Miami
Vice: Season One + Two Sets
Picture: B-
Sound: B Extras: C+/D Episodes: B+
The groundbreaking detective series that defined a decade
was popular on home video before any TV on DVD boom. Miami Vice has been upgraded for DVD with better sound and
after a successful Season One release, returned recently as well for the
second season round on DVD. The
pastels, the cars, the gunplay and the music never let up throughout the pilot
and first 22 hour-long episodes of the first year’s set and 22 more hour-long
shows for the second. As the saying
goes, “if it’s not broken, don’t fix it.”
The formula that sold America on two vice cops in Miami still doesn’t
let down in Season Two. As a fan
of the show since childhood, I may be partial, but what really was important to
me even now are the stories. Even after
twenty years the stories are still gritty and could put some current dramas on
television to shame.
A key to the Emmy-nominated show is executive producer
Michael Mann (Heat, Collateral). His vision and influence is
truly what defined the shows look and style.
The only sad note in the back of my mind is, having to view Season Three
without his input despite his name still being on the show as Mann left the
show by then. Not that the show wasn’t
great by any standards, but the last three seasons weren’t as strong without
Mann overseeing the entire world of Sonny Crockett and Rico Tubbs.
The episodes of both sets are as follows:
Season One:
1)
Brother’s Keeper
2)
Heart Of Darkness
3)
Cool Runnin’
4)
Calderone’s Return
(two-part show)
5)
One Eyed Jack
6)
No Exit
7)
The Great McCarthy
8)
Glades
9)
Give A Little, Take A Little
10)
Little
Prince
11)
Milk Run
12)
Golden
Triangle (two-part show)
13)
Smuggler’s
Blues
14)
Rites Of
Passage
15)
The Maze
16)
Made For
Each Other
17)
The Home
Invaders
18)
Nobody
Lives Forever
19)
Evan
20)
Lombard
Season Two:
1)
Prodigal Son (two-part show)
2)
Whatever Works
3)
Out Where The Buses Don’t Run
4)
The Dutch Oven
5)
Buddies
6)
Junk Love
7)
A Tale Of A Goat
8)
Bushido
9)
Bought & Paid For
10)
Back In The
World
11)
Phil The
Shill
12)
Definitely
Miami
13)
Yankee
Dollar
14)
One Way
Ticket
15)
Little Miss
Dangerous
16)
Florence
Italy
17)
French
Twist
18)
The Fix
19)
The Payback
20)
Free Verse
21)
Trust Fund
Pirates
22)
Sons &
Lovers
Some thought the show started to decline in the second
season, but a few standout episodes were second season premiere The Prodigal
Son, Bushido (directed by cast member Edward James Olmos), Back
In The World, Payback, and the season finale Sons and Lovers. The show also would offer an interesting mix
of new talents handpicked by Mann and veteran directors like John Llewellyn
Moxey, Alan J. Levi, Paul Kransy and Russ Mayberry. Actors Paul Michael Glazer, David Soul, Georg Stanford Brown and
Bill Duke also helmed some shows, while Able Ferrera directed Home Invaders. Of course, the show permanently added songs
to television soundtracks but did it better than most of its imitators and
holds its own against the latest generation of such TV series to do so today.
The show was unusually colorful as it has been always
known for being and the 1.33 X 1 transfers on both sets are consistently
colorful and slightly grainy, some of which is intended for the type of show it
is. The picture quality still suffers,
but I only put blame on a show that is twenty years old. It is still very crisp and clear and for any
fan it will forever be perfect and could not look much better in the DVD
format. The sound remix in Dolby
Digital 5.1 is strong, but certainly nothing to write home about, though it is
nice to have the upgrades for DVD.
As far as extras are concerned for Season One, that
set included a series introduction by creator Michael Mann and the following
featurette: The Vibe of Vice, Back Story: Miami Vice, The
Fashion and The Music. That
brings up Season Two, which has absolutely no special features. I understand that twenty years ago no one
was thinking of the DVD format, but you would have thought Universal could have
dug up some footage from their archives again.
Nonetheless, the set will be satisfactory for any fan and until digital
High Definition copies arrive, the best way to experience the series. Now we will see how it will compare to that
new feature film in Summer 2006.
- Jonathan Joy
