Offspring-Complete Fourth Series (2013) |
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General | Extras | ||
Category | TV Series |
Menu Audio Deleted Scenes-9 Featurette-Behind The Scenes-13 |
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Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 2013 | ||
Running Time | 570 | ||
RSDL / Flipper |
Dual Layered Multi Disc Set (4) |
Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Menu | ||
Region Coding | 1,2,3,4,5,6 | Directed By |
Kate Dennis Darren Ashton Shirley Barrett Sian Davies |
Studio
Distributor |
Southern Star Madman Entertainment |
Starring |
Asher Keddie John Waters Linda Cropper Kat Stewart Richard Davies Eddie Perfect Deborah Mailman Alicia Gardener Jane Harber Matthew Le Nevez |
Case | Slip Case | ||
RPI | $59.95 | Music | None Given |
Video | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None | English Dolby Digital 2.0 | |
Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 | ||
16x9 Enhancement |
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Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | No | ||
Subtitles | English for the Hearing Impaired | Smoking | No |
Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
Action In or After Credits | No |
Offspring is one of the few recent success stories for the Ten Network along with Masterchef. This comedy/drama/soapie with added whimsy has now been running for four seasons and has been renewed by Ten for a fifth season. The success of this show is built around its bright and amusing style, quality writing and a fun and high quality cast including the excellent actress Asher Keddie.
The show is based around the character played by Keddie, Nina Proudman. She is an obstetrician in Melbourne and struggles with her love life, her family and her work, often all at the same time. Her family include her father, real estate agent Darcy Proudman (John Waters), her mother, Geraldine (Linda Cropper), her sister, Billie (Kat Stewart), her irresponsible younger brother Jimmy (Richard Davies) and Billie's husband, Mick (Eddie Perfect). Other important characters are the nurses in her unit, who are also friends and sometimes family, Cherie (Deborah Mailman), Kim (Alicia Gardener) and Zara (Jane Harber). There is also Nina's on again, off again love of her life, Patrick Reid (Matthew Le Nevez), a paediatrician in the same hospital.
This series (of thirteen 45 Minute episodes) follows Nina's journey through pregnancy, relationship dramas for Billie and Mick, Darcy trying to deal with the revelation in series 3 that he is not Nina's father and more. It certainly keeps up the quality of the first three series, with good measures of comedy, whimsy, drama and romance to keep the core audience happy. This is high quality Australian television, which looks set to continue for a few years to come.
The set is nicely packaged in a four disc case housed in a cardboard slipcover.
Recommended.
The video quality is very good.
The series is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio which is the original aspect ratio. It is 16x9 enhanced.
The picture is very clear and sharp for television on DVD. Shadow detail is good.
The colour is very good, looking bright and vivid throughout.
There is little to complain about in artefact terms with just a little very light grain on occasion
There are subtitles in English for the Hearing Impaired which are clear and easy to read (in yellow text).
Sharpness | |
Shadow Detail | |
Colour | |
Grain/Pixelization | |
Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
Film Artefacts | |
Overall |
The audio quality is good.
The discs contain an English soundtrack in Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo. The sound is obviously quite front focused.
Dialogue was mostly easy to understand and clear although the subtitles came in handy occasionally.
The theme music and songs used are a significant portion of the show’s atmosphere.
The surround speakers and subwoofer were not used.
Dialogue | |
Audio Sync | |
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
Surround Channel Use | |
Subwoofer | |
Overall |
A good selection of extras.
The menu is pretty straight forward, still with music but perfectly functional.
9 deleted scenes from various episodes but nothing too earth shattering.
This section contains 13 featurettes each running 5-7 minutes. They include cast and crew interviews, synopses, set tours, making of particular sequences, costume information and more. Definitely of interest to fans of the show.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
This show is only available locally at this stage.
The video quality is very good.
The audio quality is good.
The extras are good.Video | |
Audio | |
Extras | |
Plot | |
Overall |
Review Equipment | |
DVD | SONY BDP-S760 Blu-ray, using HDMI output |
Display | Sharp LC52LE820X Quattron 52" Full HD LED-LCD TV . Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p. |
Audio Decoder | Built into amplifier. Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum. |
Amplification | Marantz SR5005 |
Speakers | Monitor Audio Bronze 2 (Front), Bronze Centre & Bronze FX (Rears) + Sony SAW2500M Subwoofer |