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New York can be a merciless city, with a tide of crime that
could overwhelm it at any time. Against this stand good men
and women whose job it is to uphold the rule of law and order...
Law
and Order, created by Dick Wolf, has the distinction of
being one of Americas most successful and longest running
police dramas. Originally shown on NBC from 1990 to 2007 the
show has clocked up an impressive seventeen seasons. The number
of awards and nominations are too numerous to detail here,
suffice to say that the show is not only successful but greatly
admired.
The
show became quite a franchise spawning spin-offs in Law
and Order: Special Victims Unit (1999), Law and Order:
Criminal Intent (2001) and Law and Order: Trial by
Jury (2005), add to this the computer games and the book
tie-ins and somebody's making the big bucks.
This
box set contains all twenty-three episodes from nineteen ninety-four's
fifth season, spread over six discs. The season is presented
in what appears to be 4:3 which is odd as the show was shot
in widescreen anamorphic from this season, so best to check
the box before you buy as it might just be a problem with
the review copies.
The
show's success comes from the fusion between a cop show and
a court room drama. This was no error; even the title sequence
is split into two parts, with their own principle actors.
"Law" covers the cop side of things and stars Jerry
Orbach who plays Detective Lennie Briscoe aided and abetted
by Chris Noth as Detective Mike Logan and S. Epatha Merkerson
as Lt Anita Van Buren.
"Order"
stars Sam Waterston as A.D.A. Jack McCoy, Jill Hennessy, as
A.D.A. Claire Kincaid and Steven Hill as their boss D.A. Adam
Schiff. Of course there is one actor who has appeared in each
episode, who we never see, Steven Zirnkilton, who narrates
the monologue at the beginning of each episode.
The
show intertwines the two disparate crime series to make a
much greater whole, as we see how the two arms of the law
work together. One of the strengths of the show is its desire
to tackle difficult subjects, sometimes in the case of Family
Values and Bad Faith, even stories based on true
cases and just like real life, sometimes the bad guy gets
away with it. Though the format usually sticks to setting
up the case and the police investigation during the first
half, moving on to the trial or pre-trial during the second
half, the excellent writing and acting stops this from feeling
stale.
Sad to say the box-set comes with nothing in the way of extras,
which is almost unforgivable for a show with this amount of
success.
Still
if you're a fan you're going to lap this set up and, even
if you've not seen the show, any fan of police dramas will
find something of interest.
Charles
Packer
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£44.99
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£33.99
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£44.99
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£36.95
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£37.97
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All prices correct at time of going to press.
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