DVD Release Date: October 7, 2008 (HBO Video)
Color/1996-1997
MSRP: $29.98
Number of Discs: 4
Number of Episodes: 24
Running Time: 535 minutes
Languages, Subtitles, Closed Captioning: English; English, Spanish, and French subtitles; Closed-Captioned.
Special Features: None
Introduction:
WHASSUP! Martin Lawrence has returned once more for The Complete Fifth Season of Martin. This is the final season, where it all comes to an end, but the series isn’t just going away silently, at least not if comedian and star Martin Lawrence has his way. Will Martin and Gina live happily ever after? Will they be able to continue handling all of Martin’s friends and neighbors? Find out in this four-disc DVD set!
Memorable Episodes / Notable Guest Stars:
Gina could be pregnant and asks Martin to keep it a secret in “Is You Or Is You Ain’t,” but is she pregnant, and in any event, will he keep it a secret? Martin and Gina are having marital trouble in “Sophomore Jinx,” and those that are trying to help are only making matters worse. Martin and Gina learn that home ownership can be scary--literally--in the Halloween episode “Boo’s In the House.”
Martin saves a life and could be (unwittingly) selling Gina just like a pimp would in “The Life You Save May Make You Rich.” Cole gets out of his Mom’s house and into an apartment in “Come On Over to My Place,” but how nice is the apartment? In “Scrooge,” we get to hear the classic tale of Christmas, Martin style. In “You Play Too Much,” Martin helps a burglar rob an apartment--his own.
Martin is dealing with a crazy woman that wants him, and Pam and Cole are sleeping together in the two-part episode “Going Overboard.” In “I, Martin, Take Thee Pam?,” Martin realizes that he may not be married to Gina after all, but instead may be married to Pam.
Martin has a plan to catch a fugitive (oh, and get the $100,000 reward that goes along with it) in “Stake-Out.” Pam’s identical cousin, Tammy (also played by Tichina Arnold) escapes from a mental hospital in “One Flew Over the Hoochie’s Nest” and comes to stay with Pam--and then they get confused for one another. Gina and Martin each have a problem that they can’t seem to break to one another--both have job opportunities in LA--in the series finale, “California, Here We Come.”
Packaging:
The packaging is basically identical to the previous sets. We have a cover with Martin and Gina on it, with a purple background, and inside the box, there is a foldover case. On the back of the foldover case is a disc by disc breakdown of the episodes, and additional episode information can be found behind the discs inside the case. There are different cast photos on each disc. Disc 1 contains episodes 1-6, Disc 2 contains episodes 7-12, Disc 3 contains episodes 13-18, and Disc 4 contains episodes 19-24.
Menu Design and Navigation:
The menus have changed very little from the previous season, if at all. The main menu has the theme song playing with videos from the episodes. The only options on the main menu are Episode Index and Language Selection. Additionally, the Episode Index menu has a Play All option. Language Selection merely allows you to turn on the subtitles (which are in English, Spanish, and French). Chapters are placed appropriately throughout each episode.
Video and Audio Quality:
If you are trying to find something to complain about with this set, then don’t go looking for that thing to complain about in the video and audio quality, because it won’t be incredibly easy to find problems there. That isn’t to say that everything is perfect, as the episodes look a slight bit dated, but aging seems to be the only issue at stake. The audio levels are low, but I’ve seen much worse audio level problems than I saw on these DVDs. Every episode is closed-captioned, and there are also subtitles in English, Spanish, and French.
The episodes appear to be unedited, with most running at 22:15, but there are a few exceptions to that rule. The episode “Boo’s in the House” runs at 21:43 and “Snow White” run at 21:59. Hopefully, these were just “shorter than normal” episodes, as nothing appears to truly be missing.
Special Features:
The set doesn’t contain any special features at all, which is unfortunate, but then again, at least the episodes are all intact. I really do think that outtakes would be hilarious to see for this show.
Final Comments:
Well, the series goes out, but it goes out without Gina, which as some may remember, Tisha Campbell-Martin left the series about halfway through the season because of sexual harassment charges against Martin Lawrence. The series was probably going to be canceled anyway, but removing a main character like that was probably the final blow to the series. Still, she does return at the end of the season, although she is not shown in any of the scenes together with Martin Lawrence. Though fans won’t regard this as the best season of the series, they’ll still enjoy the episodes for sure, as there are many great laughs, just not a complete cast. It is too bad that special features were neglected for this set. Well, the only thing left to do is to get “the man’ on DVD!
