Sherlock Hound originated as a 1981 TV anime series, directed by Hayao Miyazaki and animated at Japan's Telecom studio (associated with TMS), alongside such luminaries of the period as Yoshifumi Kondo and Kazuhide Tomonaga. Unfortunately, only six episodes were completed when the project was scuttled. Fortunately, interest in the series was revived after two episodes were shown in theaters alongside Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind in 1984. This led to a new production at TMS in 1984 and 1985.
Personally, I find the original 1981 Miyazaki-directed episodes to be far superior to the later episodes; you can spot the dramatic drop-off in talent, as most of the best animators and artists followed Miya-san to Studio Ghibli. That said, this is a really fun cartoon show that doesn't aspire to be anything more than a really fun cartoon show, with MacGuffin-fueled plots and ridiculous car chases. And having English dubs helps tremendously with selling to a wider audience.
I'm really looking forward to seeing Sherlock Hound again. I do have the three Pioneer DVDs with the Miyazaki episodes (they're scattered about, the fiendish bastards!), but I'll definitely pick up the new Discotek release when it arrives this September.
No word yet on extras or bonus material, such as essays or audio commentaries. As always, I'm happy to contribute and am regularly harrassing the Discotek people with emails. Maybe I should send a fruit basket or something. Who do I have to call around here?
3 comments:
This is wonderful and timely news. The kiddos and I just finished all of the episodes that were available on Youtube recently.
I believe the releases Pioneer had of the show were double-sided, not dual-layered. The English version was on one side while the Japanese on the other. That was how they chose to handle that release since I recall once having volume one.
i turned down buying the last release as it was english only- japanese intro was better, and hate having options taken away- at least it had no indication of a jap dub on the box.
Post a Comment