Father Ted-Series 2-Part 1 (1995)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Main Menu Audio & Animation Scene Selection Anim & Audio Audio Commentary-Graham Linehan (Writer) Booklet
Rating
Year Of Production	1995
Running Time	176:30 (Case: 175)
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (20:58)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Declan Lowney
Studio Distributor	VCI Warner Vision	Starring	Dermot Morgan Ardal O'Hanlon Frank Kelly Pauline McLynn
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$34.95	Music	None Given

    Father Ted is one of the funniest shows to hit the small screen in a long time. The humour is some of the most biting satire that has ever been produced and will simply have you in stitches for hours.

    The really scary part of this show is that it is also a very accurate reflection of life in both the church and in Ireland. The Irish have always been the first to laugh at themselves and this show takes this to new levels. I have known many priests who could be the models on whom this series was based. I spent some time in a Catholic rectory and saw some of the weirdest things. One of the priests was very much like Father Dougal; you would be looking at books on the bookshelves and find empty fifths hidden behind the books, or inside an old coal stove. Another would sit in the lounge room watching TV, and would slowly get redder and redder, and more and more angry that no one was answering the phone that was just outside the room. The most bizarre was the live-in cook who made Mrs. Doyle look, well, normal. She was a cook who could only be the work of the devil. One morning she took two chickens. She placed them in a large pot and began to boil them, unfortunately the pot was not quite large enough and while the lower chicken was fully immersed the upper was only half covered. The chickens where boiled all day, each time she checked the chickens only the top one was examined which was, by the end of the day, beginning to resemble concrete. Deciding that they were not cooked enough, the poor chickens were then placed in a casserole and baked for the remainder of the next day. The result when served for dinner consisted of pieces of string from the lower chicken and slabs of rock chipped off the upper. From this was born the twelve stations of the chicken (we turned to humour to survive our experience): the chicken is condemned to death, the chicken is stripped, the chicken gives up the ghost... This, unfortunately, was not the worst that was served; next came the stew. All day was spent preparing this stew, and when it was served up to us we simply could not even look at it, let alone eat it. When the cook left the room for a moment we all rushed to the stove to return the stew to its pot. When she returned she commented that there was lots left, and asked it anyone would like seconds? There was no reply, so some was placed in the dog's bowl - we did not see the dog for two days. We left quietly to go to the local pub for some real food. When we returned we heard a blub-blub noise coming from the pot on the stove. Assuming that the gas had been left on, we went over to turn it off, only to discover that the stew had fermented in less than two hours. Surely Purgatory could only be a better place than this...

    Thus, when I first saw this show I could not believe that someone had broken the silence and had placed this material out in the real world for all could enjoy. There are four main characters in this show: Father Ted is the middle priest, and is basically in charge; Father Dougal is the elderly priest with the drinking problem; and Father Jack is the new young priest who is a few wafers short of the full communion. The housekeeper, Mrs Doyle, makes up the quartet and is always ready with a cup of tea, whether you want one or not.

Episode 1: Hell (24:15)

    Growing up in Ireland always involves taking your holidays in a caravan, usually somewhere near a beach with water lapping gently on the pebbles. Water that is usually barely above freezing. Fathers Ted, Dougal and Jack are off on their yearly holiday in a caravan that is lent to them by another priest. When they arrive they find many interesting ways to get into trouble. Things get much worse when an obnoxious young priest turns up with the local young adults group.

Episode 2: Think Fast, Father Ted (24:16)

    With the roof of the rectory needing repair, and no money in sight, Father Ted comes up with the idea of holding a raffle. He talks church authorities into supplying a car for the raffle. Without spoiling the story, they work their way into trouble, then come up with a devious scheme to try and come out on top.

Episode 3: Tentacles Of Doom (24:41)

    Probably the best episode on this disc. The local holy relic (the Catholics really do set themselves up for this sort of thing) is being upgraded to a Class Two. To mark the occasion three bishops are coming to stay and perform the blessing. The story splits into three, following each of the bishops, and their interaction with the local priests. It is some of the funniest material ever.

Episode 4: Old Grey Whistle Theft (24:18)

    The parish in the show is on a small island, Craggy Island, and the people there are even more parochial than those on the mainland (I was born there, so I am allowed to say that). In this small community a crime is committed, a great crime, a whistle is stolen. The community is beset by fears, the shop keepers are buying shotguns, helicopters are called in. Caught up in this are Father Jack and his friend, the young rebel priest from the neighbouring parish.

Episode 5: A Song For Europe (24:00)

    The Eurovision contest is described by Graham Linehan in the commentary as a kitsch leftover from the seventies. In this episode Father Ted and Jack decide to enter the local competition with the hope of going on to represent Ireland in the finals. To do this they must write their own song. You can probably imagine what the results are.

A Christmassy Ted (55:00)

    The Christmas special episode has broken the 'rule' and in a very clever way. The main story has nothing to do with Christmas at all. In fact the story revolves around Father Ted winning the Golden Cleric, one of the top awards for priests according to the show. This award is presented because he manages to extract a bunch of Catholic priests from Ireland's largest women's lingerie department without a national scandal.

Video

    The series is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.33:1 and is not 16x9 enhanced.

    Sharpness varies but never really comes up to scratch. Shadow detail is reasonable indoors but occasionally disappears in outdoor shots. There is a lot of low level noise, particularly in the background. Overall, the contrast could be a little better as well.

    Colours are slightly affected by noise but have reasonable saturation.

    MPEG artefacts abound, and are constantly present in the background, and clearly visible in moving objects. Examine the face of the priest at 13:30 in the first episode for a clear example. Edge enhancement is frequently visible: the outline on Father Ted's cardigan shows this at 1:51 in the first episode. Aliasing is also present, such as the trim on the car at 5:15, also in the first episode. The source material would appear to be video, and the video noise present is probably the cause of most of the artefacts.

    The subtitles are easy to read and reasonably accurate. The only part that you miss is the comic timing of the actors.

    This is an RSDL disc. The layer change has been placed at 20:58 in the fourth episode. As this is only four odd minutes from the end, it is a little surprising that they did not move it over a bit and place it between the episodes.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    There are no problems with the dialogue quality. The Irish accents aren't too thick so most people should have no problems. Audio sync is accurate.

    Music is not a real feature of this series. There is a nice recognisable theme song to open and close the episodes, and that is about it.

    The music and the laugh track make it into the surrounds, but little else is present. As this is a dialogue-based comedy, this is to be expected.

    The subwoofer also had little to do.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

Commentary: Graham Linehan (writer)

    Would you believe that all five episodes and the hour long Christmas special are accompanied by the audio commentary? Well, they are. This is a marathon effort and, thankfully, the information is very interesting and livened up with the occasional funny anecdote. We hear about the inspiration for some of the material and about how the episodes were planned and built up. As the commentary was recorded some time after the series had finished we also hear how Graham's style has changed and what he thinks of the episodes now.

Booklet

    Included in the package is a small booklet, about the size of a DVD cover. Inside are a listing of the episodes and the chapters in each. On the rear is a quick description of Craggy Island and Father Dougal.

    The Region 2 and our disc would appear to be identical. Region 1 is released as a two disc set with all ten episodes. The first disc of the two seems to be similar to ours, with the same commentary, but the second disc, which is equivalent to our part 2 disc, seems to be missing the commentary, so keep that in mind for the overall comparison.

    The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on:

• nothing.

    The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on:

• The 1 hour Christmas special.

    Giving us a pretty clear R4 win.

    With great acting, perfect comic timing, and a brilliant script, this series is a must-own. I wouldn't wonder that it is a favourite throughout the Catholic hierarchy. My favourite would have to be the Christmas special, and in particular the scene in the lingerie department.

    The video really could have been better.

    The audio is good.

    The commentary is well worth listening to, but probably not in one big sitting.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall