TV favorites dominate this week’s slate of animated home video releases as a trio of two-disc sets offer up episodes of The Richie Rich, Scooby-Doo, Oban Star-Racers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. TMNT fans are especially eager to get their hands on the ‘Ninja Tribunal’ episodes, which went unaired for some time. There’s also a treat in store for those collecting episodes of Jim Henson’s The Muppet Show.
Hanna-Barbera devotees get two of the studio’s popular ’80s properties in one package as Warner Bros. debuts Richie Rich/Scooby-Doo Hour: Volume One. The double discer offers seven hour-long episodes featuring the comic-book millionaire boy and the mystery-solving trio of Scooby-Doo, Shaggy and Scrappy-Doo. The set carries a suggested retail price of $26.99 and includes a featurette titled The Story of Richie Rich.
Oban Star-Racers 2: The Oban Cycle from distributor Shout! Factory includes all 13 uncut episodes of the animated sci-fi/action series from Jetix Europe and French studio Sav! The World Production. Blending 2D and 3D animation, the show revolves around the Great Race of Oban, an intergalactic competition which takes place every 10,000 years to declare the winner of a mysterious Ultimate Prize and determine the balance of power within the Galaxy. For Earth, the race provides an opportunity to vanquish their deadly alien neighbors, the Crogs, who wish to annihilate the human race. The set can be had for around $19.99.
When the fourth season of FUNimation’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ended, the fighting terrapins were shanghaied to Japan where they would train under the intense tutelage of the mysterious Ninja Tribunal, a band of four immortal Ninjutsu masters who have been protecting our world from the forces of darkness for millennia. The cliffhanger was to set up a new season titled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Ninja Tribunal. As the episodes were in production, 4Kids decided to switch gears and launch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fast Forward instead. The incomplete Ninja Tribunal season has only recently begun airing and is available in full on this DVD release. The two-disc set lists for $16.98.
Those into felt can also pick up the complete third season of The Muppet Show. The four-disc set from Walt Disney Home Video offers 24 epsisodes of the classic Jim Henson Co. production that ran from 1976 to 1981. Hours of bonus features include an all-new behind-the-scenes documentary titled The Making of The Muppets, as well as the 1968 hour-long doc The Muppets on Puppets, in which Jim Henson, Rowlf the Dog and Muppet design chief Don Sahlin demonstrate how to build and operate a hand puppet, and provide insight into the history of the art of puppetry. There are also original Muppet commercials, a new featurette on the origins of Kermit the Frog titled A Frog is Born and A Company of Players, an intimate look behind the scenes with the puppeteers. The set lists for $39.99.
