The Vicar of Dibley-Complete Second Series (1998) (NTSC)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Main Menu Audio
Rating
Year Of Production	1998
Running Time	210:19
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Gareth Carrivick John Howard Davies Dewi Humphreys
Studio Distributor	Roadshow Home Entertainment	Starring	Dawn French Gary Waldhorn Emma Chambers James Fleet John Bluthal Roger Lloyd-Pack Trevor Peacock
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	$29.95	Music	Howard Goodall

    Yes folks, the babe with a bob cut and a magnificent bosom is back to inflict her own peculiar brand of eccentricity upon the poor, dimwitted and even more eccentric parishioners of the village of Dibley. Be prepared to laugh - very loudly!

    It has been a little while since I had the chance to sit down and watch some decent comedy, whether on television or DVD. Thinking back over the last six months or so, about the only comedy I have managed to catch, aside from the stupendous Futurama, has been of British origin. And not even Futurama had me laughing out loud as much as this collection of work did. That alone makes The Vicar Of Dibley a rare beast indeed, as by nature I am not a person who laughs out loud and the fact that even after repeated viewings the reaction is thus is quite astounding. The obvious British influence can be seen throughout the show: despite the rather eccentric characters, they actually are rather believable and very reminiscent of the sort of mix of people that you can actually find in small villages in England. Superbly cast, well written and brilliantly performed, there is much that can be admired and enjoyed in The Vicar Of Dibley.

    Series 2 (and the two specials) sees the return of all our old friends from the village of Dibley, a bastion of British conservatism and eccentricity. The Reverend Geraldine Boadicea Granger (Dawn French) continues her religious associations with chocolate, vacuous vergers and, rather occasionally, the church itself. Nothing much changes in the village of Dibley so we still have the iron handed David Horton (Gary Waldhorn) ruling the roost, his somewhat dimwitted son Hugo Horton (James Fleet) trying to come to grips with life, Frank Pickle (John Bluthal) doing a fine impression of the most boring man in Britain, Jim Trott (Trevor Peacock) trying his best to overcome the word "no" and Owen Newitt (Roger Lloyd Pack), the man with some desires. Naturally we cannot forget the most vacuous verger in Britain, the intellectually challenged (or is that anencephalic?) Alice Tinker (Emma Chambers). Well, there is one change - the culinary-challenged Letitia Cropley (Liz Smith) only makes an appearance in the Easter special.

    These are the characters that make up the show and parade their eccentricities with gay abandon. It is those eccentricities that make the whole thing work so well and the umpteenth viewing still is as hilarious as the first. This is good comedy that only the British seem to be able to make. Enjoy.

    It should be noted that the Vicar Of Dibley is an unusual animal in the world of episodic television in that there are gaps between the various series and there are not too many episodes in a series. In this instance, Series Two comprises three episodes broadcast in 1998, four years after Series One. That gap was filled by the specials that are also included on this DVD. The DVD starts with the three specials before offering up the three episodes making up the second series:

• The Easter Bunny (38:26) - With the rapid approach of Lent, amongst the suggestions being discussed at the parish council meeting are a bid to host the Olympics and, at the instigation of the Vicar, suggestions as to what each person can give up for the holy period. The penalty is a Lent Box, the proceeds of which will be used to set up a video club. Well, Owen is going to give up swearing, Jim the stuttering, Hugo the... Well best not give too much away. So what is the Rev going to give up? It also turns out that the village of Dibley believes in the Easter Bunny - a mystery person from the village undertaking the role. However, due to a small hitch, the Easter Bunny population has exploded this year.
• The Christmas Lunch Incident (43:59) - It's that time of year again and with the cordiality amongst the parish council members at an all time high, the Rev gets an invite to Christmas lunch from Jim and Frank, which she naturally accepts. Trouble is she then gets one from David, which she quite naturally accepts. To round out the day, she also finds herself invited to the Tinker's Christmas lunch even though not actually asked - since Alice knew that the Rev would not say no. So just exactly how is Geraldine to cope with three Christmas lunches in the Dibley tradition - BIG. Sixteen vegetables, huge starters and Christmas pud the size of that magnificent bosom. And then there is the critical nature of the Christmas sermon to be overcome. Stuff it up and she loses the parishioners for the next year.
• Engagement (40:58) - Hugo and Alice have known each other for the better part of their lives. For the most recent decade the impacts of love have been fairly obvious to just about all but the most unobservant - namely David. Despite the longing looks, they have never consummated the love - they have never kissed. After so long, Geraldine has decided enough is enough and swings into cupid mode with all the enthusiasm of ... well plenty of enthusiasm. Patience is however not high on the agenda and so when the two are assembled and need a push, it's a little more like a hefty bloody push.
• Dibley Live (28:49) - The Rev has come up with another cracker of an idea - trying to bring the thriving metropolis of Dibley closer together, she has arranged a special week long licence to operate a radio station. So exactly what do the inhabitants of the metropolis do for a week of radio? Well, how about a call-in show where David manages to divulge his personal thoughts. Or Hugo's rock and roll show with a play list numbering not anywhere near the hundreds of songs. What about the late night turn of Frank where he manages to disclose some life secrets - but no one is listening. The highlight of the week though is the attempt to prove to David that his future daughter-in-law is not the dunce that everyone says she is - most especially David. So the big village quiz is between David, winner for the past twenty eight years or something, and Alice.
• Celebrity Vicar (28:54) - When The Times writes an article on the female vicar of Dibley parish (still a rarity of the times), Geraldine suddenly finds herself taking a telephone call to appear on a radio programme. So successful was she that she gets mistaken for Alison Moyet and gets plenty more offers to indulge the media spotlight. However, her infatuation with the life of the famous comes to a grinding halt when one supposed article on her turns into several articles on various inhabitants of the village.
• Love and Marriage (29:13) - The happy day of the nuptials of Alice Tinker and Hugo Horton is rapidly approaching and so all the essentials are being attended to. Things like the wedding dress (featuring some unusual themes), the bridesmaids (also featuring something unusual), the hen's night (possibly the least exciting ever), David's rather handsome long lost brother (Geraldine has noticed) and a phone call from the bishop offering Geraldine a new position. Is the most eagerly awaited marriage in the recent history of the village going to be Geraldine's swan song?

    Note that the slick for the DVD is incorrect in listing Engagement as an episode of Series Two - it is in fact a special first broadcast in the UK in December, 1997, with the actual Series Two being broadcast in January, 1998.

Video

    Once again, we have the unusual situation of a BBC Video release through Roadshow Home Entertainment being an NTSC formatted DVD. Accordingly, you will need to have a player and/or display device capable of handling the NTSC signal. There is of course a PAL release of the series in Region 2, but the rights are not owned by the BBC and so Roadshow have apparently sourced the NTSC master being used for the Region 1 release.

    Since the show was made for television, the presentation is Full Frame (1.33:1) and it is not 16x9 enhanced.

    The quality of the transfer is somewhat better than the previous release, particularly as the opening credits for each episode are not as overexposed and metallic looking. The washing out of detail due to excess light is also less of an issue here. Otherwise, this is not too shabby a transfer, with quite reasonable sharpness, fairly reasonable detail and a fairly clear transfer with little in the way of grain. Sure it would have been nice if it had been a little sharper and more detailed, but I am certainly not complaining about the general standard here. Shadow detail is quite decent and never really creates an issue.

    The colours are slightly better than the first series too, quite well saturated and fairly consistent. There are no problems with oversaturation. Skin tones are pretty well handled overall, and this is certainly a more natural looking effort overall. This time round there are no problems with colour bleed.

    There are no obvious MPEG artefacts in the transfer, and in general there is not much in the way of film-to-video artefacts. The only real issues are with some cross colouration, mostly in fine lined jackets such as at 1:16 in Dibley Live and 2:26 and 17:51 in Love and Marriage. There are no obvious film artefacts in the transfer.

    This is presumably a Dual Layer formatted DVD so there is no apparent layer change to be negotiated..

    There are no subtitles on the DVD, which is rather disappointing for the hearing impaired.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    There is just the one soundtrack on the DVD being an English Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack.

    The dialogue comes up very well in the soundtrack and is generally easy to understand. There are no apparent audio sync issues with the transfer.

    The original music for the series comes from Howard Goodall. Since it is very similar to what we heard in Series One, there really is not much to say about the music.

    Equally, there is nothing much to say about the soundtrack. It is clean, clear and functional.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    Nothing at all.

Menu

    A bit of audio and animation enhancement at least lifts it above being totally bland.

    The equivalent Region 1 DVD was released last year and appears to be the same as the Region 4 release.

    This time round the presentation on DVD is somewhat better than for Series One. Whilst the NTSC formatting is still a little surprising and a tad disappointing given that a PAL master is by all accounts available, still, ignoring all this, the show is well worth suffering the problems for. Almost quintessential British television comedy, The Vicar Of Dibley - Series 2 is one of the best laughs I have had for ages. Well worth getting hold of this DVD.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall