Release Date: November 14, 2006 (Anchor Bay Home Entertainment)
Color/2000-01
MSRP: $39.98
Number of Discs: 4
Number of Episodes: 20
Running Time: 462 Minutes
Total Run Time of Special Features: 23 minutes, 29
seconds.
Audio: English
Closed Captioned
Special Features:
* 3rd Rock: Six Seasons of Memories
* Final Episode Alternate Ending
* Alternate Show Ending Introduction Part 1
* Alternate Show Ending Introduction Part 2
* Episode Previews
* 3rd Rock from the Sun: A Guide to Living on Earth:
Booklet Volume 6
Introduction:
After six brilliant seasons, over 30 Emmy nominations,
and more laughs than any superior alien race can
possible tabulate, the Solomon’s mission ends here:
It was the year in which Tommy goes to college, Sally
becomes a weather girl, Harry bothers the Amish,
Mary’s rich sister proposes, Dick buys a timeshare,
evil nemesis Dr. Liam Neesam returns, and the Big
Giant Head issues a shocking final order. There’s
love and sex, psychics and magicians, power brunches
and pumping gas, self-help books and self-defense
classes, a time/space portal in the closet, and the
hour-long series finale that finishes their time on
Earth forever. Join John Lithgow, Kristen Johnson,
French Stewart, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Jane Curtin,
Simbi Khali, Elmarie Wendel, and Wayne Knight along
with such guest stars as Megan Mullaly, John Cleese,
Richard Belzer, Darrell Hammond, Tracy Morgan, Ana
Gasteyer, and Elvis Costello for these 20 final
episodes of the series that legions of humans will
forever hail as the most hilarious sci-fi sitcom in
the history of the universe.
Memorable Episodes / Notable Guest Stars:
Well, this is it -- the final season. All the insanity
of the five-and-a-half-year run wraps up this season.
The season premiere, “Les Liaisons Dickgereuses,” sees
Mary’s spoiled rich sister Renata (Megan Mullaly)
arrive in Rutherford. Dick tries to help Mary get one
over on her once and for all, but things don’t go
according to plan. In the next episode, “Fear and
Loathing in Rutherford,” Tommy tries to reconcile with
Alissa (Larisa Oleynik), some stuff with a beer tap
occurs, something, and it ends with everyone thinking
they’ve gone to elope. In “InDickscretion” (which
sounds similar to something you should see a doctor
for…), Mary and Dick double-date with Don and Sally
only to find Don and Mary attracted to each other
(Wow…). Harry and Tommy take the road, meanwhile
(take the road where?)
Proving that I may very well name off every episode
this season, in the two-parter “Dick’ll Take
Manhattan,” Dick, Sally, and Harry get bored (story of
life…) and travel to a parallel universe, where
everyone is happy except Dick, Richard Belzer, Ana
Gasteyer, Tracy Morgan, and Darrell Hammond all
guest-star as themselves.
Now that I’ve summarized the entire first disc, I’ll
try to be a bit more selective, at least until the
finale -- I’ve yet to have a review go more than 6
pages, I’m not about to start now!. In “Red, White &
Dick” (Disc 3, Episode 3), the gang sing “The
Star-Spangled Banner” at a football game, and become
fascinated with all things American. Dick learns that
he’s Canadian, and goes off to get his citizenship.
Moving to disc 3 now -- In “A Dick Replacement” (Gotta
love the late 90s/early 00s), a psychic tells Dick he
won’t be around too long, so Dick decides to find Mary
a new lover. Harry and Sally are attempting to kill
the psychic because she knows they’re aliens and the
late Charles Rocket (best known for dropping an f-bomb
on live TV on SNL in the 80s) guests as Gary Hemmings.
Two guests to look for in “Dick’s Arc” (Disc 3,
Episode 2): Ever Carradine (“Commander-in-Chief”)
guests as Cheryl, while game show host Pat Finn guests
as Chaz. In the episode, Mary suggests she and Dick
spend time apart, while Sally becomes the new weather
girl at the local TV station. Pat’s character would
recur into the next episode, “You Don’t Know Dick.”
In “Glengarry Glen Dick” (they were running out of
Dick titles by then…), Dick and Don each buy half of a
timeshare; taking Mary and Sally on vacation there.
Meanwhile, Harry becomes afraid he’s shrinking after
Tommy officially becomes taller than him. Boy Meets
World fans pay attention in “Dick Soup for the Soul”
Will Friedel (Eric) guests as Stan. The episode
itself is quite good, as Dick delights in a book
explaining how to be truly happy then Mary kicks him
out of her house. Sally goes to Tommy’s college to
try to help him out.
Finally, disc 4, which is 2 episodes over 2 parts each
(4 total episodes). In “Mary Loves Scoochie.” Sally
and Harry search for another alien team, but bump into
an Amish family and are convinced they’re aliens since
they look so weird. Dick learns Mary has a secret
admirer, and pretends to be it. In part 2 -- we find
out just who…or what…the admirer really is.
Finally, there’s the final two-part episode. The DVD
divides the episode into two parts, but I’ll get into
that in the runtimes section. Mary sees Dick change
Liam into a monkey, forcing Dick to reveal his true
identity to her. Big Giant Head excuse me THE
Big Giant Head finds out and informs them their
mission is over. Sally helps Don realize what it
means to be a police officer, while Dick leaves Mary
forever. The ending scene features the gang singing
their national anthem, then disappearing back to their
home planet.
Kind of sad, isn’t it? Well, yeah. That’s why, in
syndication, an additional bit was tacked onto the end
Dick returns, in the nude no less, and abducts Mary
(who had just had her memory erased, and thus was VERY
confused).
The End. DVD version is NBC, but the syndication
ending is included in special features.
Anyway…
Packaging:
This should be old-hat. I’m going to keep this
concise, detailed, yet short--outer box, inner
digipak. Front cover of outer box is the Solomon
family and Mary sitting on the root (though Mary and
Dick are actually sitting in the window). The Season
6 circle is in a pink font. Rear cover features the
same five just standing around in the bottom left,
with a pink planetary ring around them. Digipak
features a panel on the outside with each cast member.
Dick’s swallowed a pink ball, while having a blue one
midair and an orange in his hand. Sally has command of
a pink boa, Harry has on a fur coat and is attempting
to think, Tommy is in a suit, while Mary is just kind
of waving. Each disc features the same cast photo as
before, in the order Dick, Harry, Sally, and Mary on
1-4 respectively, in front of a light blue star field.
Inside the left sleeve is the final edition of the
Guide to Living on Earth booklet. Inside the final
booklet are a guide to movies, Good and Bad about
Earth, Things Each Person is Taking Back. Earth Humor
Explained, a list of Funny People, and the set’s
episode information. First five episodes are on
disc 1, 6 through 10 are on disc 2; 11-16 are on disc
3, while the final two two-parters (17-20) are on disc
4.
Menu Design and Navigation:
One thing I love about this season is the return to
the original, classic, theme. I bring that up here
as it’s the one thing really worth mentioning season
five used the…other…theme, so that menu used it as
well. Otherwise, these are the same menus used for
most of the set. Hopefully you either know the drill.
3rd Rock logo in the top left, spinning Earth below
it. Other planets rotate and bounce around. Episodes
and Play All text, and on Disc 4 Extras, appear to the
right of Earth. Episodes feature the Jupiter-like
planet still at the top, with the episode titles
listed below. Each episode’s menu features the title
at the top, followed by a synopsis, a still image in
the bottom left, the options in the bottom-center
(including the Preview option), and Saturn in the
bottom-right. Extras feature the options in the
middle of a field of various planets, none of which
are identifiable (IE: All generic).
Video and Audio Quality:
I can’t especially say anything about the video or
audio that I or Todd haven’t already said about it
in the last two years. It’s nice, not amazing, but
nice. There’s nothing wrong with the audio, it’s held
up well for a standard-definition show filmed
five-to-six years ago. The video jitters just a
little bit, but it’s honestly more an issue with the
DVD player at the moment -- it’s a bit older, and
doesn’t handle interlacing well. Audio’s a
perfectly fine 2-channel setup there are no muffled
spots, everything is well balanced. It’s good enough.
There is only 1 chapter stop, after the
teaser/opening credits.
Runtimes:
Disc 1:
Les Liaisons Dickgereuses: 21:38
Fear and Loathing in Rutherford: 21:39
InDickscretion: 21:38
Dick’ll Take Manhattan: 21:38
Dick’ll Take Manhattan (II): 21:39
Disc 2:
Why Dickie Can’t Teach: 21:39
B.D.O.C: 21:39
Red, White & Dick: 21:38
Dick Digs: 21:39
There’s No Business Like Dick Business: 21:36
Disc 3:
A Dick Replacement: 21:38
Dick’s Ark: 21:38
You Don’t Know Dick: 21:39
My Mother, My Dick: 21:37
Glengarry Glen Dick: 21:38
Dick Soup for the Soul: 21:38
Disc 4:
Mary Loves Scoochie Part I: 21:37
Mary Loves Scoochie Part II: 21:38
The Thing That Wouldn’t Die (I): 21:38
The Thing That Wouldn’t Die (II): 21:36
Special Features:
Episode Previews: 30 second episode previews. 0:30
x 20 episodes = 10:00
3rd Rock: Six Seasons of Memories (10:37): The
consensus is the 3-D episode is the favorite, but a
lot of others they all really like. This is just the
cast reflecting on which episodes they liked, memories
of the show, etc.
Final Episode Alternate Ending (1:52): Now THIS is
the ending I like. They come back and get Mary
anyway. Doesn’t make sense after they wipe her
memory, but I still like it better anyway.
Alternate Show Ending Introductions (0:30 each): These
aired with the show the first time the finale aired in
syndication, to introduce the new ending. 1:00 total
Total Runtime of Special Features: 23:29.
Final Comments:
Well, that’s that--six seasons of one of the funniest
sitcoms, in my opinion, of the 1990s all are now
available on DVD. I’m kind of disappointed the number
of special features continued to drop over the course
of the releases, to the point of marginalization by
the end. Still, it’s an amazingly funny show, and
there’s no reason to not pick up the sets (I’m sorry;
I just don’t see Anchor Bay re-releasing the initial
seasons). STRONGLY RECOMMENDED.
