The Irresponsible Captain Tylor DVD
Box Set, by David Kratz
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The Irresponsible Captain Tylor DVD
Box Set, by David Kratz
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What the box says:
Covered in the individual reviews. See Tylor TV1, Tylor TV2, Tylor TV3, Tylor TV4
Content:
The adventures of Captain Tylor offer a hilarious parody of the anime sci-fi genre. All the elements are there, from the characters to the concepts, to the heroic death scenes ( except in Tylor no one dies). More precisely though, Tylor offers a parody of the military, as the show would still work even if it was transplanted onto some terrestrial sea. The show revolves around the adventures of a broken down ship filled with the rejects of the space force, who succeed beyond their commanders wildest nightmares. If this were a traditional show, their success would be attributed to their unconventional but driven new Captain. Tylor, however, takes this tried and true formula and throws a small twist into it: the ships captain, Tylor, while unconventional, is incredibly lazy. Throughout the series the watcher is left wondering whether Tylor is a high order genius or the dumb-luckiest man alive. While some may find this uncertainty irritating, the results are so often hilarious that most will be able to overlook it. As for the series pacing, it starts off strong and concludes with one of the funniest surprise endings ever.
Video:
Tylor is not a new series, and it shows. The footage suffers from white spots and the occasional hair. None of this will distract the casual viewers enjoyment of the series, but if one is looking to show off the technical aspects of their A/V system, Tylor is not the dvd set to do it with. As for the images themselves, once again the footage shows it age. The drawing is definitely a product of its era, the early 90’s, and how well each character is drawn seems to fluctuate on an episode by episode basis. Overall, nothing to interfere with the casual viewers enjoyment, but it has some slightly annoying quirks.
Audio:
The dvd set offers three audio tracks, all in 2 channel stereo: Japanese, English, and Spanish. My grasp of Spanish is not good enough to properly review a Spanish dub, so I will note it’s presence and let it go at that. The Japanese track is very good, with good dubbing and bizarre, but appealing soundtrack. Tylor’s musical score ranges from the dramatic to the drunken, and serves to set the mood for each scene. The two exceptions to this are the opening and closing themes which strike me as annoying and creepy, respectively. As for the English dub, it seemed ...adequate. I heartily disliked Tylor’s voice actor in the beginning, but he seemed to warm to the role as the series went on. All in all though, I’d stick to the Japanese audio and turn on the subtitles.
Extras:
Each disk contains a different set of background information on some aspect of the Tylor Universe. Each disk also contains a picture gallery. These galleries are somewhat disappointing in that they contain mostly screen captures of the series, although a view original works are thrown in. Also included are the original openings and endings, as well as a small mini game in which you attempt to target enemy ships. The extras provided are nice, but there is nothing included which by itself would change ones opinion of the boxset.
Menus:
Tylor’s box set suffers from a really annoying menu system. There is no play all feature built into the initial menu, and each major menu selection is punctuated by a repetitive cut scene that quickly begins to grate on the nerves. Additionally, the linear notes, something that should be prominently displayed, are almost hidden; tucked away as they are in the scene selection section of each individual episode. On top of all that, the previously mentioned original opening/ ending is only available by clicking of all things, the web link.
Packaging:
The set comes in 4 individual plastic dvd cases, which are themselves packaged in a cardboard box. The box, while nice looking, is flimsy. As for the cases, they are nothing particularly special. The DVDs look oddly plain, with minimalist illustration and text. On the plus side, the cases allow for easy DVD insertion and removal.
Final Rating and recommendation:
Overall, I rate the Irresponsible Captain Tylor Box set as a 5. I highly recommend it to any anime fan who enjoys a good laugh. While the set is hampered by an annoying menu system and substandard picture quality, the content outshines these small flaws. (Note: At the time of this review, The right Stuff was holding a sale for which the entire dvd Box set could be obtained for $50. For this price, one would snap up almost any box set, much less a really good one like Tylor... So why are you still reading this. Go and buy it now.)
The Setup:
Played on a Samsung 709 DVD player run through an Aiwa AV-D57. Viewed on a Samsung 27 inch TV, and listened to through Kenwood speakers.
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