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Inhumanoids: The Evil That Lies Within
List Price: Unknown [Buy now and save at Amazon]
Blackthorne Shore isn't much different from your average Bond villain -- despite having indescribable wealth and power at his fingertips, his appetite is insatiable, kind of like a mildly-less-irritating version of Mo from Larry Cohen's epic "The Stuff". There's little doubt that Blackthorne is bad news, given his eyepatch and ominous name, and his goal is no less than total global domination. Our buddy Blackthorne has done his homework and has greatly familiarized himself with a group of monsters known as the Inhumanoids who, after a lengthy war with the heroic Mutores, were trapped deep within the earth. Led by the volcanic Metlar, the king weed Tendril and zombie machine D'Compose emerge to wreak havoc once again due to the meddling of Blackthorne. Mankind's hopes aren't entirely dashed, though -- we have the Earth Corps on our side. Herc Armstrong, Dr. Derek Bright, Liquidator, Augur, and Blackthorne's sister Sandra team up with both races of Mutores -- the treelike Redwoods and the you-can-guess-what-they-are Granites --setting out to reimprison the Inhumanoids and give Blackthorne a well-deserved beatdown before the monsters turn the surface world into a lava bake. Yes, "Inhumanoids" has it all -- 100 foot tall monsters, armies of the undead, political intrigue, failed attempts at romance, cluster bombs, betrayal, Generic Russians™, action, horror... Although "Inhumanoids" doesn't have the sort of rabid fanbase that cartoons like "Thundercats" and "Masters of the Universe" enjoy, Rhino has given the first 5-episode arc of the series a respectable presentation, just waiting to be rediscovered.
Video: Some of the screen shots on the DVD packaging turned my stomach, seemingly snapped from 5th-generation VHS dubs. Between that and the disappointing quality of Rhino's "Transformers: Villains" that I'd seen the night before, I didn't set my expectations particularly high for this disc. I was surprised to discover that "Inhumanoids" looks just fine, not marred by fist-sized chunks of grime or print flaws of any sort. The closing credit sequences look horrible, with the text bordering on illegible and the background images having that fuzzy video look to 'em, but that's about as insignificant a complaint as I could possibly make.
Audio: "Inhumanoids" is presented in stereo, free of the distracting 5.1 audio slapped on the "Transformers" episode collections. One of the few quibbles I have with the audio is that the theme song seems all wrong, with the music dropped to a barely-discernable level and the 'monster' vocals drowning out the faux-Solid Gold singers. The last 6 or 7 minutes of episode three have some very strange background noise, sort of pulsing static, on occassion (around the 16-17 minute mark, specifically), as well as some heavily-distorted dialogue. These problems don't spill over into the penultimate episode, though volume levels tend to be a little too dynamic early on. Despite these relatively minor issues, "Inhumanoids" doesn't sound as if it differs greatly from the original broadcasts, which is all I really expect from collections of television episodes.
Supplements: Nothing.
Conclusion: Although "Inhumanoids" isn't quite as fondly remembered as other animated series from around the same time, I enjoyed watching this feature-length collection more than similar compilations of "G.I. Joe", "Transformers", and "Masters of the Universe" on VHS and DVD I've seen over the past few years. The animation leaves a little to be desired and the dialogue's hokey, but that's all part of the charm of '80s television. Rhino's "Inhumanoids" disc, hopefully the first of several, is a must-have for animation buffs with a soft spot for Japanese monster flicks. Widely available in the $15 range, "Inhumanoids: The Evil That Lies Within" is highly recommended.
Video: Some of the screen shots on the DVD packaging turned my stomach, seemingly snapped from 5th-generation VHS dubs. Between that and the disappointing quality of Rhino's "Transformers: Villains" that I'd seen the night before, I didn't set my expectations particularly high for this disc. I was surprised to discover that "Inhumanoids" looks just fine, not marred by fist-sized chunks of grime or print flaws of any sort. The closing credit sequences look horrible, with the text bordering on illegible and the background images having that fuzzy video look to 'em, but that's about as insignificant a complaint as I could possibly make.
Audio: "Inhumanoids" is presented in stereo, free of the distracting 5.1 audio slapped on the "Transformers" episode collections. One of the few quibbles I have with the audio is that the theme song seems all wrong, with the music dropped to a barely-discernable level and the 'monster' vocals drowning out the faux-Solid Gold singers. The last 6 or 7 minutes of episode three have some very strange background noise, sort of pulsing static, on occassion (around the 16-17 minute mark, specifically), as well as some heavily-distorted dialogue. These problems don't spill over into the penultimate episode, though volume levels tend to be a little too dynamic early on. Despite these relatively minor issues, "Inhumanoids" doesn't sound as if it differs greatly from the original broadcasts, which is all I really expect from collections of television episodes.
Supplements: Nothing.
Conclusion: Although "Inhumanoids" isn't quite as fondly remembered as other animated series from around the same time, I enjoyed watching this feature-length collection more than similar compilations of "G.I. Joe", "Transformers", and "Masters of the Universe" on VHS and DVD I've seen over the past few years. The animation leaves a little to be desired and the dialogue's hokey, but that's all part of the charm of '80s television. Rhino's "Inhumanoids" disc, hopefully the first of several, is a must-have for animation buffs with a soft spot for Japanese monster flicks. Widely available in the $15 range, "Inhumanoids: The Evil That Lies Within" is highly recommended.
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