DVD Review: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Runnin' Down A Dream

There are few rock musicians whose careers have had the vitality of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. There are even fewer that have withstood the pitfalls of life in the music business for more than 30 years and stayed on top of it.

In Peter Bogdanovich's new film Runnin' Down a Dream, the story of Petty and the Heartbreakers is laid out over four hours, from very humble beginnings in Gainesville, Florida, in the mid-1970s, to superstardom by the early 1980s, to changing the way the record industry does business, to battles with drugs and alcohol, becoming contemporaries with their heroes, to being one of the last bands standing that still remain true to the mission they set out for themselves all those years ago.

Runnin' Down a Dream is both exhaustive and exhilarating. Unlike many rock and roll stories, much of the drama and changes in Petty's keeps coming up to the present day. Which is not to suggest they ever had it easy - battles with the record company started as soon as the band was hitting it big, and twice Petty held his ground and changed the way business was done. The first time, he was seeking independence for himself and his songwriting, not unlike Bruce Springsteen's fabled battles with his former manager, and the second time, he held ground on increases in record prices. Petty wouldn't allow his label to institute an industry-wide price increase on the back of his band's latest highly anticipated release, a battle he won in 1981.

Petty and his bandmates - most notably Mike Campbell, Benmont Tench and Stan Lynch - are forthcoming in this documentary. While the purpose of the film is to celebrate their achievements, it's no puff piece; all the warts and scars are here in plain view, such as Petty and Lynch's disagreements which led to Lynch being fired from the band, the hurt feelings and bitterness over Petty's solo work, and various members' use of drugs, including the death of longtime bassist Howie Epstein in 2003.

The film contains interviews with music industry pros, such as Rick Rubin and Jimmy Iovine (two of the most important players in the business, both of whom produced records for Petty), and other Hall of Fame artists, like George Harrison, Roger McGuinn, Stevie Nicks and Jackson Browne. The band's growth is seen in their collaborations with legends like Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash. Each time the band goes through a period of working with their heroes, you can see them come out different. The film tracks them going from one phase to the next, throughout their career, and the evolution is evident.

One of the most amazing surprises in the movie is the amount of previously unseen footage, very often in the most unlikely of places. The interrogation room in a German airport where the band is questioned on their first tour of Europe? It's here. In the studio with Stevie Nicks recording "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around"? Yup. Recording with Johnny Cash? Check. Fly-on-the-wall stuff at the famed sessions for the Traveling Wilburys? You got it. There's even footage from a meeting with a pissed-off Petty, McGuinn and the A&R man from his record label, who is trying to get them to record a song Petty thinks is a stinker.

The picture that is presented is one of a band - not a group of musicians who have simply played together for a long time, but rather a unified band. There are several times as their story unfolds that you realize the band wouldn't have made it but for Petty's foresight, Campbell's skill, or Tench's tenacity. Credit also goes to original bassist Ron Blair, who (perhaps unknowingly) prevents the band's undoing after Epstein's death by rejoining after 20 years out of the music business. Throughout it all, the music is a constant, as is the band's dedication to it.

Strangely, the distribution for this film is at odds with its subject matter. How is it that the man who held the line against corporate greed when it wanted to increase his album prices by $1 can have the DVD of this film sold exclusively at Best Buy? That action is plainly inconsistent with what we come away from the film knowing about Petty.

That aside, the film itself is one of the great rock and roll documentaries. It may be in excess of four hours, but you'll find yourself not wanting it to end, just to see Petty and his bandmates triumph over adversity and play those great songs from their legendary songbook.

More info: Mudcrutch Farm

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: Official Web Site

Interview With Peter Bogdonavich About The Film

DVD Review: Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip - The Complete Series

In the opening segment of the pilot for Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip, Judd Hirsch plays a producer of a late-night live comedy sketch show who is arguing with a standards and practices guy (a censor) over a skit; he's ordered to pull a sketch that the censor says might be offensive to some people. Enraged, he bursts on to the set when the show goes live and gives a Network-style diatribe over what's wrong with television in general. "This show used to be cutting edge social and political satire!" he says, and the point is made: Studio 60, from the outset, was to be just that, and wanted to be smart, relevant television - the kind we rarely see anymore.

And it was.

For 22 episodes, Studio 60 was among the very best things on television. No, it wasn't always funny - it wasn't supposed to be. But audience expectations are vital to how the show is perceived, and when viewers saw a show about a late-night comedy sketch show that wasn't a comedy, the fix was in. Nevermind that NBC never gave the show its due: It was burdened with a crappy timeslot from the beginning (Mondays at 10pm, opposite Monday Night Football) and followed a show that - while popular - didn't appeal to the same audience (Heroes). By the time NBC pulled the series and brought it back to burn off the rest of its episodes on Thursdays, the decision had already been made to kill it.

As a result, the smartest show on TV since The West Wing went away, and signaled the rest of the studios that smart TV - that is, TV that doesn't flinch from controversial topics and which keeps social and political satire alive - wasn't viable. Aaron Sorkin, who created both Studio 60 and The West Wing, fought the good battle.

Like NBC's 30 Rock (see below), Studio 60 was an outstanding show that just happened to be about a late-night comedy program. But where 30 Rock brings the audience that satire in 21 minutes of nonstop comedy brillance, Studio 60 presented a complex set of characters through which viewers could see their own culture. Any show about TV producers that can present meaningful commentary about the war in Iraq, the religious right's culture wars and other timely topics is one that can turn any issue on its head and make it fresh.

In what some will see as another sign of the show's doomed-from-the-start bad luck, it starred Matthew Perry, who was excellent in his role as the show's executive producer and head writer, but who brought with him the baggage of Friends. That this show didn't get renewed is sure to bring up the "Friends curse," which is the same as the "Seinfeld curse," referring to stars of former sitcoms starting new projects that fail. But anyone who saw half an episode would know that Perry leaves Chandler in the dust. The guy is capable of so much more than Friends (which was a good sitcom) would ever allow.

The rest of the cast was also great. Bradley Whitford, just off of The West Wing, played Perry's partner and co-executive producer. He also brought a dimension to his character that wasn't present in Josh Lyman, the White House aide he played for seven years. Amanda Peet, Steven Weber, D.L. Hughley, Timothy Busfield and Nathan Corddry all had moments to shine in the series, but it was Sarah Paulson, playing Perry's ex-girlfriend and the show's lone Christian player, who really jumped off the screen and stole every scene she was in. Her character and Perry's fought constantly, were on opposite sides of most issues and had a history of hurt between them, but the actors made their relationship credible and honest.

Back in the 1970s, when his show Star Trek was flourishing in syndication, creator Gene Roddenberry was asked about the competition from another show that was seen as similiar, Space: 1999. Rather than play to the horse race that the press loves to generate, Roddenberry said he thought the fans were lucky, because they got to watch two good shows, if they wanted.

Sadly, fans of 30 Rock and Studio 60 no longer have that option.

More info: Studio 60 Titles and Airdates Guide

Studio 60 Doesn't Take Comedy Seriously

Welcome To Studio 60

DVD Review: 30 Rock - Season One

Much has been made of the fact that NBC launched two series last year that dealt with fictitious Saturday Night Live-type programs, Aaron Sorkin's Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip, and Tina Fey's 30 Rock. Both were excellent programs that deserved to survive. Sorkin's didn't, but fortunately for audiences, Fey's did and went on to win the Emmy for Best Comedy Series last month.

The first season of 30 Rock recalls the great HBO series The Larry Sanders Show in the way it presents a behind-the-scenes view of a variety program, as well as NBC's sitcom classic Seinfeld in the way it presents a variety of eccentric characters who may work in television but act like normal folks going to work everyday. You'd never know Fey's Liz Lemon was running a live comedy show every week by the way she dresses, the food she eats, the movies she enjoys and the men she dates. Fey is hilariously uncomfortable in her own skin, and her conflict between the creative and corporate aspects of her life are at the heart of the show.

Alec Baldwin, long an SNL host, won a Golden Globe for his portrayal of the corporate executive that has taken a liking to Lemon and her staff but who also wants to mold the show with his corporate vision, which includes GE ovens. Baldwin's character Jack Donaghy is exactly the type to showcase how corporations have seeped into every surface of our lives.

Tracy Morgan, another SNL vet who is memorable even from small parts, such as in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, gives his character of Tracy Jordan his raging best. Jordan is certifiably crazy, but Lemon has had him forced onto her show by Jack, in an effort to boost ratings. In one episode, Lemon's white guilt brings her to ask Jordan if he can read. Seeing an opportunity to cut out of work early every day to get "tutoring," Jordan asserts "I can't read, Liz Lemon!" In another episode, he invites his co-workers to a party on board a yacht -- one he doesn't own.

The rest of the cast is outstanding as well. Jane Krakowski's Jenna is vain and clueless. Her attempt to convince her boss she's only 29, and her ploys to get what she wants by using her "sexuality," make for a number of embarrassing - and very funny - moments. Jack McBrayer's Kenneth is an innocent farmboy working in the big city, and through him, we see everyone else's faults. Baldwin's Jack becomes fascinated by Kenneth, someone so pure that it upsets the balance at the top of the corporate ladder.

There have been plenty of great guest-stars as well, adding to the show's fun. (The second season opener featured Jerry Seinfeld.) Isabella Rossellini did a couple of great guest spots in season one, much better (and more substantial) than her appearance on Friends all those years ago.

The show's writing has been as consistent and as funny as the best sitcoms - and you could hardly expect less from Fey, one of SNL's best writers in its 30-year history. It's also a very smart show - listen to the references that are thrown in (Jack tells Liz he's busy one night, attending "Ann Coulter's 60th birthday party").

The show's longevity is not assured however, and this second year will establish it or not. But as the Season One DVD collection demonstrates, this is a show as good as anything that has come before it, and which deserves to finish out in style - say, maybe seven or eight years from now.

More info: 30 Rock: Official Network Site

Variety: 30 Rock Review

30 Rock Lives, and Tina Fey Laughs

DVD Review: The Fugitive - Season 1, Vol. 1

Decades before Harrison Ford was exciting audiences as Dr. Richard Kimble, The Fugitive was a thoughtful, adventurous and very different dramatic series on television. Starring David Janssen in the title role, the show broke new ground on TV by not presenting a sanitized version of life in America - only The Twilight Zone (with which it shares some music) did the same.

Janssen looked part Sean Connery and part John Kennedy as he moved from town to town, trying to escape the lawman intent on tracking him down (Barry Morse, later of Space: 1999 fame) and trying to find the one-armed man whom he believes killed his wife, a crime for which the innocent Dr. Kimble has been sentenced to die. The show visited different places and characters every week, making it nearly as much of an anthology show as The Twilight Zone.

This first volume of the series covers 15 episodes from the initial 1963-1964 season. Many fans dislike these piecemeal releases of their favorite shows, but with so many shows abandoned by studios due to poor sales, whatever works. And as long as the episodes continue to look as good as they do in this set, fans should be pleased. The Fugitive was filmed in glorious black and white (until its fourth season when it switched to color), and the mood it sets helps the storyline. The images are crisp and clear, especially for a program that is nearly 45 years old.

The show had wonderful guest stars, such as Brian Keith and Vera Miles in the first episode and Robert Duvall and Susan Oliver in the two-part "Never Wave Goodbye." Janssen himself won a Golden Globe for his role in the series, and was nominated three times for an Emmy.

The show, with its JFK-inspired hero, premiered a short time before Kennedy's assassination. It was appropriate, however, that The Fugitive showed us the dark side of America, of a place where innocent, good men were kept away from their families, their callings and from the lives they should have been able to lead. In many ways, America is still running to return to that time. For those that haven't forgotten and who hold the promise of what could have been, The Fugitive is a landmark, and a document of the journey.

More info: Homepage of the Hunted: The Unofficial Website of The Fugitive
The David Janssen Archive

High-Definition War Gets Nasty

Today's announcement by Paramount and DreamWorks that they will support the HD-DVD format in the high-def wars means a longer wait for fans who want to adopt one format without another in the market. The superiority of Blu-Ray in the marketplace (and in most critics' opinions) didn't stop Microsoft from throwing around $150 million to Paramount and DreamWorks for "promotional considerations" -- which is just doubletalk for a bribe.

Bill Hunt of The Digital Bits has summed up this development better than we can and we encourage everyone to read Bill's piece from today.

A few months ago, a friend asked me what the deal was with the high-def format war. I did my best to tell him and to explain why I thought Blu-Ray was the better of the two, and why market forces seemed to be favoring Blu-Ray, making HD-DVD the next BetaMax. But my friend said something interesting: He said "Which one does Microsoft support? Because whichever one Microsoft supports will win."

I don't think HD-DVD will end up winning, unless Microsoft can afford to buy off every movie studio in the world. Everyone is in this game to make money, but there's doubt that Microsoft is supporting HD-DVD because they believe in that product. Their interest is in the XBox Live download service, so it's logical that they want to keep the high-def market in flux as long as they can.

Tellingly, the announcement today from Paramount and DreamWorks does not include films by Steven Speilberg, whose film Close Encounters of the Third Kind was recently announced as coming to high-definition DVD -- on Blu-Ray. Perhaps Speilberg is just staying out of this ugly mess, or perhaps he doesn't believe in the format Paramount is adopting. It's entirely possible Paramount doesn't believe in it either, but $150 million is a lot of money to pass up when waved under your nose.

The losers in all this are the fans of movies and high-definition technology. As high-def widescreen televisions keep coming down in price, more and more people are able to enjoy them. But for the time being, it looks like they're going to get their high-def content from HD channels. Could this spell the eventual demise of the DVD format - high-def, standard or otherwise? Time will tell, of course, but killing the most popular consumer product ever is going to end up as blood on someone's shoes - and today Microsoft is holding the smoking gun.

More info: Paramount To Drop Blu-Ray
What is Blu-Ray?
HD-DVD

DVD Review: Babylon 5: The Lost Tales

Babylon 5 is one of the great science-fiction properties ever, right up there with Star Trek, Star Wars, (the new) Battlestar Galactica and others. The five-year run that Babylon 5 had on television is also a singular achievement in TV history - without its 110 episodes of a serialized novel for television, there might be no Lost or other must-tune-in-every-week shows.

A feature film seemed inevitable at some point, and one may yet be in the offing, but now comes what is likely the first in a series of "Lost Tales" DVD releases (in bonus features, reference is made to shooting "these DVDs"; this volume is subtitled "Voices in the Dark"). This one stars Bruce Boxleitner and Tracy Scoggins from the series and Peter Woodward from the spinoff Crusade. It's a mixed bag, really, with the first half of the program being a fairly generic supernatural possession story, and the second half a more satisfying adventure into the character of the show's lead.

Scoggins is back as Lochley, a character we never got to know very well in the show's fifth season, but who acquitted herself well into an already established series. She is thrust into determining a supernatural menace and calling for aid from the Catholic Church, which sends her a priest. Alan Scarfe has some nice moments as a skeptical, realistic man of the cloth. His commanding voice reminds us of appearances he made as a Romulan leader in Star Trek: The Next Generation. But there isn't enough of a personal stake in this part of the story, and Lochley simply shows herself to be the smart leader we already knew she was.

Boxleitner's return as John Sheridan comes off much better. Shown a vision of the future by Woodward's Galen, Sheridan confronts a question that has fascinated men for generations: If you could kill a genocidal maniac before he commits the terrible acts we know he will, would you? Boxleitner appears to relish the role and his time in it. He's the best thing about the entire program.

The show uses a lot of CGI effects, and technology has improved since the days of the show, which makes for some beautiful footage in space. Some of the interior shots fare less well, with the actors appearing to be standing or sitting in empty rooms, but that's a minor quibble and one as much due to a lack of camera movement as anything. But the station and the spacecraft have never looked better.

J. Michael Straczynski, creator of the show, wrote and directed, and his abilities are as strong as ever. Unlike Gene Roddenberry, who had less of a hands-on approach with Star Trek as the years went on, Straczynski has remained the driving force behind the show, and it remains very much his vision.

Hopefully, The Lost Tales will continue, and will explore the other great characters of the show - Londo, Lennier, Garibaldi, Marcus, Ivanova, Delenn and others, including the cast of Crusade, which was cancelled by TNT before it had a chance to develop. If The Lost Tales allows Crusade to wrap up in some fashion, it will make many fans happy. Of course, if a feature film ever happens and Straczynski can take advantage of a bigger budget and tell a more epic story, Babylon 5 may reach an even wider audience.

For now, though, this volume of The Lost Tales is a worthwhile effort, and a welcome visit to one of the great alternative universes of imagination.

More info: Babylon 5: Official Site
The Lurker's Guide To Babylon 5
Crusade: The TNT/JMS Saga

DVD Review: Fantastic Voyage

Watching science-fiction films that were once state-of-the-art is a great way to assess the technological advances that have been made. In a field that makes leaps and bounds every few years, a movie that's just a few years old can look quaint -- or cheesy, depending on your point of view. Some of the truly great films retain a classic look, such as Forbidden Planet, and the best of the bunch also keep the sense of wonder that they first inspired, such as 2001.

Fantastic Voyage, released in 1966, still has some of that wonder, even if you can see the seams in the photographic effects that were used. The film concerns the trip of a miniaturized exploration vessel through the human body, and unlike 1987's Innerspace, which it inspired, this is not played for laughs. Instead, it's deadly serious, as the man through whom the team is traveling is a Cold War defector whose cooperation is essential to the cause of freedom. In that regard, the film is of its time, when spies and espionage dominated the culture.

One of the five crew members on the mini-ship is a spy, determined that the others will not accomplish their mission of removing a blood clot from a very sensitive spot in the defector's brain. The movie gives you reason to doubt just about everyone in the cast, and you find yourself thinking any one of them could be a saboteur.

Much is made of Raquel Welch's appearance in the film as a scientist's assistant. Some of the sexist comments made at her expense ("A girl has no place on this mission!") underscore the fact that the womens' liberation movement was still gathering steam in 1966. She isn't given much to do, other than move about in tight outfits. To her credit, her character doesn't become the damsel in distress and doesn't scream when confronted with icky challenges.

Donald Pleasance has a nice appearance as one of the scientists on the mission, providing some conflict with the others on how to achieve their mission. Following this film, Pleasance would go on to movie history as Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the 1967 James Bond adventure You Only Live Twice. Stephen Boyd is good as the central hero to the film, and the government agent sent along to make sure things go smoothly. (Boyd would pass away suddenly about ten years after this movie.)

The new DVD special edition of the movie from 20th Century Fox is a nice addition. The film is presented in anamorphic widescreen, although the pictures and colors aren't quite as sharp as one might expect. This is not necessarily a function of age, since many of the films from this period look stunning on DVD, although it could be related to difficulties in transferring the photographic effects, which still look impressive more than 40 years later.

The bonus materials on the disc are worthwhile, including commentaries, a 17-minute documentary, an independent music score by Leonard Rosenman, a photo gallery that includes posters and lobby cards, and trailers and TV spots for the film.

Fantastic Voyage may not have the cultural impact of Planet of the Apes or Star Wars, but the film is a predecessor to them and one of the best science fiction adventure films. It avoids the spectacle and bombast of the modern-day blockbuster, but creates a sense of wonder, excitement and intrigue that make a great viewing experience and a worthy addition to any film library.

More info: Fantastic Voyage: Nanotechnology

Fantastic Voyage Screenplay by Harry Kleiner

Fantastic Voyage Mistakes, Goofs & Bloopers

DVD Review: Bruce Springsteen with The Sessions Band - Live in Dublin

It's been said there are only two kinds of people in the world: Those who like Bruce Springsteen and those who've never seen him perform live. Springsteen's been one of the greatest of rock and roll performers for nearly 40 years, and has been said to be one of rock's "last true believers." Live in Dublin captures the end of his 2006 tour with The Seeger Sessions Band, with whom he recorded last year's album of folk standards, and while his concerts have always had a strong element of fun in them, his music has never sounded as joyous.

Backed by a band even bigger than his fabled E Street Band, Springsteen recasts many of his own tunes in a Cajun folky flavor, and the results are great: "Open All Night" (this is the first live version ever released) swings like you never thought it could; "Further On (Up The Road)," a rocker from his 2002 album The Rising, has a playfulness never even hinted at before; and "Long Time Coming," an acoustic number on 2005's Devils and Dust, gains from the polished ensemble behind him. Springsteen wrote an original on the tour, "American Land," which is among his finest songs of the last 20 years. It's the history of American immigration for the past 100 years, condensed into four minutes and change.

But it's the old standards which are the stand-outs here. Springsteen manages to simultaneously pay homage to his roots (musical, political and personal) while breaking new musical ground -- not a small feat for someone who has been at this since Nixon was president. "O Mary Don't You Weep" showcases the band at its most cohesive and most fun. Damned if you don't find yourself swinging your arms and dancing to a song about Moses parting the Red Sea and Pharaoh's army getting drowned. "Eyes on the Prize" is every bit as soulful as one would expect. "Jacob's Ladder" is a show-stopper and a declaration of purpose for this band and this tour.

Some songs here weren't included on the We Shall Overcome album, and it's good news for us that Springsteen has expanded the repertoire. "This Little Light of Mine" - which many know as a children's song - is a rocking show-closer, every bit as powerful as "Rosalita" ever was. "When the Saints Go Marching In" is recast as a prayer, in a slow, solemn take. Even a more obscure song like "Love of the Common People" will stay with you for days after you hear it.

Don't let the joyous sounds fool you though - this is no light-hearted affair. Springsteen's politics are front and center as always, and the passion he pours into these songs show how serious he is. "Mrs. McGrath" is an age-old protest of war mongering, "Eyes on the Prize" intentionally recalls the Civil Rights movement, "American Land" speaks to how the USA treats its immigrants, and Springsteen's updated version of "How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live" is an indictment of the Bush administration and its attitude toward the role of government, which caused its failures following Hurricane Katrina.

The show is available as a DVD, a double audio CD, a Blu-Ray disc, and in a CD-DVD combo. The audio quality of the CD is great, but the multi-channel sound on the DVD is the way to go. (Springsteen hasn't yet followed Neil Young's example and put out just one package with everything in it.) The DVD video has less of the annoying quick cuts that plagued his Live in Barcelona release (and which destroyed Paul McCartney's Back in the U.S. film). The video has sufficient close-ups and wider band shots to make you feel you were at the show, from the front row to the back of the theater.

There is also a PBS donation bonus audio CD that is worth tracking down for the Sessions Band's version of "My City of Ruins." It also includes great versions of "The Ghost of Tom Joad," "For You," "Johnny 99," and what surely must be Springsteen's favorite concert song (because he never stops playing it) "Bobby Jean. "

Live in Dublin is a great document of a unique period in Springsteen's career. You won't find audience members pumping their fists or wearing any stupid bandannas, and you won't hear these songs on the ever-increasingly lame rock radio, but you will be moved to your feet by a man and a band that bring out the best in our collective histories.

More info: The Songs of the Seeger Sessions by Matt Orel
Backstreets' Jersey News Turnpike
We Shall Overcome Liner Notes by Dave Marsh

DVD Review: That 70s Show Season 6

That 70s Show followed the example of the great Richard Linklater film Dazed and Confused the way Happy Days followed American Graffiti. That 70s Show didn't include any of the same actors from the movie, but the setting was very similar: Late high school years of a group of friends who encounter not only life lessons but the amusing trends and events of the late 1970s.

The sixth season of the show, which aired in 2003-2004, begins with the gang just graduated from high school and stepping out into the real world. Eric, the show's central character (played by Topher Grace), has decided to postpone college to help out around the house, where his father Red (Kurtwood Smith) has suffered a heart attack and can't work. It's worth noting that Red's heart attack was brought on by his daughter Laurie (Christina Moore, who replaced Lisa Robin Kelly in the role) marrying foreign exchange student Fes (Wilmer Valderrama) so that he could stay in the country since his student visa was set to expire upon his graduation.

Smith's Red Foreman is a rarity on television sitcoms: A father who's not a bumbling idiot. Red is a strong male figure in the show, presenting an old fashioned sense of masculinity that comes from his days as a former soldier in Korea. Contrast him with Bob (Don Stark), the Foremans' next door neighbor, who exhibits all the softness and silly traits that television fathers usually have. Bob also engages in every 70s trend that comes along, from hair perms to swinging to nudism.

The sixth season is interesting because it lets the characters grow out of their high school years and into young adults. In some cases, we see them move on and mature, as Kelso (Ashton Kutcher) joins the police academy and Hyde and Jackie (Danny Masterson, Mila Kunis) end their immature courting rituals and become a couple. Donna (Laura Prepon) starts college, but finds she can't leave Eric behind.

The DVDs do a nice job of representing the show, with clean transfers, promo spots for each episode and a few extra features. This isn't a lavish treatment, like the one given to a show like The Twilight Zone, but it is far better than what was just done for the second season of Happy Days. The DVD package has been made smaller this time around, with two double-disc slim cases inside a sleeve.

That 70s Show is a great program that mixed sharp, funny writing with good characters and a great premise. The show launched the careers of Grace (recently seen in Spider-Man 3, and so good in In Good Company) and Kutcher (who has had several film hits), and did something uncommon for sitcoms of its time: it broke boundaries. How many other shows would have the nerve to have its main teenage characters having sex and smoking pot as much as possible? While the sixth season may not be the show's peak, it is still very good, and this DVD collection is a nice addition.

More info: That 70s Central

Official That 70s Show Site

Dazed & Confused.net

DVD Review: Happy Days Season 2

When Happy Days premiered in 1974, viewers might have thought it was going to be the television version of the 1973 hit movie American Graffiti by George Lucas. After all, M*A*S*H came to the small screen in 1972 from the feature film of 1970. Happy Days had the same focus on cars and rock and roll from the 1950s that Graffiti did, and it even starred Ron Howard, who played one of Graffiti's central characters. In many ways, the show was the small-screen Graffiti, despite taking place some six years earlier, during the height of the Eisenhauer administration.

The good news was that Happy Days, for the first few years at least, performed admirably. It presented a view of life in 1950s America that was nostalgic for some, albeit not the snapshot in time that Graffiti was of Lucas' California teenage years. Howard played Richie Cunningham, and served at the audience's focus. As he gathered life experience in the show, viewers saw events through his eyes. With his friends Ralph and Potsie and his family (father Howard, mother Marion and sister Joannie), Richie's life was the center of the universe for the show. As time went on, a minor character named Fonzie gained popularity and became the show's star, but in the first two seasons at least, Fonzie was still a supporting character used to give Richie's life more diversity. Howard's Graffiti co-star Cindy Williams (in photo, above) even guest-starred on the show and went on to be one of the leads in the spin-off Laverne & Shirley.


Season 2 is among the show's finest years. There's still an innocence and a novelty to the show that it would lose in later years (such as the infamous "jumping of the shark" event that has gained a cultural significance all it's own). In the 1974-1975 season (which seems to take place in 1955-1956), Richie finds out what it's like to live on his own, have his first car, participate in the ROTC and work for a presidenital campaign. (Unlike his father - who is a Republican supporting Eisenhauer's re-election - Richie supports Democrat Adlai Stevenson. Appropriately enough, in the little-seen sequel More American Graffiti (1979), Howard's character is involved in a 1960s campus protest. )


With all the good humor, good stories and good performances in it, it's a shame to report that Happy Days Season 2 is a disappointment on DVD, at least in its presentation. First, many of the shows have been edited for music (music rights being the biggest hurdle - and cost - for studios) and second, the transfers lack the clarity and sharpness of the show's contemporaries. It just seems that CBS/Paramount didn't put a whole lot of effort into this release, which is truly a shame since the show is a cultural landmark and this is one of its finest collections of episodes.


The studio has set up a bad situation for fans, which is truly a no-win scenario. If fans don't buy Season 2, the studio will conclude that further releases aren't warranted. If fans do buy it, the studio will conclude that securing music rights and using the best transfers aren't necessary to make a sale, and fans will face future lackluster releases. What does one do if they want to see their favorite show continue on DVD but in better quality? Well, for one thing, they can support the releases of programs that are done right, like HBO's recent release of Get Smart, Image Entertainment's definitive Twilight Zone collections, or Disney's releases for Lost. Beyond that, the choice becomes whether to see the show continue with releases like Season 2 of Happy Days, or choose to remember the show in its glory, not with muddy transfers and music substitutions.



Still, Happy Days Season 2 contains a fun program that was operating at the top of its game. Despite this set's problems, fans of the show could do worse than these 23 episodes and the nostalgic, funny portrait it paints of an important decade in American history.

More info: Happy Days: Welcome To Arnold's

American Graffiti Homepage

100 Greatest Rock & Roll Artists of the 1950s

1950s Hot Rods, Customs and Dream Machines

DVD Review: Justice League Unlimited Season 2

These aren't the cartoons from your childhood. Those were broadcast on Saturday mornings and featured characters that were flawless, bland and always right. When Justice League Unlimited aired on Cartoon Network, it did so after 10 p.m. on Saturday nights. Its characters, while still heroic, are far from always right, and often find themselves correcting mistakes or resolving self-doubts. They exist in as realistic a world as they can with super-powered aliens and satellites with Star Trek-like technology.

Thirty or forty years ago, superheroes were an extension of law enforcement. They seemed to always operate in daylight and in conjuction with the police or the army. They were simply an extension of the authority figures in the real world, and no doubt were written to reinforce a respect for them. They were the "Super Friends," and with their kid sidekicks, they tracked evil down and vanquished it so the world could be safe in time for a sugar-coated cereal breakfast.

Back around the same time, bland comic book characters were getting a make-over. With Dennis O'Neil and Neal Adams, and later Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers, reinventing Batman as a fearsome creature of the night, the same superheroes that enforced the letter of the law - mostly in daylight - on Super Friends were often breaking the law in comics to realize their own vision of justice. Those creators and more like them in the 70s and 80s begat the film Batman in 1989, with its dark, serious take on the character, which begat the animated series of the 1990s by Bruce Timm and Paul Dini, which might be the best interpretation of the character in its long history.

Timm and Dini also headed up an animated Superman in the 90s, which was also a great reinterpretation of the character. That led to Justice League, and after two seasons, Justice League Unlimited, which allowed them to explore the entire spectrum of the DC universe and all its characters. Hardly any corner of DC's publishing history went unexplored. By the way, this isn't the Justice League of America; rather, it's an organization represented by several nations and more than one planet. It's the League of Nations on a galactic scale.

There's some heavy stuff going on for a cartoon too. A lengthy subplot through much of the series dealt with the government's concern that a group of super-powered beings had banded together to watch over the planet, with a satellite in orbit that could wipe out any portion of it. The government agency and project to discredit the League and its members made for some of the best dramatic moments of the series, not to mention the best conspiracy plots since the days of The X-Files.

You'd hardly expect adult relationships in the midst of the super-people's colored spandex, but they're there. Green Lantern Jon Stewart (a product of comics' reaction to the black power movement) is torn between two different women - one white, one black. Wonder Woman even flirts with Batman and nearly gets him to crack his icy facade. The result of all this is more well-rounded characters who exhibit traits with which viewers could identify. It adds drama to the storylines and intensity to the action.

The Season 2 DVDs look good, as did Season 1. Strangely, although JLU ran for three 13-episode seasons on Cartoon Network, the first 26 episodes were packaged together and labeled "Season 1," while the remaining 13 episodes are here as "Season 2." Whatever the grouping and classification, they're all here and they're as good as you remember them. You might even think the packaging has super-powers of its own, because if you put the thin-designed set on your shelf, it might seem invisible. (The two-disc set is less than half as thick as a standard DVD case.)

If you grew up with the Filmation incarnations of these characters in the 60s (some of which are coming to DVD in June) or the Hanna Barbera-produced Super Friends, you will appreciate the mature, sometimes complex, take on these characters and rich animation from Warner Bros. Throw in a sharp writing team and great voice talents, and you've got some of the best animated shows ever made.

More info: The World's Finest Online
The Big Cartoon Database
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DVD Review: Casino Royale

It seems that every few years, there's a movie marketing campaign that attempts to boldly proclaim "Bond is back!" as if Ian Fleming's James Bond ever really went away. Many times, when there was a poor to mediocre movie to promote, the exclamation seemed hollow - another attempt to convince audiences that a return to glory was at hand, summoning their fond memories of past Bond films and raising expectations that this new experience would be like those.

How odd -- and how fortunate for audiences -- that the "Bond is back!" claim is not only true this time around, but that in nearly every way, the latest Bond film exceeds expectations.

Casino Royale is the best James Bond movie in more than 40 years. (We recently named it the best film of 2006 at DVD Comment.) Since the high points of the early Sean Connery films (From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, and Thunderball), the films have seen good movies (The Spy Who Loved Me, The Living Daylights) and bad (A View To A Kill, Die Another Day), but Casino Royale reinvents the series for the 21st century and provides a freshness that has been missing for a long time. (Comparisons to the 1967 Casino Royale with David Niven, Peter Sellers and Woody Allen are not even an issue; neither are comparisons to the 1954 TV Casino Royale with Barry Nelson and Peter Lorre.)

That freshness is personified by Daniel Craig, who was inexplicably vilified by fans on the Internet before filming even began. But while every actor since Connery has brought something to the role, Craig is the first since Connery to make the role his own. His take is different from Connery's - as the others' were too - but he almost makes you feel you're seeing James Bond for the first time. If Craig stays with the role long enough, and his films live up to the quality of Casino Royale, his could be the best run in the series. Critical to the series' success will be more serious spy capers and an avoidance of the self-parody that plagued the series in the past. (The first rule of sequels should always be: Respect the source material and don't engage in parody.)

The story is very faithful to the Ian Fleming novel, the first film in decades to be so. This was Fleming's first Bond book, so it is fitting that the movie version showcases Bond's beginnings. The Bond films have only had the loosest of continuities over the years, so it is not particularly upsetting for longtime viewers to see Judi Dench still portraying M, after having done so for the Pierce Brosnan films. She's good in the role, and that's all the justification needed. Eva Green is also good as Vesper Lynd, the Bond girl who manages to avoid most of the Bond girl cliches from the past 40 years.

The DVD of film looks good, but is so lacking in extras that another edition is inevitable in the future, especially for the highest grossing Bond film of all time. A few short featurettes are included, along with Bond Girls Are Forever, an AMC production hosted by former Bond girl Maryam D'Abo (The Living Daylights). This was already released on DVD in a bonus disc that came with the last Bond movie. It isn't a particularly enlightening documentary and lacks the substance that the bonus materials of MGM's Bond DVDs have had in the past. In perhaps the greatest omission in terms of extras, there are no trailers or teasers present (except for other films!).

Still, until an updated DVD is issued (look for it in advance of the next film in 2008), this edition of Casino Royale is worth your time, since the feature film is the main attraction here and it has substance to spare. Not only is James Bond back to his former greatness, but a new generation has the promise of more great films in series. It hasn't been this exciting to be a Bond fan since The Beatles were making new records.

More info: MI6: The Home of James Bond

CommanderBond.net

The James Bond International Fan Club