DVD Release Date: January 25, 2005 (Columbia Tri-star Home Entertainment)
Color
MSRP: $29.95
Number of Discs: 3
Number of Episodes: 22
Running Time: 510 minutes
Total Run Time of Special Features: Approximately 15
minutes
Languages, Subtitles, Closed Captioning: English,
Closed Captioned
Special Features: Hidden Easter Eggs (10); Bonus
Previews
Introduction:
The Bundy family is back for yet another season on
DVD! After a wait of nearly one year, the Complete
Third Season of Married... With Children is finally
available! The third season is the season where the
show really began to become the show as most of us
remember it best--rude, crude and dysfunctional. Al's
identity as a failure in life, although alluded to in
the first two seasons, became very clear in the third
season. Peg's utter laziness was showcased widely in
the third season. Bud's sexual desires (and failures)
are first encountered in the third season. And
finally, Kelly somehow becomes even more of a ditz
than ever before in the third season.
Memorable Episodes / Notable Guest Stars:
In the third season, we get to see the family (as well
as Steve and Marcy) go on an uneventful camping trip
in "The Camping Show." Al and Steve get to go on a
shopping adventure to buy Peggy her favorite
hard-to-find bra for her birthday in "Her Cups Runneth
Over." Al takes the family out to a nice dinner for
probably the first time ever in "Eatin' Out." Peggy
campaigns to become Reunion Queen in the
"Married...With Queen" two-part episode. Al has to
make Peggy feel sexy after a Peeping Tom decides to
peek at every woman in the neighborhood except for
Peggy in "Here's Lookin' at You, Kid."
The third season may also be remembered as the season
of controversy.
It was in this season that a woman from Michigan was
determined to get the show canceled after seeing it on
television and being concerned about the lack of
family values demonstrated in the show. As a result,
the controversy started by this woman gave the show
publicity (something that it had lacked in the first
two seasons) and sent the show from being an obscure
show on an obscure network to a well-known show on a
now well-known network. As a result, the "I'll See You
in Court" episode, an episode where Al and Peggy go to
a motel only to find video tapes of Steve and Marcy
having sex, never aired on Fox... but that isn't a
problem with this DVD set! This episode has aired
several times in countries other than the United
States, but within the United States, the only place
where you could see this episode is on FX and on one
of the previous "Most Outrageous Episodes" DVD
collections of the show that was released. But there
is no need to rely on either of those sources--it is
available right here, with all of the other third
season episodes!
Packaging:
The packaging is almost identical to the previous
sets. Basically, there is a four panel digipak inside
of a cardboard box. The first panel contains a place
to put the episode guide for the season (which,
although not too descriptive, is more than adequate)
and the remaining three panels hold each of the three
discs. The digipak is designed (at least as far as I
can tell) to look like a wall with tacky blue
wallpaper, and there are several "pictures" (depicting
events from the third season) hanging on the wall.
Also, the discs are arranged to look like pictures
that are hanging on the wall. As mentioned previously,
the set contains three discs. Unlike in the past two
season sets, the episodes have been arranged in a much
more practical manner this time. Discs One and Two
contain seven episodes each; Disc Three contains eight
episodes. The Easter Eggs are found all throughout the
set, and the bonus previews (although I don't think
you'll be buying this set just for the bonus previews)
are on Disc One.
Menu Design and Navigation:
As soon as you place the disc in the DVD player, you
will find a menu that gives you the options of Play
All Episodes and Episode Selections. Additionally,
Disc One contains options for Easter Eggs (a menu that
gives you information about them) and Previews. The
menus are silent menus and aren't what anybody would
call "entertaining" or "creative," but they are very
practical and simple to navigate.
Whenever you select the Episode Selections option,
another menu comes up where you can select the
episode. The title of each episode as well as a
screenshot is provided for each episode. Basically,
this is almost exactly like every other Columbia
Tri-star release.
Video and Audio Quality:
Once you have selected an episode (or have selected
play all), you may be in for a bit of a surprise. You
will notice that the very memorable theme song "Love
and Marriage" is missing! In place of the real theme
song, you will hear some instrumental theme song that
(to me) seems like a bizarre cross between the "Love
and Marriage" song and the Mister Ed theme song.
(Opening Theme on DVD /
Closing Theme on DVD)
Apparently, Columbia Tri-star was having difficulty
with royalties concerning the real theme song, and had
to change the theme song for this release. While the
new theme song is a little different and is actually
amusing to some extent, it is still a shame that the
"Love and Marriage" song is nowhere to be found on
this set. Hopefully though, something will be worked
out regarding the royalties and the theme song will
return for future releases. But for now, I think that
most fans will find the theme song in this set
adequate. After all, what is more important -- having
the correct theme song or having the episodes
released? Additionally, the episodes are uncut (as
they should be), with each episode running
approximately 23 minutes and 30 seconds.
There seem to be dramatic improvements concerning
audio and video quality in this set. In the first two
seasons, the audio sound was a bit low and the video
quality was about the same as a VHS tape. For the
third season, however, the video quality is about on
the same level as syndicated episodes, which is about
the best you can get on DVD. The audio quality is
still a little lower than it probably should be, but
it is still much improved from the past sets. The
audio is presented in stereo.
Special Features:
The good news about this DVD set is that there are
some special features included. The bad news is that
the special features really aren't all that great.
Obviously, some Previews for other Columbia Tri-star
releases are included in this set. That isn't an
exciting special feature, but they are there
regardless.
The real special features that are included in this
set are the Easter Eggs. Basically, throughout the
set, there are ten hidden Easter Eggs that you have to
find. For those that have no clue what an Easter Egg
is, an Easter Egg is basically a hidden option on a
DVD that isn't advertised on the menu screens, but you
must instead find on your own.
Usually, Easter Eggs are not announced as special
features, but obviously they are in this set.
Throughout each and every menu in the set (with the
exception of the Previews menu), there is one hidden
Easter Egg that you must find using the arrow keys on
your DVD remote.
They are not too hard to find... in fact, I found
every single one of them with just a quick scan
through each disc. Once you find the Easter Egg, you
will find video clips that last about a minute (give
or take about 30 seconds) that were deleted scenes
from the Married...With Children reunion that aired on
Fox a few years ago.
The Easter Eggs may sound nice, but it seems that
Columbia Tri-star keeps milking this reunion special
for more than it is worth. The Complete First Season
set included the full program as it aired on Fox, and
The Complete Second Season contained Easter Eggs
exactly like the ones that are in this set. Although
the same clips from the reunion special are not shown
in more than one set, it would be much better to try
unique special features. Why not do some fresh cast
interviews? How about some commentaries on the
episodes? Basically, every set has had special
features from (and only from) the reunion special. It
is time to move on to some different special features
beyond this.
Final Comments:
So, although the special features are not so great and
the original theme song is missing, this set is still
very much worth the money. After all, the most
important thing (the episodes) are included, and the
quality (as in audio/video quality, as well as what
the episodes are about) of the episodes is excellent
in my opinion. So simply put, just buy this set... and
then sit down and watch it while you enjoy some
delicious Tang wipes and toaster leavings.
Final Numbers (out of 5 stars):
Video Quality: 4.5/5
Audio Quality: 4.5/5
Special Features: 3/5
Menu Design/Navigation: 5/5
Overall: 4/5
-- Reviewed by skees53 on 01/04/2005.
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