Roary The Racing Car - Roary's First Day (DVD)

Roary the racing car has been a permanent fixture in my household for some time now. My son was introduced to him through his cousin who was already a big fan. So, we had to start watching Nick JR and Milkshake on 5 in the mornings to catch every episode. After a couple of months of being asked when Roary was on, my husband and I decided to get the DVD for our little boy as it would avoid the countless disappointing look if we ever missed it.
...little catch-up.

Roary is a little red racing car living and racing at Silverhatch racecourse. His friends and competitors at the racetrack are:

Maxi: a yellow racing car with an Italian accent (he is also Roary's main rival)

Cici: a friendly pink French solar powered car

Drifter: A yellow street racing car with neon undercarriage lights

Tin Top: the American blue car who ... more

Roary the racing car has been a permanent fixture in my household for some time now. My son was introduced to him through his cousin who was already a big fan. So, we had to start watching Nick JR and Milkshake on 5 in the mornings to catch every episode. After a couple of months of being asked when Roary was on, my husband and I decided to get the DVD for our little boy as it would avoid the countless disappointing look if we ever missed it.

If you are not familiar with Roary's antics, here is a little catch-up.

Roary is a little red racing car living and racing at Silverhatch racecourse. His friends and competitors at the racetrack are:

Maxi: a yellow racing car with an Italian accent (he is also Roary's main rival)

Cici: a friendly pink French solar powered car

Drifter: A yellow street racing car with neon undercarriage lights

Tin Top: the American blue car who is more of a stunt car and hardly ever goes around the track without crashing.

The other 2 vehicles in the show are Plugger, a Jamaican tow vehicle who is relaxed and helps tow the car back to be fixed and FB, Farmer Green's farm help who wishes he could race like the others.

The human side of things are handled by Big Chris (voiced by Peter Kay-yes that is right- Peter Kay!!!) the karaoke singing, doughnut eating mechanic, Marsha (voiced by Maria Darling) the Marshall (obviously), Mr Carburettor the owner and farmer Green who recycles his crops and produces fuel for the race cars (plausible? maybe in the future). There is also Ellie, Mr Carburettor's private helicopter, Molecom, the helpful if somewhat short sighted mole, Flash the rabbit with a racing skateboard who races against the cars at the first opportunity (and also Mr Carburettor's arch enemy) and Dinky the donkey.

Going back to the DVD. This is Roary the racing first DVD and is called "Roary's first Day". The front cover has Roary the racing car at the top, Roary himself with Big Chris behind him and Maxi just slightly further behind with Roary's first day underneath (also mentioning featuring Peter Kay as Big Chris).

There are 5 episodes on this DVD and I will only give a highlight to them (don't want to spoil your watching pleasure).

Roary's first day:

Roary is slightly shaken up after having a bad dream about the forthcoming big race so big Chris tells him the story of a little red racing car when he arrived at the racecourse and overcame his initial fears. Of course, it is the story of Roary's first day at Silverhatch

Big Chris flags it up:

Big Chris has to take over as Marshall due to Marsha's illness but has to wash them after he uses them to clean up a spill. He then goes on to use some of his personal items of clothing and undergarments to signal to the cars on the track. This episode is one of my son's favourite as it is humourous and the waving of undergarment always raises a smile.

Flash flips out:

Flash the rabbit is fed up with all the noise from the track and decides to stop the noise for the day but will Big Chris and Marsha realise what is about to happen before chaos ensues.

Rusty remembers:

Rusty is the caravan Big Chris lives in and reminisces on what it used to be like in his younger days as a touring caravan until he is reminded by Roary of how useful and indispensable he is now. My son also enjoys this one very much as he is starting to realise that the caravan is sad but soon becomes cheerful again.

Blue light job:

Drifter has an electric meltdown and Big Chris tries to fix him without his manual but to no avail. . Where is his manual?--Well I know! Suffice to say that it isn't in an obvious place.

DVD EXTRAS

The bonus feature on this DVD is a Meet the characters. All of them are present and you can view their stats, catchphrases and favourite things to do. Once you have viewed this, you can go to the next screen and test you knowledge by picking the right answer out of the 3 given to you. After you have completed the questions, you get a short clip of character in question. I have to admit that this feature is seldom used as the facts and questions have to be read (there is no voice over) so my son finds it a bit boring but may appeal to older children who may want you to read these to them and answer them so may be good for interaction.

SUBTITLES

Subtitles are provided and can be turned on by the subtitle feature on the starting screen.

This DVD delights my son and we also find it entertaining to watch (if a bit bizarre with Peter Kay's voice) as it is funny in parts and it can show human traits in the cars themselves. My main discontent is that there are only 5 episodes and the extras are redundant for my little boy so it has become repetitive as they are being over watched and we are back to square one of looking for Roary episodes on the TV although our little boy still enjoys them but we have to for our own sanity. The price is probably too much for the number of episodes but it will keep any Roary fan happy for a long time to come.

I bought this quite a while back now and think I paid £8.98 from Woolworths on special offer. Prices now start from £4.50 on Amazon, around £10 on buy it now on Ebay, £10.93 from Asda and £9.97 in Woolworths
Running time: approx 50 min
Format: DVD5

Voice over:
Peter Kay
Sir Stirling Moss
Maria Darling
Marc Silk
Dominic Frisby
Tim Whitnall
Writers: Wayne Jackman (Balamory, Fifi and the Flowertot, Me too)
Director: Tim Harper 

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