Since the earliest days of TV-on-DVD sets, fans have been collecting their favorite shows, often in elaborate box sets filled with extras. The early ones are still the templates - The X-Files, Star Trek: The Next Generation - but one thing that has always irked fans is that once a series was completed on DVD, studios would often release a box set containing the entire series, often in an even more elaborate box or with even more extras. The West Wing and Friends recently saw the entire series collected in beautiful box sets -- which is useless to fans who supported the release of those show's individual seasons. Many fine shows (like Paramount's Taxi) were released in season sets without any extras at all, and many fans have started collecting a favorite program, only to find the DVDs discontinued (The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Happy Days, Mork & Mindy, and many more).
Fortunately, Time Life and HBO Video have turned this trend on its head with the release of Get Smart: The Complete Series. The 1965-1970 series was long-sought-after by DVD fans (indeed, the show was in the top five of most requested shows on TVShowsonDVD.com for years) and it remained a holy grail of sorts for fans looking for their favorite shows on their favorite shiny discs.
Released in late November, Get Smart is perhaps the crowning achievement in TV-on-DVD. Here are all five seasons of the show, on 25 discs in 5 season sets, all collected in a phone-booth package (reminiscent of the show's classic opening). If you're a fan of the show (and who wouldn't be?), you already know this is one of the very best comedies that television had to offer. It began in the mid-60s, just as America was deep in the Cold War and James Bond was all the cultural rage. The show worked on a variety of levels: it had slapstick humor, political satire and adult innuendo. It remains a cultural landmark; a bedrock of comedy and for a generation, a definition of humor.
Technically, the DVDs are among the most advanced yet. They have motion menus, with introductions to every bit of content by Barbara Feldon, the show's "99." The video quality is outstanding. It's amazing that a 40-year old television program can look as crisp and as clear as this one does. Add in the fact that the episodes are uncut (replacing several minutes to each show that have been lost to syndication over the years), and you will feel like you've never seen the show before, even if you have been a fan for decades.
Time Life recruited some of the best DVD talent around for this collection. Paul Brownstein produced the set, and he has also produced DVDs for The Twilight Zone and The Dick Van Dyke Show, both of which are among the best TV-on-DVD sets. Like those, this one is loaded with content, with extras that many fans never knew existed. One charming piece is an NBC fall preview special with Get Smart star Don Adams hosting -- as Maxwell Smart. Time Life also recruited many Get Smart fans for help with the DVD set, and it shows. This is a hardcore fan's dream come true.
The season sets are said to be planned for individual release in the next year or so, but Time Life offers the whole set now, and they have exclusive rights to the sale of the show for a year. No need to wait - this is the best the show is going to get. More broadly, it shows how television shows should be produced for DVD. For these reasons and more, Get Smart: The Complete Series is the DVD box set of the year.
Fortunately, Time Life and HBO Video have turned this trend on its head with the release of Get Smart: The Complete Series. The 1965-1970 series was long-sought-after by DVD fans (indeed, the show was in the top five of most requested shows on TVShowsonDVD.com for years) and it remained a holy grail of sorts for fans looking for their favorite shows on their favorite shiny discs.
Released in late November, Get Smart is perhaps the crowning achievement in TV-on-DVD. Here are all five seasons of the show, on 25 discs in 5 season sets, all collected in a phone-booth package (reminiscent of the show's classic opening). If you're a fan of the show (and who wouldn't be?), you already know this is one of the very best comedies that television had to offer. It began in the mid-60s, just as America was deep in the Cold War and James Bond was all the cultural rage. The show worked on a variety of levels: it had slapstick humor, political satire and adult innuendo. It remains a cultural landmark; a bedrock of comedy and for a generation, a definition of humor.
Technically, the DVDs are among the most advanced yet. They have motion menus, with introductions to every bit of content by Barbara Feldon, the show's "99." The video quality is outstanding. It's amazing that a 40-year old television program can look as crisp and as clear as this one does. Add in the fact that the episodes are uncut (replacing several minutes to each show that have been lost to syndication over the years), and you will feel like you've never seen the show before, even if you have been a fan for decades.
Time Life recruited some of the best DVD talent around for this collection. Paul Brownstein produced the set, and he has also produced DVDs for The Twilight Zone and The Dick Van Dyke Show, both of which are among the best TV-on-DVD sets. Like those, this one is loaded with content, with extras that many fans never knew existed. One charming piece is an NBC fall preview special with Get Smart star Don Adams hosting -- as Maxwell Smart. Time Life also recruited many Get Smart fans for help with the DVD set, and it shows. This is a hardcore fan's dream come true.
The season sets are said to be planned for individual release in the next year or so, but Time Life offers the whole set now, and they have exclusive rights to the sale of the show for a year. No need to wait - this is the best the show is going to get. More broadly, it shows how television shows should be produced for DVD. For these reasons and more, Get Smart: The Complete Series is the DVD box set of the year.
