Info:
DVD Release Date: November 14, 2006 (Buena Vista Home Entertainment)
Color/1990-1991
MSRP: $39.99
Number of Discs: 3
Number of Episodes: 26
Running Time: 615 minutes
Languages, Subtitles, Closed Captioning: English,
English subtitles; Closed-Captioned.
Special Features: Candid Conversations with Betty,
Rue, and Others
Introduction:
Get out the cheesecake and gather around the table for
the Complete Sixth Season of The Golden Girls! By now,
you know the story: four women in the prime of their
life sharing a home--and life--together in Miami.
There's Blanche (Rue McClanahan), the sex-crazed one;
Rose (Betty White), the naive one; Dorothy (Bea
Arthur), the smart one; and of course, there is Sophia
(Estelle Getty), Dorothy's mother. The Complete Sixth
Season brings all 26 episodes from the 1990-1991
season of the show (as well as a bonus feature) to a
three disc DVD set.
Memorable Episodes / Notable Guest Stars:
The season begins with the episode "Blanche Delivers,"
where Blanche's daughter (who decided to become
artificially inseminated in season 5, remember that
field trip that the girls took to the sperm bank?)
decides that she wants to have her baby in Miami. But
will Blanche's ego allow that to happen? Don Ameche
guest stars in "Once, in St. Olaf," where Rose
realizes that one of the patients in the hospital
might be closer to her than she realizes. Stan has
become a hit in the potato peeling industry and is
finally a success in "If At Last You Do Succeed..." In
"Snap Out of It," Dorothy tries to help a reclusive
man (Martin Mull) step out of his apartment, for the
first time in decades. Blanche makes a shocking
discovery about an affair that her father had in
"Wham, Bam, Thank You, Mammy." Rose thinks that her
dentist may be sexually harassing her and Dorothy is
facing a crisis of principles in "Feelings." Dorothy
thinks she has found love in somebody from her
past--Stan--in "Zborn Again." Sophia becomes Sister
Sophia in "How Do You Solve a Problem Like Sophia?"
and is very much unloved by her fellow sisters. Sonny
Bono and Lyle Waggoner guest star in "Mrs. George
Deveraux," where Blanche has a dream that her husband
is still alive.
Blanche just can't stop giving Sophia and Rose bad
love advice in "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun...Before
They Die." In "Stand by Your Man," Blanche has a new
love interest, except she doesn't realize he is in a
wheelchair until after she makes the date with him.
Phil (Dorothy's brother and Sophia's son) dies in
"Ebbtide's Revenge," but Sophia is still upset about
something from the past involving Phil and his wife.
Rose decides that her relationship with Miles can
become stronger if she and Miles go skydiving in "The
Bloom is Off the Rose." Blanche's brother announces
that he is getting married--but he is gay--in "Sisters
of the Bride." Miles has a secret, and if it gets out,
it could mean the end of his life in "Miles to Go." In
the two-parter "There Goes the Bride," Dorothy decides
to get married to a love interest of the past that is
very successful now--Stan! Dorothy decides to take
Sophia to a nursing home during the day so that they
can "look after her" in "Older and Wiser," but
arranges for the whole thing to appear to be a job as
an activities director for the nursing home. Can the
nursing home handle this wild activities director?
In "Melodrama," Blanche is determined to go further
with Mel Bushman, but does he want to go any further
with her? Blanche enjoys babysitting her
granddaughter, but she realizes that there is an added
benefit of babysitting her granddaughter--it makes men
think she is a younger woman and she is a recently
widowed mother--in "Even Grandmas Get the Blues."
Kristy McNichol guest stars in "Witness," where Miles
returns from the witness protection program, but is he
back for good? Dorothy is going to the prom (at her
age!), with the date that stood her up (played by Hal
Linden) and forced her to have to go to the prom with
Stan (we all know what happened on that date!) in
"What a Difference a Date Makes." Dorothy decides to
participate in a charity auction where a lucky bidder
can get a date with her in "Love for Sale," but of
course, the person she would want a date with the
least ends up bidding on her--any guesses as to whom?
Sophia may be going to jail in the two-parter "Never
Yell Fire in a Crowded Retirement Home." Finally, the
season ends with "Henny Penny - Straight, No Chaser,"
where the girls have to put on a production of, you
guessed it, Henny Penny. But will the show go on when
Rose realizes how the play ends?
Packaging:
For these DVD sets, they have been pretty consistent
for all of the DVD sets in regards to packaging... and
this set is no exception. The main thing that changes
for each season is the color scheme; this time, the
packaging is in a purple color scheme. Basically, the
front of the outer box has four separate shots of all
each of the girls and the back has a screenshot from
the show--nothing too complicated. Inside, we once
again have the three panel digipak, with the far left
panel containing a listing of episodes on each disc,
the middle panel containing Discs 1 and 2, and the far
right panel containing Disc 3. The discs are purple
(just like the artwork), with Dorothy and Sophia on
Disc 1, Blanche on Disc 2, and Rose on Disc 3. Disc 1
contains episodes 1-9, Disc 2 contains episodes 10-18,
and Disc 3 contains episodes 19-26 as well as the
special features.
Menu Design and Navigation:
The menus are mostly the same as in the previous sets:
simple and functional. Basically, you have the option
to Play All, go to Episode Selections, Set Up (turn on
subtitles or register your DVDs), Sneak Peeks (Disc 1
only), and to play the special feature (Disc 3 only).
There is a slight change in the way the main menu
looks. It is very minor, however, and doesn't change
the set a whole lot. Basically, instead of having all
of these options at the top and center of the main
menu, they are more scattered on the screen and lined
up diagonally. All of the menus do pretty much what
you'd expect them to do. And of course, the closing
theme music plays in the background on all of the menu
screens. There is no scene selection menu for the
episodes, but there are chapters in each episode,
placed everywhere that a commercial break would
normally be placed.
Video and Audio Quality:
The story here is, well, pretty much the same as it
has been in the past. I'm not sure what exactly the
problem is, though, but the video quality seemed to be
a slight bit worse this time. It seemed as if the
picture quality wasn't quite as sharp for this set.
However, this did not seem to be too serious of a
problem. The audio is fine for the episodes, presented
in Dolby Digital Stereo Sound. There are English
subtitles and closed-captioning for those that need or
want those.
On the previous set, I had stated that I thought every
episode was unedited, but I was wrong, and Buena Vista
managed to slip a few edited episodes in to the mix.
This time, I am just going to say that I have no idea
as to whether or not the episodes are edited or
unedited, because I honestly can not say with
certainty. Most appear to be unedited, and I
definitely saw many scenes on many episodes that I
never remember seeing on Lifetime, but that does not
necessarily mean they are all unedited. Runtimes for
the episodes are as follows:
Disc 1:
1. "Blanche Delivers" (23:27)
2. "Once, in St. Olaf" (23:58)
3. "If at Last You Do Succeed" (23:51)
4. "Snap Out of It" (23:54)
5. "Wham, Bam, Thank You, Mammy" (23:58)
6. "Feelings" (23:57)
7. "Zborn Again" (23:57)
8. "How Do You Solve A Problem Like Sophia?" (23:36)
9. "Mrs. George Devereaux" (23:57)
Disc 2:
10. "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun... Before They Die"
(23:56)
11. "Stand By Your Man" (23:46)
12. "Ebbtide's Revenge" (23:52)
13. "The Bloom Is Off the Rose" (23:51)
14. "Sisters of the Bride" (23:51)
15. "Miles to Go" (23:56)
16. "There Goes the Bride (Part 1)" (23:55)
17. "There Goes the Bride (Part 2)" (23:46)
18. "Older and Wiser" (23:03)
Disc 3:
19. "Melodrama" (23:22)
20. "Even Grandmas Get the Blues" (23:52)
21. "Witness" (22:49)
22. "What a Difference a Date Makes" (23:57)
23. "Love For Sale" (23:56)
24/25. "Never Yell Fire in a Crowded Retirement Home
(Parts 1 & 2)" (45:15)
26. "Henny Penny -- Straight, No Chaser" (23:26)
Special Features:
Once again, Buena Vista has, for the most part,
neglected special features on this DVD on this set. It
is very disappointing that they would neglect this
show in the way that they have done. However, this set
isn't totally lacking special features, and I have to
admit, the one special feature that they did include
was somewhat interesting. The one and only special
feature is "Candid Conversations with Betty, Rue, and
Others," which is just a 20 minute interview from an
event in February where Betty White, Rue McClanahan,
Susan Harris, Richard Vaczy, and others involved with
the show sit in front of an audience and talk about
the show. There really wasn't a whole lot addressed
here that was not addressed in the commentaries on the
fifth season DVD set, but it is still interesting to
watch. I wish they would have brought back the
commentaries this time, though!
Final Comments:
This is basically a pretty good set and if you are a
diehard fan of The Golden Girls (or even just like the
show to any extent); you'll definitely want to pick up
this set. This is just one of those shows that really
should be in any TV-on-DVD collection. What I find to
be disappointing, however, is the fact that special
features keep getting neglected on these DVD sets.
There is only one more season remaining to be released
on DVD (it'll be released in February, according to
TVShowsOnDVD.com), and
unless Buena Vista decides to
load it up with special features, we will probably
never see any special footage or certain interviews
from the show unless it gets released on another
medium in the future. For now, though, break out the
cheesecake and watch these DVDs with your friends, you
withered old Sicilian monkey!
Final Numbers (out of 5 stars - How our point system works)
Video Quality: 4.5/5
Audio Quality: 5/5
Special Features: 1.5/5
Menu Design/Navigation: 4.5/5
Overall: 4/5
-- Reviewed by skees53 on 11/10/06
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