip Presents. . .Channel 4 Films is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Severin Films with AVC encoded 480i transfers mostly in 1.22:1 (some of the later specials and the newer documentaries are in 1.78:1). This is another kind of head scratching release where the ostensible "main feature" has pretty shoddy video quality quite a bit of the time, but some of the bonus features can look considerably better. Anyone already used to all variety of upscales will know pretty much what to expect in terms of the actual episodes, but the first two series (seasons) in particular look really roughshod, with noisy "grain" (I'm assuming at least some of these episodes were shot on 16mm) and a less than vivid palette. That said, the palette actually has moments of rather nice saturation even in the first two series, and quality is at least somewhat improved in series three, contained on disc two, with a more consistent level of saturation and a better resolved accounting of grain. Detail levels are often middling, especially in any framings that veer away from close-ups. There's some pretty recurrent damage on display, but there's nothing even close to approaching some of the video problems I mentioned in the Tales to Keep You Awake: The Complete Series Blu-ray review, Severin's last foray into SD television. There are also a number of rather odd anamorphic oddities sprinkled throughout the presentation, with a lot of the supposed "Academy ratio" episodes looking a bit anamorphically squeezed to my eyes. I probably recommend parsing through the screenshots I've uploaded to accompany this review more than I usually do, since I've tried to give a representation of various lighting conditions and filming locations. The new material in "real" HD looks great, but since that material is part of what I consider the bonus features, it isn't included in the score, above.

The Complete Comic Strip Presents... Channel 4 Films Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Things fare considerably better with this set's DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono track. While there's a bit of boxiness, especially with regard to the kind of funny organ rendition of "Quando, Quando, Quando" that plays underneath the opening credits, overall there's really nothing major to complain about. There are some slight amplitude and mixing variations that can be noticed, some of which I'm assuming resulted from on location shoots and the like. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

The Complete Comic Strip Presents... Channel 4 Films Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Disc One of this set offers the Channel 4 episodes from Series One and Series Two. Disc Two offers the Channel 4 episodes from Series Three. The third disc is split into Specials and Special Features, per the following:

Specials

• The Bullshitters: Roll Out the Gunbarrel (11/3/1984) (SD; 42: 25)


• "Consuela" (or The New Mrs. Saunders (1/1/1986) (SD; 37:19)


• Private Enterprise (1/2/1986) (SD; 35:02)


• Four Men in a Car (4/12/1998) (SD; 30:42)


• Four Men in an Airplane (1/4/2000) (SD; 34:27)

Special Features

• The Rise of The Comic Strip (HD; 1:33:31) is a fantastic documentary offering a glut of enjoyable interviews and a nice history of the troupe, as well as a kind of unavoidable look at the context of British comedy and television of that era. Along with 30 Years of Comic Strip, below, this is a great place to start for anyone less conversant with the troupe and its history.


• The Comic Strip (SD; 30:26) is a short film by Julien Temple featuring the group.


• 30 Years of Comic Strip (SD; 1:36:19) is another great overview, though it's rather oddly anamorphically stretched at times.


• Bad News: The Whole Sordid Story (HD; 12:35) offers some "archival" footage and then newer interstitials, the latter of which are rather oddly anamorphically squeezed.


• Bad News Bohemian Rhapsody Music Video (HD; 3:34) was produced by Brian May.


• Behind the Scenes of "Bohemian Rhapsody" (HD; 5:50)


• More Bad News Stories (HD; 3:24) offers some more fun interviews that look like they were culled from the same sessions included in The Rise of The Comic Strip, above.


• Bad News Photo Gallery (SD; 1:09)


• Series Trailer (HD; 9:53)

The Complete Comic Strip Presents... Channel 4 Films Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

This is a somewhat peculiar release where some historical value of the series and in my estimation hugely enjoyable supplements are undercut by the odd decision to offer SD transfers on 1080 discs. The Comic Strip Presents. . . offers some fun and at times rather provocative episodes, and so some fans may be willing to overlook the less than optimal video quality. Audio and especially the bonus features are fine, for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.