|
Eric Forman has the unpleasant experience of growing up in
seventies Wisconsin. It is a time of bad music, bad hairstyles
and bad clothes, it was the decade that style and taste took
a holiday. Living with his parents Red and Kitty, and a collection
of stereotypical friends, Kelso, an idiot, Fez, a foreign
exchange student, and his off/on girlfriend Donna, can Eric
survive his parents and his friends to make it to the eighties?...
I have said it before, That 70's Show isn't my cup
of tea. Whilst its sketch show format wrapped around a thin
ongoing narrative allows for a steady stream of jokes, I personally
found few very funny, though I cannot say the same for the
rest of my family. If I had to compare it to something it
would have to be Happy Days (1974-1984), another phenomenally
successful show which I sat in front of waiting to laugh.
That said, the show ran for eight year to a great deal of
critical acclaim, just proving that comedy really is a matter
of personal choice.
Season Five, has a Led Zeppelin theme in the show's
titles. My guess is that as they were a huge band in the early
seventies, especially with Led Zep IV, they are part of the
cultural zeitgeist of the time, therefore adding to the overall
ambience of the show. However, if I were to be a bit anal
(and, lets face it, anyone who uses the word zeitgeist is
generally very anal) I could point out that the tracks from
the first two albums, which appear as episode titles, were
not released before 1970. This referencing of other media
started the previous season with nods to It's a Wonderful
Life and continued through season six with a Who theme
and season seven's Rolling Stones references, to the last
season which plumped for Queen.
Going To California is a strong opening episode, which
realigns the various characters relationships. Eric is off
to California to declare his love for Donna. For the most
part, the episodes do have a tentative connection to the story,
so I Can't Quit You Babe, Heartbreaker, and
The Girl I Love are all episode which concentrate on
the characters relationships. In Misty Mountain Hop the
Foremans' help Jackie sort out her mountain cabin. At this
point you do wonder how much they had to shoehorn the scripts
to fit the titles. In some cases the show disappoints just
because of the title. The Battle of Evermore (great
song) is not the spectacular that you would wish for.
So, the show was well loved, very successful and well received
by both public and critics. The show ran for eight years (which
goes to show how much I know about humour) and was continually
being nominated for Emmy's and numerous other awards.
Even
if you're not a fan of the show it cannot be denied the acting
skills of the cast. Topher Grace (Spiderman 3) who
plays Eric is a very personable everyman, and being a passenger
in his journey through the seventies isn't all dull. Kurtwood
Smith, most recently seen in the most excellent House M.D,
plays Eric's father and has been in just about every type
of visual entertainment, though may be more recognised by
Trek fans for his various appearances, a good actor
that is always a joy to watch. Of course, the person who seems
to have had the most success is Ashton Kutcher, who starred
in The Butterfly Effect (2004). I would like to take
the prize for knowing who he was, but it was my daughter who
jumped up screaming "Oh my god, its Ashton Kutcher", what's
worse is that I thought that The Butterfly Effect was
a great film and still didn't recognise the poor man.
For a show that ran so long, the lack of any great extras
is unforgivable; you would have thought that somewhere there
is a blooper reel to satiate their fans hunger, but no. What
you do get is two short 70's flashbacks from Wilma Valderrama
and Danny Masterson with them talking about the show for a
little under ten minutes each, interspersed with scenes from
the series. Lastly is a version of Season Five condensed
down to five minutes.
So, if you don't get an over abundance of extras, what do
you get for your money? Well the box set contains the whole
of Season Five, twenty-five episodes, spread over four
discs. The picture is clean and sharp for the most part, but
still a little too much on the soft side, with a stereo audio
track and additional subtitle track for the hard of hearing.
Depending how you watch your DVD's the menu is either great
or irritating. For some reason there is no option to play
all the shows on each disc, you have to chosen one at a time.
Not a great problem in this age of remote controls, but constantly
having to pick the next episode to watch started to get on
my nerves after a while.
A great treat for fans, but if you have never seen the show
before best check it out on TV first, personally, I sat in
mild bemusement whilst the rest of the family thought the
show hilarious.
Charles
Packer
Buy
this item online
We
compare prices online so you get the cheapest
deal!
Click on the logo of the desired store below
to purchase this item.
|
|
|
£22.49
(Amazon.co.uk) |
| |
|
|
|
£22.99
(Play.com) |
| |
|
|
|
£22.99
(HMV.co.uk) |
| |
|
|
|
£22.89
(Sendit.com) |
| |
|
|
|
£23.99
(Bensons-world.co.uk) |
| |
|
|
|
£26.97
(Thehut.com) |
All prices correct at time of going to press.
|
|
