Beauty & The Beast – The Complete Series (CBS DVD)
Picture:
C Sound: C Extras: C- Episodes: B-
It is a
tale as old as time (no copyright infringement here). Girl gets attacked, genetically deformed
Lion-man saves girl, they fall in love, beast and beauty have child… I am sure
you have all heard it a hundred times…or not.
Beauty and the Beast is a great series and has held
its ground over time. Fans begged for
the series to come to DVD and when it finally did the episodes were there, but
the quality was not.
The first
season was amazing and by the third it had really got its footing. The show could have gone on much longer, but
sadly was not given the chance. The
series has been viewed for multiple seasons previously on this site, please refer
to those reviews for more insight into all the series had to offer.
The First Season:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5095/Beauty+And+The+Beast
The Final Season:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6574/Beauty+&+The+Beast
The
picture and sound quality on all the seasons in this set are beastly at
best. The picture is once again a bland,
gritty, full screen image that lacks any kind of depth and in many ways hurts
the experience as it projects in such a dated manner (VHS anyone?). The sound on Season One and the Bonus Disc is a simple English Mono track, where
as the Second and Final Season are Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo. The stereo is a step up from the mono, but
both sound qualities are not the best at all and have distortion and often
times sound quite low.
There has
been one slight upgrade to the series for The
Complete Series release and that is the inclusion of a Bonus Disc with 4
new features.
The
extras include:
Vincent’s Quest
- Take an interactive journey
with Vincent as he navigates the tunnels below Central Park in his quest
to rescue Catherine.
Original Love Letters
Newly Reconstructed Love Letters
Episodic Promos on selected
Episodes
The
extras are a bit drab and though not hastily thrown together, they lack any
entertaining or rewatchable quality. They
are composed of a boring game and some love letters that are a throwback to the
series, but are no where near as entertaining.
As this
reviewer has stated time and time again, Beauty
and the Beast is a great series and though at times it does feel dated, it
manages to maintain an undeniable appeal for newcomers and old fans alike. The issue with this set and the previous
‘single season’ releases is in the quality.
The picture and sound MUST be upgraded, it seems that no or little
effort was but into restoring these episodes before they hit DVD and that is a
shame. No one wants VHS quality on a DVD
disc. Where are the good transfers fans
have been waiting for? Maybe they are in
the tunnels under Central Park…
- Michael P. Dougherty II
