Great buy, although not complete series
I have always loved and collected stop-motion clay animation movies, from the Russian tv show “Cheburashka” to the kid/horror/fantasy movie “Coraline”. Davey and Goliath is no exception. I already had a lot of episodes, but after some digging I found out that there were many more which I did not have. After I found this set, I knew I had a good deal, so I quickly bought it.
The sound quality is very good, and the visuals are awesome too. There is a very rare moment in only one or two episodes where the screen goes a bit wobbly, but quickly adjusts back. I guess that was a bad bit in the film reel. Very minor.
The stories in it are great to. It was made by the Lutheran Church so it Christian topics and morals, which it does a good job of teaching. It deals with lying, disobedience, racism, fear, the environment, common sense, bravery, and others. The art style is fabulous, especially after the first few episodes. I watch it and study the sets they made, and am amazed at the creativity.
If you think that this set has the entire collections, then think again. It is missing the 2004 episode “Snowboard Christmas” and “The Family of God”. I don’t mind the fact that the former is missing (I dislike the episode myself), but there was no reason for them to preclude “The Family of God” episode. My only guess is that it was because they felt it was weird showing Davey in church taking communion (eating bread, drinking a sip of wine). And yet they don’t mind Davey’s father smoking a pipe.
They also have cut scenes from some of the episodes and changed episode titles. Pretty much anytime an American Indian is mentioned, with the rare exception, they gave it the chop. They removed Davey, Sally, and Cousin Barney playing ‘Cowboys and Indians’ in the episode “Cousin Barney”. In an episode originally named “Ten Little Indians”, they changed the name to “Ten Pin Alley”. In it, there is a boy dressed as an American Indian, picking up bowling pins (which a character calls Indians). All of that is removed. They changed an episode originally titled “The Gang” to “The Jickets”. Who knows why.? In another episode called “Whatshisname” they removed a scene of Davey IMAGINING that he is tarring and feathering a kid who framed him for a crime. I could go on about other cuts and removals, but I won’t. I have some VHS tapes of the episodes unedited, so I will always have all of the episodes complete, although some are extremely hard to find.
OVERALL
Sound: 8/10
Visual:8/10
Story Quality:9/10
Storage: 6/10
Menu Selection: 9/10
Overall, I’m happy to have tons of episodes in restored condition, but for the collector such as myself, the episode editing and lack of some episodes keeps me from giving this product a 5 star rating.
Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned