I’ll begin by stating that I am very biased towards this show – I truly love it. If you haven’t been watching, Russell Coight’s All Aussie Adventures is basically a spoof series of television programmes like The Bush Tucker Man and The Crocodile Hunter. The humour mostly relies on one liners and visual Three Stooges style visual gags. If this kind of stuff doesn’t do anything for you, stay well away from this DVD. But if you enjoy a good dose of slapstick humour to laugh your head off at, this is the place to look.
Russell Coight is played by the famous Australian comic Glenn Robbins, who is probably most well known for his work on The Comedy Company, Fast Forward and The Panel. He fits into this role very well – this is the style of humour that he is best at. The series is directed by Tom Gleisner, who was of course partly responsible for The Castle and The Dish. Writing credits go to Tom Gleisner, Rob Sitch, Glenn Robbins and Santo Cilauro (Cilauro was also responsible for the cinematography).
This DVD release contains all of the episodes from the first and second seasons of the show, plus a small selection of extras that will be of interest to the fans.
SEASON 1
Episode 1: Red Centre Part 1 - Russell heads North to help an old mate with the annual cattle muster. Along the way he searches for some bush tucker, helps a motorist who has run into strife, and offers us many invaluable tips for survival situations in the outback.
Episode 2: Red Centre Part 2 - After giving us some insights into the old Ghan railway, Russell finally arrives at the cattle muster. We get to see his expert country dancing skills and his amazing talents with the whip.
Episode 3: Daintree - Russell takes us to the magnificent Daintree Rainforest in Northern Queensland and shows us some of the incredible highlights of the area, including the Great Barrier Reef. He also helps out an old mate with a crocodile problem.
Episode 4: High Country Part 1 - In a good intentioned gesture, Russell takes three city kids on a tour of the outback. He teaches them valuable lessons so that they will be able to survive in an emergency situation. Russell also helps out two stranded motorists who have become bogged.
Episode 5: High Country Part 2 - Russ introduces the kids to the intricate art of sheep shearing and the safe way to handle and use firearms. Also, they are taught the correct way to set a trap to catch some dinner.
Episode 6: Cooktown - After getting rid of the kids, Russ heads back up to North Queensland for his niece’s wedding. Along the way he enters into a fishing competition with some old mates.
| "…eventually reaching a hill Strzelecki named Mount Disappointment, after his wife, Inge." |
SEASON 2
Episode 1: Muster - This time Russell travels to outback New South Wales for a muster with some old mates. Along the way he lets us in on some secrets such as intricate home-made camp seats.
Episode 2: Tourists Part 1 - Russell decides to take some international tourists to the outback for the experience of their lives. Russ gives some amazing facts and figures on the high country of Australia to his guests.
Episode 3: Tourists Part 2 - The group of intrepid adventurers continue their journey through Australia’s wilderness and meet up with an old mate of Russell’s who joins them by the fire.
Episode 4: Explorer Part 1 - Being intensely interested in the history of the outback, Russ attempts to retrace the steps of two of the country’s earliest explorers – Oscar Forbes and William Montgomery. He hopes to locate the grave of Forbes which has never been found. During his trip, he helps out an old mate’s wife with a snake problem, and drops in on a camel farm.
Episode 5: Explorer Part 2 - Whilst continuing his journey to find Forbes’ grave, Russell drops in and has a chat with a few old mates. He eventually finds the resting place of the explorer, and sets his own memorial for the man.
Episode 6: Rare Roo - Russell travels through the outback on a mission to release a rare kangaroo to its original habitat. Along the way he helps out some young life guards by showing them how the drills should be done, and assists a couple of female backpackers.
Episode 7: Rogue Croc - Russell takes one of his most avid fans out to the outback for the experience of a lifetime. Russ teaches us many things about bush traps and camp fires, plus they play a few night games.
The video transfer is of good quality. The first two episodes of the first season are in a full frame aspect ratio, whilst the remaining 11 episodes are presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio (the cover incorrectly states that they are 2.35:1). The 1.78:1 episodes are 16x9 enhanced, whilst naturally the full frame episodes are not.
There are no glaring problems with the transfer, which can be mostly attributed to the very young age of the source material. Flesh tones are spot on, and the colours are vibrant and accurate. Sharpness remains good throughout all the episodes, and detail is easy to pick out.
The discs are both single sided and dual layered. The layer change occurs on both discs at a point where the show would go to an ad break if it were on television, and are thus not very noticeable and cause minimal disruption. There are English for the Hearing Impaired subtitles available on this release, and they are accurate to the letter.
