Cougar Town – The Complete Second Season (a J!-ENT DVD Review)

An enjoyable, fun, adult-humored sitcom from the writer of “Scrubs” and “Spin City”. “Cougar Town” is a fresh comedy featuring a colorful cast of characters and the more you watch it, the more the series starts to grow on you. The second season of “Cougar Town” is hilarious, over-the-top and highly enjoyable.  Definitely recommended!

Images courtesy of © ABC Studios. All Rights Reserved.

TITLE: Cougar Town – The Complete Second Season

YEAR OF TV SERIES: 2010-2011

DURATION:22 Episodes (467 minutes)

DVD INFORMATION: Widescreen (1:78:1) – Enhanced for 16×9 Televisions, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, Subtitles: English SDH, French and Spanish

RATED: TV 14 DLSV

COMPANY: ABC Studios

Released Dated: August 30, 2011

Created by Kevin Biegel, Bill Lawrence

Directed by Michael McDonald, John Putch, Gail Mancuso, Chris Koch, Bill Lawrence, Michael Spiller

Written by Kevin Biegel, Bill Lawrence, Jessica Goldstein, Chrissy Pietrosh, Linda Videtti Figueiredo, Mary Fitzgerald, Ryan Koh, Sam Laybourne, Sanjay Shah, Mara Brock Akil, Kate Purdy, Peter Saji

Executive Producer: Courtney Cox, Bill Lawrence

Co-Executive Producer: Kevin Biegel, Linda Videtti Figueiredo

Produced by Thea Mann, Randall Winston

Co-Produced by Danny Rose, Mark J. Greenberg, Sanjay Shah

Supervising Producer: Jessica Goldstein, Chrissy Pietrosh

Associate Producer: Abraham Park

Consulting Producer: Mara Brock Akil

Music by Waz, Will Golden, Al Sgro

Cinematography by Andrew Rawson

Edited by John Michel, Roger Bondelli

Casting by Debby Romano, Brett Brenner, Blyth Nailing

Production Design by Cabot McMullen

Art Direction by Gary Warshaw

Set Decoration: Archie D’Amico

Costume Design by Kimberly A. Tillman

Starring:

Courtney Cox as Jules Cobb

Christa Miller as Ellie Torres

Busy Philipps as Laurie Keller

Dan Byrd as Travis Cobb

Josh Hopkins as Grayson Ellis

Ian Gomez as Andy Torres

Brian Van Holt as Bobby Cobb

Carolyn Hennesy as Barbara “Barb” Coman

Spencer Locke as Kyle

Ryan Devlin as Smith

Nick Zano as Josh

Scott Foley as Jeff

Sheryl Crow as Sara

Bob Clendenin as Tom

TV’s funniest mom (And the cul-de-sac crew) return for more laughs in their not-so-quiet Florida neighborhood.  Courteney Cox leads an all-star cast in the hilarious second season of ABC’s hot hit comedy, Cougar Town.

It’s a new year of uproarious changes as Travis prepares to leave for college, Jules and Grayson’s relationship reaches another level and Bobby tries to stand on his own.  Meanwhile, Andy and Ellie find clever new ways to keep their marriage lively and Laurie ramps up her search for love – in her own unique way.

Relive all 22 episodes and every laugh-out-loud moment of ABC’s Cougar Town: The Complete Second Season, with never-before-seen bonus features, in the sensational 3-disc box set.

In 2009, Bill Lawrence (co-creator of “Scrubs” and “Spin City”) and Kevin Biegel thought about a TV series that revolved around single people in their 40′s getting back on the dating scene and for Lawrence, said he was also inspired by his wife, actress Christa Miller (who also stars on the show “Cougar town”, “Scrubs” and “The Drew Carry Show”) and her life when she walked out of the shower, went in front of the mirror and flashed it. By that action alone plus their ideas of featuring a 40-year-old trying to get back into the dating scene, the idea of “Cougar Town” was born.

“Cougar Town” is a sexual comedy sitcom which revolves around Jules Cobb (played by Courteney Cox, “Friends”, “Dirt”, “Scrubs”), a 40-year-old divorcee who is a single mother raising her teenage son Travis (played by Dan Byrd, “Aliens in America”, “Heroes”) and also is successfully business owner who owns her own estate business. Having been divorced for eight months, Jules now wants to have fun and enjoy life like a single woman would. No strings tied, no relationships, just to have fun and most of all, having some sexual freedom in her life.

But of course, she’s learning quickly that entering in the dating game (and not wanting a relationship) at age 40 is not too easy, especially if your eyes are in younger men.

Fortunately for Jules, she has a support system which includes her next door neighbor and best friend Ellie Torres (played by Christa Miller). Ellie inspires Jules because she is married and has managed to make her marriage work. Ellis is also a voice of reason and a friend she grew up with and since both Jules and Ellie tend to do everything together. Ellie is married to Andy (played by Ian Gomez, “Rita Rocks”), who is a man that loves to eat, tries to be a good husband but also has lazy tendencies as well. Together both Ellie and Andy are new parents and raising a baby and do all they can to keep their marriage happy and functioning.

When Jules is not hanging out with Ellie, she hangs out with her young, promiscuous (and not-so-smart) assistant named Laurie (played by Busy Phillips, “Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles”, “Made of Honor”). Laurie is all about hooking up with men, having fun and despite not being a great assistant, Jules enjoys her company because she is part of the young single scene and hopes her assistant can take her to areas where she can meet younger men.

And because Jules has friendships with both Ellie and Laurie and both woman are quite the opposite from each other, these ladies don’t really get along but for Jules sake, they manage to hang out together for their good friend.

Meanwhile, Jules is still close with her ex-husband Bobby (played by Brian Van Holt, “John from Cincinnati”, “Threshold”) who loves to party, drink beer, play golf, and is a custodian at his son’s school and lives on a boat parked in a driveway. Despite Bobby knowing why the reason he got divorced with his wife is because of his issues with infidelity, he does care for his ex-wife and wants to have some sort of relationship with Travis.

Another man in Jules life is a man named Grayson Ellis (played by Josh Hopkins, “Private Practice”), a 40-something bar owner, who lives across the street. Grayson irks Jules because young women constantly come out of his home (and Jules is jealous that its easier for older men to get back into the dating game compared to herself, an older woman). But both because of their initial rivalry, Jules wants to be friends with Grayson and encourage him to join the neighborhood activities within the neighbors living in the cul-de-sac.

For the second season of “Cougar Town”, big changes are in store for Jules and friends.  Travis is leaving home to go to college (albeit 20 minutes away), Jules and Grayson’s relationship is becoming stronger, the friends try to come up with new games to enlighten the cul-de-sac crew and also new characters plus a tie-in with NBC’s comedy show “Community”.

Here is a summary of each episode featured on “Cougar Town – The Complete Second Season” (a total of 22 episodes presented on three DVD’s):

DVD 1:

• EPISODE 25 – All Mixed Up – Jules sees a shrink named Glenn (played by Jennifer Aniston), who tells her to give Grayson his own free time without her.
• EPISODE 26 – Let Yourself Go – Jules is having a hard time dealing with Travis moving away and going to college.
• EPISODE 27 – Makin’ Some Noise – With Travis going to college, Grayson worries that she will focus all attention on him.
• EPISODE 28 – The Damage You’ve Done – Grayson and Laurie tells Jules the truth, that the two slept together.
• EPISODE 29 – Keeping Me Alive – Bobby stops receiving alimony form Jules but will Jules celebrate the occasion?
• EPISODE 30 – You Don’t Know How It Feels – Jules comes to town for a visit during Halloween.
• EPISODE 31 – Fooled Again (I Don’t Like It) -  Laurie teams up with Grayson to sabotage Ellie for Jule’s birthday gift contest.
• EPISODE 32 – Little Girls Blues – Travis brings home his new girlfriend Kirsten (played by Collette Wolfe), but will Jules like her?

DVD 2:

• EPISODE 33 – When the Time Comes – It’s Thanksgiving and Jules and Grayson’s relationship is becoming stronger.
• EPISODE 34 – The Same Old You – Bobby is offered to play on the PGA, will he do it?
• EPISODE 35 – No Reason to Cry – Jules questions her relationship with Grayson.
• EPISODE 36 – A Thing About You – What happens when Laurie becomes Jules new houseguest.
• EPISODE 37 – Lost Children – Jules creates a new game of hide-and-seek.
• EPISODE 38 – Cry To Me – It’s Valentine’s Day and Jules wants Grayson to communicate his feelings towards her.
• EPISODE 39 – Walls – Jules continues to disrupt Travis’ young adult life and Ellie tells her that she needs to back off.
• EPISODE 40 – Baby’s a Rock ‘N’ Roller - Jules wants to prove to Ellie that having a baby in her twenties is difficult.

DVD 3:

• EPISODE 41 – You’re Gonna Get It – Jules wants to do something for charity.
• EPISODE 42 – Lonesome Sundown – Grayson tries to be interested in Travis’ life and the Jules and friends form a council.
• EPISODE 43 – Damaged By Love – Travis gets his heart broken!
• EPISODE 44 – Free Fallin’ – Travis drops out of college…how will Jules react?
• EPISODE 45 – Something Good Coming – Part 1 -  Jules and friends go to Hawaii in order to bring Travis back home.
• EPISODE 46 – Something Good Coming – Part 2 – Part 2 of Jules and friends trying to bring Travis back home and enjoying a vacation in Hawaii.

VIDEO:

“Cougar Town – The Complete Second Season” is presented in Widescreen (1:78:1) – Enhance for 16×9 Televisions. For a DVD series, picture quality is good and with a lot of the series shot outdoors and inside with a lot of lighting, the series looks pretty good on DVD.   It’s actually a vibrant series, especially for this second season.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“Cougar Town – The Complete Second Season” is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. The series is primarily dialogue driven with occasional music and is primarily front and center channel driven. I didn’t notice the surround channels being utilized all that much, but for the most part, dialogue is crystal clear and understandable.

Subtitles are presented in English SDH, French and Spanish.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Cougar Town – The Complete Second Season” comes with the following special features:

• (Still Called) Cougar Town: Season 2 – (8:32) Interview with the series creator and producers about the title cards and their dislike of the title of the series.  Also, behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with the cast.
• Andy’s Dreams – A total of five scenes featuring the cast of “Cougar Town” in fun movie parodies as part of Andy’s dreams (Movie Mash Up, Gulfhaven Vice, The Hair Up There and Sports).  Also, featuring an introduction from Ian Gomez (who plays Andy) and also behind-the-scenes of the making of the dream sequences.
• Deleted Scenes – A total of six deleted scenes.
• Bloopers – (2:01) Featuring outtakes from “Cougar Town”.

EXTRAS:

“Cougar Town – The Complete Second Season” comes with a slip cover case.

With the first season of “Cougar Town”, it took a while for me to warm up to it, but once the series became a more ensemble series versus a series focused on 40-year-old woman dating young men, “Cougar Town” became one of my favorite comedy series.

For this second season, the series focused on Jules and her relationship with her son, her boyfriend and her friends.  But also the friendship between the cul-de-sac crew between the ladies and also the men.

With Jules and Travis, it’s about Travis going out in the real world, leaving her mother behind and getting used to the college life but at the same time, getting involved in a major relationship which seems a bit one-sided.

As for Jules and Grayson, she wants more from him (emotionally) and for Grayson, it’s more of taking things day-by-day but also showing an interest of wanting to have his own child, which at 40-years-old, it’s something that Jules definitely does not want.

And then there is the friendship dynamic which was a big part of this season and the writers actually integrating the characters much more this season over the last.  The Torres family which comprises of Ellie and Andy was absolutely hilarious.  Ellie with her blunt wisecracks, Andy being the upbeat friend to everyone and then of course, Jules ex-husband Bobby who actually is starting to grow up more as a business owner and taking on more responsibilities but yet not being portrayed too much like a redneck.

And although not part of the cul-de-sac crew but more of Jules frienemy Barbara, also makes her appearance in several episodes.

This second season also showcases a few newer characters such as Tom (played by Bob Clendenin) as the creep neighbor who wants to be part of the cul-de-sac crew and Travis’ football roommate Kevin (played by Lamarcus Tinker).

But these episodes were hilarious and fun to watch and also loved how the writers (who have grown to hate the name of the show) would mess around with the title cards when the opening theme would start playing.  If anything, “Cougar Town” has grown to become an upbeat comedy series that I just love!  And very different from any other 30-minute comedy series on television.

It’s also important to mention of the guest starring roles by Jennifer Aniston but also to see the network crossover between ABC’s “Cougar Town” and NBC’s “Community”. Typically, you see crossovers with shows from the same network but not opposing networks.  So, that was a blast to see!  (Note: If you want to see the “Cougar Town” crossover on “Community”, then definitely also check out “Community – The Complete Second Season”.)

And the writers also have done a great job with character development but also made the series quite easy for anyone who has never watched the show before, to jump in and enjoy.  It’s a pretty easy series to follow, although the latter episodes of this second season does deal with a continuing storyline that centers around Travis.

Overall, “Cougar Town” is a wonderful series which the writers have done one heck of a job from improving from the last.

If you are looking for a comedy series that is fun, hilarious and over-the-top, definitely check out “Cougar Town – The Complete Second Season” and don’t be surprised by the end of the series if you find your self yelling “Penny can!”.

Highly recommended!

Brothers and Sisters – The Complete Fifth and Final Season (A J!-ENT DVD Review)

The final leg of this emotional rollercoaster ride with the Walker family comes to an end.  “Brothers and Sisters – The Complete Fifth and Final Season” is entertaining, fun, emotional but overall a good conclusion for the series.  Fans of the series will definitely want to pick up this final season DVD set!

Images courtesy of © ABC Studios. All Rights Reserved.

TITLE: Brothers and Sisters – The Complete Fifth and Final Season

TV SHOW AIRDATE: 2010-2011

DURATION: 938 Minutes

DVD INFORMATION: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, Widescreen (1:78:1) – Enhanced for 16×9 Televisions, Subtitles: English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles

RATED: TV 14 DLS

COMPANY: abc studios

RELEASE DATE: August 23, 2011

Created by Jon Robin Baitz

Directed by Ken Olin, Michael Owen Morris, Michael Schultz, Laura Innes and David Paymer

Written by Jon robin Baitz, David Marshall Grant, Molly Newman, Sherri Cooper, Cliff Olin, Monica Breen, Peter Calloway, Alison Schapker, Michael Foley, Liz Tigelaar, Jennifer Levin, Jason Wilborn, Daniel Silk, Josh Reims, Brian Studler, Nancy Won

Executive produced by KenOlin, Monica Breen, Alison Schapker

Produced by Suzanne Geiger, Nicole Carrasco, Sparky Hawes, Jennifer Lence, Michael Foley, Nancy Won, David Marshall Grant, Jennifer Levin, Sherri Cooper, Josh Reims, Molly Newman, Michael Morris, Stephen Judge, Sarah Caplin

Music by Blake Neely

Cinematography by Cynthia Pusheck, Michael Mayers

Edited by Barbara Gerard, Imelda Betiong, Kristin Windell

Casting by Gillian O’Neill, Jeanie Bacharach

Series Production Design by Lee Mayman

Series Set Decoration by Bryan Venegas

Series Costume Design by Melina Root

Cast:

Dave Annable as Justin Walker

Calista Flockhart as Kitty Walker

Rachel Griffiths as Sarah Whedon

Ron Rifkin as Saul Holden

Patricia Wettig as Holly Harper

Sally Field as Nora Walker

Matthew Rhys as Kevin Walker

Kerris Dorsey as Paige Whedon

Balthazar Getty as Tommy Walker

Sarah Jane Morris as Julia Walker

Maxwell Perry Colton as Cooper Whedon

Emily VanCamp as Rebecca Harper

Luke Macfarlane as Scotty Wandell

Ken Olin as David Caplan

Gilles Marini as Luc Laurent

Peter Gerety as Dennis York

The final season of the star-studded ABC drama continues the story of the Walkers, a contemporary picture of the American family. At the heart is matriarch Nora, who finds personal satisfaction in knowing her family is happy, however sometimes allows her intentions to be a little overbearing. Her five adult children, friends as much as they are relatives, come together to support each other through the joy and heartache as they try to manage their professional, romantic, and familial lives. Together they face genuine, relatable life issues in this warm and witty drama.

“Brothers and Sisters” is a show created back in 2006 by Jon Robin Baitz (a writer who worked on “Alias” and “West Wing”). The series revolves around the Walker family, an upperclass family that owns a major company known as Ojai Foods.

In the history of “Brothers and Sisters”, the family is rocked by the death of the father and business owner, William Walker. But even more shocking to the family is that their father had a mistress and an illegitimate daughter but that William had embezzled money from the company. So, the family focuses on the lives of the Walker family and how the brothers and sisters must move on with the family business and make sure it is not run into the ground and try to keep it afloat.

As the first two seasons had to do with the family and the family matriarch Nora (played by Sally Field) trying to keep everyone together, we see the family members going through various tribulations in their career and personal life.

In the third season, changes are afloat with Ojai Foods experiencing financial difficult. That leaves the Walker family having to partner up with Holly Harper, the mistress of William Walker. Throughout the third season, Kitty and Robert experience the highs of a family wanting to have children but also the lows as a family where their dedication to their careers interferes with their relationship.

For Sarah, knowing that she has a family to take care of, she knows that her brother Tommy is becoming the main family member dedicated to the company. As for Tommy, he starts to unearth things about his dead father and what he has done to the company, causing Tommy to make some decisions that can harm his position. Kevin will see chances for him to advance his career, but he will have to make a difficult decision of whether or not he should stay true to the person he loves and to himself or to do what he can to become a partner at his law firm. As for Justin, he tries his best to clean up, especially now that he has found love with Rebecca but has issues with recruiting people for the military.

Meanwhile, for the third season, the bombshell was that William may have had another illegitimate child, will become a significant issue for season three. If anything, relationships and family will be tested more than ever and whether or not the family matriarch, Nora can keep the family together is going to be important.

By season’s end, Kitty and Robert’s married is tested nearly to a point where Kitty nearly gets into an affair with another man, Tommy having left to Mexico, Kevin trying to keep things going right with his husband and Justin and Rebecca furthering their relationship and growing closer. Meanwhile, we are introduced Ryan Lafferty, the siblings half brother that came from an affair that William Walker had with another woman.

In season 4, the family goes through an emotional time.  While the business is doing terribly, the family goes through healing and bonding.  Kitty and Robert’s marriage grows stronger as Kitty has cancer and Robert dedicates his life to being with his wife, Justin meanwhile grows closer with Rebecca and get married, Sarah falls in love with an artist named Luc, Kevin and Scotty try to find a surrogate mother to have a baby and Nora and Holly grow their friendship.

And as everything seems to be going right for the Walker family and to celebrate, the whole family goes out on a retreat.

But just when you think all is good with the Walker family, as they leave a retreat, all get involved in a serious traffic accident and life for the Walker family will never be the same again.

“Brothers and Sisters – The Complete Fifth and Final Season” features a total of 22 episodes on six DVD’s. In the fifth and final season of “Brothers and Sisters”, it has been a year since the accident and life for the Walker family has not been the same.  How will life go?

The main characters of “Brothers and Sisters” are:

The Walker Family

• Nora Walker (Sally Field, “Gidget”, “The Flying Nun”, “The Girl with Something Extra”, “ER”) – The Walker matriarch and the mother who likes to get involved with her children’s lives. In the first season, she tries to get over her husband’s death, learns that her husband had an illegitimate daughter and is now trying to move on. She now tries to keep the family together no matter what challenges they may face.  In Season 5, since the tragedy, Nora has not been vocal and has taken a stand back when it comes to her family.
• Sarah Walker (Rachael Griffiths, “Six Feet Under”) – The family business woman and mother who has tried to lead the family business as the company president. Has a strained relationship with her husband Joe which eventually led to a divorce. She has since left Ojai and started her own company.  In season 5, since the tragedy, her business is doing well and she is dating Luc, an artist and model.  She and Luc are planning to move to France.
• Kitty McCallister (Calista Flockhart, “Ally McBeal”) – A former radio host who marries politician, Senator Robert McCallister. Has adopted a child and has beaten cancer. In season 5, since the tragic accident, Kitty is keeping Robert alive through life support.  The family is very worried about Kitty and the Republican party needs her to return back to politics.
• Tommy Walker (Balthazar Getty, “Charmed”, “Alias”) – The other family businessman who has butted heads with his sister Sarah. Married to Julia Walker (Sarah Jane Morris), the two have major problems in their marriage. He had caused problems for Ojai and is now living in Mexico.
• Kevin Walker (Matthew Rhys, “Shooters”, “The Lost World”) – A successful lawyer and a gay man. Tends to bail out his family when they need legal help but most of all but also put in situations in opposition to some of his family members. He is married to Scotty. In Season 5, since the tragedy, Kevin is working pro bono and still trying to deal with he and Scotty not being able to be parents.
• Justin Walker (Dave Annable, “Reunion”) – The youngest of the family who joined the Army and went to Afghanistan. When he came back, Justin was no longer the same as he had Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and also battled with drug addiction and now trying to clean himself up. In Season 5, after the tragedy, Justin rejoined the military because he is unable to deal with the situation and now his marriage to Rebecca is in big trouble.

Other Key Characters:

• Saul Holden (Ron Rifkin, “Alias”) – Older brother of Nora Walker and works at Ojai Foods and once had a relationship with Nora’s husband’s mistress Holly Harper but in season 1, it was revealed that Saul was involved in a gay relationship. In season 2, Saul comes out and admits he is a gay man.  In season 5, since the tragedy, Saul has found a person to love but Nora worries about him because he is HIV positive.
• Holly Harper (Patricia Wettig, “Prison Break”, “Alias”) – Holly is the mistress of William Walker (for 20 years) and owns a large share of Ojai Foods. In season 2, she has become the Ojai Foods CEO. Her relationship with her daughter Rebecca is stronger than ever. She and Tommy Walker are business partners and own Walker Landing Winery.  In Season 5, since the tragedy, Holly has amnesia and lost her memory.  Her relationship with Nora is sour once again.
• Rebecca Harper (Emily VanCamp, “Everwood”) – The illegitimate daughter of William Walker and Holly Harper. She works at Ojai Foods as an advertising executive and is married to Justin Walker.  In Season 5, due to Justin’s decision to join the military, their marriage is in shambles.
• Scotty Wandell (Luke Macfarlane, “Iron Road”) – A head chef who is married to Kevin Walker.  In Season 5, since the tragedy, his relationship with Kevin is on the rocks, especially since their surrogate mothers have been unsuccessful and have not been able to have children.

Here is a spoiler-less summary of the 22 episodes from season five:

DISC 1:

• EPISODE 88 – The Homecoming - It has been a year since the car tragedy and the family has gone through changes.  Meanwhile, Justin arrives back from serving another year in the marines.
• EPISODE 89 – Brief Encounter – Luc’s underwear ad campaign is the hot item and everyone wants to attend.  Meanwhile, Kevin tries to help his runaway teenage client and Kitty wonders if her mother is dating a woman…
• EPISODE 90 – Faking It – Kitty meets Jack and Sarah worries that her lie about her age may turn Luc away.  Rebecca is back and meets with her mother Holly.
• EPISODE 91 – Righteous Kiss - Holly has a breakdown and Justin and Rebecca decide what to do about their marraige.  Meanwhile, Saul is afraid to tell his boyfriend that he is HIV positive.

DISC 2:

• EPISODE 92 – Call Mom - Nora auditions for a radio show, meanwhile Kitty and Jack get closer.
• EPISODE 93 – An Ideal Husband – Scotty has a one night stand with another man and now Kevin feels betrayed.
• EPISODE 94 – Resolved - Kevin and Scotty’s relationship is tested, meanwhile Justin meets a nurse named Annie.
• EPISODE 95 – The Rhapsody of the Flash – Luc’s mother arrives to town but for some reason, Luc is not so thrilled about it.  Meanwhile, Nora goes out on a date.
• EPISODE 96 – Get a Room – Nora and Dr. Karl’s friendship may be getting stronger.  Kevin and Scotty plan to adopt.

DISC 3:

• EPISODE 97 – Cold Turkey – Nora and Karl go away for Christmas, thus ending the Walker Family tradition. So, now Kitty and Kevin debate on who will host the family celebration.
• EPISODE 98 – Scandalized – As Kevin and Scotty decide to adopt, everyone finds out that Kitty is dating a young graduate student named Seth.
• EPISODE 99 – Thanks for the Memories – Kitty is getting back into politics, Scotty and Kevin spend time with Olivia and Sarah deals with her daughter who may have a boyfriend.
• EPISODE 100 – Safe at Home – Tommy is back and he has a big surprise for the family and in other good news, Sarah announces her wedding date.
• EPISODE 101 – The One That Got Away – It’s Valentine’s Day and and Tommy reveals another secret about their mother which had been buried since they were kids.

DISC 4:

• EPISODE 102 – Brody - Nora and Brody seem to be getting closer, meanwhile, Justin tries to help out a homeless vet.
• EPISODE 103 – Home is Where the Fort Is – Nora and Sarah wonder why Kitty has not returned home.  Meanwhile, Kevin and Scotty bring their adoptive child home.
• EPISODE 104 – Olivia’s Choice – Olivia’s brother fights for custody as he doesn’t feel two men should raise Olivia.
• EPISODE 105 – Never Say Never – Sarah and Luc have pre-wedding jitters and Scotty’s mother comes to visit his and Kevin’s new adoptive daughter.
• EPISODE 106 – Wouldn’t It Be Nice – It’s Luc’s first solo art show and one again Luc and Sarah have pre-wedding jitters.  Nora wants to tell Brody how she really feels.

DISC 5:

• EPISODE 107 – Father Unknown – Luc and Saul prepare for a surprise wedding and Justin confronts his mother about Brody’s lie.  Meanwhile, Kevin and Scotty may have a baby…
• EPISODE 108 – For Better or For Worse – Sarah confronts Brody about his “lie” and Olivia wonders if Kevin and Scotty will want her now that she has a baby.
• EPISODE 109 – Walking Down the Aisle - FINAL EPISODE! It’s Sarah’s and Luc’s wedding day and other issues affect the family.

VIDEO:

“Brothers and Sisters – The Complete Fifth and Final Season” is featured in Widescreen (1:78:1), enhanced for 16×9 televisions.  For a TV series, “Brothers and Sisters” has always looked good.  The series has a lot of lighting, especially outdoor shots, so for the most part, picture quality for a TV series on DVD, “Brothers and Sisters – The Complete Fifth and Final Season” looks very good.

There are a lot of outdoor and indoor shots and “Brothers and Sisters” does have quite a bit of grain but nothing too distracting. But for the most part, picture quality is very good.

AUDIO:

“Brothers and Sisters – The Complete Fifth and Final Season” is featured in Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound, the show is mostly dialogue-based but there are quite a bit of music featured in the episodes, but the audio is pretty much front and center channel driven and audio is clear. There are no really need for major sound effects for “Brothers and Sisters” but for the most part, dialogue and background music are heard quite clearly.

My receiver setup preference was set to “Stereo on all Channels” for a much more immersive soundtrack.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Brothers and Sisters – The Complete Fifth Season” comes with the following special features:

DISC 1:

• Deleted Scenes – A total of two deleted scenes: “You’re Really Leaving” and “True Wreckage”.

DISC 2:

• Deleted Scenes – A total of two deleted scenes: “taking sides” and “let’s get started”.

DISC 3:

• Audio Commentary – Featuring audio commentary for “Cold Turkey” with Production Coordinator Jonathan Deiner, Co-Producer Stephen Judge and Producer Nicole Carrasco.

DISC 4:

• Deleted Scenes- Featuring one deleted scene “We Could Lose Her”.
• Audio Commentary – Featuring audio commentary for “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” with Production Coordinator Jonathan Deiner, Co-Producer Stephen Judge and Producer Nicole Carrasco.

DISC 5:

• Gilles Marini Uncovered  - (6:06) An interview with the cast about Gilles Marini (Luc) joining the cast of “Brothers & Sisters”.
  
• Writing for the Walkers – (10:00) The writers of “Brothers and Sisters” talk about the episodes of season five.
• Deleted Scenes – A total of one deleted scene and one alternate ending: “extremely awake” and “alternate ending: An Engagement Ring”
• Bloopers & Outtakes – (2:20) Outtakes from season five of “Brothers and Sisters”.

EXTRAS:

“Brothers and Sisters – The Complete Fifth and Final Season” comes with a slip over case.

With the last season of “Brothers and Sisters”, I have commented of how the last season was the best season ever!

Every episode was well-written and the season finale was an absolute shocker!  But prior to the fifth season, it was a given that Rob Lowe would not return but with news that Patricia Wettig (Holly Harper) and Emily VanCamp (Rebecca Harper) were leaving the show, needless to say, it put a damper on my excitement for the fifth season.

By the end of the fifth season, as things have ended with a good season finale, “Brothers and Sisters” was canceled.  The producers tried to get a shortened sixth season to end the season with closure for the fans but unfortunately, they were denied.

So, I do have a small bittersweet feeling about “Brothers and Sisters” because I felt that I invested watching five seasons of this series and one can only imagine how the producers and writers would have ended the series, but there were a few loose ends that I wished were touched upon.

But with the way the season ended, I suppose it works as a series finale and does end on a good note, but this is the nature of the business when it comes to television series and “Brothers and Sisters” has come to an end.

I will say that I will miss the Walker family.  As one friend told me, “Brothers and Sisters” was a show that she can watch on her DVR on the weekend, drink fine wine and enjoy the series.  I happen to agree with what she told me because the series was fun, granted, the series had its share of emotional highs and lows that comes along with a dysfunctional family but the Walker family were resilient.  They confronted their issues and challenges, like many American’s they faced a bad economy, ending of a business, health problems, adoption, surrogate mothers, raising children, finding love, crumbling of a relationship, starting over, rebuilding and like all family’s, having their fights and bonding moments.

Among the many ABC family one-hour drama series, “Brothers and Sisters” was probably one that was easily accessible because their issues and challenges are real and people can identify with these characters because despite them being from a slightly upperclassed American family, the Walker family was far from perfect, they are no different from anyone else.

While “Brothers and Sisters – The Complete Fifth Season” was an entertaining final season, of course, because of the insurmountable challenges faced in the last season, season four was just incredible but there was no way to pull of something that emotional and tragic for a second year straight.  You needed some normalcy, real problems and that’s viewers got with season five.  Nora, single mother trying to find love.  Sarah, aging sister getting married but also dealing with a teenage daughter.  Kitty, dealing with the death of her husband, but also finding love once again.  Kevin and Scotty dealing with adoption and trying to keep their marriage alive.  And Justin, the person who had to get away from life by re-enlisting in the marines and leaving his family but returning back to find out that the sacrifice he made to get back his sanity came with a price.

But I have always felt the series was well-written, well-cast and while last year was spectacular, I admit that I was a bit upset of the direction of the Justin and Rebecca storyline hitting a dead end before the fifth season even started, but after the events that have taken place at the end of season four, I found it interesting that the one person who was instrumental in making things right was Justin, especially since he was somewhat of the problematic character because of what happened during his last enlistment with the Marines.

But like for everyone in the series and how things have played out for this fifth season, it was important to show that families must go on living.  And so in hindsight, after watching every episode and thinking about the fifth season, despite my feeling before the series began, Now that it is done, I’m actually content with how everything had ended.

Overall, “Brothers and Sisters – The Complete Fifth and Final Season” marks the end of a pretty solid drama series.  Fun, enjoyable and emotional…I’ll miss this series!

It’s shame that “Brothers and Sisters” didn’t get the chance to end the way the producers/writers probably would have wanted if given that shortened sixth season.  But yet they managed to give a season finale that does provide some closure and enough to know that the Walker family has embarked in a new chapter of their lives and like all families with problems and taking care of those problems, they’ll be OK.  And like all families, we continue living with our highs and our lows but we keep on going, living life day-by-day.

There are a good number of special features included with this final season DVD set but for the most part, as a fan and viewer of “Brothers and Sisters”, it was an emotional roller coaster ride that has come to a close.

If you invested your time into watching this series or a person who has just jumped aboard and is interested in the series, “Brothers and Sisters – The Complete Fifth and Final Season” is recommended!

The Secret Life of the American Teenager – Volume Five (a J!-ENT DVD Review)

“The Secret Life of the American Teenager – Volume Five” (the first half of season three) features better writing and the much needed addition and utilization of more characters.  Thus breathing new life into the series.   Definitely give this third season of “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” a try!

Images courtesy of © ABC Family. All Rights Reserved.

TITLE: The Secret Life of the American Teenager – Volume Five

DURATION: 602 minutes (14 episodes)

DVD INFORMATION: NTSC, Region 1, Widescreen (1:78:1), NTSC, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish and French

RATED: TV 14 DSLV (Parental Discretion Advised)

COMPANY: abc family

RELEASE DATE: December 21, 2010

Created by Brenda Hampton

Directed by Keith Truesdell, Anson Williams and Gail Bradley

Written by Brenda Hampton, Elaie Arata, Jeffrey Rodgers, Jeff Olsen, Chris Olsen

Executive Producer: Brenda Hampton

Producer: Hrag Gaboudian, Lindsley Parsons III

Consulting Producer: Paul Perlove, Chris Olsen, Jeff Olsen, Jeffrey Rodgers

Music by Dan Foliart

Cinematography by Ronald E. high

Edited by Janet Weinberg and Ellen Ring Jacobson

Casting by Peter Pappas, Ken Miller, Nikki Valko

Production Design by Michael DiMeo

Set Decoration by Joanne Baker

Costume Design by Sherry Thompson, Sharon Sampson

Starring:

Shailene Woodley as Amy Juergens

Kenny Baumann as Benjamin “Ben” Boykewich

Francia Raisa as Adrian Lee

Megan Park as Grace Kathleen Bowman

Darren Kagasoff as Rickey Underwood

Greg Finley II as Jack Pappas

Renee Olstead as Madison Cooperstein

Camille Winbush as Lauren Treacy

Steve Schirripa as Leo Boykewich

Mark Derwin as George Juergens

Molly Ringwald as Anne Juergens

India Eisley as Ashley Juergens

Josie Bissett as Kathleen Bowman

Luke Zimmerman as Tom Bowman

Amy Rider as Alice Balko

Allen Evangelista as Henry Miller

Phillip Anthony-Rodriguez as Ruben Enriquez

Paolo Turbay as Cindy Lee

Jennifer coolidge as Betty

Joseph/Matthew Levinson as John

Kathy Kinney as Bunny

Brando Eaton as Griffin

Grant Harvey as Grant

Andrew McFarlane as Jason

Austin Stowell as Jesse

Reid Scott as Dr. Jeff Zegay

Mayim Bialik as Dr. Wilameena Bink

Michele Krusiec as Emily

Back in 2008, the critically acclaimed ABC Family series “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” received a lot of attention during its first season as the series took on the challenges of teenage pregnancy. Showing us the ramifications of being pregnant as a young teen but also the responsibilities and difficult choices one needs to make as a single mother and also showcasing the challenges of teenage sexuality and peer pressure.

By the second season, the series would focus on single mother Juergens (played by Shailene Woodley) having to attend high school but also raise a son.  To make thing difficult, her parents have divorced and her own mother Anne (played by Molly Ringwald) became pregnant (one night stand with her ex-husband) and thus, mom became a mother as well.  Needless to say, the Juergens family have had their ups and downs.

But the series “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” is about the challenges of being a teenager and thus the series would focus on various teenagers such as Ben Boykewich (played by Kenny Baumann), the son of the sausage king Leo Boykewich (played by Steve Schirripa).  Ben loves Amy Juergens and even though she has a child, he would do anything for her.  The problem is that Amy is busy with her own child and maintaining a peaceful relationship with her son’s father Ricky Underwood (played by Daren Kagasoff).  Meanwhile, she has a younger sister named Ashley (played by India Eisley) who acts very mature for her age but is now at the age where she is becoming more attracted to boys and curious about sex.

Other teenagers include the Christian student and cheerleader Grace Bowman (played by Megan Park) being pressured to have sex by her then boyfriend, jock Jack Pappas (played by Greg Finley).  And as hard as she tried to stay a virgin, her first time was memorable but not in a good way as her father was killed in an airplane crash.  Now, she and her mother Kathleen (played by Josie Bissett) and her mentally disabled brother Tom (played by Luke Zimmerman) try to continue on as a family.

For Adrian Lee (played by Francia Raisa), she has lived life having promiscuous sex.  Primarily with Ricky Underwood, the father of Amy Juergens baby and a young man who has had problems having sex with other girls as a way to relieve his stress (suffered at a young age due to his irresponsible parents).  While both have a strong sexual connection, they are not romantically connected.  Adrian is always on the prowl and as for Ricky, he wants to become a better person but most of all, to take responsibility and share parenting duties for his son John and to be cool with Amy.

The second season began with Amy wanting to raise the child on her own but depending too much on her mother Anne to help her out.  Anne (played by Molly Ringwald) is strict and wants Amy to learn that having a baby has major challenges and to make things complicated, Anne is pregnant herself and not knowing if the father is her ex-husband George (played by Mark Derwin) or her new boyfriend.

In volume four of “The Secret Life of the American Teenager”, we have seen Amy Juergens having an on and off relationship with Ben.  Things weren’t going so well with them and with Adrian, she felt more lonely as Ricky was starting to become more of a father and spending more time with his son’s mother Amy.  As Adrian became more jealous of Ricky and Amy spending more time with each other, the same feeling was shared by Ben and sure enough, to spite the people they love, the two had a sexual encounter.  For Adrian, it was a form of revenge.  For Ben, a one night stand that shouldn’t have happened.

But fortunately for Ben, he told the truth to Amy who forgave him for what he did.  And the two looked as if they were on “Cloud 9″ again.

As for Grace, her mother has remarried a doctor nine months after the death of her father and she and Tom have resentment towards their mother for remarrying so quickly.  She has had feelings for Ricky and now having some interest in Ben.

For Ricky, we began to see more of him becoming more mature and responsible for his child.  And as for Jack, he started to become closer to Amy’s friend Madison Cooperstein (played by Renee Olstead).

As for Adrian, her father Ruben has remarried her mother Cindy.  But she notices some changes within her and she realizes that she is now pregnant and the last boy she has been with is Ben.

For “The Secret Life of the American Teenager – Volume Five” (the first half of season 3), the storyline now focuses on Adrian as she is pregnant but telling everyone around her that she had her period.  Now she struggles to whether or not she will have a baby or have an adoption.

Meanwhile, Ben who has found out that Adrian is pregnant is worried that with his relationship going extremely well with Amy, she will hate him when she finds out that Adrian is pregnant with his baby.  And he finds himself even more confused as he wants to be responsible as a father for Adrian’s baby, showing his love for Amy Juergens but also having this fling with Grace Bowman… Ben is in a weird position and he’s not dealing with it well.  And it makes him even more jumpier and jealous when he sees Ricky becoming more interested towards Amy.

As for Amy, she has been accepted to a trip to New York City for her skill as a musician.  With her dreams of trying to enter Juilliard, none of her family and friends want to tell her the bad news that Ben got Adrian pregnant.  And because of this, can Amy ever become close with Ben again?  But how will she deal with her emotions, especially when her son’s father, Ricky wants to get closer to her?  Who will she choose?

And for Ricky, he has dedicated himself to being there for his son and not be anything like his birth parents.  Because Amy is in New York City, he will be staying with the Juergens family temporarily but with Ashley now grown up and starting to take a liking towards Ricky, will his sexual impulses lead him towards getting close to Ashley, the sister of Amy, the mother of his child?

For Jack, his father is offered a job in Arizona, many hours away and if he takes the job, his father can only take his mother and so, they are hoping Jack can find someone to stay with for a year.  Jack wants to stay back home and with his friends and hopes he can find a place to stay.  But when he chooses to live with Tom Bowman without his family knowing, will it get him in trouble?

The main characters/teenagers of “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” are:

Amy Juergens (Shailene Woodley) – A teenager who is a musician but is learning firsthand of the difficulties of being a single mother.  She is trying to keep a parenting relationship with her son’s father Ricky while she has a relationship with Ben.  But as a single mother, she realizes the difficulties of being a mother and how much responsibility that she must deal with.  She hopes to enter Juilliard as a musician.

Ashley Juergens (India Eisley) – The younger sister of Amy who is very mature for her age and is often the person who plays referee to her mother and father when they are bickering.  But as she gets older, she becomes more curious about sex and with Ricky coming over often, she starts to become interested in him.  And also getting closer to a guy named Grant, the cousin of her gay best friend Griffin.

Benjamin “Ben” Boykewich (Kenny Baumann) – A teenager who is Amy’s boyfriend and will do anything for her. His father is “the sausage king” and his mother died several years ago. He loves Amy Juergens and will do all he can for her.  But sometimes he makes irresponsible decisions which are sure to get him in trouble.

Rickey Underwood (Darren Kagasoff) – Rickey is the father of Amy’s baby. He has had a sexual relationship with Adrian but he has no connection with her, as opposed to Adrian who has an emotional connection with him.  He has been seeing counseling for his anger issues (which he uses sex to make him feel better) after it was revealed that he was molested as a child.

Adrian Lee (Francia Raisa) – Very intelligent but somehow strayed in the wrong path and is a flirt who engages in sex with different guys. She is a majorette and always wonders who her real father is. She sleeps with Rickey and believes that a bad girl deserves a bad boy like him. She has slept with Grace Bowman’s boyfriend Jack and had revenge sex with Ben because she was upset at Ricky spending too much time with Amy.

Grace Kathleen Bowman (Megan Park) – A devoted Christian and cheerleader who hit hard times after the death of her father.  She tends to put herself in a position where she wants to help all her friends and get into their business which irritates others.

Jack Pappas (Greg Finley II) - A football player who can’t get his mind off sex, once dated Grace and has had an off and on-relationship with her. He’s a son of the pastor and is now dating Madison Cooperstein.

Madison Cooperstein (Renee Olstead) and Lauren Treacy (Camille Winbush) are Amy’s best friends. They also can’t keep a secret and are often bickering with each other.  Madison is dating Jack and is often jealous when he’s talking to other girls.    Lauren is dating Jack’s friend.

Henry Miller (Allen Evangelista) and Alice Valko (Amy Rider) are a romantic couple and friends of Ben. Alice is very smart and very analytical but she is very good when hearing Ben out and giving intelligent advice to him.

“The Secret Life of the American Teenager – Volume Five” DVD comes with a total of 14 episodes on three DVD’s. Here is a spoiler-less summary of each episode:

DISC 1:

• EPISODE 48 – Do Over – Adrian tells Ben that she isn’t pregnant and Ben is relieved since his relationship with Amy is going perfect.  Meanwhile, Jack’s parents are moving to Arizona only if Jack can find a place to stay.
• EPISODE 49 – Accentuate the Positive – Adrian starts to have morning sickness, meanwhile Amy is offered a once in a lifetime trip to New York City.  Meanwhile, Ashley finds out that Adrian is pregnant.
• EPISODE 50 – Get Out of Town – Ben tells his father that Adrian is pregnant and Amy finds out that the trip to New York actually takes place the following day and that she must decide if she’s going to leave or not.
• EPISODE 51 – Goodbye, Amy Juergens – Adrian’s parents find out that she is pregnant but Adrian’s mother supports abortion while her father doesn’t and puts a strain on her parent’s marriage.  Tom looks for a job and needs to take a drug test but when Jack finds brownies in the fridge, he doesn’t know that the brownies have marijuana in them and Tom is worried that he may fail the drug test.

DISC 2:

• EPISODE 52 - Which Way Did She Go? – With Amy in New York, rumors circulate throughout the school that Amy is gone because she’s pregnant again.  Meanwhile, Amy is a bit scared about being in New York and Jack stays with Tom at the guest house without his mother and Grace knowing. (Special guest: Bristol Palin)
• EPISODE 53 – She Went That A’way - Adrian meets Ricky’s mother at the clinic and decides that she will not abort the child.  Meanwhile, Ashley tells Anne and George about Adrian’s pregnancy and the family struggles whether or not to tell Amy.
• EPISODE 54 – New York, New York - Anne and George are worried that Ashley is falling for Ricky.  Meanwhile, Ben and his father fly to New York as Ben knows he needs to tell Amy the truth about Adrian’s pregnancy.  Also, Ricky’s birth mother pays him a visit.
• EPISODE 55 – The Sound of Silence - Ben is becoming moody since Amy doesn’t talk to him.  Meanwhile, Ricky asks Ruben for a favor that deals with his mother and Ruben asks Ricky a favor that involves his daughter Adrian.
• EPISODE 56 – Chicken Little - Grace tries to play matchmaker and set her friend Peter with Griffin and has a date with Griffin’s cousin Grant.  Meanwhile, Ricky and Adrian try to become friends again.  Ashley is becoming heartbroken that Ricky is not noticing her.

DISC 3:

• EPISODE 57 – My Girlfriend’s Back - It’s the last day of school and Ben worries that Amy doesn’t care about him anymore.  Meanwhile, Ricky wants to get closer with Amy and discuss a possibility of becoming a couple.
• EPISODE 58 – Lady Liberty – After Ben finds out from Ashley that Ricky is trying to be together with Amy, an altercation between both Ben and Ricky gets Ben fired from his job.  Anne and George announce big news in regards to their rekindling of their relationship.  Ben and Adrian scheme again to hurt Ricky and Amy.
• EPISODE 59 – Sweet and Sour – Friends and family realize they forgot about Amy’s birthday.  Meanwhile, Ben wants to make things right with Adrian.
• EPISODE 60 – Up All night – Amy questions Ricky about him wanting to have a relationship with her.  Meanwhile, Ben spends a night at Adrian’s home.
• EPISODE 61 – Rules of Engagement – Jealous of her sister, Ashley wants Ricky to have sex with her.  Anne and George’s relationship takes another turn, as with Amy and Ricky’s friendship.

VIDEO, AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“The Secret Life of the American Teenager – Volume 5″ is presented in widescreen (1:78:1) and for the most part, the picture quality is satisfactory for this drama series. Also, it helps that the series features various settings, including multiple outdoor shots which definitely makes the PQ for the DVD much better.

Audio is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound. The series is front and center channel driven, dialogue is clear and understandable and music comes out quite clear from the front channels. The series is not the type of series that utilizes special effects or the use of the surround channels but if you have a modern home theater receiver and a 5.1 or 7.2 setup, definitely worth selecting audio on all channels on the receiver for a more immersive soundscape.

Subtitles are in English SDH.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“The Secret Life of the American Teenager – Volume Five” comes with a few special features on disc three. Included are:

• On Set with Director Anson Williams - (4:56) Mikaela interviews director Anson Williams.  Discussing working on “Happy Days” and working on “The Secret Life of the American Teenager”.
• On Set Fist Bumps with Joey and Matthew - (2:12) Shailene Woodley and Ken Baumann introduce Joseph and Matthew Levinson who play Amy and Ricky’s son John and their mother.
• On Set with Shailene – (3:08) Mikaela interviews Shailene Woodley and how she was doing a dual role of working on “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” and doing the film “The Descendants” (with George Clooney).  Also, how Shailene worked at retail when she moved to New York City.
• On Set with Luke – (1:17) Mikaela interviewing Luke Zimmerman about being on the show and the various sports he takes part in and working with Megan Park (who plays Grace Bowman).

EXTRAS:

“The Secret Life of the American Teenager – Volume Five” comes with a slip cover case.

I have been a big supporter of “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” and I have to admit that the latter half of the second season, I felt the writers let people down.

One of the biggest problems the series faced  was that it is becoming to mundane as sex is the storyline that seems to have consumed each episode.  Which was not the problem, the problem was that for the six main characters, each of these characters were focused on so much that because sex is the main storyline, everyone was having or trying to have sex with each other.  Ricky had a one night stand with Amy and because of that, they are parents.  Ricky has had a long sexual relationship with the promiscuous Adrian, then Ricky has went on to target Grace Bowman and now Amy’s sister Ashley wants to have sex with Ricky.

As for Adrian?  She’s had sex with Ricky, she’s had sex with Jack, she’s had sex with Ben.  Although Grace is more of the disciplined Christian girl, she had sex with Jack, she had a fling with Ricky and now she’s interested in Ben.

Part of the problem the series faced was that by focusing too much on the six characters and not bringing in any others, the latter half of the second season became too ridiculous, frustrating and the only way they were gong to get out of it was by utilizing the other characters that have been on the show since day 1 (Amy’s two best friends) and by introducing new characters to the show.

So, the good news was that for season three, the writers did start to incorporate more characters into the show.  First off, there is more utilization of Renee Olstead (Madison Cooperstein) and Camille Winbush (Lauren Treacy).  I have to admit that at first, I felt it was odd that Jack and his jock buddy were dating Madison and Lauren (because these characters were typically used as gossiping best friends of Amy) and also, I felt the chemistry was off between these new couples.  Although, I’m still waiting to see more of Allen Evangelist who plays the character Henry and Amy Rider who plays the character Alice, both are Ben’s friends and were used more in season one, in season three…we see them just a few times and I enjoyed how they were utilized in the first season more.  But I do like how the newer characters Griffin, Grant and Peter are being utilized.  And there are more newer characters that have been featured this season thus far and that is a positive.

It’s interesting to note that Shailene Woodley has less of a role in this first half of season three as she was in New York filming a movie with George Clooney (titled “The Descendants”) but we do see the character of Amy Juergens appear in most of the episodes.  Possibly the most shocking character change was with Ken Baumann’s character of Ben Boykewich.

In the beginning, we rooted for him because he was the sarcastic underdog.  But now, the writers really made him to be confused and almost a jerk.   It’s going to be interesting to see how writers deal with Ben.   Continue the same path or make him even darker or depressed because he’s losing Amy.   Personally, I have no idea where the character of Ben is going but there is potential in his storyline to really make things darker or return to the much happier yet sarcastic character like he was in the first season and part of the second season.

If anything, shows such as “Beverly Hills 90210″ had their main core characters but were always good at utilizing other newer characters once or several times and building upon that.  Last season, writers seemed as if they were force to having the main six characters become too close with each other (actually characters having too much fun with each other sexually) that the storyline was beginning to suffer and becoming too kitschy.  I was so close to giving up on the series.  But fortunately, the first half of season three was much more entertaining and changes that the show needed, were done.  More storyline involving the older characters but having them interact with newer characters and characters who have been there since the beginning.

I also enjoyed the series utilizing more of Luke Zimmerman (Tom Bowman) who is actually becoming one of the characters that I look forward to seeing more because he is well-utilized in the series.  Mentally disabled but yet giving the opportunity to act more lines and using the character in a more.   The character of Tom and the exchange between he and Jack are pretty fun and hilarious.  So, it’s great to see the writers utilizing more of Tom and hope they continue with that.

Also, when it comes to the parents of the show, I’m glad the storylines have been interesting and not dull.   I definitely enjoyed the storyline with Anne and George, Ruben and Cindy, Kathleen and Jeff, Leo and Betty.  As well as the other adults they have brought into the series (from Ben and Ricky’s boss to having Ricky’s troublesome mother return).

So far, season 3 is starting off well and its good to see the writers exploring Ricky and Amy, Ben and Adrian but most of all, the unknown right now is the character of Ashley.  We have seen Ashley as mature and good at controlling her emotions but as she starts to have feelings for Ricky, especially becoming more and more jealous, it’s going to be interesting to see how writers take advantage of this.  If there is one thing I do not want to see is any other character getting pregnant.  If anything, these friends should have learned from Amy and now Adrian of the challenges of being a single teen mother, the difficult choices that need to be made, etc.

I also believe in tragedy or something bad coming up.   Right now, the bad tings that are happening is primarily hurt feelings.  Ashley’s character or Adrian and Ben reacting to Ricky and Amy getting closer.  But I do believe that the writers will need to tackle more of the darker aspects of teenage life.   In season 2, it was about Grace Bowman’s father dying in an accident and that was a shock.  But its about time something happens to one of the teens… something is bound to happen, may the writers touch upon bullying, rape, drunk driving, abuse or something not so happy, I do believe that the writers need to touch upon that aspect of the teenage storyline and not focus too much on teenage pregnancy.  It worked for season one and it works for season three (considering how promiscuous Adrian’s character is, it was an easy path for writers to gravitate to).

Overall, the writers of “The Secret Life of the American Teenager” were smart and stepped outside of the box by bringing in new characters, utilizing other characters more and showing us the potential of other storylines that can develop with the core six and the friends and family around them.  So, I’m happy to say that after getting frustrated with the latter half of season two, the writers have pulled me in and I am enjoying the third season thus far.  Let’s hope that writers have something surprising or shocking for the second half of the season.

if you enjoyed previous seasons of “The Secret Life of the American Teenager”,  volume 5 is recommended!

Linebarrels of Iron: Part 2 (a J!-ENT Anime DVD Review)

A solid continuation of the mecha anime harem series “Linebarrels of Iron”, the second part of the series features more harem-driven storylines but also a more serious tone as there is more suspense, more death and destruction and more mecha action!  Definitely recommended!

Image courtesy of © 2008 Eichi Shimiazu, Tomohiro Shimoguchi, Akita Publishing/GONZO/Linebarrel Partners. All Rights Reserved.

DVD TITLE: Linebarrels of Iron: Part 2

DURATION: 13-24 episodes (300 Minutes)

DVD INFORMATION: Language: English 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound, Japanese Stereo, English Subtitles

COMPANY: Gonzo/FUNimation Entertainment

RATED: TV MA

Release Date: October 5, 2010

Based on the manga series “Kurogane no Linebarrel” by Eiichi Shimizu, Tomohiro Shimoguchi

Directed by Masayuki Kojima

Series Composition by Kiyoko Yoshimura

Screenplay by Kiyoko Yoshimura, Shigeru Morita

Music by Conisch

Character Design by Hisashi Hirai

Chief Animation Director: Hisashi Hirai

Mecha Design by Tsutomo Suzuki

Sound Director by Masafumi Mitsuma

Featuring the following voice talent:

Mamiko Noto/Alexis Tipton as Emi Kizaki

Tetsuya Kakihara/Josh Grelle as Kōichi Hayase

Aya Hirano/Monica Rial as Miu Kujou

Chiwa Saito/Tia Ballard as Rachel Calvin

Emi Shinohara/Michele Specht as Yurianne Faithful

Gô Shinomiya/Joel McDonald as Hideaki Yajima

Hirofumi Nojima/Ian Sinclair as Sobi Nakajima

Jun Fukuyama/Todd Haberkorn as Hisataka Katō

Jun Konno/Jerry Jewell as Makoto Doumyouji

Kana Ueda/Cherami Leigh as Shizuna Endō

Masako Joh/Cynthia Cranz as Chisato Hayase

Miyuki Sawashiro/Mary Morgan as Satoru Yamashita

Noriko Shitaya/Carrie Savage as Risako Niiyama

Rie Kugimiya/Aaron Dismuke as Izuna Endō

Yoshikazu Sato/Bob Carter as Jack Smith

Yuuichi Nakamura/J. Michael Tatum as Reiji Moritsugu

Kouichi Hayase is everything you never wanted in a hero. He’s a cocky flyboy whose bad attitude and reckless antics endanger everyone around him. Sound like a nightmare? Well, it’s even worse. Thanks to Kouichi’s partnership with the revolutionary Linebarrel mecha, he’s the only one who can save humanity from a deadly race of alien invaders.

With his dream girl missing and his best friend back from the dead, Kouichi must join forces with an unlikely ally to prevent the pulverization of his precious planet. The time is now for Kouichi to prove he has what it takes to become a true “Hero of Justice.”

In 2004, the manga series “Kurogane no Linebarrel” (Linebarrels of Iron) was created by Eiichi Shimizu and Tomohiro Shimoguchi. The manga was first serialized in Akita Shoten’s monthly shonen manga magazine “Champion Red” and in 2008, received its anime adaptation featuring a total of 24-episodes which ended in March 2009.

The anime series is directed by Masamitsu Hidaka (known for his directorial work on various “Pokemon” series and films), series composition by Kiyoko Yoshimura (“Chocolate Underground”, “Dogs: Bullets & Carnage”) and Shigeru Morita (“Mobile Suit Gundam Seed”, “Seikon no Qwaser”). Character design for the series is by Hisashi Hirai (“Mobile Suit Gundam Seed”, “Sokyu no Fafner”, “Infinite Ryvius”, “Heroic Age”), mecha design by Tsutomu Suzuki (“Zone of Enders”, Kurokami the Animation”, “Bokurano”) and music by Conisch (“Hitohira”, “Hipira: The Little Vampire”). “Linebarrles of Iron” is animated by Gonzo.

“Linebarrels of Iron” is a story about Kouichi Hayashi, a teenager who is often bullied. He always dreams that his purpose in life is to be an ally of justice but he is often picked on and bullied in front of his childhood friend and the girl he cares about Risako Niyama. Things get so bad that often she tries to defend him and when things get tough, his friend Hideaki Yajima is always there to protect them.

One day, Kouichi is bullied by three people who force him to get their lunch, which Kouichi agrees to and infuriates Risako. He tells her that he believes he has a hidden, latent power to become an ally of justice but of course, his two friends don’t believe it and try to tell him to fight back. Meanwhile, an object called “Linebarrel” is heading towards the planet Earth.

When Kouchi is arriving back to school after getting the bullies their food, he sees the object going straight down on him. When Kouchi awakens, he sees a big giant mecha robot in front of him and right next to him, a naked girl. He brings the girl, who doesn’t remember who she is to his home to get some clothes. But while they are talking, three mecha show up in the area. They belong to the Katou Organization and start destroying parts of the city.

The girl, Emi Kizaki immediately remembers that those mecha are the enemy and the military with their mecha start to protect the city and fight against the enemy. Both Kouichi and Emi are stuck in the neighborhood with no chance to escape but his friend Yajima finds them and tries to save them. Kouichi who has had enough of people trying to protect him, gets upset and punches the wall and ends up breaking the wall. Emi then remembers and tells him that he has power and must call the power of Linebarrel. Immediately a light surrounds both Koichi and Emi and he awakens and calls a huge machina named Linebarrel to appear.

We then see a more confident Kouichi with special abilities and Kouichi believes that this latent power to become the ally of justice has finally awakened, when the truth is that on the day the object fell on him, he died but Emi saved his life by having Linebarrel choose him for a factor. He now has special abilities and has been given a second life which is tied to the life of the mecha. But the problem with Kouichi is that the power has gotten to his head, his idea that he’s the ally of justice makes him feel that he is the most powerful being and doesn’t understand humility. All he cares is people recognizing his power and wanting to exact revenge on those who hurt him.

But eventually, he’ll learn a big lesson when someone close to him dies and knows he has a major responsibility by having this newfound power.

In “Linebarrels of Iron: Part 2″ (episodes 13-24), the episodes take an interesting spin as many of the young women of JUDA start to fall for Kouichi and also, something mysterious is going on when Kouchi’s friend Hideaki who was killed earlier, seems to be back and is alive.  Meanwhile, more political turmoil takes place within JUDA when one of their own is killed by the Katou Corporation and just when you think that things are becoming much more difficult for the JUDA Corporation, a new threat has arrived.

“Linebarrels of Iron” is a series that pits two organizations against each other. The good guys are known as JUDA while the bad guys are known as the Katou Organization.

JUDA consists of:

• Kouichi Hayase - The main character who goes from the weak teenager constantly being bullied to a boy who controls the powerful machina known as Linebarrel. He was killed on the day Linebarrel crashed into him and shares his life with Linebarrel. Linebarrel has now given him power and also power to automatically restore his body. But because Kouichi is somewhat unstable with his emotions and his belief that he is the ally of justice, his ego tends to get into his head at times. But throughout the series, we see him grow as an individual and becomes protective over the people he cares about, including the girls of JUDA who suddenly start taking a liking towards him.
• Emi Kizaki – Emi was supposed to be the initial factor (pilot) of Linebarrel. She is a mysterious member of JUDA because she came from another dimension. She tends to be hard on Kouichi but at the same time cares for him. But she gets very angry when she thinks Kouichi is always trying to see her nude.
• Reiji Moritsugu – The Chief of the Special Task Force at JUDA. He is a calm but cold person who seems to be impervious of pain. He and Kouchi often get into squabbles because of their sense of dealing with justice.
• Satoru Yamashita – (the blonde factor at JUDA) A subordinate of Reiji and also obsessed with him. Also serious but can be cheerful. She pilots the machina known as Hind-Kind.
• Shizuna Endo – One of the twins of JUDA, She is very loud and always screaming and hurting Koichi but you can tell she has feelings towards him, especially when Kouichi treats her as a girl and compliments her. She and her brother pilot the machina known as Deceive.
• Izuna Endo – One of the twins of JUDA, he is very shy and introverted. His sister Shizuna is more domineering. He pilots the machina Deceive along with his sister.
• Miu Kujo – The kindhearted (and well-endowed) member of JUDA. She has a crush on Kouichi after he saved her life. She pilots the machina Painkiller.
• Kunio Ishigami - The Chief of JUDA Corporation. A former high-ranking officer of the Katou Organization with many secrets. Also, loves to prank his pilots and have fun.
• Yui Ogawa – Ishigami’s secretary and is the more maternal member of JUDA, giving the pilots advice and admonishing her boss for his pranks.
• Rachel Calvin – A genius from the US who is the chief of research and development for JUDA. Often gets angry with Kouichi.

The Katou Organization:

• Hisataka Katou – The head of the Katou Organization. Cold and calm, his goal is world conquest with bloodshed. He is the pilot of the massive mecha known as Shangri-La.
• Masaki Sugwara – The right hand man of Katou. The First Division Captain who is mysterious and sports a cowboy outfit and long hair with no emotions. Pilots the second largest Machina known as Glein-Neidr.
• Takuro Sawatari – The Fourth Division Captain of the Katou Organization. Violent and brutal and wants to destroy Linebarrel. He pilots the Arma Idaten.
• Dimitri Magarov – Third Division Captain and a creepy looking man who pilots the Arma, Kagutsuchi.
• Yurianne Faithful - The Seventh Division Captain. An attractive redhead who pilots the Arma Tsubaki-Hime.
• Riku Ousei - The Eighth Division Captain who is very obese and a psychopath. Pilots the Arma Yaoyorozu.
• Jack Smith – The Sixth Division Captain – A human with a power of the Arma, doesn’t pilot any mecha and follows the code of honor in combat.

“Linebarrels of Iron: Part 2″ comes with a total of 24 episodes on two DVD’s. Here is a basic, spoilerless summary of each episode:

DISC 1:

• EPISODE 13 – Black Executioner – Whatever happened during their vacation, there is a rift between Kouichi and Kizaki.
• EPISODE 14 – Shed is Blood, Lost Are Tears – The secrets of LINEBARREL are revealed, meanwhile a trusted friend at JUDA becomes a traitor and joins the Katou Corporation.  A member of JUDA is killed.
• EPISODE 15 – Vector – Kouichi and Kizaki are on the run.  Meanwhile Kizaki starts to remember memories of her deceased father.
• EPISODE 16 – Judgment at Dusk – With Kiriyama and Katou Corporation trying to shutdown JUDA, the JUDA members will not give up!
• EPISODE 17 – Mechanical Curse – Yajima returns but somehow Kouichi is not sure how his friend is back alive.
• EPISODE 18 – Memento Mori – Yajima wants to know Kizaki’s true feelings towards Kouichi, meanwhile Kouichi goes to an abandoned Russian base in which the Katou Corporation are waiting for him.

DISC 2:

• EPISODE 19 – Kight Reaches, Shadow Us Incovered – Masaki who is pilotin gthe GLAIN-NEIDR installs the last sphere.  Meanwhile, Kouchi must try to rescue Kizaki.
• EPISODE 20 – Man of Destiny – Miu has not been doing so well in battle with PAINKILLER which is unable to advance.  Meanwhile the Katou Corporation has set up Spheres throughout the world for a multidimensional invasion.  Shizuna and Izuna try to convince the UN to take action.
• EPISODE 21 – Wings of Madness – Kouchi and JUDA must hold back the launch of the SPHEREs.
• EPISODE 22 – That Wich Devours Demons – Kouichi must take on his nemesis Moritsugu Reiji.  Who will win?
• EPISODE 23 – The Way of Life Determined by Way of Death – The enemy invasion has begun and Kouchi and team try to defend Earth.
• EPISODE 24 – Flowers of Steel – Kouchi reflects on his life, meanwhile Linebarrel shows its true form.

VIDEO & AUDIO:

“Linebarrels of Iron: Part 2” features pretty solid animation. The artistic backgrounds are nicely lighted and shaded. Character designs are also well done and feature the character designs with a lot of shading and featuring the character in a variety of emotions. Also, the series features a lot of mecha. Each pilot on both sides with their own machina and abilities definitely brings in this other element to the series. There is a lot of action featured in “Linebarrels of Iron” and a lot of destruction. GONZO did a spectacular job with the animation and a series that I hope receives the Blu-ray treatment.

Audio is in English 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound and Japanese Stereo. Both voice acting for the English and Japanese are well done. The English dub is very well done and was quite pleased with the amount of action and sound effects. Good use of surround channels and good punchy bass for booms from the subwoofer. I definitely would love to hear this soundtrack ala lossless audio if brought to Blu-ray. But for the most part, English dub soundtrack is well done and more immersive. Japanese soundtrack is very good but only in stereo but if you have a home theater receiver capable of setting audio on all channels, it definitely makes the soundtrack much more immersive.

Subtitles are in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Linebarrels of Iron: Part 2” comes with the following special features:

DISC 2:

• Textless Opening Song – (1:47) Opening theme song by JAM Project.
• Textless Closing Song – (1:35) The ending theme by Maaya Sakamoto.
• Trailers - FUNimation Entertainment trailers

“Linebarrels of Iron” is enjoyable, action-packed, sexy and mecha driven anime series with a twist.

With the first half of the series, I found it interesting on how the main protagonist was literally mentally unstable and egotistical. This time around, Kouichi has developed confidence and the series starts to shift more to a sci-fi harem series as now various women start to care for him and it was one thing to deal with Kizaki or Ritsuko liking Kouichi but this second half throws more romance at you as Miu starts to fall for Kouichi and somehow its starting to have an effect on the group.  But interesting enough, Kouichi is quite oblivious to what is going on.

Also, the second half definitely amps up the action and the series definitely becomes more serious as characters die and literally Kouichi and Kizaki are on the run.  Meanwhile, a major threat is about to happen on the planet and chaos starts to reign in on both JUDA and the Katou Corporation.

But part of the allure with “Linebarrels of Iron” is how the episodes are structured, there are no filler episodes. With so many characters featured in this series, there is a good amount of character development and a very good balance of humor and action. And that is what makes “Linebarrels of Iron” so addicting and enjoyable.  I really enjoyed this second half of the series and it ends in a pretty solid note.

It is important to note that there are two OVA’s and released on the same date of this second part of the series is the OVA’s for “Linebarrels of Iron”.

As for the DVD, this is a pretty solid release that actually has a good number of special features than just the opening and ending theme songs. Character and mecha design especially the artistic backgrounds are well done. The series is also well-acted both in Japanese and English. Personally, this is one series that I hope FUNimation Entertainment considers for a Blu-ray release. It’s a really fun, action-packed series that I can imagine, will look and sound great via HD.

Overall, both volumes of “Linebarrels of Iron” was exciting to watch and a good amount of mecha action, humor, fan service and more.  Definitely recommended!

The Slayers Evolution-R (a J!-ENT Anime Blu-ray Disc Review)

The fifth season “The Slayers Evolution-R” takes the series up a notch over the last season with a more darker, more action-driven storyline. If you have dedicated yourself this long to the “The Slayers” series, there is no doubt you will find “The Slayers Evolution-R” to be a much more exciting than “Revolution” and the best looking season for “The Slayers” yet!

Image courtesy of © FUNimation Entertainment. All Rights Reserved.

BLU-RAY TITLE: The Slayers Evolution-R

DURATION: Episodes 14-26 (Duration: 312 Minutes, 2 Blu-rays)

BLU-RAY INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition, English Dolby TrueHD 5.1, Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0, Subtitles: English

COMPANY: FUNimation Entertainment

RATED: TV 14

Release Date: September 21, 2010

Original Story: Hajime Kanzaka and Rui Araizumi

Directed by Takashi Watanabe

Series Composition by Jiro Takayama

Character Design: Naomi Miyata

Art Director: Shinji Kawaai

Sound Director: Yoshikazu Iwanami

Director of Photography: Yutaka Kurosawa

Producer: Gou Shukuri, Shinichi Ikeda, Yuji Matsukura

Animation Production by J.C. Staff

Featuring the following voice talent:

Megumi Hayashibara/Lisa Ortiz as Lina Inverse

Yasunaro Matsumoto/Eric Stuart as Gourry Gabriev

Hikaru Midorikawa/Crispin Freeman as Zelgadis

Masami Suzuki/Veronica Taylor as Amelia

Colleen O’Shaughnessey/Yumiko Kobayashi as Pokota

Akira Ishida/Michael Sinterniklaas as Xelloss

Takehito Koyasu/Liam O’Brien as Rezo

The magical mayhem of The Slayers Revolution continues in The Slayers Evolution-R! With the original cast of The Slayers back together for the first time in over a decade, Lina Inverse and her crew are reunited and doing what they do best – saving the world by almost destroying it!

Lina’s gang and their new ally Pokota are hot on the trail of the Hellmaster’s Jar! It’s no ordinary piece of pottery: it holds the soul of Rezo the Red Priest. Opening the vessel and resurrecting Rezo is the only hope Pokota has of saving his kingdom’s people. With masked assassins, headless knights, and shifty Xellos in the mix, one thing is certain: destruction is guaranteed!

I can easily remember watching “The Slayers” when it first appeared on television in Japan, catching the premiere of the series at an anime convention and watching the main Japanese voice actress Megumi Hayashibara promoting the series in America and singing a song from the series. And then the release of the series on VHS and owning multiple copies just to get a subtitled and English dubbed version because I enjoyed the series that much.

It’s hard to believe but nearly 14 years later since “The Slayers” debut as a light novel by Hajime Kanzaka and Rui Araizumi (which the duo has since released 50 light novels), the series has received a manga treatment, two OAV series, five movies, countless video games and for anime series, there have been a total of five seasons.

With the series having had its release in the US from Software Sculptors and Central Park Media, “The Slayers” series received back in August 2009 with its first major collection from FUNimation Entertainment with “The Slayers: The First Three Seasons” which consists of Season One: The Slayers (April 1995-Sept. 1995, 26 episodes), Season Two: Slayers Next (April 1996-Sept. 1996, 26 episodes) and Season Three: Slayers Try (April 1997-Sept. 1997, 26 episodes) for a total of 78 episodes included in this collection.

With the series going on a decade-long hiatus, the fourth season was released 11 years after the third season and titled “The Slayers Revolution” (aired between July-September 2008) which was released by FUNimation Entertainment. The fourth season features the first 13-episodes and is now continued on Blu-ray and DVD with this latest release of “The Slayers Evolution-R” (the fifth season) which comprises of the final 13-episodes which were aired between January-April 2009 (note: The manga is still ongoing in Japan).

“Slayers Revolution” is directed by Takashi Watanabe (“Casshan: Robot Hunter”, “Y’s II”, “New Fist of the North Star”, “Ikki Tousen”), screen composition by Jiro Takayama (“The Slayers” series, “Angel Links”, “Wings of Rean”, “El Hazard: The Wanderers”), character designs by Naomi Miyata (“Kino’s Journey”, “Revolutionary Girl Utena”, “Sakura Wars”) and music by Osamu Tezuka (“Shadow Skill”, “Popotan”, “Lost Universe, “Akazukin Cha Cha”).

The series revolves around the character of Lina Inverse, a powerful sorceress who has a love for money and eating a lot of food. Everytime she tries to help a village (for money), somehow, she ends up destroying it and thus, has a reputation of being a destructive and evil sorceress. She is accompanied by Gourry Gabriev and sometimes by Zelgadis Greyswords and Amelia Wil Tesla Seyruun during her adventures for more money, food and fun.

But this time, they encounter a small creature named Pokota that knows how to use the “Dragon Slave” whose village was put into a stasis. His village was struck by a sickness in which humans were sickened by an illness called Durum which changes their appearance. So, to prevent the village from Durum, a magical wizard put his village in a deep sleep until a cure is found. But with the durum sickness now gone, Pokota needs the wizard to wake everyone up.

So, In order to revive his village, he needs to find a man who helped save his village once before, to use his magic. Unfortunately, the man is Rezo, the Red Priest. The enemy of Lina and friends and the man responsible for turning Zelgadis to a chimera. Despite the bad things that Rezo has done, Pokota believes Rezo is a good man who saved his village.

But with Lina and friends wanting to see if Rezo is indeed alive (when he is supposed to be dead), they are willing to help Pokota. For now…

The main characters of “The Slayers Evolution-R” are:

Lina Inverse – A powerful sorceress who loves money and food. She is very sensitive when she’s around other women that are more bustier than her and tends to have a short fuse. Whenever she’s in battle, her spells tend to do more damage than she thinks. But because of the sheer amount of destruction that she’s caused, the rumors have spread throughout the country and people tend to fear her and make her out as an evil person when she’s not.

Gourry Gabriev – The marvelous swordsman who wields the sword of light. He also has a bad memory and is a powerful magic wielder but doesn’t remember being one. So, he joins Lina on her adventures as her personal bodyguard.

Zelgadis Greywords – A powerful sorcerer who is a chimera made of a rock golemn courtesy of his ancestor Rizo. Known for his green face and purple, wiry hair and is half demon and human. He looks desperately for a stone that will change him to a human, even if it means losing his chimera powers. A stoic, no-nonsense character.

Amelia Wil Tesla Seyruun – A young miko and also a princess. Her dream is becoming a hero of justice and thus, had joined Lina and Gourry in many adventures. Very naive at times and believes almost everything that people tend to tell her. She also knows that Lina and Goury tend to use her for her money.

Xellos - A high level Mazoku and a priest of the “Greater Beast Zelas-Metallium”. Also known as Beastmaster Xellos and is literally a frienemy of Lina and friends. When he seems like he’s helping, he seems to have some sort of ulterior motive.

Pokota – An animal-like creature who has the ability to use great power like Lina. A former human who searches for Rezo to awaken the people of Taforashia.

Wizer – A special investigator who is on a hot trail pursuing Lina Inverse to arrest her for being Lina Inverse.

“The Slayers Evolution-R” comes with the complete season, episodes 14-26 on two Blu-ray discs (note: The Blu-rays utilize the number scheme of Evolution-R beginning at episode 14). Here are the spoiler-less summaries of each episode:

DISC 1:

• EPISODE 14 – Newcomer! A New Journey – Lina and friends on an adventure to find Rezo and meet a woman named Nama who’s soul is embedded in a suit of armor (and has lot her memory).
• EPISODE 15 – Oh My Head! Where’s My Head? - Nama joins the team and together they look for a magical jar that Rezod has used to turn Pokota to a creature and they meet Hans, another knight who’s soul is embedded in it (but is missing his head) who said he has a hellmaster jar like the one they are looking for and will give it to them if they can find his head.
• EPISODE 16- Partner! Sharing Mind and Body? – Lina takes on a man who has magical power over animals.
• EPISODE 17 – Quality Time! A Homelife with Love? - The fish lady returns and claims that Gourry is the father of her fish children. Being the gullible guy he is, Gourry to want to raise his children.
• EPISODE 18 – Raider! The Voice from the Darkness – Zelgadis and Lina take on a dragon. Meanwhile, something happens to Nama and an episode with Xellos and Mr. Zula.
• EPISODE 19 – Seek! Who’s Being Targeted? – Mr. Zuma instructs Lina and friends that they must go to a village and protect a merchant named Radok who is being targeted or else someone will die.
• EPISODE 20 – Townscape! Because it’s Manmade! - Lina and friends await in the village to protect Radok from whoever is trying to kill them.
• EPISODE 21 – Uncover! The Exposed Darkness! - The merchant is tired of waiting for being targeted and thus will go on an adventure to prompt the assassin to make its move. Zuma’s identity revealed.
• EPISODE 22 – Voice! What’s Inside the Jar - Lina becomes the owner of the hellmaster’s jar, but now the group must figure how to destroy the seal of the jar.

DISC 2:

• EPISODE 23 – Wisdom! Seek the Time that Will Never Return! - Zelgadis steals the jar from Lina in hopes to get his body back.
• EPISODE 24 – Xeno! The Price of Revival! - Pokota takes the jar and wants to resurrect Rezo.
• EPISODE 25 – Yesterday’s Memory! Days Regained! - Rezo is resurrected.
• EPISODE 26 – Zero Hour! The Destroyed One! - Shabranigdo, the powerful being of evil and the source of power of Lina’s “Dragon Slave” is revived.

VIDEO :

Considering “The Slayers Evolution-R” was released 12 years after “The Slayers Try” (1997), one would expect a major update to the animation. And the animation and background art looks for this series is fantastic!

The anime series features a much more bolder stroke around the characters, a more vibrant color pallet and better shading and detail. Artistic backgrounds are fine but for a series such as “The Slayers”, typically there are a lot of closeup shots of the characters and when comparing this series to the first three seasons, it’s like comparing a new Mercedes to an older, normal car. There is a huge improvement in animation and artistic background.

Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to review the DVD version and if there was one thing I noticed, “The Slayers Evolution-R” looked a bit better than “The Slayers Revolution”.  The animation and even the artistic backgrounds seem much better in “The Slayers Evolution-R”.

The series is presented in 1:78:1 108p High Definition and is an upscaled anime on BD release.  The edge enhancement is still visible, as is the banding but the artifacts are not as evident.

But the series on Blu-ray does feature a vibrant color pallet and for a anime TV series, the picture quality does stand out quite a bit compared to the DVD release.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

As for the audio, “The Slayers Evolution-R” is presented in English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0.  The series is primarily front and center channel driven but I did notice how certain scenes, ie. large halls in which the sound is nicely echoed through the halls, especially footsteps through the halls, doors creaking through the halls, wood creeking, wind flowing through open spaces  and I pretty much noticed more surround usage in this series compared to “The Slayers Revolution”.

Also, other ambiance such as crowds and music can be heard through the surround channels.  Especially, the use of magic can be heard through the surround channels.

For the most part, the series is dialogue driven and dialogue and music is crisp and clear via lossless and even the Japanese soundtrack sounds much more richer and well-balanced.  So, there is a definite difference audio wise compared to the original DVD release.

Subtitles are in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“The Slayers Evolution-R” comes with the following special features:

• Textless Opening Song – Textless Songs for “Front Breaking”.
• Textless Closing  Song – Textless Songs for “Sand Clock”.
• Trailers – FUNimation Entertainment trailers

“Slayers” will always be an anime series that I will always enjoy. I was heavily into the series back in the 90’s and I know there had been this lull of when I didn’t catch anything related to the series but just a few related films. But watching this series again, definitely brought back memories of catching the series at an anime con meeting, an anime convention, buying multiple versions to get the subtitled and English dubbed versions. I really enjoyed this series.

But it takes some dedication. Where a long anime series such as “Dragon Ball Z” can have a conclusion, the fact that this series has literally been on television or released in some format for the last 15 years, you really have to be a dedicated fan to following a series this long.

In fact, each season is a story arc in itself but for the most part, they are stand-alone episodes and typically the final three or four episodes is where everything tends to lead to a major battle. And despite these episodes being over a decade old, the anime still holds up today. And the fact that you can own all three seasons in a single box set for a great price is also another incentive.

“The Slayers Evolution-R” looks absolutely fantastic. The character design and backgrounds are full of detail and is vibrant of colors. Storywise, “The Slayers Evolution-R” is much better than the last season “The Slayers Revolution” in my opinion. I felt that “Revolution” was very Pokota-driven and in someways, was a more happy-style of storyline that seemed like a series targeted towards a more younger demographic. With “The Slayers Evolution-R”, the series gets much darker and even a bit bloody (especially during the Zuma storyline) and although Pokota is in this series, he’s not as prominent, which is a good thing. Of course, the humor and weird storylines is still intact with this fifth seasn, especially the episode with Goury and the fish lady which was really odd but it was a hilarious episode.

Overall, “The Slayers Evolution-R” should definitely please “Slayers” fans who want the humor, the action and battles that the original series was known for. It’s definitely a step-up from “The Slayers Revolution” and the animation and artistic backgrounds are fantastic. I also feel that the series also has a wonderful English dub and also Japanese dialogue as well.

It’s important to note that it does help to watch the original three seasons to get some background on the characters but because the animation back then may not appeal to modern anime viewers, you can start with “The Slayers Revolution” and watch “The Slayers Evolution-R” and still enjoy it.

The Blu-ray release of “The Slayers Evolution-R” is definitely a major improvement over the DVD version video and audio-wise.  But once again, for those hardcore anime on Blu-ray fans who are expecting a lot, it’s important to remind everyone that this is a TV series and it’s not going to look spectacular when compared to an anime film or OVA.  But still, if you have watched the previous three seasons of “The Slayers” and are now just jumping in, then the Blu-ray is recommended.

In fact, if you are not too picky and still want a humorous anime series, I still recommend checking out “The Slayers Evolution-R” because it is a humorous series and it’s just fun to watch.

If you are a fan of “The Slayers” and have committed yourself to watching and owning every season, I definitely recommend “The Slayers Evolution-R”.

The Slayers Revolution (a J!-ENT Anime Blu-ray Disc Review)

More hijinks, more action and even more destruction!  The long awaited fourth season of “The Slayers” saga continues with “The Slayers Revolution” now available on Blu-ray!  Definitely an improvement over its DVD counterpart.

 

Image courtesy of © FUNimation Entertainment. All Rights Reserved.

TITLE: The Slayers Revolution

DURATION: Episodes 1-13 (Duration: 300 Minutes)

BLU-RAY INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition (1:78:1), Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0, English Dolby TrueHD 5.1, Subtitles: English

COMPANY: FUNimation Entertainment

RATED: TV 14

Release Date: September 21, 2010

Original Story: Hajime Kanzaka and Rui Araizumi

Directed by Takashi Watanabe

Series Composition by Jiro Takayama

Character Design: Naomi Miyata

Art Director: Shinji Kawaai

Sound Director: Yoshikazu Iwanami

Director of Photography: Yutaka Kurosawa

Producer: Gou Shukuri, Shinichi Ikeda, Yuji Matsukura

Animation Production by J.C. Staff

Featuring the following voice talent:

Megumi Hayashibara/Lisa Ortiz as Lina Inverse

Yasunaro Matsumoto/Eric Stuart as Gourry Gabriev

Hikaru Midorikawa/Crispin Freeman as Zelgadis

Masami Suzuki/Veronica Taylor as Amelia

Colleen O’Shaughnessey/Yumiko Kobayashi as Pokota

Akira Ishida/Michael Sinterniklaas as Xelloss

Takehito Koyasu/Liam O’Brien as Rezo

 

Lina’s on the run from a government inspector who’s ready to put her away for good. Her crime? Just being herself! The guy’s hot on her tail, but a tiny creature that actually has a tail might be Lina’s biggest problem. Pokota’s a powerful little furball, and his path of destruction is getting pinned on Lina.

With so much explosive magic between them, you know things will go boom when they face off. But there’s more to Pokota than anyone knows, and if Lina’s gang can get to the bottom of his habit of blowing stuff up, they could end up with an awesome new ally.

I can easily remember watching “The Slayers” when it first appeared on television in Japan, catching the premiere of the series at an anime convention and watching the main Japanese voice actress Megumi Hayashibara promoting the series in America and singing a song from the series. And then the release of the series on VHS and owning multiple copies just to get a subtitled and English dubbed version because I enjoyed the series that much.

It’s hard to believe but nearly 14 years later since “The Slayers” debut as a light novel by Hajime Kanzaka and Rui Araizumi (which the duo has since released 50 light novels), the series has received a manga treatment, two OAV series, five movies, countless video games and for anime series, there have been a total of five.

With the series having had its release in the US from Software Sculptors and Central Park Media, “The Slayers” series received back in August 2009 with its first major collection from FUNimation Entertainment with “The Slayers: The First Three Seasons” which consists of Season One: The Slayers (April 1995-Sept. 1995, 26 episodes), Season Two: Slayers Next (April 1996-Sept. 1996, 26 episodes) and Season Three: Slayers Try (April 1997-Sept. 1997, 26 episodes) for a total of 78 episodes included in this collection.

Now the fourth season which began 11 years after the third season titled “Slayers Revolution” (which aired between July-September 2008) will be released by FUNimation Entertainment on Blu-ray. This fourth season features the first 13-episodes and is continued on “Slayers Evolution-R” (the fifth season) which comprises of the final 13-episodes and aired between January-April 2009 (note: The manga is still ongoing in Japan).  Both titles will be simultaneously released on Blu-ray, a DVD version for both titles were released earlier this year.

“Slayers Revolution” is directed by Takashi Watanabe (“Casshan: Robot Hunter”, “Y’s II”, “New Fist of the North Star”, “Ikki Tousen”), screen composition by Jiro Takayama (“The Slayers” series, “Angel Links”, “Wings of Rean”, “El Hazard: The Wanderers”), character designs by Naomi Miyata (“Kino’s Journey”, “Revolutionary Girl Utena”, “Sakura Wars”) and music by Osamu Tezuka (“Shadow Skill”, “Popotan”, “Lost Universe, “Akazukin Cha Cha”).

The series revolves around the character of Lina Inverse, a powerful sorceress who has a love for money and eating a lot of food. Everytime she tries to help a village (for money), somehow, she ends up destroying it and thus, has a reputation of being a destructive and evil sorceress. She is accompanied by Gourry Gabriev and sometimes by Zelgadis Greyswords and Amelia Wil Tesla Seyruun during her adventures for more money, food and fun.

But this time, they encounter a small creature that knows how to use the “Dragon Slave” and a government employee named Wizer is trying to arrest Lina. Why?

The main characters of “Slayers Revolution” are:

Lina Inverse – A powerful sorceress who loves money and food. She is very sensitive when she’s around other women that are more bustier than her and tends to have a short fuse. Whenever she’s in battle, her spells tend to do more damage than she thinks. But because of the sheer amount of destruction that she’s caused, the rumors have spread throughout the country and people tend to fear her and make her out as an evil person when she’s not.

Gourry Gabriev – The marvelous swordsman who wields the sword of light. He also has a bad memory and is a powerful magic wielder but doesn’t remember being one. So, he joins Lina on her adventures as her personal bodyguard.

Zelgadis Greywords – A powerful sorcerer who is a chimera made of a rock golemn courtesy of his ancestor Rizo. Known for his green face and purple, wiry hair and is half demon and human. He looks desperately for a stone that will change him to a human, even if it means losing his chimera powers. A stoic, no-nonsense character.

Amelia Wil Tesla Seyruun – A young miko and also a princess. Her dream is becoming a hero of justice and thus, had joined Lina and Gourry in many adventures. Very naive at times and believes almost everything that people tend to tell her. She also knows that Lina and Goury tend to use her for her money.

Xellos - A high level Mazoku and a priest of the “Greater Beast Zelas-Metallium”. Also known as Beastmaster Xellos and is literally a frienemy of Lina and friends. When he seems like he’s helping, he seems to have some sort of ulterior motive.

Pokota – An animal-like creature who has the ability to use great power like Lina but has no control over it. But there is more to this creature…

Wizer – A special investigator who is on a hot trail pursuing Lina Inverse to arrest her for being Lina Inverse.

“The Slayers Revolution” comes with the complete season, episodes 1-13 on two Blu-ray discs. Here are the spoiler-less summaries of each episode:

DISC 1:

• EPISODE 1 – Amazing! The Astonishing Dragon Slave?! – Lina confronts a special investigator who wants to arrest her and both Lina and Goury reunite with Zelgadis and Amelia.
• EPISODE 2 – Because! You’re Lina Inverse, That’s Why? - Lina vs. Pokota.
• EPISODE 3- Chase! The Endless Pursuit! – Lina takes on a man who has magical power over animals.
• EPISODE 4 – Drifter! Who’s Chasing Whom?! - Amelia wants to help Pokota.
• EPISODE 5 – Eternal! The Forever-Sleeping Forest! – Lina and friends learn the story behind Pokota and his village.
• EPISODE 6 – Fall On! Strange Festival! Bizarre Festival? Push That Ball Up! – Lina and friends including Pokota become involved with a villages ball pushing contest.
• EPISODE 7 – Gorgeous! The Target Luxury Liner - Lina and friends including Pokota ride on a luxury liner but they don’t know that there is a killer(s) in the midst.
• EPISODE 8 – Hurry Up! Run Through! No, Don’t? - Wizer and Xellos team up!
• EPISODE 9 – Insider! The One Who Knows the Truth! - Pokota finds out Duclis’s motivation of working with the enemy.

DISC 2:

• EPISODE 10 – Judgment! The Silver One Rises Again! - Lina and friends prepare for their big battle.
• EPISODE 11 – Keep Out! The Demon Beast Looms! - The demon beast has awaken!
• EPISODE 12 – Legacy! Decisive Battle in Seyruun! - Lena and Pokota take on the demon beast!
• EPISODE 13 – Misty! The Blades Are Brought Down - Lena and friends take on the demon beast. The battle continues!

VIDEO:

Considering “The Slayers Revolution” was released 11 years after “The Slayers Try” (1997), one would  and should expect a major update to the animation.  The anime series features  a much more bolder stroke around the characters, a more vibrant color pallet and better shading and detail.  Artistic backgrounds are fine but for a series such as “The Slayers”, typically there are a lot of closeup shots of the characters.

Earlier this year, I had the opportunity to review the DVD version and what was evident were the artifacts, banding and edge enhancement.  For the Blu-ray version of “The Slayers Revolution”, the series is presented in 1:78:1 108p High Definition and is an upscaled anime on BD release.  The edge enhancement is still visible, as is the banding but the artifacts are not as evident.

But the series on Blu-ray does feature a vibrant color pallet and for a anime TV series, the picture quality does stand out quite a bit compared to the DVD release.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

As for the audio, the series is presented in English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0.  The series is primarily front and center channel driven but I did notice how certain scenes, ie. large halls in which the sound is nicely echoed through the halls.  Also, other ambiance such as crowds and music can be heard through the surround channels.  Especially, the use of magic can be heard through the surround channels.

For the most part, the series is dialogue driven and dialogue and music is crisp and clear via lossless and even the Japanese soundtrack sounds much more richer and well-balanced.  So, there is a definite difference audio wise compared to the original DVD release.

Subtitles are in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“The Slayers Revolution” comes with the following special features:

• Textless Opening Song – Textless Songs for “Plenty of Grit”
• Textless Closing Song – Textless Songs for “Revolution”
• Trailers – FUNimation Entertainment trailers

“Slayers” will always be an anime series that I will always enjoy. I was heavily into the series back in the 90’s and I know there had been this lull of when I didn’t catch anything related to the series but just a few related films. But watching this series again, definitely brought back memories of catching the series at an anime con meeting, an anime convention, buying multiple versions to get the subtitled and English dubbed versions. I really enjoyed this series.

But it takes some dedication. Where a long anime series such as “Dragon Ball Z” can have a conclusion, the fact that this series has literally been on television or released in some format for the last 15 years, you really have to be a dedicated fan to following a series this long.

In fact, each season is a story arc in itself but for the most part, they are stand-alone episodes and typically the final three or four episodes is where everything tends to lead to a major battle. And despite these episodes being over a decade old, the anime still holds up today. And the fact that you can own all three seasons in a single box set for a great price is also another incentive.

“The Slayers Revolution” definitely improves in animation and image clarity. But considering this anime series was released in 2008 and the third season “The Slayers Try” was last aired on television back in 1997, anime quality has changed a lot since then.

It would have been nice if there was a short synopsis for newer viewers not familiar with the past three seasons to know the relationship of all characters but if you haven’t seen any of the last three seasons of “The Slayers”, I think you can easily get by, as the main focus of this fourth season is Lina and the gang going after a creature named Pokota and then finding out his true identity and his background.

The Blu-ray is definitely a major improvement over the DVD version video and audio-wise.  But once again, for those hardcore anime on Blu-ray fans who are expecting a lot, it’s important to remind everyone that this is a TV series and it’s not going to look spectacular when compared to an anime film or OVA.  But still, if you have watched the previous three seasons of “The Slayers” and are now just jumping in, then the Blu-ray is recommended.

In fact, if you are not too picky and still want a humorous anime series, I still recommend checking out “The Slayers Revolution” because it is a humorous series and it’s just fun to watch.

Overall, “The Slayers Revolution” is a series that fans of the original series have wanted for a long time. Because the manga series of “The Slayers Evolution-R” is still being published in Japan, fans hoping for some sort of finality or conclusion will probably have to wait even longer. But for those who are in it for the adventure and crazy hi-jinks and of course, more destruction via Lina Inverse will definitely enjoy this latest series.

Fans of “The Slayers” anime series who have waited a long time for a new fourth season, “The Slayers Revolution” is recommended!

Legend of the Seeker: The Complete 2nd and Final Season (a J!-ENT DVD Review)

Every decade, syndicated television has its rare share of gems that truly shine on television. In the 80s, there was ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’, in the 90s there was ‘Xena: Warrior Princess’ and now, the ‘Legend of the Seeker’.  An awesome television series that is well-cast, well-written and features impressive costume and set design. Unfortunately, survival of new series on syndicated television is no longer the same as they were back in the ’80s and ’90s and thus, a popular series such as “Legend of the Seeker” was canceled. Nevertheless, if you want to see an awesome series, I highly recommend checking out both seasons of “Legend of the Seeker” and if you purchased the last season, “Legend of the Seeker: The Complete 2nd and Final Season” is highly recommended!

Images courtesy of © ABC Studios. All Rights Reserved

TITLE: Legend of the Seeker: The Complete 2nd and Final Season

DURATION: 22 Episodes (946 Minutes)

DVD INFORMATION: Color, Digitally Mastered, Widescreen (1:78:1) – Enhanced for 16×9 Televisions, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound, English SDH, French and Spanish Subtitles

RATED: TV 14 LSV

COMPANY: ABC Studios

RELEASE DATE: September 28, 2010

Directed by Mark Beesley, Garth Maxwell. Michael Hurst, Jonathan Brough, Chris Martin-Jones, Jesse Warn, Andrew Merrifield

Written by Terry Goodkind, Kenneth Biller, Stephen Tolkin, Chad Fiveash, James Patrick Stoteraux, Mike Sussman, Nicki Paluga, Arika Lisanne Mittman, Raf Green, Charley Dane

Executive Producer: Kenneth Biller, Joshua Donen, Ned Nalle, Robert G. Tapert, Sam Raimi

Co-Executive Producer: Stephen Tolkin, Barry M. Schkolnick

Producer: Mark Beesley, Sally Campbell, David Roessell

Supervising Producer: Andre Bormanis

Original Music by Joseph LoDuca

Cinematography by Kevin Riley, Donald Duncan

Edited by Gary Hunt, Eric De Beus

Casting by Wendy O’Brien, Jessie Disla

Production Design by Robert Gillies

Art Direction by Mike Becroft, Jennifer Ward

Set Decoration: Megan Vertelle

Costume Design: Jane Holland

Starring:

Craig Horner as Richard Cypher

Bridget Regan as Kahlan Amnell

Bruce Spence as Zeddicus Zu’l Zorander

Tabrett Bethell as Cara

Craig Parker as Darken Rahl

Kevin J. Wilson as General Egremont

Ben Fransham as Gar

Danielle Cormack as Shota

Jessica Marais as Denna

Emily Foxler as Sister Nicci

Brooke Williams as Jennsen

Allison Bruce as Sister Verna

KAtrina Law as Garren the Mord Sith

Jon Brazier as Thaddicus

Matthew Le Nevez as Leo

Millions of readers the world over have been held spellbound by this valiant tale vividly told. In the aftermath of the brutal murder of his father, a mysterious woman, Kahlan Amnell (Bridget Regan),
appears in Richard Cypher’s (Craig Horner) forest sanctuary seeking help…and more. His world, his very beliefs, are shattered when ancient debts come due with thundering violence. In their darkest hour, hunted relentlessly, tormented by treachery and loss, Kahlan calls upon Richard to reach beyond his sword-to invoke within himself something more noble. Neither knows that the
rules of battle have just changed…or that their time has run out. This is the beginning. One story. One Rule. Witness the birth of a legend.

In 1994, Terry Goodkind would embark on the beginning of his novels known as “The Sword of Truth”. With over 25 million copies of his books sold worldwide, many enjoyed the story of the adventures of three individuals: Richard Cypher, Kahland Amnell and Zeddicus Zu’l Zorander on their quest to end the tyranny of their work caused by Darken Rahl.

14 years and eleven novels later, plans for a syndicated television series loosely based on the books would become reality and would include the name of Executive Producer Sam Raimi (“Spider-Man” and “Evil Dead” films), Robert Tapert (“Xena: Warrior Princess”), Joshua Donen (“Underneath”, “The Quick and the Dead”), Josh Shiban (“The X-Files”, “Enterprise”), Kenneth Biller (“Six Degrees”, “Smallville”, “Dark Angel, “Star Trek: Voyager”) and co-executive produced by Stephen Tolkin (“Summerland”).

Because TV syndication requires a story for each episode, there is only so much that could be attributed to the book in 40-45 minutes of television. So, creatively there are differences from the television show and the book and thus the episodes are loosely based on the series.

The story of “Legend of Seeker” takes place in three main provinces: Westland, The Midlands and D’Hara. The Westlands is separated from the Midlands due to a magical boundary in order to prevent magic from entering the Westland. In D’Hara, the evil Darken Rahl uses his black magic to cause fear within his people and has amassed a great army but now he wants more power and wants to expand his domination into the midlands. Darken Rahl has sent his men after two Confessors who have stolen a book.

During these dark times, one can hope that an long-old tale of a prophecy comes true. Those who are familiar with the prophecy hope that one day, a person known as the Seeker will eliminate the tyranny of D’Hara and free those who have lived under oppression and tyranny due to Darken Rahl’s leadership. But with no Seeker having appeared, many feel that the prophecy is just a myth.

For Darken Rahl, he feels known one can stop him because he eliminated all the first born sons in a village where the Seeker was to be born. So, for over two decades, he has lived comfortable…that is until now.

When two Confessors (a group of women who have magical powers who oversee the welfare of the people in the Midlands) try to escape Darken Rahl’s army, they escape from D’Hara into the Midlands where they go and search for a wizard named Zeddicus “Zedd” Zu’l Zorander who is supposed to be training the Seeker.

One of the Confessors named Khalan Amnell was able to successfully make it through the boundary but was still chased by a few men of Darken Rahl’s army. As she was surrounded by the men, a young man named Richard Cypher manages to save her in the process. While Khalan leaves Richard to find Zedd and the Seeker, the two are then encountered by Richard in which it is revealed that Richard is in fact the Seeker.

At the end of the first season, Richard, Khalan and Zedd, with the help of Mord’Sith Cara were able to vanquish the Darken Rahl.  But now, after a short peace in the land, turmoil has once again hit the midlands.  There is major disturbance as the dead has now become part of the living and a rift has been opening up within the land.

It is learned that despite defeating Darken Rahl, now they have unintentionally helped the Keeper of the underworld to create rifts between the world of the living and the underworld.  To make things worse, each time Richard and friends defeat soldiers dedicated to Darken Rahl, when the dead awakens in the underworld, they are given a second chance at life by Darken Rahl who now has the power to give life back but the deal is that each person given a new chance at life as a Baneling, they must kill a person each day to stay alive.  There is literally a countdown that starts after each kill and their body starts to disintegrate.

But with the dead being brought to back and killing more innocents, Richard has a new quest, to find the “Stone of Tears” to seal the rifts and defeat the keeper.  The problem is that prophecy shows that Richard will side with the Keeper by delivering the “Stone of Tears” to him?

The main characters in the second season of “Legend of the Seeker” are:

Richard Cypher (played by Craig Horner, “Blue Water High”, “H20: Just Add Water” and “Monarch Cove”) – Richard is learning to be the Seeker. Throughout his adventure, he learns a lot about himself and the people in the land and wanting to help them. He’s a kind-hearted man who will fight evil. He is attracted to the Confessor Kahlan, knowing that a relationship with the Khalan can not happen.

Kahlan Amnell (played by Bridget Regan, “The Black Donnellys”) - A Confessor who’s mission is to protect the Seeker. A Confessor can help those who confess and inside, they know the truth. When she touches a person, she can control them by making them confess and briefly taking over their body and making them do whatever she wants. She has pride in her work as a Confessor and is kind-hearted but she’s also developing feelings towards Richard, which she knows that as a Confessor, she is unable to love someone else or else she will end up stripping out his soul. So, she tries her best to keep her emotions in check, no matter how difficult it may be for her.

Zeddicus Zu’l Zorander (played by Bruce Spense, “Bullpit!”, “Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith”) – The powerful wizard who is a member of the First Order that is still alive. He has not trained the Seeker but now, knowing his duty is to protect and train him, he is willing to sacrifice his life in order to make sure The Seeker defeats Darken Rahl.  It was revealed in season one that Zeddicus is the grandfather of Richard.

Cara (played by Tabrett Bethell, “The Clinic”) – A Mord’Sith who ends up helping Richard and his friends.  Betrayed by the Sisters of the Agiel, Cara is given another chance but this time to join the Seeker on his quest.   Despite being a Mord’Sith, Richard believes in her, the others are a not sure if she can be trusted.

Recurring Characters in the second season of “Legend of the Seeker”:

Darken Rahl (Played by Craig Parker, “Underworld: Rise of the Lycans”, “Power Rangers Ninja Storm”, “Diplomatic Immunity”) – The main antagonist of the series. A ruthless tyrant who rules D’Hara with an iron fist and now wants to rule the Midlands.  Killed by Richard but now has sided with the Keeper and responsible of giving life to the recently killed beings at the Underworld.

Denna (Jessica Marais, “Packed to the Rafters”) - The ruthless Mord’Sith who tortured Richard in the first season and is now living life as an owner of a brothel, but has this former Mord’Sith changed her ways for the good of the people?

Shota (Danielle Cormack, “The Cult”) – Has an unknown relationship with Zedd. A powerful sorceress that Zedd does not trust and is now more insistent for Zedd to find a new seeker.

The “Legend of the Seeker: The Complete 2nd and Final Season” comes with a total of 22 episodes on five DVD’s:

DISC 1

• EPISODE 23 – Marked – As people celebrate the Seeker’s defeat of Darken Rahl, the peace is shortened as the Screelings of the Underworld attack the Seeker and friends.  Meanwhile, Cara is betrayed by the Sisters of the Agiel and given a new life with Richard and friends.
• EPISODE 24- Baneling - Richard and friends arrive at a D’Haran death camp. The tear in the veil is allowing the dead to have a new life as a Baneling who must kill each day for the Keeper to stay alive.
• EPISODE 25- Broken - Cara reveals that she has killed Kahlan’s sister Dennee.  With Kahlan going into a rage, Dennee escape and visits her sister, but her new brother in law reports her and now Cara is facing death by her captors.
• EPISODE 26 – Touched – All confessors have been killed but one named Annabelle is alive.  Richard and Kahlan must rescue her before she is killed.

DISC 2

• EPISODE 27 – Wizard – Shota puts Zedd into a spell and making him believe that he is young again.
• EPISODE 28 – Fury – Richard and Cara help a group of villagers who are pacifists who will not fight.  But there are some in the village who know they need to fight or they will die and Richard trains them.  But something bad is happening to Richard.
• EPISODE 29 – Resurrection – Richard and friends end up at a brothel, a brothel ran by Mord’Sith Denna who is up to something evil.
• EPISODE 30 – Light – Richard and friends must track down Denna.  The problem is Denna has kept Zedd as her prisoner.

DISC 3

• EPISODE 31 – Dark – The Sisters of the Light are training Richard to use his Wizard power but he receives a mysterious message from Sister Nicci that the Sisters of the Light want to trap him inside the palace and prevent him from delivering the Stone of Tears into the Keeper’s hands.  With Richard busy training, Zedd appoints a man named Leo with the title of The Seeker.
• EPISODE 32 – Perdition – Richard is trapped in the Valley of the Perdition, meanwhile Leo, Zedd, Kahlan and Cara try to save Richard before it’s too late.
• EPISODE 33 – Torn – With Aydindril being ruled by a corrupt ruler named Prince Fyren, a wizard tries to escape the land and pass a message to another wizard but before he is killed, he manages to bring an amulet to Zedd.  As Zedd and Kahlan transport to Aydindril, she is split in half and Zedd is accompanied by a colder Kahlan, while a more loving/jealous Kahlan is left with Richard.
• EPISODE 34 – Hunger – Cara is killed and is turned by Darken Rahl to a Baneling.  Cara knows the rules of the Baneling and she must kill a human each day in order to live.  But can she?
• EPISODE 35 – Princess - Kahlan is kidnapped and in order to save her, Richard and Zedd must disguise themselves and Cara must pose as a princess in order to rescue her.

DISC 4

• EPISODE 36- Bound – The Sisters of the Dark are not happy with Nicci’s failure to kill the Mother Confessor and thus, they plan to kill her.  Sister Nicci escapes but in order to escape, she does a maternity spell and links her heart with Kahlan’s. So, both experience the same emotions.  If she dies, Kahlan will die.  And the only person that may save her is Kahlan’s estranged father who has been jailed.
• EPISODE 37 – Creator – A mysterious girl named Maia has been healing Banelings.  She claims she is the creator and judges Richard as guilty.
• EPISODE 38 – Desecrated – A village holds a party for the Seeker and friends but a magician uses his tricks to trap Cara and Kahlan in a tomb in which oxygen is depleting.  In order for them to survive, the magician wants Richard to kill five people in the village.
• EPISODE 39 – Vengeance – Darken Rahl learns that his father is not dead, meanwhile we learn than Panis Rahl killed Zedd and Thaddicus’ father and both men have vowed that they would kill him.  Can Zedd kill the father of Richard?
• EPISODE 40 – Walter – Richard runs into a Darken Rahl doppelganger named Walter and together, they must hurry and rescue Panis Rahl from the D’Haran’s.

DISC 5

• EPISODE 41 – Extinction – Richard and friends arrive at the home of the Nightwisps to find out that the forest was burned and Darken Rahl has the last nightwhisp in possession.  Richard must work with the recently revived Darken Rahl.  Meanwhile, Kahlan and Cara must bring the whisp back to the Grottoes of the Northern Territories in order for it to save its species.
• EPISODE 42 – Eternity – Cara and Zedd are captured by the Mord’Sith and brought back to Darken Rahl’s castle.  Rahl will do all it takes to break Cara and make her into an evil and loyal Mord’Sith once again.
• EPISODE 43 – Unbroken – Richard and friends managed to capture Cara (who has stolen the “Stone of Tears”) and find out that she is bound by black magic.  Zedd uses a spell that may break the spell but somehow ends up in an alternate future in which Richard and Kahlan are married.
• EPISODE 44 – Tears – The final episode – Richard has the “Stone of Tears”.  Will he be able to kill the Keeper of the Underworld or will the prophecy come true and that he will deliver the “Stone of Tears” to the Keeper?

VIDEO:

“Legend of the Seeker: The Complete First Season” is featured in Widescreen (1:78:1) – Enhanced for 16×9 Televisions and all I can say is how wonderful this series looks. With the series filmed in New Zealand, the look and feel of this new world is so lush and vibrant, I was really amazed by its high production value, it’s costume and set design as well.

“Legend of the Seeker” is an impressive series with production that you would more than likely see on movies but to see it each week on television, let alone a syndicated televisions show (especially during today’s worldwide economic recession and the studio financial cutbacks) is amazing. All I can say, is that I hope this series gets the High Definition treatment and is released on Blu-ray because the series looks absolutely beautiful.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

As for the audio, the audio is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and there is a good amount of action in the series, especially the clanging of the swords, Zedd’s fire blasts, the series definitely uses a good amount of sound effects during the action sequences. With that being said, the series is definitely more dialogue driven and thus, you hear mostly everything through the front and center channels. I preferred setting my receiver setting on stereo on all channels but for the most part, dialogue and also the Celtic music is clear and understandable.

Subtitles are provided in English SDH, French and Spanish.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Legend of the Seeker: The Complete 2nd and Final Season” comes with the following special features:

DISC 5:

• Redemption of a Mord’Sith: Meet Cara – (10:13) A featurette on the character of Cara, featuring interviews with actress Tabrett Bethell and Executive Producers Stephen Tolkin and Ken Biller talking about adding a new character to the series and auditioning for the character and what is so special about this character.  Tabrett talks about the costume and also the fight training.
• Under the Underworld – (8:41) The creation of the Underworld and visualizing the look and feel of the Underworld.
• Deleted Scenes -A total of six deleted scenes: The Story of Panis, The Mother Confessor’s Return, Who’s got First Watch?, Walter’s Transformation, What Could have Been, The Importance of Death.

EXTRAS:

“Legend of the Seeker: The Complete 2nd and Final Season” comes with a slip-over cover case.

Every decade, syndicated television has its rare share of gems that truly shine on television. In the 80s, there was ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’, in the 90s there was ‘Xena: Warrior Princess’ and now, I have to say that ‘Legend of the Seeker’ must be put on that list. It’s hard to believe that this series is not shown throughout the USA but for those who have been curious about the series and have heard the rave reviews, this is one series that is truly fantastic and definitely worth watching!

But like many syndicated television shows, unfortunately television is not the same as when these popular series aired back in the ’80s and ’90s and more of these series are becoming extinct.  To make things worse, many of Tribune Station Group’s markets dropped the syndicated series which was airing in a few markets throughout the country.  ABC Studio which produces the show tried to shop the series around and unfortunately, they were unsuccessful in finding a buyer.  So, unfortunately, “Legend of the Seeker” has been canceled.

Fans are working hard on trying to get “Legend of the Seeker” back on television but it’s a shame that this series had to be canceled because it was an entertaining and addictive show with cool characters,  action-packed and the episodes were well-written.  But unfortunately, with the popularity of the Internet and television and cable now battling for viewership with originally created series, unfortunately syndicated television is fighting an uphill battle.

This was a series that from the moment I started watching, I was instantly hooked and it was like a marathon of “Legend of the Seeker” weekend because I enjoyed it so much. From the first episode I watched of the first season and up to the last episode of this second season, “Legend of the Seeker” was a show that I found so entertaining. The shots were absolutely beautiful and the whole concept of the Seeker, the Confessor, the Wizard and the addition of Cara was another awesome move.

I should emphasize that before watching this series, I haven’t read any of Terry Goodkind’s novels and I am familiar with disgruntled fans who were hoping the novels would receive a Harry Potter/Lord of the Rings film adaptation and also upset about the fact that the series is “loosely” based on the novels. But for what the writers and crew had to work with, I happened to find each episode so captivating, beautiful and just so addicting.

It’s one thing to watch the adventures of Richard, Kahlan, Zedd and Cara but when you see the Mord’sith character, you start to see how the series is a bit derivative to films like “Star Wars” and also Biblical stories and action sequences that are reminiscent to “Matrix” and “300″. But since I’m a fan of those stories, those little moments that are integrated into each episode, I personally wasn’t disappointed by any of that. The writers managed to keep each storyline quite fresh and entertaining that I felt that with each episode, you got something different each time.

I have to admit that I did find the whole Darken Rahl and the Banelings a bit overdone.  Personally, I didn’t mind seeing Rahl again but the fact that he was able to make anyone dead turn back alive as a killing monster was a bit much.   But at the same time, it did make up for entertaining adventures for Richard and the group.  But overall, I was quite content with this second season and possibly the addition of Cara was a smart move.

I really don’t know where the story of “Legend of the Seeker” would have gone for season three or how the stories ends (as I’ve never read the novels) but I do know that from these two seasons alone, it was an incredible series and its sad if this is how it all ends.

As for the DVD, the overall set is very good but it does have less features than the first DVD.  Season one came with a good number of audio commentary and it would have been great if this second season featured audio commentary by the cast members.  But we do get a few special features in this second and final season DVD set.

“Legend of the Seeker: The Complete 2nd and Final Season” is definitely worth owning if you are a fan of the series and if you have been curious about this series, I highly recommend purchasing both seasons.  Although the final episode was not mean to be a series finale, we do get one resolution which I was happy to see.  But as for now, I hope the fandom can help resurrect the show for a third season but if not, this is one syndicated series that had everything going for it… acting, special effects, costume design, location and well-produced, well-written stories for each episode.  Once again, a shame that this series had been canceled but nevertheless, I highly recommended this DVD release!

Dragon Ball Z – Dragon Box Z Vol. 4 (a J!-ENT Anime DVD Review)

This is the DVD box set that hardcore DBZ fans have wanted.  The series uncensored, its original Japanese 4:3 presentation and remastered!   And this fourth volume continues the DBZ action with the Android Saga and Cell Saga.  More than likely, if you have purchased the previous three volumes, from here on in, you’re going to buy the rest because these episodes just get better and better.  Overall, this DVD box set is highly recommended!

Image courtesy of © BIRD/SHUEISHA, TOEI ANIMATION Film. All Rights Reserved.

TITLE: Dragon Ball Z – Dragon Box Z Vol. 4

DURATION: Episodes 127-168 (1050 Minutes)

DVD INFORMATION: Japanese Voice track with original music mono, English voice track with original Japanese Music 5.1 surround, 4:3, Subtitles: English

COMPANY: FUNimation Entertainment

RATED: TV PG

Released on September 21, 2010

Based on the manga and created by Akira Toriyama

Directed by Daisuke Nishio

Series Composition: Takao Koyama

Character Design by Yuji Ikeda

Music by Shunsuke Kikuchi

Screenplay: Aya Matsui, Hiroshi Toda, Jun Maekawa, Katsuyuki Sumisawa, Keiji Terui, Masashi Kubota, Reiko Yoshida, Satoru Akahori, Sumio Uetaka, Takao Koyama, Toshiki Inoue, Yoshiyuki Suga

Episode director: Atsutoshi Umezawa, Daisuke Nishio, Hidehiko Kadoda, Hiroki Shibata, Johei Matsuura, Junichi Fujise, Kazuhisa Takenouchi, Kazuhito Kikuchi, Masahiro Hosoda, Minoru Okazaki, Mitsuo Hashimoto, Osamu Kasai, Shigeyasu Yamauchi, Takahiro Imamura, Tatsuya Orime, Yoshihiro Ueda

Featuring the following voice talent:

Masako Nozawa/Sean Schemmel as Son Goku

Masako Nozawa/Stephanie Nadolny as Son Gohan

Masako Nozawa/Robert McCollum as Son Goten

Takeshi Kusao/Eric Vale as Trunks

Ryo Horikawa/Christopher R. Sabat as Vegeta

Hiromi Tsuru/Tiffany Volmer as Bulma

Kozo Shioya/Josh Martin as Majin Buu

Naoko Watanabe/Cynthia Cranz as Chichi

Mayumi Tanaka/Sonny Strait as Kuririn

Ryo Horikawa/Christopher R. Sabat as Piccolo

Yuko Minaguchi/Lucy Small as Videl

Hirotaka Suzuoki – Tinshinhan

Tohru Furuya – Yamucha

Miki Itou/Meredith McCoy as Andrid No. 18

Daisuke Gouri/Don Brown as Mr. Satan (Hercule)

Michael Dobson as Supreme Kai

Norio Wakamoto/Dameon Clarke as Cell

The battle to harness the power of the seven Dragon Balls explodes in vivid detail like never before. The Dragon Box features over 40 uncut episodes, remastered and restored frame by frame, rendering the legendary action in pristine clarity. Each episode is presented in Japanese and English with the complete opening and closing credits and includes the original episode previews.

I first discovered “Dragon Ball Z” during the very early 90′s. During the infant stages of Japanese anime conventions in America, there would be “Dragon Ball Z” parties where many people would gather around a hotel room and watch a marathon of episodes. Needless to say, the series which hadn’t been released in America was very popular but of course the only way people could see the show were fan subs with terrible quality on VHS.

I then had the opportunity to discover “Dragon Ball Z” through a Japanese video rental store and although I was taking Japanese at my university at the time, I would rent all that I can but probably miss a lot of the story since my comprehension of Japanese was quite bad at the time.

But then the series came to the US, the videos were released with several episodes per volume and I have to admit, looking back how anime TV episodes were distributed, especially like a long series such as DBZ, if one was able to collect every episode, it would literally cost an arm and a leg.

In 2007, FUNimation Entertainment did something quite wonderful and that was releasing a digitally remastered, digitally restored version of “Dragon Ball Z” in 16×9 widescreen and you would get around 32-36 or so episodes per volume at such a low price. This was such a fantastic deal and for nine seasons (the final volume released was released in 2009), I’ve watched “Dragon Ball Z” completely and have given nothing but positive reviews for them.

But…

I would receive e-mails from the hardcore fans of the Japanese television series who were very upset that the show was not presented in its original aspect ratio (4:3) which is the ratio for standard TV and felt the previous releases featured colors that were saturated, the wrong opening and ending credits, no previews for the next episode. Suffice to say, those hardcore DBZ fans who loved the original Japanese episodes were upset. For me, I just looked it at it price wise and figured, at least we are getting something for a great price and I wasn’t going to complain.

But this goes to show you how FUNimation Entertainment does care for its fans and not sure if they received a lot of mail from hardcore fans but they decided to bring out “Dragon Box Z Volume 1″ in the fall of 2009 and here we are now with the latest, action-packed fourth volume of “Dragon Box Z” which focuses on episodes 127-168 and continuing the android saga and the beginning of the Cell saga.  .

In Japan, these episodes were cleaned frame by frame and removing jitter and some grain. Keeping the original colors but most importantly for the fans, keeping everything intact including the 4:3 aspect ratio.

As for the series, aside from the technical differences as mentioned earlier, because the series focuses on the Japanese version of the show, the names of characters are different as the Japanese versions uses “Kamisama-hen” versus “Master Roshi”, Kaio the Genki Dama versus “King Kai”, “Tenshinhan” versus “Tien”, “Vegeta” instead of “Vegita”, etc. The DVD’s come with both Japanese and English dubbing.

In the fourth volume of the “Dragon Ball Z – Dragon Box Z”, the set continues with the conclusion of the Android Saga (episodes 127-147) and begins the Cell Saga (from episode 148 through 168) and sets the next volume for the Cell Games Saga.

There is a lot of action in this series and no filler episodes.  It’s straight mayhem as Cell continues to absorb people and the heroes can do nothing but just hope they can hang on for a day or more while the Saiyans complete their training and hope to defeat Cell.

The Cell series was quite popular back then when I was watching the series in straight Japanese and the whole android storyline was just exciting to watch (especially the special episode in Future Trunks world which pits him and an older Gohan against the evil androids).  It is important to note that the special is not included in the Dragon Box Z but it is available on DVD and Blu-ray.  But for those who have never seen the special and don’t intend to buy it, there is an episode that shows footage from that special.

The main characters during this part of the series are:

Goku – Now an adult, married to Chichi and has a son named Gohan. Constantly training in order to become stronger. Still naive and hungry as he was when he was younger. Currently, he is deceased and using his time to train before returning back to the land of the living.

Gohan - Goku’s young son. Goku realizes that Gohan has strong potential but during an unfortunate incident, asks for Piccolo to train his son in fighting to protect people and the planet. Gohan has accompanied Bulma and Kuririn to find the Dragon Balls in the Planet Nemek.

Kuririn – Goku’s childhood friend who accompanies Gohan and Bulma to find the Dragon Balls in the Planet Nemek.

Bulma – A woman still developing products at her father’s company, Capsule Corp. and uses her intelligence to solve the Z Warriors under dire circumstances. With her Dragon Ball scanner, she joins Gohan and Kuririn to find the Dragon Balls in Planet Nemek.

Kaiosama – One of the Kings who trains Goku on how to fight with gravity ten times greater than Earth at Kaio’s world.

Vegeta – The Prince of Saiyan and the most powerful Saiyajin of them all. Comes to Earth in order to destroy it but after being defeated by Goku, rehabilitates himself and now finds himself fighting alongside Gohan and Kuririn.

Future Trunks – Takes a time machine from the future to the past in order to change the future in which his timeline, all Z-warriors have been killed by the androids (artificial humans). In his timeline, Goku died of a virus but if he can get medication to him to prevent Goku from dying, possibly the Z-warriors and humanity in the future have a chance in surviving the android onslaught.

The main enemies in this set are:

Android 16/Artificial Human No. 16 – A powerful android who is passionate about the life on planet Earth but his main programming is to destroy Goku.

Android 17/Artificial Human No. 17 – A powerful male android who is deadly and has no care for human life.

Android 18/Artificial Human No. 18 - A powerful female android who enjoys fashion but also ending human life.

Android 19/Artificial Human No. 19 - Created by Doctor Gero to absorb all forms of energy.

Android 20/Artificial Human No. 20 – The mad scientist Dr. Gero of the Red Ribbon Army has taken his brain and created Android 20 and now has become powerful.

Cell – Unlike the other androids, he continually evolves ingesting humans in order to become a “Perfect Form” Cell.

VIDEO:

“Dragon Ball Z” via this “Dragon Box Z Vol. 4″ set contains episodes featured in standard definition (4:3 aspect ratio). The colors are much different than the previous box set where colors were deeper and more pronounced, the colors of the series features its original presentation as it was in Japan and of course, restored frame by frame in which the previous season was not. Personally, I don’t have a preference to which is better but if anything, this set is for the hardcore fans who preferred the original Japanese presentation.

But for these episodes which aired in 1990-1991, you have to acknowledge how good the transfer was for this restoration. Granted, there is a “Dragon Ball Kai” currently airing in Japan in High Definition (and will be released in the US this month on Blu-ray and DVD) which will look much better but for this DVD box set release, considering it’s 20-years-later, for the diehard fans who have wanted these episodes in its original presentation for so long, Pony Canyon definitely did a very good job on restoration and again, great to see FUNimation Entertainment bring this box set to the US.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

As for audio, this is where things are a bit different from the original Japanese audio presentation. Because FUNimation Entertainment had to include the English dubbed audio, instead of using the 448 kb/s audio, they went with 96 kb/s. This may upset fans who wanted a higher bitrate but because its important to attract those who are prefer English dubs and make the set even more marketable, the English dub had to be included. With that being said, I’ve grown up watching the Japanese audio and typically, I prefer to watch anime in Japanese BUT with “Dragon Ball Z”, I have always felt that the English dub was among the best out there and the voices just sound right for the characters.

But the intention for this box set was for those who wanted the Japanese audio. Personally, it’s a preference that I would rather have 5.1 surround versus mono or stereo soundtracks. And when I do, I typically set my receiver to stereo on all channels since I have a 7.2 setup. But fans will be happy that they get the original Japanese audio for the complete episode, previews for the next episode, opening and ending theme and you get Hironobu Kageyama’s “Cha-La, Head-Cha-La” instead of the Falcouner score.

Subtitles are in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Dragon Box Z Vol. 4″ doesn’t come with any special features but it comes with cool packaging and an awesome hardbound booklet.

What we have is a yellow slip case box with Cell on the front, unlike the season box sets which were gateway folded, the DVD’s are presented in two foil covered DVD cases and are presented in Japanese style with the first disc on the right hand side and the two discs on the left.

Also included is a hardcover 50-page booklet titled “Dragonbook” in Japanese reading style.  The book features a profile of the Goku family, ultimate character and relationship chart, perfect guide, Dragon Ball Z Design Works Collection, Impressive Words and Dragon Ball Z Overlooked Moments. The overall box set package is definitely a solid presentation for the hardcore fans and I have to admit, looks way cooler than the previous orange box sets.

For the most part, this DVD box set is definitely worth it. But before fans who have bought the original single volumes and then the season box sets go on a tirade of having another version of “Dragon Ball Z” released, the main thing to remember is that those who have been vocal from the start were the diehard fans. They wanted the original 4:3 aspect ratio, they wanted the original Japanese presentation and the could care less about the English dubs and the Falcouner score.

Personally, the season box sets are still solid for those who are not so demanding. This box set is primarily for those hardcore fans and FUNimation Entertainment are giving those fans what they wanted for so long and I see that as quite admirable because they invested in bringing this release stateside and preparing it for the American consumer. And for those not familiar with those season box sets, well the good news is that the English dub is featured as well.

Do I have a preference on which I like better? Well having watch both…and enjoying the season box sets, I am actually content with both but I will have to say that “Dragon Box Z” has a much cooler packaging presentation and about 6-8 more episodes but you will be paying about $15 more. So, it’s really up to you if it’s worth it. Personally, if you just want to see the episodes and prefer to watch it with the English dubs, the original season box sets can be found for a great price these days and were solid releases to begin with.  But for the hardcore fans who have demanded and have wanted the original series and how they were presented, you can’t beat these “Dragon Box” DVD boxsets.  They’re awesome!

This box set was created for those who wanted “Dragon Ball Z” to be presented how it was in Japan and they have waited a long, long time for it. So, I look at these box sets as fans are now getting the best of both worlds and now those fans should be happy. Now the only thing is left will be the Blu-ray fans who will be clamoring for “Dragon Ball Z Kai” (“Dragon Ball Z” minus the filler episodes, remastered with new intro and vocals all re-recorded) which will be released this month but if you want the entire series, the Dragon Box Z series is what you want, otherwise if you want on Blu-ray – “Dragon Ball Z Kai” is the way to go. So, whether or not you pick the original orange box release, this Dragon Box Z release or “Dragon Ball Z Kai” release, all three are solid releases.

With this latest volume, you get the Android and Cell Saga and this is definitely one of the more intense action-packed battle sagas in the whole “Dragon Ball Z” series and was popular in Japan due to the popularity of Future Trunks.   And for the most part, if you are a hardcore fan who have purchased the previous three volumes, more than likely from here on in, you’re going to pickup up the upcoming volumes as the action and the storyline continues to get better and better.

Overall, hardcore fans get there money’s worth with this DVD boxset.  You get 40+ episodes in their original Japanese TV presentation and each episode which were remastered and you also get cool package-based content.   For those hardcore DBZ fans who have waited this long for the original Japanese DBZ anime series in its original presentation, this box set is for you!

“Dragon Ball Z – Dragon Box Vol. 4″ is highly recommended.

Corpse Princess: Aka – Part One (a J!-ENT Anime DVD Review)

Action-packed, entertaining and a shocking ending for this first part of GAINAX’s “Corpse Princess”.  If you are looking for a darker, action-based anime series, definitely give “Corpse Princess: Aka – Part One” a chance!  Recommended!

Image courtesy of © Yoshiichi Akihito/Square Enix. All Rights Reserved.

DVD TITLE: Corpse Princess: Aka – Part One

DURATION: Episodes 1-13 (300 Minutes)

DVD INFORMATION: 16:9 ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN, English 5.1 Dolby Digital, Japanese 2.0 Stereo

COMPANY: FUNimation Entertainment

RATED: 17+

Release Date: September 14, 2010

Originally created by Yoshiichi Akahito

Directed by Masahiko Murata

Screenplay by Shou Aikawa

Music by Norihito Sumitomo

Character Design by Chikashi Kubota, Kikuko Sadakata

Art Director: Hiroki Matsumoto

Art Design by Yohei Kodama

Sound Director: Masafumi Mima

Director of Photography: Toyonori Yamada

Anime Production: GAINAX

Featuring the following voice talent:

Tatsuya Hasome/Aaron Dismuke as Ouri Kagami

Keiji Fujiwara/J. Michael Tatum as Keisei Tagami

Nana Akiyama/Luci Christian as Makina Hoshimura

Chika Fujimura/Brina Palencia as Hokuto (Shichisei)

Fuyuka Oura/Claire Harp as Mizuki Inuhiko

Hidenori Nakamura/Kent Williams as Sougen Takamine

Kiyotaka Furushima/Chris Cason as Rinsen Shirae

Masayuki Shouji/Sean Teague as Sumitori

Michi Niino/Todd Haberkorn as Ena (Shichisei/Seven Stars)

Miki Maruyama/Tia Ballard as Nozomi Kasuga

Mitsuru Miyamoto/Josh Grelle as Akasha Shishidou

Nobutoshi Canna/Anthony Bowling as Honda

Takaya Hashi/T.A. Taylor as Isaka (Shichisei)

Tooru Nara/Micah Solusod as Hiroshige Ushijima

Toru Ohkawa/Christopher R. Sabat as Hazama (Shichisei/Seven Stars)

Yui Horie/Stephanie Young as Riko

Yuuki Hayashi/Bob Carter as Kowaku (Shichisei/Seven Stars)

Makina Hoshino is already dead, but she can’t let go of this twisted world. She burned to death along with her entire family in a fire started by freaks that wouldn’t stay buried. Makina knows she doesn’t belong among the living, but that won’t stop her from unleashing the full fury of her twin MAC-11 machine guns on the rotting remains of those who refuse to die.

She’s hell-bent on filling every empty grave she can find with the monsters that should be six feet under. Makina is a Shikabane Hime – a Corpse Princess – and it’s her job to finish off the undead leftovers haunting the dark corners of a city that used to be safe.

In 2005, mangaka Yoshiichi Akahito began his manga series “Shikabane Hime ” (Corpse Princess).    In 2008, an anime adaptation by GAINAX was created with the first 13 episodes are known as “Corpse Princess: Aka” (the first season) and the second season of the series (episodes 14-26) are known as “Corpse Princess: Kuro”.

The series is directed by Masahiko Murata (“Naruto Shippuden”, “MazinKaiser”, “Jinki: Extend”) and a screenplay by Shou Aikawa (“Wrath of the Ninja”, “Ghost Slayers Ayashi”, “Gad Guard”, “Casshan: Robot Hunter”).  Joining both Murata and Aikawa are character designers Chikashi Kubota (“Girl Who Leapt Through Time”,  “One Piece – Movie 6″) and Kikuko Sadakata (“Gurren Lagann”, Princess Resurrection”, “Mayo Elle Otokonoko”) and music created by Norihito Sumitomo.

“Corpse Princess: Aka” revolves around a young teen named Ouri Kagami.  One night, he found a dead girl at his home, not know what caused her death, he hears people approaching the room and he hides.  He then sees his brother Keisei going up to the girl who is named Makina Hoshimura and instantly bringing her back to life (while incurring injuries to his own self).

Ouri is not sure what happened but maybe the girl was not dead afterall.

Each time Ouri is out and about, he ends up being in the same locations where this girl is fighting.  She doesn’t know why he is there and he doesn’t understand how she is always dead or near-dead and yet manages to come alive.

We learn that the Makina is a living corpse (a shikabane hime) and Keisei is a contracted priest bound to her.  Both are working for an anti-corpse group known as the Kougun sect.  Makina must kill 108 corpses for her to go into heaven, otherwise, if she is not bound to a priest, she would become a monster.  A Shikabane.  Keisei’s role is that each time Makina is hurt, when near hear, she can feed off his life force and easily heal her wounds.  Her goal is to kill

But most of all, Makina wants revenge on a violent corpse group known as the Seven Stars. The people responsible for killing her family and killing her.

As both Keisei and Makina fight and destroy the many corpse they encounter, Ouri ends up being at these locations where they are fighting because a mysterious cat is feeding him information of their whereabouts.  For Ouri, he is more of a hindrance because he does not want Keisei getting himself killed over a girl and he doesn’t like how Makina putting herself in danger.

And right now is not the right time for Ouri to get involved because the Seven Stars are back and are wanting to kill even more humans.

“Corpse Princess” features the following characters:

• Ouri Kagami – A high school boy who was raised at his Keisei Tagami’s Temple.  He has no relations to Kesei Tagami but because he was raised with orphans thanks to Keisei, he seems him not only as a brother but like a father.  Meanwhile, Keisei has been able to see a dead cat who speaks to him and gives him information to where corpses are located.
• Keisei Tagami – A Buddhist priest working for the anti-corpse organization known as the Kougon Sect.  Keisei was an orphan when he grew up and he was raised by Makina Hoshimura’s father.  When the family was murdered, he has committed himself to becoming Makina’s contracted priest and making sure she can meet her goal of going to heaven but also helping her avenge her family.  Keisei is also a pervert.
• Makina Hoshimura – A shikabane hime who is a contracted “living corpse”.  Her goal is to kill 108 corpses so she can gain entrance to heaven.  She is bound to Keisei (her contracted priest) and because of Keisei’s relation to her family, she is committed in getting revenge on the Seven Stars, seven corpses who killed her and her family.
• Rika Aragami - A female contracted monk and one of the ten great holy families.  She is the contracted monk of Saki Amase.
• Saki Amase - A shikabane hime who is a 10-year-old who wields a huge hammer.  She is also quite stubborn.
• Takamasa Sogi – A contracted monk of Itsuki Yamagami.  He cares deeply for Itsuki to the point of loving her despite knowing that she is no longer human.
• Itsuki Yagami - Takamasa’s shikabane hime.  Unlike others, she and Takamasa have a deep connection and knows that she is not human and can’t bare for Takamasa to see her true self.
• Shuji Isaki – The contracted monk of Minai Ruo.  Very arrogant and doesn’t care about anyone.
• Minai Ruo – Isaki’s shikabane hime.  When her bond with her contracted monk broke, Ouri got to see what happens when to a shikabane hime without her contracted monk.
• Sougen Takamine – The contracted monk of Kamika Tomoroki and former mentor of Keisei Tagami.
• Kamika Tomoroki – Takamine’s shikabane hime.  Always serious about her job and the strongest shikabane hime with incredible will-power.
• Kanechika Umehara – The contracted monk of Flesh Backbone and also a pervert.
• Flesh Backbone - A foreigner/otaku who was on her way to Akihabara before she was killed and is now Kanechika Umehara’s shikabane hime.  A true otaku.

“Corpse Princess: Aka – Part One” features episodes 1-13 on two DVDs. Here is a spoiler-less summary of each episode:

DISC 1:

• EPISODE 1 - The Dead Dance – Ouri meets Makina Hoshimura for the first time and doesn’t know why she keeps pushing herself to fight against these monsters.
• EPISODE 2 – The Game Continues – Several children killed in a highway accident have become shikabane and Makina must kill them.  Somehow Ouri ends up in the same area and allows one to escape.
• EPISODE 3 – The Voice of Night – Makina must hunt down a shikabane.  Meanwhile, Keisei learns that someone is doing illegal experiments and is trying to create shikabane.
• EPISODE 4 – Hymn of Tragedy – Makina must kill a popular J-pop singer named Kun Osaki who has become a shikabane.
• EPISODE 5 – Traitor Monk – Keisei tells Ouri the truth of what his job is and because he told his brother, the Kougon Sect must ban him from being Makina’s contracted priest.  Meanwhile, we learn of a traitor priest named Akasha Shishidou.
• EPISODE 6  – At the End of the Dangerous Run- Makina and Keisei take on Akasha Shishidou and in the process, makes a decision that will affect his life forever.
• EPISODE 7 – The False Power of Words - Ouri encounters a classmate named Mitsuyoshi who has become a shikabane.

DISC 2:

• EPISODE 8 – Serenity – Ouri tries to help a shikabane hime named Minai and learns what happens when a contracted priest and a shikabane hime’s bond is broken.
• EPISODE 9 – Set Your Heart Aflutter – Makina saves a group of students who were inside a haunted building and one of the students she saved, Nozomi Kazuka, becomes infatuated with her.
• EPISODE 10 Stars On the Ground – Someone one has killed Minai.  Meanwhile, the killing Seven Stars are back.  We learn in this episode of how Makina was killed.
• EPISODE 11 – One Night – The Kougan discover that Hokuto, the leader of the Seven Stars is in the area.  Keisei explains to Ouri of why he is going so far to help Makina.
• EPISODE 12 – Dawn - In order to save Makina, Keisei makes a final decision.
• EPISODE 13 – Funeral Program for a Contracted Monk - The funeral for a loved one and Ouri learns the rules in becoming a contracted monk.

VIDEO:

“Corpse Princess: Aka” is presented in widescreen format.  Animation is well done and a good amount of detail put into the action sequences, especially with Makina and Keisei’s scenes.  Artistic backgrounds are well done and for the most part, GAINAX has done a great job with the overall look of the anime series.  Blacks are nice and deep, there are good lighting effects and for the most part, I wouldn’t be surprised if this series receives the Blu-ray treatment.  I have not seen Yoshiichi Akahito’s original work but I’ve read that Chikashi Kubota and Kikuko Sadakata were faithful in recreating these character designs for the anime series.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“Corpse Princess” is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound and Japanese  2.0.  The anime series does feature a lot of action and the audio is more front and surround channel driven in the English dubbed soundtrack. There was a good use of LFE during the more explosive scenes.  But overall, dialogue and music comes clear through the front channels.  My preference for this anime series was the Japanese soundtrack, as the voice acting was well done.   The English dub is fine but I felt that Aaron Dismuke voice acting makes Ouri seem a bit too whiny while the more emotional parts that require crying, are not as well done.  Veterans J. Michael Tatum (Keisei), especially Luci Christian did a good job as Makina.  But overall, both audio tracks are very good.

Subtitles are in English.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Corpse Princess: Aka – Part One” comes with the following special features:

• Episode 12 Commentary – Featuring audio commentary by director Terri Doty (Kamika), Luci Christian (Makina) and Aaron Dismuke (Ouri).
• Textless Opening Song
• Textless Closing Song #1
• Textless Closing Song #2
• Trailers – Trailers for upcoming or previous released titles from FUNimation Entertainment.

The concept of “Corpse Princess” is quite intriguing and I felt that the first half of the series did a great job in establishing the main three characters, establishing the importance of the bond between the contracted priest and the shikabane hime.  But also, establishing the story of why Keisei and Makina were so close and who the Seven Stars are and why they must be eliminated.

I admit at first, I felt that Ouri was a character that was starting to get on my nerves, similar to Shinji of “Evangelion”.  Too much whining and always in the way.  But I realize after watching the first half of the series, he’s going to play a much larger part in the series in this second half and it will be interesting to see how both Ouri and Makina are going to respond on the battlefield, especially with his inexperience.

I felt that GAINAX has done a wonderful job in animating this series, artistic backgrounds are well-done and for the most part, the series was enjoyable, action-packed and even a bit dark and violent at times (Note: This is definitely not a series to have the younger children watch).

The overall DVD was very good and I really enjoyed the first half of the series and look forward to watching the second.   I can only hope that FUNimation Entertainment considers “Corpse Princess” for a Blu-ray release in the near future.  It’s important to note that both parts: “Corpse Princess: Aka” and “Corpse Princess: Kuro” are being released simultaneously, so no long waiting time in order for one to get into the complete series.

So,  if you are looking for an action-packed, well-animated, well-written series, definitely give “Corpse Princess” a chance!  An anime series that is definitely recommended!

NOTE: We are reviewing the discs only and can not comment on the actual packaging of the release and if there are any extra additional content that comes packaged with the release.

glee – The Complete First Season (a J!-ENT DVD Review)

A series that is just so fun to watch, is well-written, well-cast and songs that are catchy and enjoyable. Glee is definitely one of the best series on television right now and if you find yourself enjoying the series, this DVD set is definitely worth owning!  Highly recommended!

Images courtesy of © 2010 Comedy Partners. All Rights Reserved. COMEDY CENTRAL, SOUTH PARK and all related titles, logos and characters are trademarks of Comedy Partners. TM, ® & Copyright © 2010 by Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

TITLE: glee – the Complete First Season

DURATION: 24 episodes (974 Minutes)

DVD INFORMATION: 5.1 Dolby Digital, Widescreen (1:78:1), Dolby Digital, Subtitles: English, French, Portuguese

RATED: NOT RATED

COMPANY: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

RELEASE DATE: September 14, 2010

Created by Ian Brennan, Brad Falchuk, Ryan Murphy

Directed by Brad Falchuk, Elodie Keene, Ryan Murphy and John Scott

Written by Ian Brennan, Brad Falchuk, Ryan Murphy

Executive Producer: Dante Di Loreto, Brad Falchuk, Ryan Murphy

Co-Executive Producer: Ian Brennan, John Peter Kousakis

Producer: Alexis Martin, Michael Novick

Associate Producer: Jennifer Morrison, Thomas Kuehl

Music by James S. Levine

Cinematography by Christopher Baffa

Edited by Bradley Buecker, Nathan Allen, Joe Leonard

Casting by Eric Dawson, Carol Kritzer, Robert J. Ulrich

Production Design by Mark Hutman

Art Direction by Kevin Constant, Peter Clemens

Set Decoration by Barbara Munch

Series Costume Design by Lou Evrich

Starring:

Jane Lynch as Sue Sylvester

Matthew Morrison as Will Schuester

Lea Michele as Rachel Berry

Cory Monteith as Finn Hudson

Dianna Agron as Quinn Fabray

Chris Colfer as Kurt Hummel

Jessalyn Gilsig as Terri Schuester

Jayma Mays as Emma Pillsbury

Kevin McHale as Artie Abrams

Amber Riley as Mercedes Jones

Mark Salling as Noah “Puck” Puckerman

Jenna Uskowitz as Tina Cohen-Chang

Naya Rivera as Santana Lopez

Heather Morris as Brittany

Iqbal Theba as Principal Figgins

Harry Shum Jr. as Mike Chang

Dijon Talton as Mark Rutherford

Patrick Gallagher as Ken Tanaka

Stephen Tobolowsky as Sandy Ryerson

Josh Sussman as Jacob Ben Israel

Max Adler as Dave Karofsky

James Earl as Azimio

Jonathan Groff as Jesse St. James

Stephen Tobolowsky as Sandy Ryerson

Romy Rosemont as Carole Hudson

Lauren Potter as Becky Jackson

Idina Menzel as Shelby Corcoran

Bill A. Jones as Rod Remington

Kristin Chenoweth as April Rhodes

Molly Shannon as Brenda Castle

Charlotte Ross as Judy Fabray

Television’s most award-wining new series, GLEE was honored with a Golden Globe® for Best Television Series, Comedy or Musical; a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series; and a People’s Choice Award for Favorite New TV Comedy. GLEE follows an optimistic teacher who – against all odds and a malicious cheerleading coach – inspires McKinley High’s Glee Club to conquer the world one singing competition at a time. GLEE stars Dianna Agron, Chris Colfer, Jessalyn Gilsig, Jane Lynch, Jayma Mays, Kevin McHale, Lea Michele, Cory Monteith, Matthew Morrison, Amber Riley, Mark Salling and Jenna Ushkowitz. The hit show has attracted celebrity guest appearances by Kristin Chenoweth, Eve, Josh Groban, Jonathan Groff, Neil Patrick Harris, Olivia Newton-John, Idina Menzel, and Molly Shannon. GLEE: The Complete First Season Blu-ray and DVD

The music from GLEE continues to shine with inventive renditions of past and present hit songs including Ike & Tina Turner’s “Proud Mary,” Madonna’s “Like A Virgin” and Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance.”

With a lot of hype behind the teen musical/comedy/drama series “Glee”, many people catching “American Idol” wondered what this new series would be about.   The series created by Ryan Murphy (writer for “Nip/Tuck”, “Popular”), Brad Falchuk (producer for “Nip/Tuck”) and Ian Brennan would gain attention because of its music but for the most part, it would prove to become successful with its catchy music (with actual talent that can sing), a witty storyline and its well-cast characters.

The series proved to become so popular that two soundtracks have been released for the television series and even was nominated for four 2010 Golden Globe Awards.  With support from various media sites to even celebrities and a fanbase that have branded themselves as “gleeks”. “Glee”, although not exactly original (“Fame” was known for its musical teens in the 1980′s and the teenage jock musical was featured heavily in the Disney “High School Musical” films) and a cast of talent playing teenagers from various ethnicities and even one who is handicapped, “Glee” manages to capture the drama of high school life but also the fun of watching this group of underdogs trying to succeed.

The series revolves around the glee club of William McKinley High School in Lima, Ohio.    Spanish teacher Will Schuester (played by Matthew Morrison, “As the World Turns”)  becomes the director of the club and his goal is to turn this group of underdogs to achievers and bring them to Sectionals.  Will used to be part of a successful Glee Club back in high school and wants to make the club prominent once again.  But with money now being diverted to this new club, money is taken out of the cheerleading squad (aka “Cheerios”) led by head coach Sue Sylvester (played by Jane Lynch, “Julie & Julia”, “Two and a Half Men”).  And Sue is literally hell bent in doing what she can to close the Glee club down.

Members of the Glee Club known as “New Directions!” include:

• Rachel Berry (played by Leah Michelle) – Very driven and wants to be come a famous talent.   A talented singer and has feelings for Finn.
• Finn Hudson (played by Cory Monteith, “Kyle XY”, “Kaya”) - The star quarterback of the football team who has alienated his teammates for joining the Glee Club.  Dates the cheerleader Quinn and has feelings for Rachel.  He is also the main male singer of the club.
• Quinn Fabray (played by Dianna Agron, “Heroes”) -  The head of the Cheerios (cheerleading squad) and the Celibacy Club who joins the Glee Club to spy on them for her coach Sue Sylvester and because she notices that her boyfriend Finn has eyes for Rachel.
• Mercedes Jones (played by Amber Riley) – The talented singer of Glee Club who hates being second fiddle to Rachel.  She is attracted to Kurt.
• Kurt Hummel (played by Chris Colfer) – A gay student who is picked on because he of his flamboyant style.
• Noah “Puck” Puckerman (played by Mark Salling) – Finn’s best friend and a teammate on the football team.  He joins the Glee club only so he can impress mothers at the PTA meetings.
• Artie Adams (played by Kevin McHale, “Zoey 101″, “True Blood) - A guitarist and also a paraplegic.  He is seen as a nerd and loves being part of Glee Club.
• Tina Cohen-Chang (played by Jenna Uskowitz) – The shy member of the Glee Club and is attracted to Artie.
• Santana Lopez (played by Naya Rivera) – A member of the Cheerios and the Glee Club.  Joined along with Quinn and Brittany to spy for their cheerleading head coach Susan Sylvester.
• Brittany (played by Heather Morris) – The not-s0-smart cheerleader.  Joined along with Quinn and Santana to spy for their cheerleading head coach Susan Sylvester.

Other main characters of “Glee” include:

• Jayma Mays (played by Emma Pillsbury, “Heroes”, “Ugly Betty”) – The guidance counselor who is attracted to Will but she is dating and engaged to the high school football coach, Ken Tanaka.
• Terri Schuester (played by Jessalyn Gilsig, “Heroes”) – Married to Will but a woman who will do anything to prevent Will from leaving her and dislikes his commitment towards the Glee Club.
• Ken Tanaka (played by Patrick Gallagher) – Head coach of the football team and is dating and engaged to Jayma Mays.  He is not too fond of Will.
• Principal Figgins (played by Iqbal Theba) – The fair and reasonable principal who tends to listen to Glee Club director Will Schuester and Cheerios Head Coach Susan Sylvester going at each other’s throats but tries to make sure both are on the same footing.

“glee – The Complete First Season” features the following 22 episodes on seven DVD’s (note: the following are spoiler-less summaries):

DISC 1:

• EPISODE 1: Pilot - Will Schuester, a former member of the Glee Club and a Spanish teacher of McKinley High School tries to restore the Glee Club in school.
• EPISODE 2: Showmance - The Glee club performs in front of the school in order to get new members.  Meanwhile, Will takes a second job as a janitor when he finds out his wife is pregnant.
• EPISODE 3: Acafellas - Will forms an all-male a cappella group known as the “Acafellas”.  Mercedes falls in love.
• EPISODE 4: Preggers - Rachel doesn’t feel she is being treated right in the Glee Club and Quinn receives shocking news.

DISC 2:

• EPISODE 5: The Rhodes Not Taken - Will brings a former high school classmate and Glee Club friend April Rhodes (played by Kristin Chenoweth) to spice things up with the current Glee Club.
• EPISODE 6: Vitamin D - Will starts a competition between the boys and the girls.
• EPISODE 7: Throwdown - With Cheerios coach Sue, now a co-leader of the Glee Club, she makes sure to cause tension amongst the members.
• EPISODE 8: Mash-Up - Will composes a mash-up.  Puck decides to ask Rachel out on a date.

DISC 3:

• EPISODE 9: Wheels - Artie’s chances of traveling with the Glee Club at regionals comes to question and Kurt takes on Rachel for a “Diva-Off”.
• EPISODE 10: Ballad - Will splits the Glee Club into teams who must sing a ballad.
• EPISODE 11: Hairography - Will suspects that Susan may be leaking information about their Glee Club to another high school.

DISC 4:

• EPISODE 12: Mattress - The Glee Club are asked to take part in a commercial without Will’s knowledge.
• EPISODE 13: Sectionals - Will takes a bullet for the Glee Club and is suspended.   Finn finds out the truth about Quinn.  With problems facing the group,  now the Glee Club must prepare for their competitions at Sectionals without their director and one of their members.

DISC 5:

• EPISODE 14 – Hello-O – The return of Sue, Will and Emma start dating and Rachel meets Jesse St. James, the lead singer of Vocal Adrenaline and starts to become attracted to him.
• EPISODE 15 – The Power of Madonna – When Will hears how Sue utilizes Madonna songs for her Cheerios, Will decides to utilize Madonna songs for New Directions.  Meanwhile, Jesse leaves his school and Vocal Adrenaline and joins New Directions.
• EPISODE 16 – Home – Sue wants her new cheerleader Mercedes to lose weight.  Meanwhile, Will becomes reacquainted with his former glee singer April Rhodes (Kristin Chenoweth).
• EPISODE 17 – Bad Reputation – Kurt steals a video of coach Sue Sylvester performing Olivia Newton-John’s “Physical” and members of New Directions post it on YouTube.  Meanwhile, Principal Figgins gives an order to Will after a “Glist” is found, which ranks the New Directions members based on sexual promiscuity.

DISC 6:

• EPISODE 18 – Laryngitis -Rachel complains that some members of the club are faking their singing and thus Will makes sure everyone must perform a solo act.  Meanwhile,  Kurt is jealous of how much time his father is spending with Finn.
• EPISODE 19 – Dream On – Bryan Ryan (played by Neil Patrick Harris), a former McKinley High glee member and now an auditor of the school board visits and wants to cut the glee club.  Meanwhile, Jesse learns a major secret about Rachel and the truth of who is her real mother.
• EPISODE 20 – Theatricality – When Rachel discovers that Vocal Adrenaline are planning to perform Lady GaGa at the regionals, Will makes Lady Gaga their class assignment.  Meanwhile, Finn and Kurt’s friendship becomes complicated.  Rachel discovers who her real mother is.

DISC 7:

• EPISODE 21 – Funk – Jesse St. James shows his true colors.  Meanwhile, Vocal Adrenaline tries to intimidate New Directions leading Puck and Finn wanting retaliation against them.
• EPISODE 22 – Journey to Regionals – It’s time for the regionals and Will learns that Sue Sylvester is one of the judges.  On that same day of regionals, Quinn’s water breaks and will be giving birth.  Depending on how well New Directions does at Regionals, they may or may not be able to keep the club from continuing.

VIDEO:

“glee – The Complete First Season” is presented in widescreen 1:78:1.  Shot digitally, this is a series that I’m sure would look fantastic on the Blu-ray release.  As for the DVD release, picture quality is cool as some parts showcase the vibrant colors of the series but one thing I noticed is that the pilot episode definitely shows a lot of noise but as the series progressed towards the second half of the first seaosn, picture quality was much better.  Blacks are nice and deep and skin tones look natural on the DVD but for the most part, picture quality for “glee” very good on DVD.  But for those who are concerned with picture quality will definitely want to “glee – The Complete First Season” on Blu-ray.  Otherwise, the DVD is good.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“glee – The Complete First Season” is presented in English 5.1 Dolby  Digital Surround.  The series is front and center channel driven but with those who own modern home-theater receivers may find it a benefit to have the audio set at stereo on all channels if they have a 5.1, 7.2 or higher setup.  Audio is clear and understandable but what matters for a series such as “glee” is how the music sounds and for the most part, music sounds great.  There is crowd ambiance in the school hallways or chatter in during the competitions but for the most part, “glee” is a front and center channel-driven soundtrack.  And similar to the video, if you are an audiophile, then you will definitely want the lossless soundtrack and go with the Blu-ray version.

Subtitles are presented in English SDH, Spanish, French and Portuguese.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“glee – The Complete First Season” comes with the following special features:

DISC 4:

• Welcome to McKinley! – (5:02) A video of Principal Figgins introducing 8th graders to his office before they go to McKinley High School.  A hilarious featurette.
• Glee Music Video – (2:44) A music video for “Somebody to Love”.
• Full Length Audition Pieces – Featuring the full-length audition pieces of Rachel performing “On My Own” and Mercedes performing “Respect”.
• Fox Movie Channel Presents Casting Session – (11:58) The creators of “Glee” talk about how it was important to have a cast that can sing and dance.  The creators and FOX execs also discuss how “Glee” became a television show.
• Deconstructing Glee with Ryan Murphy – (2:49) Ryan Murphy talks about “Glee” and how it’s different from other musicals.  Classic songs being performed on the show and more.
• Dance Boot Camp – (3:12) Interview with choreographer Zach Woodlee about training the cast to learn their dance routines.
• Jane Lynch A to Glee – (:52) Jane Lynch talks about what the vowel “A” means to her.
• Meet Jane Lynch – (1:03) Jane Lynch talks about her character Sue.
• 5 Things you don’t know about Jayma – (:39) Know more about Jayma Mays.
• 7 Things you don’t know about Cory – (1:00) Know more about Cory Monteith.
• 6 Things you don’t know about Amber – (:58) Know more about Amber Riley.
• 7 Things you don’t know about Chris – (:41) Know more about Chris Colfer.
• Video Diaries – Video diaries for Jane Lynch, Lea Michele, Matthew Morrison, Cory Monteith, Kevin McHale, Amber Riley, Chris Colfer and Dianna Agron.  The video diaries which last about 2-3 minutes long features each talent going to New York City and back to Los Angeles to promote the show.

DISC 5:

• Glee Music Jukebox – This section allows people to view the musical portions of “Hell-O”, “The Power of Madonna”, “Home” and “Bad Reputation”.

DISC 6:

• Glee Music Jukebox – This section allows people to view the musical portions of “Laryngitis”, “Dream On” and “Theatricality”.

DISC 7:

• Glee Music Jukebox – This section allows people to view the musical portions of “Funk” and “Journey to Regionals”.
• Glee Sing-Along Karaoke – Karaoke portions for “Alone”, “Somebody to Love”, “Keep Holding On” and “Don’t Stop Believin;”.
• Staying in Step with Glee – (6:20) A featurette featuring Zach Woodlee (choreographer of “glee”) and Brooke Lipton (assistant choreographer) at the Tin Shed Dance Studio in Hollywood.  The two show how to do choreography of Vocal Adrenaline.
• Bite Their Style: Dress Like Your Favorite Gleek – (8:53) Costume designer Lou Eyrich talks about the various clothing for each character.
• The Power of Madonna – (10:37) Crew and cast talk about doing the Madonna episode and how the songs were chosen, especially the making of the Sue Sylvester “Vogue” video and more.
• Making of a Showstopper – (17:22) Show creator Ryan Murphy and other crew members including Jonathan Groff talk about their thoughts on working on the “glee” finale and making the Vocal Adrenaline performance work and utilizing Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”.

EXTRAS:

“glee – The Complete First Season” comes with a slip cover case.

The first time I watched “Glee” was its pilot episode and thought it was pretty fun concept, especially with the popularity of musicals such as “High School Musical” but what I liked about “Glee” is that you have your average students and the members of Glee Club are pretty much the underdogs that are picked on by the jocks.  It’s really interesting to see how the group dynamics start to evolve from the beginning to the 13th episode and by the second half, you can tell that the hiatus leading to the second half of the series and the popularity of the series definitely made the series get a boost in the types of music that can be utilized, better production value and the cast seem to gel much more.

And it’s no surprise as 2009-2010 have been incredible for the cast members and crew.  From award nominations, the cast receiving love from a lot of television show critics and soundtracks that continue to sell incredibly well.  “glee” also features solid writing that goes hand-in-hand with the awesome musical performances and for the most part, “glee – The Complete First Season” is a fantastic DVD set.

But what hooked me to the series was the music.  Personally, I’m not a fan of covers but the fact that the people on the show can sing and for the most part, how the songs are incorporate to the storyline has definitely made me a weekly viewer of the series.  Also, the talent can sing…Matthew Morrison, Leah Michele and Amber Riley do a great job but also for the writers to recognize that its not good that only a few characters receive the spotlight and diversifying the various musical performances to other characters as well, so they can showoff their vocals.

Also, it’s important to note that these characters are not perfect teens and not everyone bursts into song ala “High School Musical”.   “Glee” is not a group of perfect teenagers, each of these characters have their faults but these characters are well fleshed out in the series that you actually care about these characters and each play their part in each episode.   Will, a teacher and the director of the Glee Club deals with his marital strife with his wife, who is determined to make sure her husband doesn’t leave him.  Quinn must deal with being a single mother, Mercedes deals with her weight, Artie deals with being in a wheel chair, Curt deals with how people look at him because he is homosexual and each characters has their own set of issues.  It’s high school life and it’s great to see the students have their own set of issues, as well as the adults.

While the first season had a pretty interesting storyline with Will trying to get the glee club going and dealing with his wife, the second half of the series is where things get even more interesting in drama dynamics.  Throw in Jesse St. James of Vocal Adrenaline, throw in Curt falling for Finn, Quinn having to deal with her pregnancy and finding friendship from a person she never expected to get close to, seeing things develop between Will and Emma and more.  And of course, Sue Sylvester was absolutely wonderful this season.  And as for the music, especially with the Madonna and Lady Gaga episodes, the music for the whole season was fantastic.

There is no doubt that “glee” is a series that now has a great budget to license these songs for television, CD and also for the DVD release and just by seeing the sheer amount of songs used on each episode, I’m sure that the music takes a big chomp out of the budget.  But that is what makes “glee” work and that is the ability to use contemporary music (and classics) to attract listeners of young and old.

Also, by the second season, it looks as if the talent are more at ease and comfortable working with each other.  The vocals are of the cast are much better, the chemistry between the characters are also well done (the interaction between Will and Sue is fantastic) and there is better use of the characters that like Santana and Brittany and also getting some of the other background characters involved as well.

For those who purchased “glee Season 1 Volume 1″ and intend to purchase “glee – The Complete First Season”.  You can also get a $10 rebate by sending the proof of purchase that comes with this DVD set and also providing a mail-in form and a barcode from the first DVD release.

Overall, there are a good amount of special features on this DVD box set to keep Gleeks busy but for those who wonder what the hub-bub is all about and why the media is giving so much coverage to this series, check this DVD out and you’ll see what is so special about “glee”.  It’s a series that is fun to watch, cool characters, solid performances and a series that has a fantastic soundtrack.  “glee – The Complete First Season” is highly recommended!

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