Beverly Hills 90210 – The Fifth Season (CBS DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C Episodes: B-
One of
the biggest teen dramas to ever hit the small screen returns to DVD with Beverly Hills 90210: The Fifth Season. Notice how it is NOT the ‘Complete’ Fifth
Season, mainly because it isn’t. The
studio has altered the series from its original broadcast, stripping away much
of the original music and presumably using some syndicated versions of the
episodes. The series has not changed
much since our Third Season review on this site, but a few new faces have
appeared and a few have disappeared.
After a few onset battles Shannen Doherty was asked (hem…hem) nicely to
leave the series; the storyline suggesting that she went off to school in
London (never to be seen again).
Tiffani-Amber Thiessen joins the cast as the ‘not so nice’ Val and takes
over as Dylan’s (Luke Perry) love interest.
The
series is still as good, if not better than ever at this point. The teens get themselves into outlandish situations
filled with drama, cheating, sex, and heartache. Though not realistic in the slightest, the
series always manages to capture the audiences’ attention with its use of
crazy, over the top antics. The actors
in the series seem to have gotten a very strong grip on who they want their
characters to be and with that they can twist and turn themselves into whatever
their little, spoiled hearts desire.
The
technical features on the Fifth
installment of this landmark teen drama series continue to be rather
disappointing. The picture is once again presented in a color washed,
somewhat blurry, and overly soft 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 very light at times and having certain high/low
issues. The original music being stripped from the series starts to
really take its toll this season, as the background music has become noticeably
flat and bland. The music gave the
series much of its charm and it is a noticeable loss. The extra features once again fail to
interest this reviewer as they are boring to watch once through and definitely
lack the rewatchable quality that should be present.
Just as
with the Season Three review, the
incompleteness and poor technical quality of this DVD release allows this
reviewer to only recommend this set to the most hardcore Beverly Hills 90210 fans, who can not live without owning it. That is not to say that the series does not
hold up well (because it does), but rather that there are plenty of other
series now on DVD that are more entertaining to begin with, plus have done the
technical job as well. But at the same
time, will this series ever be released in its 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?
Beverly Hills…that’s where I want
to be…
- Michael P. Dougherty II
For more 90210 teen angst, try this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6410/Beverly+Hills+90210
