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