3rd Rock
From The Sun – Season Two
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: B- Episodes: B
3rd Rock From The Sun
continued into a winning Season Two in 1997 and the show was at least as
strong as it had been the previous season.
Not only did the writing and the cast get tighter, the ideas
expanded. Give or take The Golden
Girls, this was the best comedy NBC had in the 1990s and am convinced with
this second set that it is just one of those shows that gets better with
age. John Lithgow, Jane Curtin, Kristen
Johnson, French Stewart and Joseph Gordon-Levitt returned to their roles as the
various alien visitors and the chemistry just grows on you the more you watch.
I pretty much feel the same way about the show as I did in
my review of the first season set, but will add that I could more easily catch
the physicality of the comic timing this time out and now believe this is an
even more important and special show than even I first gave it credit for. The 26 episodes in this 4-DVD set once again
carry on the joke of using the name (and word) Dick (Lithgow’s character’s
name) in every title, but will refrain from listing all of them because that
does ruin another funny aspect of the show as one of its in-jokes.
I will discuss the final shows of the season, a two-parter
called Nightmare On Dick Street.
It is famous for its four dream sequences that were rendered in
3-D. Broadcast and even cable standards
did not guarantee the 3-D would work, but these copies are in 3-D and one pair
of glasses have been included. Because
they are not the red/blue or red/green kind you typically see nowadays
and are not the semi-clear polarized type form old 1950s films, two should have
been included and there is not any information on how to order more. Unless you have the glasses from the 1998
broadcast, you are out of luck.
The left lens is clear, while the right is a sort of dark
purple, not unlike the system introduced in 1991 for brief segments of the
brief-lived Yogi Bear revival called Yo Yogi. Those glasses were included on Kellogg’s serials, at least in
Rice Krispies. If you somehow have
those, you can experiment. As it
stands, the 3-D is effective enough, if not always jumping off of the
screen. It is nicely produced and the
teleplays are nicely written.
Another interesting aspect of the 3-D sequences are two of
the artists behind them. They were
directed by enduring Music Video director Phil Joanou, whose feature film State
Of Grace (1990, reviewed elsewhere on this site) is a real gem of a
film. These sequences rank up there
with some of the best work he has ever done, and he had help form his
cinematographer. Ronald W. Browne, a
solid cameraman had already shot some very memorable episodes for classics like
Mission: Impossible, McCloud, The Six Million Dollar Man, Kolchak:
The Night Stalker, and even Vega$ and the Captain America
telefilms with Reb Brown in the title role.
He knew how to shoot for television (currently on That 70s Show)
and when he gets really interesting material, knows how to run with it. Get this box just for these shows alone.
Fans will once again be happy that the DVDs have turned
out as nicely as they have, issued by Anchor Bay in another nice DigiPak box
with a fun gimmick: you press a button hidden underneath the front cover and another
Lithgow line plays each time. I had
problems getting this to work with my box, but you may fare better. As for the picture on the episodes, the 1.33
X 1 image quality is good, though it lacks some detail and the older animated
credits (which looked fake to begin with on purpose for laughs) has aged a
bit. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is
also good, as it was originally broadcast, but the sound once again has no
surrounds either. Extras again include
highlights of the season, TV spots, another 16-page booklet in the foldout, new
Lithgow interview, and more on the 3-D shows.
This includes 3-D blooper, behind the scenes of the production and an
alternate ending not used for the shows.
That adds up to another winning set and a highlight of the many TV on
DVD sets that keep hitting the market.
Be sure to catch this one.
- Nicholas Sheffo
