Ally McBeal-Season 2-Part 2-Episodes 13-23 (1997)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	None
Rating
Year Of Production	1997
Running Time	336:00
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered Multi Disc Set (3)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Jace Alexander Daniel Attias Arvin Brown Mel Damski
Studio Distributor	Twentieth Century Fox	Starring	Calista Flockhart Courtney Thorne-Smith Greg Germann Lisa Nicole Carson Peter MacNicol Jane Krakowski Vonda Shepard Portia de Rossi Lucy Liu James LeGros Regina Hall Julianne Nicholson James Marsden
Case	?
RPI	$44.95	Music	Shawn K. Clement Elton John Danny Lux

     I really have said all I can say about Ally McBeal - see my review of the first half of the Second Season.

    The release has split Season Two into two parts - this second half has eleven episodes, spread across three DVDs.

Disc One

• Angels and Blimps
  Ling convinces a dying boy to sue God and the firm defends a man who shot his wife’s lover.
• Pyramids on the Nile
  A huge corporation unleashes a seven lawyer legal team to go up against Cage & Fish in a case involving office romance. Ally and Billy finally give in to their feelings.
• Sideshow
  Ally and Billy fret about their kiss and go to Dr. Tracey to try and resolve their feelings. Her solution - belting out Soft Cell's Tainted Love.
• Sex, Lies and Politics
  Georgia learns the truth about Billy and Ally. Ling, the lawyer, tries a case.

Disc Two

• Civil Wars
  Ally and Cage take on Georgia and Richard in court and the case becomes more about the lawyers than the clients.
• Those Lips, That Hand
  Ally and Cage defend a man who cut off his wife’s hand after she died so he could hold her hand forever.
• Let’s Dance
  Elaine and Ling becomes partners in a swing dance contest while Georgia and Billy face their problems in therapy.
• Only The Lonely
  Elaine finally gets an infomercial for her ‘face bra,’ but has to defend the fact that she actually invented it when her own family claims her cousin Martha invented the bra.

Disc Three

• The Green Monster
  Ally hires a man to make Dr. Greg Butters jealous and Georgia reinvents herself, much to Billy’s disgust.
• Love’s Illusions
  Ally and Cage defend a woman whose husband discovers she was never in love with him. Ally confesses the real reason behind her belief in true love.
• I Know Him By Heart
  Ally’s hallucinations go into overdrive and start to take over her life. Her friends are all concerned about her bizarre behaviour, except Nelle, who thinks that the firm’s constant concern over Ally’s welfare is unwarranted.
   

Video

    The video transfers across all twelve episodes were all of similar quality and appearance.

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 and is not 16x9 enhanced.

    The transfer is not even close to reference quality and has a grainy appearance but is still watchable. It is a clear but not particularly sharp image.

    The colours were bright and clear at all times throughout all episodes. There was some colour bleeding but this wasn't a major issue.

    There were few MPEG artefacts. There was some aliasing.

    In summary - a fair TV transfer.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    There is a single English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo track to listen to.

    The dialogue was clear and easy to understand, with little distortion and no audio sync problems.

    Music has always been important to the show and the pop songs that punctuate the episodes are heard to good effect.

    The surrounds and subwoofer were not engaged.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

    No extras to speak of. None at all. Not even an interesting title menu.

    DVD reviews of any of the Ally McBeal seasons on Region 1 are hard to find and it seems that it is currently unavailable from most of the big stores. Go for the Region 4 for the moment!

    Ally McBeal is starting to grate by now.

    The video is fine for 1990s TV.

    The audio is very good.

    No extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall