I remember these as part of the Jim Henson Hour (another series I would like to see again) and they were as enjoyable to watch as they are now.

I gave the DVD 3 stars, simply because it's just that. . . a DVD. No extra's no behind the scenes, nothing added to it, just the stories, one after another in a digital format. The content and movies are great, its just that, well, there wasn't anything else. Kind of disappointing, but I'm sure back then, they didn't have a lot of cameras on the set filming behind the scenes, it wasn't the fad or desire back then.

This is a dvd though, that's not for kids. Young kids that is. Some pretty spooky moments, and the creatures can be a bit scarey. It's a fairly dark, gritty form of story telling, but fun and amusing at times.

To wrap up, its great. If your a fan of Jim, it belongs in your DVD library. No extras though, just the 9 episodes and that's it. The sound is good, picture great, just as I remember them. My only desire for some of the recent releases of Henson DVD's is to actually have more of Henson on them. He was a great man, and to hear him speak about his films and what he was doing is always a rare treat. I just wish they had more film footage of him.

Nevertheless, it is a good movie. The wolf might scare the kids, I remember it being rather spooky when I saw it at the age of 8. And of course, the effects are. . . ohhh, slightly dated, but they hold up. The only thing that simply STINKS about this DVD release is the lack of extras, (I guess we could call it the Nothing). Because it has none. Big disappointment. Where is the cast and crew? Why didn't the director put in some time with this movie and give us a commentary, or behind the scenes, or even cut scenes? Wasn't this a classic. . . ? As far as I know the director hasn't been up to too much lately. It's a shame, it's a classic for those who grew up in the 80's, it did leave it's mark culturally, and I'm surpised nobody from the cast/crew decided to do anything for it when it released. It may have DVD quality, but not the quantity. I only paid 10 bucks for it, so, in the long run it was worth it.

In the meantime, if you want just a movie purely for imagination, then buy it for your kids. It sure beats all the slop the movie industry has kicked out recently for "childrens entertainment".

If you have seen the movie first, the initial shocker is that the entire movie is found within the first 1/4 of the book. I couldn't believe it. Things kept moving along, and as I flipped pages, you could easily tell there was MUCH more to come, yet everything that happened in the movie seemed to wrap up within the first 100 pages or so. And I have to admit, the movie was pretty faithful to the book. I can see why some characters were changed, due to lack of good technology or time, but for the most part, everything is there. The rest of the story is a fun read, and good fantasy. I would recommend the book for those who were raised on the films, and for younger kids. Not too young, there are some pretty creepy moments, but it nevertheless is a book about imagination. It's money well spent. Get it, if you want to see what really happend to Bastian, and Fantastica.

A lot of people compare this particular story to Tolkien. But I have to be honest and say, it is far from his works. Granted it is an interesting story, original. But I found it to be a little boring. It has interesting fantasy, and a great villan (love the bull). But I couldn't help but be slightly bored with the slow travel, and encounters, and very few climactic scenes (or battles). It has it's moments, surely, but it isn't all it's cracked up to be. People make this book sound like it's the next gospel. But I found it to be creative, yet simple, and even though it's fairly small book (which was surprising) it took a while to get through it. And I found some areas difficult to understand, and had to re-read a few paragraphs to understand exactly what was happening.

Nevertheless I'm glad I read it. It isn't horrible, it's just been glamourized a little too much. Check out the movie, I think it's actually better.

SOUND: I don't know why Rhino decided to put 5.1 audio on a cartoon that was barely suitable for stereo. The sound is good, however the decision to replace sounds with new snd fx was a horrible idea. Why? Why!! Also, because of this "forced" 5.1 audio, it is painfully obvious and straining to the ear to hear the audio switch back and forth between your center spkr and your surrounds. It was a nice try, but really doesn't snd too good.

IMAGE: The restoration is good, and I don't think can get any better. Crisp and clean. Though, I don't understand why Rhino decided to keep the commercial tag lines in. It seems those should have been taken out.

EXTRAS: Horrible. They are actually pretty boring, and having almost nothing to do with the old series. These are guys who are doing the new Armada series, and you don't get anything, zippo, from hardly anyone who did anything on the original broadcast. They are not well done either, and did I say they were rather boring?? No concept designs, sketches, storyboards, commentaries. . . nothing.

That's it. Besides all that, it is worth having to simply relive the nostalgia of it. But I think Rhino has made some pretty wierd and poor decisions on the quality. It's as if no one really tested the product. Or, these are people who didn't even grow up with the series, and are simply pumping out another DVD to put on the market. who knows.