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THE EPITAPH VOL. 56 - GIANT-SIZED MOSTLY COMPLETE SEASONS TV EDITION!
MELROSE PLACE: THE COMPLETE SERIES (1992-1999) - DEXTER: THE COMPLETE SERIES (2006-2013) + DEXTER: NEW BLOOD (2022) - THE TWILIGHT ZONE: THE COMPLETE SERIES (2017-2020) - STAR TREK: PICARD - SEASON TWO (2022) - AQUA TEEN HUNGER FORCE: THE BAFFLER MEAL COMPLETE COLLECTION - THE WALKING DEAD: WORLD BEYOND - FINAL SEASON (2022)
MELROSE PLACE: THE COMPLETE SERIES (1992-1999) 54 -Disc DVD Set
Label: Paramount Home Entertainment/CBS DVD
Region Code: 1
Rating: Unrated
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 160 Hours Minutes
Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: SD Fullscreen (1.33:1)
Cast: Thomas Calabro, Josie Bissett, Andrew Shue, Heather Locklear
Melrose Place was another 90's Aaron Spelling produced vapid prime time soap opera melodramas (90210 was another) that offered scandalous peeks inside the lives of young adults, this time focused on a group of people living in an apartment complex in L.A.. I used to watch it with my girlfriend during the first season run and hated it, probably because it meant I had to miss out on something I wanted to watch, and the melodrama was so slick, the characters were annoying. I'm not a fan of prime time soaps, watching them reminded me of when I was a kid in the early 80's my mom would ground me when I was bad, and as punishment she would make me sit on the couch with her and watch her soaps; stuff like The Young & the Restless, Days of Our Lives and Guiding Light. I probably dislike this show so much because it brought back those traumatic memories of binge-watching soap operas on the sofa with mom, hahaha. One thing I will say, at least Melrose Place looked pretty sharp for it's era, well produced with money behind it, plenty of attractive people, but garbage all the same. This repackage of the complete series, same sacns as previous edition, includes all 226 episodes from seven seasons in 4:3 standard-definition on a 54-disc set archival special features that will probably please anyone who actually wants to revisit the series.
DEXTER: THE COMPLETE SERIES (2006-2013) + DEXTER: NEW BLOOD (2022) 28-Disc Blu-ray Set
Label: Paramount Home Entertainment/CBS Home Entertainment
Region Code: Unrated
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 93 Hours 43 Minutes
Audio: English Dolby TrueHD 2.0 and 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1)
Cast: Michael C. Hall, Jennifer Carpenter, Jack Alcott.
Julia Jones, Alano Miller, Johnny Sequoyah, Clancy Brown
I am a huge fan of the bulk of the original run of Dexter, the series about a Miami cop who moonlights as a serial killer who specializes in eliminating the criminals who got away. It was a controversial idea for a series and it was wildly popular, Sadly the series sort of went out with the eighth season - not triumphant, but on a whimper, the way they wrapped things up was limp and has never sat right with me and many others. When they announced a new season set 10 years after Dexter went missing in the eye of Hurricane Laura I had my doubts, but Dexter: New Blood won me over fast and the intensity of the season maintained right up to the finale. Set in the fictional small town of Iron Lake, New York we catch up with Dexter (Michael C. Hall, Six Feet Under) has changed his identity and embraced his new life and stayed murder-free, he's even dating the town's sheriff! However, with the unexpected arrival of his teen son who has tracked him down and some small-town murder mayhem his Dark Passenger gets the itch to kill once more. Hall still has Dexter down to a science, the man was made for this role, and I loved having 10 more episodes to watch with him portraying the serial-killing avenger. Add to that a nemesis (Clancy Brown, Pet Sematary 2) who is a sick and twisted killer of women and I was binge-watch heaven. The ending of Dexter: New Blood might rubs a few the wrong way but I thought it was a fantastic finale that stayed true to the character and also showed the character evolve as a father of a teen and tries to do right, like Harry would have. It was a terrific course correction in my opinion. I also loved having Jennifer Carpenter (Quarantine) back in some form, kind of filling in like Harry did in the original series. The whole 106-episode run is presented here for the first time on one set, both Dexter and Dexter: New Blood presented in 1080p HD widescreen (1.78:1) with uncompressed audio, spread over 28 Blu-rays discs and loaded with over three hours of archival extras including select audio commentaries, interviews with the cast and crew, featurettes, podcasts, book excerpts, and even the first two episodes of Ray Donavan for some reason. This is easily my favorite set in this week column, and I think it would make a pretty cool Christmas gift for you're favorite TV binger.
(2017-2020) 7-Disc DVD Set
Label: CBS DVD/Paramount Pictures
Region Code: 1
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 823 Minutes
Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: Anamorphic SD Widescreen (1.78:1)
Both seasons of the CBS All Access streaming anthology series The Twilight Zone reboot that was executive produced and hosted by Jordan Peele (Nope). I don't think it reached the heights of the original series or the 80's reboot but this is a solid collection of sci-fi and otherworldly what if... tales. I grew up watching the re-runs of the original The Twilight Zone hosted by Rod Serling, as well as his follow-up anthology series The Night Gallery, in addition to the revivals of The Twilight Zone from the 80's and the 00's, the series has been in my blood for what seems like my entire life. The series left an indelible mark on my fertile young mind, infusing within me a love of the fantastic and a craving for bite-sized TV anthology storytelling that explored the weird, the strange and the unexplainable. Both seasons are hosted by Peele and have wonderful casts and a talented bunch of directors at the helm, offering up 20 tales guaranteed to capture the imagination wit dystopian forays into humanity, morality and the unexplained. All 20 episodes are spread across four DVD's housed in a clear multi-flipper tray case with a slipcover featuring the same artwork. Extras include a handful of featurettes, deleted and extended scenes, gag reel, a music video and promos. The series is also available on individual season Blu-ray editions and streaming in HD on Paramount+.
Special Features:
- Crossing Over: Living in the Twilight Zone
- Remembering Rod Serling
- Music Video from The Wunderkind Episode
- Audio Commentaries on Select Episodes
- Deleted and Extended Scenes
- Gag Reel
- Episodic Promos
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Label: CBS Home Entertainment/Paramount Pictures
Region Code: 1
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 473 Minutes
Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen (1.78:1)
Cast: Patrick Stewart, Alison Pill, Michelle Hurd, Evan Evagora, Isa Briones, Orla Brady, Santiago Cabrera, Brent Spiner, Annie Wersching
Star Trek as a whole seems to be more popular now than ever, with multiple series currently in production, and this iteration starring Patrick Stewart (Lifeforce) once more playing Jean-Luc Picard from Star Trek: The Next Generation is currently my favorite of the bunch. This seasons certainly kicks things into high gear, with Picard back in Starfleet Academy as Chancellor, and in the midst of an all out space battle in the first episode. Now I have friends who say theis season is just a greatest hits, with returning beloved characters from ST:TNG, we get as Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton), Worf (Michael Dorn), Riker (Jonathan Frakes), Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden), Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis), and Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) - it's basically another season of TNG! On top of that the big bads here are TNG nemesis all-stars - we get Q (John de Lancie) and the Borg Queen (Annie Wersching). Now does all this make for a spectacular season? For me it did, I had a friggin' blast watching it with my kid the way my dad watched TNG with me, but I'm a nostalgic sort and get all gooey on the inside revisiting these characters again, so I might be a bit blind to the nostalgia-porn aspect of it all. Sure, the fan-service is crammed and there's a lot of lazy writing based on familiarity with character and history, but what the heck, I loved it. Looking forward to season three, said to be the final hurrah for the series, which will premier in February of 2023. All 10-episodes arrive on a 4-disc DVD set with over 90-minutes of extras including multiples in-depth featurettes, gag reel and deleted scenes. The second season is also available on Blu-ray and Limited Edition Steelbook Blu-ray.
Special Features:
- Stargazer from conception to build out and features exclusive time lapse photography alongside Production Designer Dave Blass, who brought the original TNG art
department onboard, including the famed Star Trek graphic artist Michael Okuda, and design artists Doug Drexler and John Eaves to recreate the latest USS Stargazer.
- The Chateau - Led by Production Designer Dave Blass and Prop Master Jeff Lombardi, the featurette explores the transition of Picard’s chateau following its redesign
and conversion to the Dataverse in season one.
- The Trial Is Over - The intimate, behind-the-scenes look connects fans with John de Lancie who reprises his role as Q, playing a significant part in the season two story arc.
- Rebuilding the Borg Queen - The featurette showcases actress Annie Wersching as she discusses stepping into the role of the Borg Queen. After 25 years, the iconic character returns through advanced design and production techniques, which are further discussed by Designer Neville Page, Prosthetics Master Vincent Van Dyke and Make-Up
Department Head James MacKinnon.
- Picard Props - Property Master Jeff Lombardi takes fans on a tour that showcases the various props created for Star Trek" Picard - Season Two
- Picard Passages - Alongside cast and crew, fans will follow the heroes from Star Trek: Picard through time and space as they encounter old and new friends, as well
as challenges, in the latest season.
- Gag Reel
- Deleted Scenes
Label: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment
Region Code: 1
Rating: Unrated (Series), R (Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie For Theatres)
Duration: 1684 Minutes
Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 and 5.1 with Optional English Subtitles
Video: SD 4:3 (1.33:1)
Aqua Teen Hunger Force was a late-night Adult Swim spin-off of Space Ghost Coast to Coast, about an anthropomorphic trio of fast-food items with super-powers; we have the always-angry Master Shake, the more thoughtful Frylock, and the shape-shifting Meatwad, whom together together embark on 11-minute adventures. I remember my son watching the show on it's initial run and thinking it was pretty fucking stupid at the time. The trio face-off against a cast of nemesis that include moon-aliens The Mooninites, plus Dr. Weird, Dr. Wongburger, Oglethorpe and Emory, MC Pee Pants, and the Cybernetic Ghost of Christmas Past from the Future, and regular appearances from their low-life neighbor Carl Brutananadilewski. Watching it now for the first time I have a much greater appreciation for the toon, in hindsight it seems pretty ahead of it's time as and edgy, irreverent and nihilistic cartoon go, sitting comfortably alongside South park, which pre-dates it, and pre-figuring stuff like Rick & Morty. I have not made it through the complete set yet, but so far, just a few season in I having a pretty great time. This 20-disc DVD set (what, no Blu-ray?) collects the (not quite complete) 138-episodes of the initial run and it's various incarnations and retitling, as well as the first theatrical film titled Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theaters, and over 30 hours of bonus content. As this is my first time watching the series I am not aware enough to know if there's censorship in any of the episodes, but I do know that the set is not complete in that it is missing a pair of episodes. The "Shake It Like Me" episode (Season 6, Episode 2) and was previously available on ATHF Volume Six DVD Box Set, plus we still do not get the never aired "Boston" episode, Season 5, Episode 1), which was a parody of the Boston Bombing, and lead to a lawsuit, which never aired and has never has an on-disc release, and are not currently available to stream anywhere either, at least that I could find.
Label: Acorn Media International
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Cert. 15
Duration: 439 Minutes
Audio: English with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.78:1)
Cast: Aliyah Royale, Alexa Mansour, Nicolas Cantu, Silas Plaskett
Special Features:
- The Walking Dead: World Beyond Comic-Con@Home Panel
