Reading Rainbow The Complete Series 21 Seasons with 155 Episodes on 12 Blu-ray Discs in 720p HD

Description

Reading Rainbow The Complete Series 21 Seasons with 155 Episodes on 12 Blu-ray Discs in 720p HD

Set Breakdown:

This is the complete series all 155 episodes cleaned, enhanced and upscaled to 720p HD.

Set includes both movies “A Goofy Movie” ,”An Extremely Goofy Movie” and the Christmas Special “Have Yourself A Goofy Little Christmas”.

The screenshots are taken from a 60″ LCD TV playing on a standard Blu-ray player. Set come with a interactive menu so you can easily navigate to each episode with chapter skips and a play all feature to play the whole disc.

Story:

Reading Rainbow is hosted by actor and executive producer LeVar Burton, who when the show premiered was then known for his role in Roots. The show was produced first by Lancit Media Entertainment (1983–2001), and later On-Screen Entertainment (2002–2006). Every episode features a different children’s picture book, often narrated by a celebrity. The featured story’s illustrations were scanned by the camera in a technique known as “iconographic animation” of each page shown in succession, although on certain occasions the shots would be animated.

After the featured story, Burton visits many places relating to the episode’s theme, often featuring interviews with guests. A notable example is the season 6 premiere episode, which features the book The Bionic Bunny Show by Marc Brown and his wife Laurene, and includes a behind-the-scenes look at the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation, in which Burton was a main cast member.

The last segment of each show, called Book Reviews, begins with Burton’s introductory catchphrase, “But you don’t have to take my word for it”, and features children giving capsule reviews of books they liked. At the end of almost every episode, Burton signs off by telling the audience “I’ll see you next time”, with a review of the books featured in that episode beginning in season 2.

The series’ pilot, which was created and produced in 1981 and aired as the show’s 8th episode in 1983, features the book Gila Monsters Meet You at the Airport by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat and is narrated by Doug Parvin. Producer Larry Lancit’s daughters, Shaune and Caitlin, were often featured in the series, notably as the children thanking the sponsors at the beginning and end of the show.

On January 4, 1999, episodes began using a new live-action opening sequence and featuring CGI in a new space-themed world, with a new arrangement of the original song by Steve Horelick and performed by Johnny Kemp. A third intro was used starting on May 8, 2000, with a rerecorded version and the original lyrics performed by R&B artist Chaka Khan. This opening sequence is mostly the same as the second one, but features footage of Burton in place of some of the animated elements.

Original production of the series was to have ended after April 4, 2005, with the show continuing to air in reruns, but Burton said on February 7, 2006, that five new episodes of the show would be shot the same year despite the continuing financial issues of PBS. The show aired its final original episode on November 10, 2006, and continued to air reruns until August 28, 2009.

Not only was PBS unable to secure enough funds to cover the costs associated with renewing broadcast rights and continuing reruns, the show’s core philosophy was challenged as well. Reading Rainbow prominently featured published books throughout each episode, and licensing those books to be read aloud on the air was costly—an expensive move that producing station WNED decided not to make. Prior to the cancellation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the U.S. Department of Education provided funds for the production of Reading Rainbow and a number of other PBS children’s series throughout the early 2000s. The “Ready-to-Learn” grant was designed for television programming that encourages early childhood learning and development. However, under the No Child Left Behind Act, this grant was focused much more narrowly toward programs that teach literacy skills, phonics, and spelling after 2005. Since Reading Rainbow was originally developed upon fostering a love of reading books, and not necessarily developing reading skills, the funding was redirected toward other programs, and led to the launch of new skills-based programming, like Super Why!, WordWorld, and a reboot of The Electric Company.

Playback breakdown:

Standard Blu-ray player: This has the highest playback of all options. I recommend this option if available to you – please make sure your Blu-ray player is fully updated for the best playback experience.

PlayStation 3: I have tested my sets on my PS3, I have a generation 1 FAT model with a firmware of 4.43 and it plays fine. Remember that playback of PS3 is determined by the version of the system and the update you’re on.

PlayStation 4: This has the highest playback of the PlayStation systems. Quality of playback is determined by the version of the system and the update you are currently on. Make sure your system is fully updated for the best playback.

Xbox One: Based on customers reports Xbox has the lowest playback of all game systems. There are some ways to improve playback by updating the system and making sure the Blu-ray app in the system has the newest update. Playback is determined by the version of the system and the update you’re on.

All of this information is based on customer reports and personal experience. I would urge you to go through my feedback to see other customers experiences with playback. Many customers have had great success playing these on game systems. I put this here to be open and honest with you so you can have the best experience possible.

Running these Blu-rays on a video game consoles could result in playback issues based on all the information above.

Please e-mail me if you have any questions. I am here to help.