iCarly: The I <3 iCarly Collection (a J!-ENT DVD Review)

Enjoyable, witty and all-out fun! “iCarly: The I <3 iCarly Collection” features 15 episodes and movies on three DVD’s (“iFight Shelby Marx”, “iSaved Your Life” and “iSpace Out”) for a low price + bonus episodes of “Big Time Rush” and “Victorious”.   A wonderful DVD set for “iCarly” fans!

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DVD TITLE: iCarly: The I <3 iCarly Collection

DURATION: “I Fight Shelby Marx” (145 Minutes), “iSaved Your Life” (139 Minutes), “iSpace Out” (145 Minutes)

DVD INFORMATION: Full Screen, Dolby Digital – English Stereo, Closed Captions

COMPANY: Nickelodeon/Paramount Home Entertainment

RATED: NOT RATED

RELEASE DATE: July 19, 2011

Created by Dan Schneider

Directed by Adam Weissman

Written by Jake Farrow, Andrew Hill Newman

Executive Producer: Dan Schneider

Associate Producer: Sean Gill

Costume Design by Kristin Dangl

Featuring the voices of:

Miranda Cosgrove as Carla Shay

Jennette McCurdy as Sam Puckett

Nathan Kress as Freddie Benson

Jerry Trainor as Spencer Shay

Noah Munck as Gibby

Ryan Ochoa as Chuck

Mary Scheer as Marissa Benson

Three smashing iCarly DVD sets in one collection! Relive over 15 episodes including the fierce yet hilarious exhibition match with guest star Victoria Justice as Shelby Marx, the sweet yet short-lived love store of Carly and Freddie, and the outer space event that was, well, out of this world!

Since 2007, “iCarly” has been a popular series for Nickelodeon. The series revolves around Carly Shay (played by Miranda Cosgrove) and her best friend Samantha Puckett (played by Jennette McCurdy) who are the host of their popular web show “iCarly” which is edited and directed by Freddie Benson (played by Nathan Kress). Most of the scenes are shot at the home of Carly, who lives with her older brother and legal guardian, Spencer (played by Jerry Trainor).

Created and executive produced by Dan Schneider (creator of series “Drake & Josh”, “Zoey 101”, “Kenan & Kel”, “All That”, “The Amanda Show”), “iCarly” is currently on their fourth season and earlier this year, the episode titled “iSaved Your Life” became the highest rated live action telecast in Nickelodeon history (with 11.2 million viewers) and the #1 telecast of all TV (cable and broadcast) that night. “iCarly” continues to be a hit for Nickelodeon as nearly five million viewers tune into the series each week.

Needless to say, the show is a big success for the cable network and now fans of the series can enjoy the episodes from season four (2010) through “iCarly: The I <3 iCarly Collection” which features the three DVD’s “iFight Shelby Marx”, “iSaved Your Life” and “iSpace Out”.

Needless to say, the show is a big success for the cable network and now “iCarly: iFight Shelby Marx” is planned for release on March 30, 2010.

“iCarly: iFight Shelby Marx” features two iCarly movies from the second season and two episodes from the third:

• EPISODE 49-50 – “iFight Shelby Marx” – In this TV movie, Carly was talking a little trash on her web show about the martial-arts champ Shelby Marx.  When Shelby comes to visit her, Carly is afraid that she is going to get beaten up but finds out that Shelby wants to join forces with Carly in a one round match for charity and that she will not hurt her at all.   But during the press conference, Carly accidentally falls on Shelby’s grandmother offstage and Nevel Papperman takes advantage of the situation and now Shelby wants to hurt her in the ring.
• EPISODE 43-44 – “iDate a Bad Boy” – In this TV movie, Carly starts dating a bad boy named Griffin who tried to steal Spencer’s motorcycle.  Spencer prohibits Carly from dating him but she tries to sneak behind his back.  Meanwhile, Carly learns a major secret about her Griffin.
• EPISODE 39 – “iLook Alike” – Carly, Sam and Freddie want to interview an MMA fighter Jackson Colt but Freddie’s mom forbids him to go to an MMA fight and also Spencer forbids Carly from going as well.  So, the three come up with an idea to find lookalikes to stand for them while they do the interview.
• EPISODE 54 – “iCarly Awards” – Carly, Sam and Freddie present the first “iCarly Awards” for fans who have sent in videos but on the day of the Award show, Spencer mistakens Carly’s request to create ten awards by creating one huge award.  Now, Spencer must find a way to create them in a short amount of time, while Carly and Sam improvise the award show until each award is finished.

“iCarly: iSaved Your Life” includes four iCarly episodes and one iCarly TV Movie.  Fans of the character Freddie will enjoy these episodes as they deal with how he relates to Carly and Sam (including how he shared a kiss with each girl):

• EPISODE 60 – “iSaved Your Life”- Extended Director’s Cut – Freddie saves Carly from being hit by a taco truck and he ends up getting injured.  Now Carly falls in love with him but can this cause problems to their friendship?
• EPISODE 58-59 – “iQuit iCarly” – In this TV movie, as Carly and Sam try to help two young competitive aspiring filmmakers who have their own differences, they see themselves within these young filmmakers and sooner or later, both Carly and Sam start to not get along.  Can their friendship be repaired?
• EPISODE 51 – “iThink They Kissed” – Carly takes Sam to the dentist for an emergency checkup and while under laughing gas, Sam tells Carly that she kissed Freddie.
• EPISODE 48 – “iTwins” – Carly and Sam are known for pranking Freddie but when Sam’s twin sister Melanie (the total opposite of Sam) comes to visit, Freddie thinks Sam is trying to pull a prank by making up a fake story of having a twin sister.
• EPISODE 57 – “iMove Out” – After Freddie’s overprotective mom embarrasses him in front of his classmates, Freddie has had enough and moves out of his home.

Included on “iCarly – iSpace Out” are:

• EPISODE 63 – “iSpace Out” – A millionaire wants the “iCarly” gang to shoot in space, so Carly, Sam and Freddie take space training. Meanwhile, Spencer keeps seeing a little girl taunting him in the apartment.
• EPISODE 61 – “iWas a Pageant Girl” – Sam has competed in beauty pageants when she was younger but always lost but she competes in a beauty pageant once again.
• EPISODE 62 – “iEnrage Gibby” – When Freddie tries to help Gibby’s girlfriend Tasha, she accidentally falls on top of Freddie and Gibby happens to walk in. Now, Gibby challenges Freddie to a fight.
• EPISODE 64 – “iFix a Pop Star” – Carly, Sam and Freddie help out the pop star Ginger Fox. Meanwhile, Spencer has problems dating Gibby’s mother.
• EPISODE 66 – “iWon’t Cancel the Show” – With Sam in juvie, Carly is worried on how she will do the show without her. Especially when her father plans to watch the show that day.
• EPISODE 67 – “iBelieve in Bigfoot” – Carly believes in Bigfoot, while Spencer doesn’t and believes in “Beavecoon”.

VIDEO:

“iCarly: The I <3 iCarly Collection” is presented in standard definition and in full screen. Picture quality is good considering there is one TV movie and four episodes included on the DVD. There is compression artifacting and edge enhancement but for the audience being targeted, I doubt many will be that picky over picture quality.

AUDIO & SUBTITLES:

“iCarly: The I <3 iCarly Collection” is presented in English stereo and dialogue and music is clear as it comes from the front channels. Dialogue is understandable and experienced no major problems during viewing. There are no subtitles but closed captions are included.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“iCarly: iFight Shelby Marx” comes with the following special features:

• Behind-the-Scenes Extras:

– Meet Lewbert – (1:44) A featurette with Jeremy Rowley who plays the character of Lewbert the Doorman.  Jeremy talks about his character and the makeup.

– Message Board – (2:38) Nathan Kress, Jerry Trainor and Jennette McCurdy answer a few fan questions from the icarly.com message board.

• Pilot Episode of “Big Time Rush” – (47:57) The full pilot episode to Nickelodeon’s “Big Time Rush”.  A series about four guys who become a popular boy band who move to Hollywood.

“iCarly – iSaved Your Life” comes with the following special features:

• Welcome to My Boat – (1:59) Actor Jerry Trainor gives a tour of the boat used in the episode “iQuit iCarly”.
• Window Stunt – (1:36) A look at the stunt women who double for Carly and Sam for the scaffolding stunts in the episode “iQuit iCarly”.
• Birthday – (1:48) The cast of iCarly talk about the coolest and worst birthday gift they received.
• Meet Chuck – (1:29) Young actor Ryan Ochoa talks about playing the evil kid Chuck.

“iCarly – iSpace Out” comes with the following special features:

• iSpace Out iTrivia – (23:37) While watching “iSpace Out”, viewers can learn a lot of fun facts about the series with trivia boxes with information that pops up during the entire episode.
• Bonus Episode: Victorious – Featuring the pilot episode of “Victorious”.

My young son was a big “Drake & Josh” fan and has since graduated from that series and now enjoys “iCarly”. In fact, he and his cousin are addicted to the show and absolutely love it. And they are not the only kids as this show continues to be a ratings hit as the show has attracted nearly five million viewers per episode.

For “iCarly: iFight Shelby Marx”, I feel that this is a solid release for those who are fans of the show (or parents curious about purchasing the series for their kids) when it comes to content.  Two movies, two episodes and a bonus pilot episode for “Big Time Rush” is included.

As for the parents who are wondering if the episodes are safe for the children, depending on their age, there is no major violence but there may be some content that parents may not want their younger children to see.  The episodes are not rated but I’ll point out a few things that may be of concern to some parents who are considering of buying this DVD for younger children.

There are two episodes that deal with martial fighters, in “iFight Shelby Marx”, Carly gets a light in the face and in “iLook Alike”, a fighter throws Spencer through a table.  In two episodes, Carly goes against her brother (legal guardian) when he tells her to stop seeing the bad boy in “iDate a Bad Boy” and finding lookalikes to substitute for them on the “iLook Alike” episode.  In the pilot episode of “Big Time Rush”, you have four guys singing a song about “turd”.

Personally, the series and episodes featured on this DVD are nothing for parents to worry about but if the descriptions of scenes I mentioned above causes concern, especially if you were considering of buying this for a 5-9 year old child, then perhaps parental guidance is suggested.

For “iCarly: iSaved Your Life”, I feel that this is a solid release for those who are fans of the show (or parents curious about purchasing the series for their kids) when it comes to content.  On one DVD, you get a TV movie and four episodes.

As for the parents who are wondering if the episodes are safe for the children, depending on their age, there is no major violence but there may be some content that parents may not want their younger children to see. The episodes are not rated but I’ll point out a few things that may be of concern to some parents who are considering of buying this DVD for younger children.

In the episode “iQuit iCarly”, there is a scene where both Carly and Sam walk out on a scaffold, out their building window and then trouble comes and Carly is left hanging from the scaffold.  Granted, parents should reinforce the fact that children should keep out of windows high above the ground to begin with but that is probably the only thing I can think of that may be problematic for some parents.

And the episodes featured in “iCarly – iSaved Your Life” feature Freddie kissing Carly, having kissed Samantha, etc.  So, these are young teenage situations but again, it is up to parents if they mind that or not.

Personally, the series and episodes featured on this DVD are nothing for parents to worry about but if the descriptions of scenes I mentioned above causes concern, especially if you were considering of buying this for a 5-9 year old child, then perhaps parental guidance is suggested.

For “iCarly: iSpace Out”, I feel that this is a solid release for those who are fans of the show. On one DVD, you get a total of six episodes plus a bonus episode of “Victorious”. Where the last “iCarly” DVD release (iSaved Your Life) focused on relationships, there is no general theme for “iSpace Out” and most of the episodes presented on the DVD are from the fourth season of the series which aired in 2010.

As for “Victorious”, the bonus episode revolves around singer Tori Vega (played by Victoria Justice). One day as she goes to a showcase to support her sister Trina who has a chance to be selected to attend the prestigious Hollywood Arts High School. But on the big night, Trina’s tongue begins to swell up and Tori ends up taking her sister’s place and ends up getting a chance of the lifetime opportunity to attend the school. But when she meets a mean girl at the new school who causes problems for her, Tori struggles whether or not to quit the school.

As for the parents who are wondering if the episodes are safe for the children, depending on their age, there is no major violence in the show with the exception of “iFix a Pop Star” in which a high-tempered (and violent) pop star throws a fork and it lands on Freddie’s chest. Granted, this may be too violent for some young children, so parental guidance is suggested for this one episode.

Overall, “iCarly: The I <3 iCarly Collection” features three highly entertaining DVD’s with 15 episodes, movies plus bonus episodes of “Big Time Rush” and “Victorious” and much more!  And the fact that these three DVD’s are being released as a set for a pretty low price is wonderful.  If you own each of these DVD’s previously released back in 2010, then this is not for you!  But for those who are new to the series or have never owned an iCarly DVD, then this is a great set to start from!

So, if you are a fan of “iCarly” or a parent who have children or tweens that adore the show and you want to keep them busy over the summer (or the holidays), definitely give “iCarly: The I <3 iCarly Collection” a try!

Definitely recommended!