Product Description

Conjunction Junction, what's your function? In the 70's and 80's, the catchy Schoolhouse Rock tunes taught millions of children the fundamentals of math, grammar, science, history and money. Relive the pop culture sensation with the SCHOOLHOUSE ROCK SPECIAL 30th ANNIVERSARY EDITION DVD, which includes every song from the landmark series in a collectible 2-disc DVD. Among the over 50 tunes are such classics as "Conjunction Junction," "Three is a Magic Number," "I'm Just A Bill" and "Electricity, Electricity." The DVD features an all-new song about the Electoral College, "I'm Gonna Send Your Vote To College" written by the show's original creators.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #204 in DVD
• Brand: Buena Vista Home Video
• Released on: 2002-08-27
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: 5.00 pounds
• Running time: 283 minutes

Features

• Schoolhouse Rock, the timeless collection of animated songs that taught an entire generation that "Knowledge Is Power," is on DVD for the first time in this Ultimate Collector's Edition 2-disc set. Now every day can feel like Saturday morning as you sing along with "I'm Just A Bill," "Three Is A Magic Number," "Interjections!" and the rest of your favorite tunes. Featuring a catchy new

Amazon.com
It's a good bet that any American kid growing up in the '70s or '80s learned some elementary lesson from the seminal musical series Schoolhouse Rock!. Airing from 1973 to 1984 (and often revived), the ABC Saturday morning shorts effortlessly introduced kids to grammar, science, multiplication, money, and American history--three minutes at a time. In one smart, comprehensive 2-disc set, all 46 songs and plenty of extras are collected. The four creators developed the series slowly, a welcome diversion from their advertising agency jobs, and ended up taking home four Emmys over the years. The background material includes 10 audio commentaries and a making-of feature for the new song, "I'm Gonna Send Your Vote to College." The DVD subtitle option is a great bonus for those who need to know every word from such favorites as "Three Is a Magic Number," "Interjections," "I'm Just a Bill," and "Conjunction Junction." (Ages 3 and older) --Doug Thomas

Customer Reviews

Part of the American Consciousness
Schoolhouse Rock is an unusual American cultural phenomenon. Nearly every person who grew up after the late Sixties is familiar with the series. How ubiquitous is it? I would predict that if you started humming "Conjunction Junction," "I'm Just a Bill," or "Three Is a Magic Number" in a room of a dozen people, three-quarters would know the reference and at least a couple would probably join in humming or singing the words.

This is unimpeachable stuff. To say that this 2-disc set is definitive is to do injustice to the word "definitive." EVERYTHING you would ever want to know about Schoolhouse Rock is here. All forty-six cartoons ever done for the series are included, even the "Scooter Computer and Mr. Chips" series that looked at computers. The electoral college toon that was done later is part of this collection, too.

The extras on the second disc are outstanding. In addition to Scooter Computer and the rarely seen "The Weather Show," you get a behind the scenes look at the electoral college song, a Top 20 countdown of the best in the series, a puzzle game that features the songs, four music videos of the songs arranged by contemporary pop/rock groups, a feature on the Emmy Awards won by the series, commentary by the creators, and more.

The navigation design of the DVD is superb. Only want to see the "Multiplication Rock" or "America Rock" toons? You can select the specific series you want, play all within a series, or pick each specific toon from a series. You can also choose to play all forty-six toons or just the ones chosen by fans as the top ones. There's a built-in shuffle feature as well. Every DVD should be this easy to navigate and use.

Even the booklet that comes with this edition is helpful. The lyrics for the top ten toons are included as is the history of Schoolhouse Rock. A chapter breakdown is included at the end of the booklet.

Schoolhouse Rock is virtually impervious to review due to its unbiquitous nature within a whole generation or two of Americans. The cleverness of the animation enlivens the topic discussed, not to mention holding the attention of young children. The songs are exceptionally catchy; I'm still amazed at how they managed to do such a great job marrying the Preamble of the Constitution with a hummable melody. Definitely a reflection of the musical styles of the day, songs like "Verb: That's What's Happening" (done in the style of the soundtrack of "Shaft") or "The Preamble" (70s Folk/Rock) capture the era perfectly. It makes those of us who grew up in those days misty-eyed for a return of that AM radio sound to today's music.

If you have kids (or are just nostalgic at heart), this DVD is essential. I'm using it as homeschool material for our kids. When my son sings the songs, it's great to know another generation will appreciate the merits of Schoolhouse Rock. No question, this 30th anniversary edition of Schoolhouse Rock is truly worthy of five stars.

The Good-For-You Cartoon DVD
After hearing my preschooler memorize and recite pointless nursery rhymes, I decided to put her brain to better use. Enter "Schoolhouse Rock." Now, instead of hearing about four-and-twenty blackbirds baked in a pie, I'm hearing "12x8 is the same as 10x8 plus 2x8... 80 plus 16 is 96." Yes, really. Her grandmother was equally impressed when asked "What's a conjunction?"

Schoolhouse Rock presents Multiplication, Grammar, American History, and Science and Computers in all it's emmy-winning glory. The music -- rock, jazz, bluegrass and country -- are masterfully produced and yes, danceable. The cartoons are hip, funny, well-crafted and support the curriculum well. It's education with attitude.

Here's the best part: it is fun! Give your children the remote and let them repeat their favorites over and over again. Before you know it, they'll have a brain packed full of good stuff. I can't tell you how many grammar quizzes I passed by remembering the lyrics "Lolly Lolly Lolly get your adverbs here," "then I unpacked my adjectives," and "a noun is a person place or thing." Many of my friends hummed the tune of "the preamble" to the constitution during history exams.

There is only one drawback -- some of the songs use improper English like "ain't." There is a jukebox feature on each component which allows you to select which tracks to play, so you can omit those if you like.

I'd also recommend the CD Box Set or the individual CDs to reinforce the material, but not in place of the DVD.

Nothing out there today compares with these short vids
I read a bunch of the reviews for the Schoolhouse Rock DVDs before buying them, but knew I would get them anyway. And I'm glad I did.

Our three kids, 11, 8, and 5, all love these and have hardly stopped watching them since they arrived. That's fairly typical with new videos or DVDs, but this is the first one we've bought where the kids walk around singing about adjectives, the shot heard 'round the world, how electricity works, and interplanet Janet.

Face it. Anyone who watched Saturday morning cartoons in the 70s and 80s probably can still recite the preamble to the US Constitution. And tell you where the piece of paper in "I'm just a Bill" is sitting. And with a bit of coaching, could tell you what the function of conjunctions is. ("Hookin' up words and phrases and clauses," for those who never saw them.)

I haven't seen anything out there today that compares with these as far as teaching kids useful information in an entertaining way. My kids love them. My wife and I still love them. And there are a couple of new ones, including one about the electoral college, and an even better one about Tyrannosaurus Debt, the US deficit, how it started, and how it keeps growing.

I had no trouble with the jukebox format or navigating my way around. I was surprised how easy it was based on some of the other reviews, but no problems here.

If you ever watched these when you were a kid, get these DVDs. If you have kids, get these DVDs. If you've never heard of them but want to watch some entertaining, short, educational cartoons, get these DVDs.

Darn, that's the end.