Info:
DVD Release Date: May 10, 2005 (Rhino Home Video)
B&W
MSRP: $39.95
Number of Discs: 3
Number of Episodes: 38
Running Time: 950 minutes
Total Run Time of Special Features: N/A
Languages, Subtitles, Closed Captioning: English (no
subtitles or closed-captioning)
Special Features: None
Introduction:
The Martians are coming, the Martians are coming!!!
Well, actually it is just one Martian, and a friendly
one at that... it's Uncle Martin from the hit 1960s
sitcom, My Favorite Martian! The Complete Second
Season of My Favorite Martian presents all 38 episodes
of this somewhat underappreciated sitcom (I admit, I
never really watched it myself until I received this
set) in a collection that is full of laughs and
Martian mishaps.
If you've never seen the show--and as I said, even I
fall into this category--it is basically one of the
many "supernatural" sitcoms of the 1960s. Tim O'Hara
(played by Bill Bixby) is a reporter that accidentally
stumbles upon a Martian (played by Ray Walston), and
as any person that stumbles upon something unnatural
(at least in the sitcom world), he becomes friends
with the Martian and allows him to live with him. Tim
tells everybody that the Martian is his "Uncle
Martin" and is constantly trying to cover up for the
problems that
Martin's supernatural powers cause. My Favorite
Martian debuted in
1963, and it was the inspiration for later shows such
as Bewitched and
I Dream of Jeannie.
Memorable Episodes:
In the second season, we discover that Martin's memory
machine that he uses to store memories is not ready
for humans in "The Memory Pill." Martin is able to
intercept phone calls after a mishap with a telephone
wire in "Dial M For Martin." Martin accidentally
creates another Mrs. Brown in "Double Trouble." Martin
has to prove that he really IS an O'Hara (which he
isn't) in "How Are Things in Glocca Martin?" Martin
becomes a magnet--literally--in "The Magnetic
Personality and Who Needs It." Martin is able to get
in touch with his inner child--again, literally--in
"Uncle Baby." Tim and Martin get to go back in time in
"Time Out for Martin."
Packaging:
It appears that Rhino has used the same type of
packaging and artwork that they used for The Complete
First Season of My Favorite Martin. There is one
difference though--this time, they gave the picture of
Mars on the cover, an orange/red color, as opposed to
the green that they used for the first season. I'd
imagine that when/if the third season is released, a
different third color would likely be used, but this
color of Mars on this set will likely please the folks
at NASA because it is much more accurate than the
phony green that was presented on the first season
set! I was very satisfied with the packaging that was
used on this set. Basically, a typical snap-case is
used, though the discs are arranged in a way where you
don't have to remove one disc to get another disc out.
There are three discs included in this set. Discs One
and Two are both two-sided and each side of each disc
contains exactly eight episodes.
Disc Three is a one-sided disc and six episodes. I'm
not a huge fan of two-sided discs when companies put
about three episodes on each side, but the way that
this set was handled was pretty good, and the
two-sided discs are probably better than five
one-sided discs. A detailed episode booklet would have
been a nice feature for this set, but there isn't one.
Instead, just an insert is included that has the
episode titles listed by disc. The insert lists the
episodes and dates that they originally aired, and the
episodes are on the disc in that order (although I
should point out that I believe there is a typo on one
of the dates, it claims that "A Martian's Senate in
Mrs. B's Flat" aired on May 20, 1965 while simple
logic dictates that it most likely aired May 30,
1965).
Menu Design and Navigation:
Rhino seems to have similar menus on many of their
sets, and this one is no exception. The menu starts
off with the My Favorite Martian theme song playing in
the background, and then the options of Play All and
Episode Selection come up. Both of those are pretty
much self-explanatory. The Episode Selection menu
simply allows you to choose the episode that you want.
There is a Scene Selection menu for each episode, but
it is hidden, almost like an Easter Egg! I don't know
why they would choose to do the Scene Selection menu
like this, but they did. Basically, if you want to get
to the Scene Selection menu, once you have chosen to
play the episode, you have to hit the Menu button. An
easier way to get to a specific scene though would be
to use the Next/Skip button on your DVD remote,
however, as there are chapters at all appropriate
places.
Video and Audio Quality:
There is good news and bad news about the set. First,
the good news: Rhino has attempted to put together a
set with uncut episodes. Now the bad news: of the 38
episodes on the set, four of the episodes are NOT
uncut. Rhino makes that very clear on the packaging
and claims that they searched "extensively" to find
the original masters, although one poster at the
message boards on this very website reports that at
least one of these episodes has been released by
Columbia House unedited. Exactly what is meant by
edited and unedited with this set, however, may not be
too troubling for some (after all, 34 episodes are
UNEDITED). The unedited episodes tend to run about 25
minutes, while the edited episodes run 23 minutes.
That is somewhat good news, because the more recent
syndicated standard has been about 21 minutes and 30
seconds, which means that at least you are getting
about a minute and 30 seconds more than what you'd get
these days on the edited episodes. Even further, the
edited episodes are very clearly time-compressed,
which means that there is less cut material than there
could be. I even took the time to calculate the
compression of the opening credits, and found that the
edited versions had credits that ran 10% faster than
the unedited episodes, so if the entire episode is
running 10% faster, than maybe there isn't much
missing at all. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to
justify the release of edited episodes on DVD, but I'm
only saying that the edited episodes on this set
aren't missing as much as they could potentially be
missing. The edited episodes are "Dreaming Can Make It
So," "Never Trust a Naked Martian," "Nothing But The
Truth," and "Extra! Extra! Sensory Perception!"
Update (05/21/05): None of the episodes are edited. There is no missing footage.
Four or five episodes are time-compressed prints from the 1984-94 syndication run. For more
information, click here.
The quality of the video on this set is fairly
acceptable for a show that is 40 years old. Actually,
I thought it was very good considering the age of the
show. There is a little bit of grain in the video, but
it isn't terrible. The audio is presented in mono and
seems to be a little low, but there really aren't any
major issues with the audio. The press release for
this set says that the episodes are restored, but
let’s face it; everything that comes onto DVD has that
word "restored." It really isn't much more than a word
to make the set more appealing to consumers. However,
regardless of how often the word "restored" is used,
just take it from me--this set looks and sounds fairly
good for a 40 year old show. There is bad news for the
hearing impaired with this set--this set is not
closed-captioned.
Special Features:
Once again, another season of this show has been
released without special features. It is disappointing
that Rhino couldn't find something, perhaps old
promotional material for the show at the very least,
to include on this set. With only one more season of
the show remaining unreleased on DVD, it is doubtful
that the next release (when and if it happens) will
include special features.
Final Comments:
I am honestly glad to be reviewing this set, because I
never really watched the show before and never knew
how good it was. It reminds me very much of Bewitched
and I Dream of Jeannie. Although I still must say that
I prefer Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie over this
show, it is important to note that this show began its
run before those shows and was almost definitely an
inspiration for those shows. So, if you are a huge fan
of My Favorite Martian or any of the supernatural
shows from the 60s, then this set is for you!
Final Numbers (out of 5 stars):
Video Quality: 4.5/5
Audio Quality: 4/5
Special Features: N/A
Menu Navigation/Design: 4/5
Overall: 4.5/5
-- Reviewed by skees53 on 5/4/2005.
To order the DVD click below and help support SitcomsOnline.com:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00094ARB4/ref=nosim/happydaysonline4-20
For much more information on My Favorite Martian, visit the excellent website
A TV Classic: My Favorite Martian
