Watcher
11-11-2001, 11:13 PM
<I><B>WARNER HOME VIDEO </I></b>
<center><b>
<h2>The Best Of Friends Boxed Set.</h2>
Release Date:</b> November 21, 2001.
<B>Warner Home Video. </B>
<b>Rating:</b> PG
<B>RRP:</b> $34.95</center>
<UL><b>Special features and specs…..</b>
<I>DISC 1</I>:
<LI>Languages in Dolby Digital English 5.0
<li>Cast & Crew
<LI>Music Video: "I'll be there for you" by The Rembrandts'
</UL>
<UL>
<I>DISC 2.</I>
<LI>Languages in Dolby Digital English 5.0 (not 5.1 as stated on the back cover)
<LI>Cast & Crew.
<LI>Music Video: "I'll be there for you" by The Rembrandts'
<LI>Featurette: Friends Goes To London.
<LI>Featurette: Friends On Location In London.</UL>
<UL>
<I>BOTH DISCS.</i>
<LI>Subtitles: English/ French.
<LI>Aspect: 1.33:1, full screen 4:3
<LI>Running Time: 151 minutes (on each disc).</UL>
<b>Cast…</b> Jennifer Aniston Courteney Cox Lisa Kudrow Matt LeBlanc Matthew Perry David Schwimmer
<b>The Episodes......</b>
This 2 Disc boxed set contains the top 10 episodes (containing added footage) chosen by fans.
Each disc contains 5 episodes.
<I><B>Disc 1 contains....</I></B>
<I><U>"Pilot,</I></U>".Monica gets a room mate.
"<I><U>The One with the Two Parts</I></U>" (Both parts) Phoebe copes with her twin; Rachel & a monkey end up in an ER.
"<I><U>The One with All the Poker.</I></U>" Ross plays a game of high stakes.
"<I><U>The One Where Ross Finds Out"</I></U> Chandler works out.
<I><U>"The One with the Prom Video</I></U>" Joey buys Chandler a flashy bracelet.
<B><I>Volume 2 contains......</b></I>
<I><U>"The One Where No One's Ready</I></U>" Rachel can't decide what to wear.
<U><I>"The One with the Embryos.</U></I>" Phoebe becomes a surrogate mum for her brother.
<I><U> "The One with Ross's Wedding,</i></U>"(Both parts) Chandler tours London;Ross undoes "I do".
<I><U> "The One with All the Thanksgivings</U></I>" Joey sticks his head inside a turkey.
<I><U>"The One Where Everybody Finds Out"</U></I> Monica can no longer hide the BIG SECRET.
<b>Audio/Visual….</b>
First of all, this 2 disc set is in <B>NTSC</B>, meaning that you'll need a television capable of showing an <B>NTSC</B> picture.
The Best of Friends is presented in a full frame format.
The overall picture on these episodes is pretty good. They have a very clean picture with very clear and sharp detail through each episode and there were no signs of any blemishes, scratches etc.
Although they're in <B>NTSC</b>, the colours in the episodes are nice and bright, blacks are black and flesh tones are pretty spot on.
The first 5 episodes on disc #1 have Dolby Digital 5.0 audio, as do the other 5 episodes on disc #2 despite the back cover of disc #2 saying it's 5.1
The front soundstage works well with a hint of directional sound at times, but not much overall though.
The rears mostly offer music and the occasional subtle surround effects and laughter.
Speech comes across very well and is clear and in sync.
All these factors blend well together and the end result is a decent 5.0 soundtrack for a TV sitcom.
<B>Extra features…..</b>
<I><U>Cast and Crew.</U></I> Is what you'd expect from this feature, with a list of the major cast and director and has the usual bios, past gigs they've done etc...
<I><U> Music Video: "I'll be there for you" by The Rembrandts'</U></I> Full screen and in Dolby Digital 2.0. For those who haven't seen it, the cast play around in the background while the band plays in the music video.
<U><I>Featurette: Friends Goes To London.</U></I> Cast and crew talk (on set) talk about the London episode with clips of the show. Full screen and goes for just over 6 minutes.
<I><U>Featurette: Friends On Location In London.</U></I> Just a little over 2 minutes of the various cast and special guests talking about the episode. Shown in full screen.
<U><I>DVD ROM content</U></I>. Nothing special, but the disc takes you to various web related links.
<B>Overall......</b>
I'm sure there's no need to give a run down on the series of Friends as every man and his dog must have heard of it by now.
The popularity of Friends has been amazing and so has the size of the pay packets of the stars.
Friends has never really done much for me personally and I've only watched it because the wife had it on (and that's the story I'm sticking to! Heh, heh...).
Having said that, I seem to remember every one of these episodes and had no problem remembering what stage of the series they were at. Hmmm.... The wife had it on I tell you! :-)
Every one of these episodes are real gems and have a very good laugh factor. These are the top 10 episodes that were voted for by fans in the USA (12 actually as you get a couple of 2 parters listed as 1 episode ).
I like the idea of this 2 disc "Best of" DVD set as it's a way cheaper option than buying every single DVD in the series for the not so serious fans and it has plenty of the best episodes to give you a good "Friends fix".
For what it's worth, the packaging looks good on both DVD's as well as the box.
The audio/visual quality is good enough to keep fans happy and although the extra features aren't going to give you a lot more time in front of the TV, they are still worth a look and I'm sure fans of the show will enjoy them.
This is highly recommended for those who don't have the single Friends DVD's that have been released and also for those people who want a handy collection of the best 12..errr...10 episodes of friends.
Thanks for reading…
<center><b>
<h2>The Best Of Friends Boxed Set.</h2>
Release Date:</b> November 21, 2001.
<B>Warner Home Video. </B>
<b>Rating:</b> PG
<B>RRP:</b> $34.95</center>
<UL><b>Special features and specs…..</b>
<I>DISC 1</I>:
<LI>Languages in Dolby Digital English 5.0
<li>Cast & Crew
<LI>Music Video: "I'll be there for you" by The Rembrandts'
</UL>
<UL>
<I>DISC 2.</I>
<LI>Languages in Dolby Digital English 5.0 (not 5.1 as stated on the back cover)
<LI>Cast & Crew.
<LI>Music Video: "I'll be there for you" by The Rembrandts'
<LI>Featurette: Friends Goes To London.
<LI>Featurette: Friends On Location In London.</UL>
<UL>
<I>BOTH DISCS.</i>
<LI>Subtitles: English/ French.
<LI>Aspect: 1.33:1, full screen 4:3
<LI>Running Time: 151 minutes (on each disc).</UL>
<b>Cast…</b> Jennifer Aniston Courteney Cox Lisa Kudrow Matt LeBlanc Matthew Perry David Schwimmer
<b>The Episodes......</b>
This 2 Disc boxed set contains the top 10 episodes (containing added footage) chosen by fans.
Each disc contains 5 episodes.
<I><B>Disc 1 contains....</I></B>
<I><U>"Pilot,</I></U>".Monica gets a room mate.
"<I><U>The One with the Two Parts</I></U>" (Both parts) Phoebe copes with her twin; Rachel & a monkey end up in an ER.
"<I><U>The One with All the Poker.</I></U>" Ross plays a game of high stakes.
"<I><U>The One Where Ross Finds Out"</I></U> Chandler works out.
<I><U>"The One with the Prom Video</I></U>" Joey buys Chandler a flashy bracelet.
<B><I>Volume 2 contains......</b></I>
<I><U>"The One Where No One's Ready</I></U>" Rachel can't decide what to wear.
<U><I>"The One with the Embryos.</U></I>" Phoebe becomes a surrogate mum for her brother.
<I><U> "The One with Ross's Wedding,</i></U>"(Both parts) Chandler tours London;Ross undoes "I do".
<I><U> "The One with All the Thanksgivings</U></I>" Joey sticks his head inside a turkey.
<I><U>"The One Where Everybody Finds Out"</U></I> Monica can no longer hide the BIG SECRET.
<b>Audio/Visual….</b>
First of all, this 2 disc set is in <B>NTSC</B>, meaning that you'll need a television capable of showing an <B>NTSC</B> picture.
The Best of Friends is presented in a full frame format.
The overall picture on these episodes is pretty good. They have a very clean picture with very clear and sharp detail through each episode and there were no signs of any blemishes, scratches etc.
Although they're in <B>NTSC</b>, the colours in the episodes are nice and bright, blacks are black and flesh tones are pretty spot on.
The first 5 episodes on disc #1 have Dolby Digital 5.0 audio, as do the other 5 episodes on disc #2 despite the back cover of disc #2 saying it's 5.1
The front soundstage works well with a hint of directional sound at times, but not much overall though.
The rears mostly offer music and the occasional subtle surround effects and laughter.
Speech comes across very well and is clear and in sync.
All these factors blend well together and the end result is a decent 5.0 soundtrack for a TV sitcom.
<B>Extra features…..</b>
<I><U>Cast and Crew.</U></I> Is what you'd expect from this feature, with a list of the major cast and director and has the usual bios, past gigs they've done etc...
<I><U> Music Video: "I'll be there for you" by The Rembrandts'</U></I> Full screen and in Dolby Digital 2.0. For those who haven't seen it, the cast play around in the background while the band plays in the music video.
<U><I>Featurette: Friends Goes To London.</U></I> Cast and crew talk (on set) talk about the London episode with clips of the show. Full screen and goes for just over 6 minutes.
<I><U>Featurette: Friends On Location In London.</U></I> Just a little over 2 minutes of the various cast and special guests talking about the episode. Shown in full screen.
<U><I>DVD ROM content</U></I>. Nothing special, but the disc takes you to various web related links.
<B>Overall......</b>
I'm sure there's no need to give a run down on the series of Friends as every man and his dog must have heard of it by now.
The popularity of Friends has been amazing and so has the size of the pay packets of the stars.
Friends has never really done much for me personally and I've only watched it because the wife had it on (and that's the story I'm sticking to! Heh, heh...).
Having said that, I seem to remember every one of these episodes and had no problem remembering what stage of the series they were at. Hmmm.... The wife had it on I tell you! :-)
Every one of these episodes are real gems and have a very good laugh factor. These are the top 10 episodes that were voted for by fans in the USA (12 actually as you get a couple of 2 parters listed as 1 episode ).
I like the idea of this 2 disc "Best of" DVD set as it's a way cheaper option than buying every single DVD in the series for the not so serious fans and it has plenty of the best episodes to give you a good "Friends fix".
For what it's worth, the packaging looks good on both DVD's as well as the box.
The audio/visual quality is good enough to keep fans happy and although the extra features aren't going to give you a lot more time in front of the TV, they are still worth a look and I'm sure fans of the show will enjoy them.
This is highly recommended for those who don't have the single Friends DVD's that have been released and also for those people who want a handy collection of the best 12..errr...10 episodes of friends.
Thanks for reading…