Family Classics

If you were between six and ten years old during the years 1971 through 1985, then there is a good chance you learned to read with help from The Electric Company. Comedy sketches, music, animation and special effects were the tools of this "video" classroom. Bill Cosby, Morgan Freeman, Rita Moreno, Spider-Man Road Runner and others were the teachers.

The Electric Company was a product of its time - perennially cool and hip, while never wavering from its educational goals; it was full of wit and energy and made learning to read fun. So, take a trip back in time with Spider-Man, Letterman, J. Arthur Crank, the Short Circus, Jennifer of the Jungle, DJ Mel Mounds, Easy Reader, Paul the Gorilla, Lorelei the Chicken and all the rest with THE BEST OF THE ELECTRIC COMPANY.

"Meet George Jetson...Jane, his wife...daughter Judy...his boy Elroy..." The catchy tune of The Jetsons ideally captures the lighthearted essence of the show, a futuristic counterpoint to The Flintstones that reflected the space-age optimism of the times. The Jetsons were the very first family, animated or not, to have a big-screen home entertainment system decades before it became a reality. They also had flying cars, floating cities and androids, all commonplace scenery of today?s most popular sci-fi blockbusters. Now this beloved series teletransports onto DVD, all 24 hilarious Season-One episodes - plus Soaring Extras, both newly-made and vintage rarities drawn from the Hanna-Barbera vaults.

Season one of the "cartoon commercial" The Transformers begins with the three-part "More Than Meets the Eye," which explains how the two warring Transformers armies from the planet Cybertron, Optimus Prime's good-guy Autobots and Megatron's bad-guy Decepticons, were placed in suspended animation when they attempted to expand their battle to prehistoric Earth. "Thawing out" in 2005 A.D., the combatants resume their war as if nothing had happened, with the Autobots gaining a bit of an advantage by winning two human earthlings, Spike and Sparkplug, over to their side. A later episode, "Roll for It," introduces another major human ally of the Autobots, computer whiz Chip Chase. Subsequent season-one highlights include the three-part story, "The Ultimate Doom," wherein Megatron enlists the aid of a mad (Do you hear? Mad!) human scientist in attempting to bring Cybertron into Earth's orbit. And "A Plague of Insecticons" introduces a brand-new threat to Autobots and Decepticons alike -- not to mention a fresh new line of Hasbro-licensed Transformer toys! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Abandoned by her parents, eight-year-old Penelope "Punky" Brewster and her little dog, Brandon, set up a home of their own in an abandoned Chicago apartment, where they are discovered by the building's manager, Henry Warnimont (George Gaynes). A bachelor with no great love for either kids or dogs, Henry nonetheless takes a liking to Punky and Brandon, and arranges with the authorities to have the two castaways live with him -- temporarily of course. Thus begins season one of the NBC sitcom Punky Brewster, in which the wide-eyed, spunky heroine brings happiness and purpose to the life of grumpy old Mr. Warnimont -- and several others along the way. During the series' initial season, Eddie Deezen appears as eccentric apartment-building maintenance man Eddie Malvin, while Dody Goodman is seen as Punky's schoolteacher, Mrs. Morton. Both Deezen and Goodman would be gone from the series before long, but three other characters introduced this year, Punky's classmates Cherie Johnson (played by Cherie Johnson!), Margaux Kramer (Ami Foster), and Allen Anderson (Casey Ellison), would "go the distance" right to the end of the run. Likewise seen throughout the series' four seasons, both on and off the network, is Henry's upstairs neighbor Betty Johnson (Susie Garrett), a registered nurse who has been legal guardian to Cheri ever since the deaths of the girl's parents. Once past its three-part opener, "Punky Finds a Home," the series settles into a unique pattern. While most of the subsequent episodes run a full half-hour, others ("Punky Gets Her Own Room," "Gone Fishin," "Go to Sleep") run a scant 15 minutes each. This is because Punky Brewster was originally telecast on Sunday evenings, just after NBC's weekly football telecasts; whenever a game ran overtime, Punky lost half of its 30-minute time slot, necessitating a stockpile of shorter episodes. Conversely, Punky Brewster's season-one finale, "Fenster Hall," ran a full hour -- that is, it was seen in two half-hour segments over a period of two weeks. In addition to bringing the season to a lively close, this elongated episode was also intended as the pilot for a series starring Billy Lombardo as a resourceful orphan named T.C. Fenestra. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Hayao Miyazaki's fantasy adventure Castle in the Sky begins with a chase scene through a flying ship, where all the passengers are after the young girl, Sheeta (voice of Anna Paquin). Going overboard to avoid capture, Sheeta is rescued by her powerful crystal necklace which floats her down to safety. She's recovered by Pazu (voice of James Van Der Beek), a young resourceful boy who works in a small mining town. Sharing a common desire to see Laputa, the castle in the sky, Pazu and Sheeta team up to outrun the pirates and the military. Led by hard-bitten matriarch Dola (voice of Cloris Leachman), the pirates are a rowdy yet dimwitted group of brothers who are after Laputa's treasure. Led by the greedy yet civilized Muska (voice of Mark Hamill), the military is after Laputa's secret powers. Everyone races to get to the abandoned castle of Laputa, which has been overgrown with vines and plant life. Its only inhabitants are the animals and robots who protect a magical garden. As the different parties fight over who gets to control Laputa, it's up to Sheeta to use her ancient knowledge to save it from ultimate destruction. The English-language version also includes the voices of Mandy Patinkin and Andy Dick. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

A man finds himself living among the animals and enchanted spirits of the rainforest, and learns of the true consequences of human destruction in this animated adventure. Crysta (voice of Samantha Mathis) is a young fairy who is being tutored in the powers of magic by the older and wiser Magi (voice of Grace Zabriskie) in an Amazon rain forest. While their home was once on the verge of destruction thanks to the evil spirit Hexxus (voice of Tim Curry), the demon has been trapped inside a tree, and Crysta is free to play with her friends Batty Koda (voice of Robin Williams), a bat who escaped from an animal testing facility, and Pips (voice of Christian Slater), who has obvious romantic intentions toward the attractive young sprite. However, a clear-cutting crew destroys the tranquil peace of the rainforest, and when Crysta sees a runaway logging machine about to run over lumberjack Zak (voice of Jonathan Ward), she saves his life by shrinking him to her own size. However, Crysta isn't able to bring Zak back to his normal size, so he's forced to live among the forest creatures and learn first-hand the devastation the humans have brought to this world -- especially when the loggers accidentally free Hexxus from captivity. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Jumanji is a visually elaborate fantasy about an enchanted board game that opens a magical portal to a jungle universe. Two young children, Judy (Kirsten Dunst) and Peter (Bradley Pierce), discover the game in an abandoned home and suddenly are greeted by Alan (Robin Williams), an adult who has spent his life trapped inside the game since playing it at age 12. Alan's only hope for freedom involves finishing the game, but this proves rather dangerous, as Judy, Peter, and Alan find themselves running for their lives from huge rhinoceroses, evil monkeys, vicious lions, and other terrifying jungle beasts. Director Joe Johnston, whose special-effects background previously came to good use in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, used groundbreaking computer imagery to simulate the thrills. ~ Judd Blaise, Rovi

A pet project of Walt Disney's since 1939, this animated version of James M. Barrie's Peter Pan reached full fruition in 1953. Eschewing much of Barrie's gentle whimsy (not to mention the more sinister aspects of the leading character), Disney and his staff fashioned a cheery, tuneful cartoon extravaganza, which cost $4 million and reaped several times that amount. The straightforward story concerns the Darling family, specifically the children: Wendy, Michael and John. Wendy enjoys telling her younger siblings stories about the mythical Peter Pan, the little boy who never grew up. One night, much to everyone's surprise, Peter flies into the Darling nursery, in search of his shadow, which Wendy had previously captured. Sprinkling the kids with magic pixie dust, Peter flies off to Never-Never Land, with Wendy, Michael and John following behind. Once in Peter's domain, the children are terrorized by Captain Hook, who intends to capture Peter and do away with him.

After rescuing Indian princess Tiger Lily from Captain Hook, Peter must save the children, not to mention his own "Lost Boys," from the diabolical pirate captain. In addition, he must contend with the jealousy of tiny sprite Tinker Bell, who doesn't like Wendy one little bit. Breaking with several traditions, Peter had been played by a girl in all previous incarnations, Tinker Bell had always been depicted by a shaft of light, etc ... this "Disneyized" version of Peter Pan may not be authentic James Barrie, but it has never failed to enthrall audiences of all ages. Adding to the fun are the spirited voiceover performances by Bobby Driscoll (Peter), Hans Conried (Captain Hook and Mr. Darling), Kathryn Beaumont (Wendy) and Bill Thompson (Smee), and the sprightly songs by Sammy Cahn, Sammy Fain, Ollie Wallace, Erdman Penner, Ted Sears, Winston Hibler, Frank Churchill and Jack Lawrence. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Frustrated with the Walt Disney studio's reluctance to produce full-length animated films, Don Bluth and a number of animators left the studio in the early '80s with the intent of creating movies in the style of Disney's classics. The Secret of NIMH is the first film Bluth produced after leaving the studio. Adapted from Robert C. O'Brien's acclaimed children's book Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of N.I.M.H., the film is about a widowed mouse whose home is threatened; also, one of her children is gravely ill. On her way to find help, she discovers NIMH, a secret society of highly-intelligent rats who have escaped from a nearby science lab. The rats help the widow to protect her family and home. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Rovi

This Disney feature-length cartoon combines the most entertaining elements of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Chasing after the White Rabbit, who runs into view singing "I'm Late! I'm Late!," Alice falls down the rabbit hole into the topsy-turvy alternate world of Wonderland. She grows and shrinks after following the instructions of a haughty caterpillar, attends a "Very Merry Unbirthday" party in the garden of the Mad Hatter and the March Hare, stands in awe as the Cheshire Cat spouts philosophy, listens in rapt attention as Tweedledum and Tweedledee relate the story of the Walrus and the Carpenter (a sequence usually cut when Alice is shown on TV), and closes out her day with a hectic croquet game at the home of the Red Queen. The music and production design of Alice in Wonderland is marvelous, but the film is too much of a good thing, much too frantic to do full honor to the whimsical Carroll original, and far too episodic to hang together as a unified feature film. One tactical error is having Alice weep at mid-point, declaring her wish to go home: This is Alice in Wonderland, Walt, not Wizard of Oz! Its storytelling shortcomings aside, Alice in Wonderland is superior family entertainment (never mind the efforts in the 1970s to palm off the picture as a psychedelic "head" film). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

The only thing that anyone could be certain of in Season One of the animated superhero spoof Freakazoid! is that no one can be certain of anything. Most of the season's 12 episodes contained three to four short segments, interrelated only by the fact that the star of each one is Freakazoid!, a super-powered but somewhat doltish good guy whose alter ego is teenage computer geek Dexter Douglas. Also appearing are Dexter's sort-of girlfriend Steph, the neurotic police sergeant Cosgrove, and seedy master villain The Lobe. This season's consignment of craziness includes a bloodless spoof of the "Friday the 13th" movies, filmed in SCREAM-O-VISION; an escapade with Lord Bravery, a shameless takeoff of Hanna-Barbera's Jonny Quest; the ongoing plight of the Huntsman, an unemployed superhero who goes into hissy-fits because there aren't any criminals in his city; and a Woody Allen-esque luncheon in which a group of old, out-of-shape superheroes kvetch about how life has passed them by. Also, a group of lawn gnomes try to improve their malevelont image; Freakazoid! is saddled with a self-appointed sidekick, the obnoxious Fan Boy; our hero tries to tame a mad dog, dubbing his new pal "Foamy"; Christmas is threatened by the misbehavior of crime czar "Arms" Akimbo; "The Nerdator" kidnaps all the nerds in the world, thereby diminishing Freakazoid!'s fan base; the Cobra Queen grosses everybody out, dude, when she sets up headquarters in a sewer; and Leonard Nimoy is pestered by autograph seekers (Wait: Are you sure this is really a cartoon?) The only episode containing a single segment is "The Chip" which explains the computer meltdown that transformed Dexter Douglas into Freakazoid!, narrated by Motion Picture Association of America executive Jack Valenti (we swear we're not making this up). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi