Ah, a lovely Tuesday morning at the gym. Yep, set the treadmill up to speed. Get into the swing and watch the five televisions placed generously above the treadmills showing three of the channels. But wait, don’t lose your footing Marty – it’s an ad for McLeod’s Daughters! Not only was the concept of reviewing Series 1 of McLeod’s Daughters emotionally upsetting, and socially embarrassing, this guy thought that it was a hybrid combination of The Sleepover Club camping out at Drovers Run – yep, Basia A’Hern (Lyndz in TSoC) has joined the cast. Admittedly, and sadly, McLeod’s Daughters is actually a step up from The Sleepover Club. Who ever thought that could happen?
So who are The Sleepover Club? Well, if you haven’t guessed, they’re a club. Yep, and they have sleepovers. Oh did I mention they’re a club? Well they’re made up of Lyndz, who is always at war with her twin brother Michael, Fliss, a prissy bimbo in the making, Kenny, a sportiva if there ever was one, Frankie, an anal control freak, and newcomer Rosie who has a few introverted secrets. Sound’s like any school group, right?
Honestly, this series is quite a bit of fun, and is aimed at the young ladies out there, something I’m not really familiar with. Realistically everything is just so simplistic that it makes this saccharine coated world seem too cardboardy. You never know, maybe it’s just the conditioning of the doom-and-gloom mood set by many films speaking here. Not that there is anything wrong with that, it would just be nice if it occasionally came true.
Shot on the Gold Coast, this series looks great on screen with beautiful Australian beaches and bushland – a great advert for overseas markets. Now be warned ye little children, the following synopses do contain some plot spoilers, so if you want to enjoy the series first time round, just skip down to the Video component of the review.
Episode 8: Makeover
It’s the first school dance and Rosie really wants to go, but the SoC have different opinions on these organised school events. But Rosie’s strength pulls them through and they do go, but not before Lyndz’s identity crisis resulting in a rather Goth-chick impersonation with some cheap non-waterproof makeup. When will they learn? Meanwhile, Frankie is coaxed into competing in the dance competition with Matthew from the M&Ms – something both of them feel a little uneasy about. But is Matthew as bad as he leads on to be?
Episode 9: Changing Rooms
It’s about time Rosie hosted a sleepover – but she won’t, and she won’t say why either. She would rather keep that to herself than be a member of the SoC and so leaves the club. Meanwhile, the school jumble competition is on with the M&Ms and the SoC both competing for the most jumble collected to win smoothies from The Beach Hut. But while this is going on, the remaining members of the SoC learn why Rosie is so embarrassed about her problem and create their own version of Changing Rooms with the assistance and cooperation of Rosie’s father.
Episode 10: Swim Carnival
Everyone goes through changes – and Rosie’s dad is on a sudden health kick – why? Well, the flirting at the swim carnival may explain it. Or is there something else? While at the swim carnival, Fliss gets a text message from the M&Ms after she had to give her mobile number to Marco for a group assignment, who pretends to be Ryan Scott. This, of course, gets her all gushy and even a really sweet guy can’t hint at this prank.
Episode 11: Car Wash
It’s all about business. The SoC decide to have a car wash to raise money for a school based assignment. But the M&Ms get word of this and are out to make sure that the SoC car wash is an absolute disaster, with the help of the two twits Alana and Sara. Lyndz is upset again because of a financial situation and is forced to leave the club, leading to Frankie’s quick accusations getting tempers flaring. Ooh it’s dangerous out there...
Episode 12: Outdoor Trip
Weekend camp time – and they’re all out to do some orienteering in the Australian bush. Fliss is too prissy for this, Rosie is paranoid about snakes, spiders and whatever critters are deadly in the bush and Kenny, the sporty one, is in trouble after a twisted ankle gets her team grounded. But Fliss, being ditzy and all, is to the rescue with a bottle of nail polish on hand. Weird? Well watch the episode and it will all make sense.
Episode 13: Fight for Kenny
Oh no – Kenny’s family are moving to Sydney. The Sleepover Club are about to be four again. But, of course, the SoCs are going to try and make her stay first by giving the real estate agent a hard time. This is a well-made episode which shows how painful it can be saying goodbye to friends, something all of us have had to do no doubt, and really has left this reviewer hanging out for disc 3. Wait, did I just admit that?
The video, presented in a full-frame aspect, is obviously lacking anamorphic enhancement but on the whole looks pretty good, right in tune with disc 1. After all, it’s aimed at the teenage girl audience and what do they care? Colours, are bright and vibrant, soaking richly with realistic colours and life. One of the biggest issue is with some of the dark sequences which suffer from poor shadow definition and a rather thick wash of grain and noise. There are two cases of bizarre MPEG artefacts – one at 2:05 of Car Wash where a pink speck can be seen on Frankie’s face, and the other just below the one minute mark in Fight For Kenny where the top part of the screen briefly gets disjointed from the rest of the image. These are not really terribly distracting as they flick through rather quickly, but still a little ugly when you do catch a glimpse. Like the first disc, subtitles are neat and easy to understand, and quite accurate to the dialogue.
The sole Dolby Digital 2.0 English track is sufficient for the purposes of the show, with pretty decent synch and a healthy bass line. Dialogue is audible throughout in a variety of quasi Aussie-British accents. The scary thing is that some are British, some are Australian and others are just slightly confused. Regardless, whatever the hell they are, they are easily understandable and feature simplistic, amusing and polite dialogue. Episode 12, Outdoor Trip features a really rotten soundtrack with a very muffled and cloudy sound lacking in fidelity. You know what things sound like after you’ve been out clubbing or at a concert? Well that is what this episode sounds like – and what’s worse is that it is for the entire duration too.
Huh? Extras? Where? The only thing here is the same set of five brief character descriptions called Meet the Sleepover Club as reviewed on the first disc - nothing really too special here. And, uh that’s about it. The slightly animated 4:3 menus don’t really count for much, right?
This continuation of The Sleepover Club series is great for the growing girls, or grown male DVD reviewers who got into this when someone’s (older) brother got into afternoon TV. *sigh* But the thing is, that this guy is laughing – not with the characters, but at the characters. It’s funny in a silly kind of way, but still amusing too. Gee, that’s sad isn’t it?
