The Amazing World of Gumball was unlike any show airing in the 2010s. It combined every possible animation style into a single world, paired with some of the smartest, wittiest comedy to create one of the funniest and most artistically unique animated sitcoms.
The series follows the day-to-day lives of the Wattersons, a lower-middle-class family consisting of the titular Gumball, the confident but naïve oldest son; Anais, the younger sister and the family’s voice of reason; Darwin, the optimistic adopted goldfish brother; and their parents, Nicole, the strong-willed mother, and Richard, the oafish father. Along with a plethora of colorful supporting characters, they find themselves in bizarre situations that provide absurd laughs, sharp satire, and social commentary.
Just in time for its 15th anniversary, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment has released the entire series run on DVD, available today.
Packaging – 1/5
As with many “complete series” home video releases, Gumball comes packaged in an Epik Pak DVD case, with all 15 discs held in a flip tray that is not attached to the inside. This abhorrent design has been a nuisance for collectors for nearly a decade and has become the unfortunate standard whenever a new sizeable television series collector’s set is released from one of the major studios.
While the case itself is lackluster, the graphic design is excellent. Featuring a slipcover with newly commissioned artwork and vibrant colors, it’s a superb reflection of the show’s bright aesthetics and eclectic style.
Video Quality – 1/5
Unsurprisingly, when you condense a high-definition show onto a DVD with a maximum file size of 8.5 GB per disc, it’s going to look bad. And it does. The usual suspects of compression artifacts and downscaling are present, and a show as visually demanding as Gumball deserves better image presentation.
The episodes are also in complete disarray, neither in production nor broadcast order, seemingly just random. You have episodes in the wrong season, such as The Stories on the final disc of season four, when it should be on the first disc of season five, or episodes rearranged within their respective seasons, like The End being played first, when it should be (ironically) The DVD. Gumball has a history of this, especially on streaming services, and it’s deeply disappointing that it was not corrected for this release.
Many keen listeners will immediately notice the opening theme song, which plays at a slower pitch than usual. This is another point against the DVD format, since Gumball is produced in the UK, which uses the PAL encoding rather than the NTSC encoding used for North American DVDs. Due to these restrictions, Gumball cannot be presented accurately on DVD without conversion. Using Blu-ray would have eliminated this problem, as the format supports various frame rates, including the PAL standard 25 fps, across all regions.
Audio Quality – 3/5
Conversely, the audio quality in this release is better. Included is a Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound mix for the series, which provides decent immersion when watching an episode. Even though an uncompressed lossless audio track on Blu-ray would have been a vast improvement overall, the current option is acceptable.
Closed captioning is also provided for each episode.
Special Features – 0/5
None. There are absolutely no bonus features of any kind included. No commentaries, no behind-the-scenes, no interviews, not even any trailers or promos. Zilch.
Overall Thoughts
This is a massive misfire across the board. Mediocre video resolution, abysmal quality control, substandard packaging, and lack of substance, all for the price of $69.99. Yes, it’s great that all of Gumball is available to own physically, but a show with such a dedicated fanbase and critical acclaim should be treated with more prestige. If you’re still considering picking it up, wait until it drops to around twenty bucks.
