Info:
DVD Release Date: November 15, 2005 (Buena Vista Home Entertainment)
Color/2002-03
MSRP: $39.99
Number of Discs: 3
Number of Episodes: 22
Running Time: 479 minutes
Total Run Time of Special Features: approx. 195
minutes
Languages: English
Subtitles: English; Closed Captioned.
Special Features:
• J.D’s Mojo
• Stunt Casting
• Alternate Lines, a Second Opinion
• A Rare Condition
• Johnny C. Keeps Talking
• Music Stylings Featurette on Music’s role in the
show
• Scrubbed Out Exclusive Deleted Scenes
• Practice, Practice, Malpractice Hilarious Outtakes
• Secrets and Lies Behind the Scenes stories
• Six audio commentaries
Introduction:
Put on your scrubs and get ready to watch another
season of the quirky comedy Scrubs on DVD! The
critically acclaimed show from Touchstone Television
is now on DVD with the second season. Like the first
season, season two also has very good episodes, very
good special guests, and very good special features.
So, join J.D. and the gang at Sacred Heart Hospital
for some wacky fun and you just might hear J.D.
talking to himself!
The show stars Zach Braff as Dr. John Dorian, Sarah
Chalke as Dr. Elliot Reid, Donald Faison as Dr. Chris
Duncan Turk, Judy Reyes as Nurse Carla Espinosa, Ken
Jenkins as Dr. Bob Kelso, and John C. McGinley as Dr.
Perry Cox. The show also has many key supports, such
as the janitor played by Neil Flynn. Also appearing as
a recurring guest recurring meaning nearly every
episode is Christa Miller (Kate on “The Drew Carey
Show”).
Memorable Episodes / Notable Guest Stars:
Pick any episode; you’re looking at fine quality
entertainment. There is NO real clunker here. Just
put in a DVD. In lieu of the Super Mega Amazing
Hyper List of Guest Stars Plus, I’m going to do this
review’s as list in paragraph-style form. Ted Lange
(Isaac, “The Love Boat”) is in “My New Coat.” Heather
Locklear is in “My First Step” aka “The First Heather
Locklear Episode.” as well as “My Fruit Cups” aka “The
Second Heather Locklear Episode.” David Copperfield
guest stars in the next episode titled “My Lucky Day.”
Richard Kind (Spin City) is in My New Old Friend. In
“My Brother, My Keeper,” you have both Dick Van Dyke
(as Dr. Townshend) as well as D.L. Hughley as Kevin
Turk. Rick Schroder (“Silver Spoons,” “NYPD Blue”)
is in the episode His Story as well as My Karma, My
T.C.W and My Kingdom. In “My Own Private Practice
Guy,” Jay Leno guests as himself and Jay Mohr guests
as Dr. Peter Fisher.”
Packaging:
The set is a 3 disc digipak. They actually have a
fake fold on the interior cover as opposed to the
usual fold/flap that would normally have a booklet.
Front cover of the out box has the entire cast, with
J.D. putting on a rubber glove. On the back is a
“tray” with little pictures, a thermometer, notes,
etc. Inside case front cover has J.D. holding up an
X-Ray sheet of his insides over him, with rubber duck
in his stomach. On the back cover are a few
photographs: The cast in solid-white scrubs, the
janitor, and Heather Locklear. The interior has
various miscellaneous objects. Episodes 1-7 are on
disc 1, Episodes 8-15 are on disc 2, and 16-22 are on
disc 3. On disc 1 is Zach Braff, on disc 2 is Sarah
Chalke, and on disc 3 is Donald Faison.
Menu Design and Navigation:
Menus are exceptional. They’re in full motion
animation. You careen down hospital hallways up to an
x-ray light screen. On the screen, clips from the
episodes on that disc, while the LONG version of the
theme play in the background. Choosing ‘Play All’
will cause you to go down the hall way, where the
elevator will open up into a big ball of fire.
Episode selection swings you backwards, and then to
the left, and into a computer lab room. Bonus
features take you into the elevator, where each
feature is a “floor” on the elevator, with elevator
music playing in the background. Set up takes you
down the main corridor. You eventually knock over a
wheelchair, and your IV drip falls down. The label of
the IV solution bag is the menu surface for the set
up. You can choose to turn on English captions or
find out how to register your DVD set. The
commentary menu, selectable from the elevator, will
take you to a whiteboard, where the episode name and
commentators are written in dry-erase markers (you can
actually see other menus commentary options erased out
on other menus). Easily one of the best menu
systems I’ve ever seen on a DVD release, TV-DVD OR
theatrical DVD.
Video and Audio Quality:
The video is amazing, and the audio is even better.
The audio is in Dolby Digital 5.1 Super Ultra Mega
Gigantic Deluxa Mega All-Star Jumbo Yahtzee format
(Translation: Dolby Digital 5.1, folks!) I’ve seen
only very few sets with finer video, and even fewer
with better audio. It’s…perfect. The video
runtimes are consistent with NBC airings in 2002-03.
The shows that aired in 30 minute slots run roughly
21:00, the shows that aired in 35 minute slots are at
roughly 24-25, while the shows that aired in 40 minute
slots run at 28-29. I don’t know if any of the
series music was replaced due to time constraints in
getting the review out I certainly hope not.
Chapter stops are at fades to black.
Special Features:
I was originally going to have this review out several
days ago, but I ran into a problem…..Scrubs simply has
too many special features to make for convenient
review writing. But honestly, I’d rather have to
take a little extra time to detail a slew of well-done
features than get a review in a couple days earlier,
but it be a bare-bones set.
Disc 1:
(1) A Rare Condition: Behind the scenes production
featurette. The theme is sung in an acapella format.
Interviews with the ENTIRE cast and crew is done.
This feature talks about production aspects of the
show. Did you know that the building Scrubs is shot
in is actually a defunct hospital? Production
offices, cast dressing rooms, everything are all
contained within the hospital. Parts of the hospital
were redone to accommodate the show. Several entire
sections of the hospital were actually turned into the
characters apartments, other locations of the show.
Runs 14:53
(2) Johnny C Keeps Talking: Discusses the process to
audition, how he liked to be around people who are
terrified in auditions, signing the contract, and much
more. Just little anecdotes about this and that are on
this. Runs 5:28
(3) Audio Commentaries:
"My Overkill" - Show Creator Bill Lawrence, Zach
Braff, and Donald Faison: These commentaries are
hilarious, and well worth the listen. I could tell
you what they say, but why run the fun? 21:07
"My Case Study"- Bill Lawrence, Ken Jenkins: They
used the exterior shot of the apartment in order to
cover up having to cut a couple seconds of dialogue.
Ken once told Bill that he gets maybe 50% of the jokes
actually in the script. And much more will be told.
21:07
"My First Step" - Bill Lawrence, Donald Faison:
Various things, this was an extra-long episode, so it
runs 25:30.
Disc 2:
(1) Alternate Lines: A Second Opinion: Scenes that
were originally shot with different dialogue than what
was ultimately used in the episode. 4:36
(2) Stunt Casting: A Special Feature on the special
guests of Scrubs. 3 Groups: Pop Culture People, plus
Friends of the cast they think are funny...then
there's the 3rd group, Stunt Casting. People the
network think will bring in ratings. Dick Van Dyke,
for example. Oh, and Heather Locklear. 3:00
(3) Audio Commentaries:
My Sex Buddy: Bill Lawrence and Sarah Chalke: Yet
another commentary that has nothing to with hair.
Also roughly the 100th episode in the then-30 episode
runs of the series in which Sarah Chalke is
almost-naked. This is not necessarily a bad thing.
Runs 21:10
His Story: Bill Lawrence and John C. McGinley: At this
point, they had just had to cut something in the 4th
season of Scrubs that John had tried to get in for 4
years. Show had always been told from the J.D.
perspective, so they had someone else voice over the
show...Perry (Johnny C.). Super-long 28:07 marathon
run.
Disc 3:
Menu 1
(1) Musical Stylings: Featurette about the importance
that music plays in the Scrubs series. Pick one
theme song you wouldn't expect to heard sing at the
start of a featurette here? Got one? Good. If
you picked “The Facts of Life,” you win! The Facts of
Life theme was sung a capella - at least part of it.
Runs 7:01
(2) Secrets and Lies: Miscellaneous behind-the-scenes
stories from the show. 10:31
(3) Scrubbed Out: Deleted Scenes: You may have guessed
that this featurette is deleted scenes from season
two. *ding*. You can choose to play by episode, or
view all. 8:53 total runtime.
(4) Practice, Practice, Malpractice: Outtakes from
the show. 4:31.
Menu 2:
(1): JD's Mojo: I'm not going to sit here and
describe a special feature called J.D's Mojo. Work it
out for yourselves. 4:09
(2) Imagination Gone Wild: All about J.D.'s wild
fantasies on the show. 7:38
(3) Audio Commentary:
My T.C.W: Bill Lawrence and Judy Reyes. 21:04
And the grand total is: 195 Minutes (Give or take
about a minute)
Final Comments:
Wow. Nice DVD set. “Scrubs” is one great show I
wasn’t the largest fan of the show before, but this
has really changed my opinion of the series. This
was a genuinely nice effort by Buena Vista once again.
For the third season set, I can’t think of a
SINGLE thing to do differently. Buy this set—now!
Link’s at the bottom of the review.
Final Numbers (out of 5 stars - How our point system works)
Video Quality: 5/5
Audio Quality: 5/5
Special Features: 5/5
Menu Navigation/Design: 5/5
Overall: 5/5
-- Reviewed by Seth Thrasher on 11/14/05
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