Beverly Hills 90210 – The Third Season (CBS DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C Episodes: B-
If you
were alive in the early 1990’s and didn’t at least feel the wrath of the
television sensation that was Beverly
Hills 90210, you must have had your head in the California sand. The series premiered in late 1990 on FOX and
was an instant hit and continues to be fairly successful hit on DVD with Beverly Hills 90210: The Third Season.
The
series followed a group of teens as they went through the trials and
tribulations of their teenage years. It
was written to be a more poppy, primetime, soap opera that focused on the
lighter things in life as well as harsher realities like alcohol, date rape,
and teen pregnancy. In this 1992-1993 Season the series had not delved into the
more connected storylines that later seasons would utilize, instead relying
more heavily on self contained issues like those mentioned above. The entire original cast was still intact at this
point with Shannen Doherty, Jennie Garth, Jason Priestley, and Luke Perry being
the more notable stars that quickly gained popularity; not long after season
three certain leads would begin to part with the hit teen drama.
This
reviewer never personally loved the series, but does on occasion like to
indulge in the guilty pleasures of this trashy melodrama. This series is kind of like reality
television to this reviewer; you don’t want to watch it, you know you shouldn’t
watch it, but sometimes it is just too hard to look away from a car crash. In all honestly 90210 was an understandable hit that lasted an outstanding ten
seasons with popularity only waning toward the end of the series. The series slowly but surely developed into a
smutty soap opera with such unbelievable events occurring that Jerry Springer
would shake his head; but hey, smut sells.
The
technical features on this 8 disc set are rather disappointing. The picture is presented in a color washed,
somewhat blurry 1.33 X 1 Full Screen that at some points is so bright it is
annoying. The sound is unimpressive in
Dolby Digital 2.0 Surrounds due to it being light at times and having certain
high/low issues. The extra features may
be nice for some fans, but failed to interest this reviewer. Special Features include a featurette entitled
7 minutes in Heaven, the World According
to Nat, and ‘Everything You Need to
Know about BH 90210 Season 3.’ I am
glad some effort was put into these extra features as compared to other TV on
DVD releases, but better cast interviews would have been nicer.
In the
end, where as fans will be excited that this series is finally being released
on DVD at a nice rate; what is disappointing is the many alterations that have
been made to the series’ original episodes.
Not only has some of the series’ music been changed, but also some of
the episodes are altered as well (most likely being the syndicated
versions). It is a shame that music
rights cost so much today that studios
have chosen to cut costs and abandon original scores, rather than pay up for
these DVD releases. Fans are truly
looking for FULL original episodes (not syndicated) that contain all of the
original music. When series are altered
on DVD many fans chose to not purchase the DVD set rather than dealing with the
less than desirable alterations. This
being seen in previous DVD releases such as WKRP in Cincinnati, Laverne &
Shirley, and the later seasons of Happy
Days.
This
reviewer recommends this series to hardcore fans of Beverly Hills 90210, but not just casual viewers; because who knows
if this series will ever be released in its full unaltered version? That is the big question I guess with many
DVD sets. Do I purchase the set now
knowing that the original version will probably never be released, or do I wait
in hopes that the studio will smarten up?
Oh the trials and tribulations of a day in the life of a DVD reviewer…
- Michael P Dougherty II
