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    Wild Palms
    /MRA . R4 . COLOR . 275 mins . M15+ . PAL

      Feature
    Contract

    Harry Wykoff is a fairly typical ‘burbs dweller, he has a wife, two kids a big house and a swimming pool. Harry does have some issues though, terrible nightmares involving a passive Rhinoceros haunt him every night and his young daughter hasn’t ever spoken a single word, even his outwardly normal looking son has some anger management problems and don’t get me started on his mother in law.

    When an old lover visits Harry at his law practice asking him to investigate the disappearance of her son his world begins to change, for the weirder. A chain of events have Harry quitting his job and taking a position as the President of a new multimedia company that is preparing to launch the biggest thing since colour television. Known as ”The New Reality” it will bring real and interactive holograms to lounge rooms in every house in the world.

    Little does Harry know that beneath all this lies a web in intrigue, murder and deceit that threatens not only his, but the lifestyle of every person on the planet.

    Sounds dramatic doesn’t it? Wild Palms is at its core a soap opera with a side order of cyberpunk and some incredibly bad future predictions.

    The series was released in 1993 but it is set in Los Angeles in 2007. The alternate future world projected by the series (and only 2 years in the future from now) is up there with some of the worst. No explanation is given as to why in 2007 everyone is driving around in cars from the early 70’s, or wearing fashion and hair from the 80’s, or even listening to 60’s and 70’s music, it’s all very bizarre (that’s the intention, I suppose).

    Running at nearly five hours the viewer really needs to pay attention for the whole time or be lost in plot twists and confused between what is real and what is not, even with close attention confusion can still occur.

    Comparisons have been drawn between this series and the equally bizarre Twin Peaks, to the point that Wild Palms has been called Twin Palms. And the parallels are none too subtle, to the point that I’m sure Twin Peaks fans will be about the only viewers capable of really enjoying Wild Palms. It was all a little too weird and surreal for this reviewer.

      Video
      Audio
      Extras
    Contract

    Let me be blunt and to the point. For a series only just ten years old the video quality of this DVD set is atrocious. I’m not so worried about the 4:3 aspect ratio since that was the original ratio of the series but more the third generation bootleg video tape look of the picture.

    Soft is the adjective that springs to mind when describing the picture and despite the softness there is also a considerable amount of grain in the picture, enough to fill a beach. Other adjectives also spring to mind but none are printable on a public website.

    It’s hard to tell if this look was deliberate but given the material I suspect it may have been, it truly does look like a 70’s TV show in look and content. The 70’s cars combined with the 80’s clothes combined with the soft and grainy look of the picture conspire to give a most bizarre atmosphere.

    Even if the soft and grainy feel was deliberate the video presentation has some other problems. The main problem is the colour levels which oscillate between drab and washed out to oversaturated in different scenes. Some minor film artefacts are also visible while compression artefacts are minimal they still rear their ugly head occasionally.

    A minor gripe and a further example of the lack of care taken in transferring this series to DVD is the “Place Commercial Here” notification about half way through episode two, a true sign of lazy video engineers.

    The audio presentation is on par with the terrible video. The only choice of audio track is Dolby Digital 2.0 and no subtitles are available at all. In keeping with the 70’s TV series feel, the complete absence of surround or sub woofer activity the soundtrack sounds mono, even the dialog sounds hollow and echoes around the front speakers when it is not sounding flat and dead. Despite these problems the dialog is mostly clear but is marred occasionally by some serious hiss, something you don’t hear every day on a DVD audio track. Some major audio glitches also exist. A couple of examples are short but loud feedback noises at time mark 27:06 and 28:05 in episode one.

    The extras for this series got lost in the virtual reality matrix, or got converted to scientology and ran away, not even so much as an animated menu or biography in sight.

    Despite the disappointing audio, video and special feature treatment the limited audience of this series may be happy to see it on DVD. The inevitable parallels that can be drawn between it and Twin Peaks combines with the surreal and bizarre story will have some viewers clamouring for this set.

    Buyer beware though, if you already own this on original VHS tape, or even a bootleg, the usual reasons of quality and extra features that would make you buy a DVD like this set are non existent.

    The only bonus for us Region 4 dwellers is that Wild Palms isn't available in Region 1, this fact should generate some sales for local stores who will ship internationally.


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  •   And I quote...
    "It was all a little too weird and surreal for this reviewer."
    - Chris Hore
      Review Equipment
    • DVD Player:
          Pioneer DV-676A
    • Projector:
          BenQ PB6100
    • Receiver:
          Yamaha RX-V995
    • Speakers:
          Wharfedale Diamond
    • Centre Speaker:
          Wharfedale Modus
    • Surrounds:
          Wharfedale Diamond
    • Audio Cables:
          Standard Optical
    • Video Cables:
          Standard Component RCA
      Recent Reviews:
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