Columbia TriStar Home Video presents

Jay Jay the Jet Plane: Supersonic Pals (2002)

"I guess I was still daydreaming over what my favorite color is. It's so hard!"- Snuffy

Stars: Eve Whittle, Dee Dee Green, Marie Danielle, Julie Renick, C. W. Walken, Mary Kay Bergman, Chuck Morgan, Gina Ribisi
Other Stars: Gwen Smillie, Beth Bowles
Director: Hugh Martin

MPAA Rating: Not RatedRun Time: 01h:02m:45s
Release Date: 2002-04-23
Genre: animation

Style Grade	Substance Grade	Image Transfer Grade	Audio Transfer Grade	Extras Grade
B-	B	B-	C	C

 

DVD Review

It's five more opportunities to earn some frequent flyer miles, as Jay Jay and his cohorts at Tarrytown Airport seek out adventure and fun. (Curiously, despite the title of the disc, there's very little breaking of the sound barrier here, at least as compared with other Jay Jay DVDs.)

Poor Snuffy is on the rack in the first episode, trying to determine just which hue should be anointed Snuffy's Favorite Color. Jay Jay tours him around—should it be the green of the field? The yellow of the sun? The white of the clouds? His search for the right color leads him to the age-old conclusion that there's no place like home, and that the answer is right in front of his face. I won't give away the answer here, Jay Jay fans, but I'll tip you off to the fact that the principal determinant of Snuffy's choice is the Tarrytown Airport mechanic, whose name of course is Brenda Blue.

Oscar the biplane is out to prove that the old lion can still roar in the second story, Super Loop-De-Loop. Old colleague and famed stunt pilot Winnie Winger is slated to visit tomorrow, and Oscar wants to show her that he can still do the move he was famous for back in the day. Jay Jay pitches in to help Oscar get back in the groove, and though things go slightly awry when Winnie shows up, Oscar learns the comforting lesson that she's come to see him, and not his stunts, because she's his friend and likes his company.

Sometimes flowers and a card just aren't enough, so the mommy of everyone's favorite airplane mechanic is coming for a visit on Brenda's Mother's Day. Brenda's airplane pals want the Tarrytown Airport to be squeaky clean for her mother, but no good deed goes unpunished in this one—the poor, well-meaning airplanes end up splattering everything with wax and oil and paint, making a great big mess. Like her daughter, though, Brenda's mother is a forgiving soul, and everybody packs off to the park for a Mother's Day picnic, after a quick cleanup.

Episode four is a chance to reconsider one of my former nemeses, Tuffy, The Tiny Tow Truck. Despite her appearance in several episodes on the first Jay Jay DVD, the story here marks her first appearance at Tarrytown Airport; she's a cousin of Revvin' Evan, the local fire engine, and is eager, despite her small stature, to make her mark in aviation towing. Problem is, she can't tow anything. But she sticks with it, in a tale of perseverance that has obvious resemblances to that childhood favorite, The Little Engine That Could. Still, I think Tuffy's speech impediment ("Now you'll see what weal towing wooks wike!") is a bad choice by the animators, and though she proves herself worthy by the end of this story, it remains difficult for me to welcome Tuffy to Tarrytown with open arms (or open wings, if you like).

Guess who's turning a year older in the final episode, Snuffy's Birthday Surprise? But what should the birthday boy select as his gift? He surveys the good citizens of Tarrytown Airport, and the upshot is this: what everybody would want is something that would allow them to help others. Since Snuffy is fiercely devoted to his inanimate friend Jack Frosty the snowman, he selects a snowblower, so he can make Jack some pals for year-round company. I suppose the heart is in the right place on this one—it's rewarding to help other people—but I'm not sure that providing companionship for a snowman is really the best example of this.

Rating for Style: B-
Rating for Substance: B

 

Image Transfer

	One
Aspect Ratio	1.33:1 - Full Frame
Original Aspect Ratio	yes
Anamorphic	no

Image Transfer Review: Quality is much the same as with the previous Jay Jay discs, though the colors seem to have better balance. (At least snowman Jack Frosty's carrot nose is orange this time out of the gate.)

Image Transfer Grade: B-
 

Audio Transfer

	Language	Remote Access
DS 2.0	English, Spanish	yes

Audio Transfer Review: The tinny, computer-generated music may be the weakest thing here; every music cue and song sounds flat and has a certain sameness. Dialogue tracks are amply clear, at least.

Audio Transfer Grade: C 

Disc Extras

Static menu
Scene Access with 5 cues and remote access
Subtitles/Captions in English with remote access
4 Other Trailer(s) featuring Dragon Tales, Bear In the Big Blue House, The Trumpet of the Swan, Kermit's Swamp Years
Packaging: Amaray
Picture Disc
1 Disc
1-Sided disc(s)
Layers: single

Extra Extras:

1. Sing-Alongs—four songs with words
2. "Think About" Moments—two thirty-second spots on change and rocks

Extras Review: The package of Jay Jay extras is pretty consistent: four sing-a-longs, including the theme song, and the same group of trailers. This time out, the "Think About" Moments are the briefest of primers on meteorology and gravity.

Extras Grade: C
 

Final Comments

Perhaps I'm going soft, or am suffering from Stockholm syndrome, but I confess that Jay Jay is growing on me, and on my five-year-old son, as well. It still hasn't reached the heavy rotation reserved for such favorites as Elmo and Clifford, and the animation is hardly spectacular, but the hour or so on this disc is amiable enough.

Jon Danziger 2002-05-07