-thumb-380xauto-28724.jpg)
For some reason I didn’t recall Dreamworks’ 2013 animated release Turbo being successful enough to launch a franchise. But here we have the animated Netflix series Turbo FAST, which was spun off from the only moderately successful theatrical feature. The complete 26-episode first season is on now on DVD. The episodes were originally released to Netflix in batches at regular intervals between December 2013 and December 2014.
The three-disc DVD set doesn’t have any bonus features, but with nearly ten hours of content (at a reasonable price), Turbo FAST: Season One offers a great bang for the buck. The series continues the story of the racing snail Turbo (voiced by Reid Scott, replacing Ryan Reynolds from the movie) and his team. Most of the star-studded voice cast has been replaced by voice-acting veterans. Only Ken Jeong as Kim Ly and Mike Bell as White Shadow are back from the movie. Turbo’s brother Chet is now voiced by Eric Bauza, who sounds strikingly like Charlie Sheen (Paul Giamatti handled the character in the film).
The thing is, Turbo FAST’s target demographic (young kids) probably won’t care too much about the change in voices. The series is pretty much perfect to keep younger kids occupied. Despite the occasional 23-minute episode, each episode consists of two roughly 11-minute shorts. The plots are silly and lighthearted, with the occasional goodwill message worked into the proceedings. “African Queen” finds the gang sticking their neck out to help cure an illness that plagues African slugs, for instance. Some episodes feature a bit more complex storytelling than others, like the two-parter “Turbo Drift” (which takes place in Tokyo for a drift race), but by and large this is just fun for kids.
Turbo FAST’s hip hop theme song “Those Snails are Fast” was recognized for an award by the site Cynopsis Media. The series itself was the recipient of two Daytime Emmy Award nominations (Outstanding Children’s Animated Program; Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing - Animation). The DVD transfer is framed at 1.78:1 and the episodes are presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 (with Spanish and French Dolby Digital 2.0 available; subtitles in English, Spanish, and French). The DVD comes equipped with a downloadable Digital HD copy.
The three-disc DVD set doesn’t have any bonus features, but with nearly ten hours of content (at a reasonable price), Turbo FAST: Season One offers a great bang for the buck. The series continues the story of the racing snail Turbo (voiced by Reid Scott, replacing Ryan Reynolds from the movie) and his team. Most of the star-studded voice cast has been replaced by voice-acting veterans. Only Ken Jeong as Kim Ly and Mike Bell as White Shadow are back from the movie. Turbo’s brother Chet is now voiced by Eric Bauza, who sounds strikingly like Charlie Sheen (Paul Giamatti handled the character in the film).
The thing is, Turbo FAST’s target demographic (young kids) probably won’t care too much about the change in voices. The series is pretty much perfect to keep younger kids occupied. Despite the occasional 23-minute episode, each episode consists of two roughly 11-minute shorts. The plots are silly and lighthearted, with the occasional goodwill message worked into the proceedings. “African Queen” finds the gang sticking their neck out to help cure an illness that plagues African slugs, for instance. Some episodes feature a bit more complex storytelling than others, like the two-parter “Turbo Drift” (which takes place in Tokyo for a drift race), but by and large this is just fun for kids.
Turbo FAST’s hip hop theme song “Those Snails are Fast” was recognized for an award by the site Cynopsis Media. The series itself was the recipient of two Daytime Emmy Award nominations (Outstanding Children’s Animated Program; Outstanding Achievement in Sound Mixing - Animation). The DVD transfer is framed at 1.78:1 and the episodes are presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 (with Spanish and French Dolby Digital 2.0 available; subtitles in English, Spanish, and French). The DVD comes equipped with a downloadable Digital HD copy.
-thumb-80x80-24358.jpg)