Six Feet Under-The Complete Third Season (2001) |
|
Six Feet Under-The Complete Third Season (2001) |
|
|
| BUY IT |
| General | Extras | ||
| Category | Drama |
Main Menu Introduction Main Menu Audio & Animation Synopsis-Episode Synopses Audio Commentary-Ep. 3-The Eye Inside, Ep. 4-Nobody Sleeps, Ep. 5-TheTrap Audio Commentary-Ep.11-Death Works Overtime, Ep.13-I'm Sorry, I'm Lost Notes-Series Index Featurette-Living On The Ledge: A Bird's-Eye View Of The Third Season Deleted Scenes-3 |
|
| Rating |
|
||
| Year Of Production | 2001 | ||
| Running Time | 725:00 | ||
| RSDL / Flipper |
Dual Layered Multi Disc Set (5) |
Cast & Crew | |
| Start Up | Menu | ||
| Region Coding | 2,4 | Directed By |
Miguel Arteta Daniel Attias Alan Ball Kathy Bates |
|
Studio
Distributor |
 Warner Home Video |
Starring |
Peter Krause Michael C. Hall Frances Conroy Lauren Ambrose Rachel Griffiths Freddy Rodríguez Mathew St. Patrick Jeremy Sisto Richard Jenkins Lili Taylor Joanna Cassidy Robert Foxworth Justina Machado |
| Case | ? | ||
| RPI | $74.95 | Music |
Steven Cahill Richard Marvin Thomas Newman |
| Video | Audio | ||
| Pan & Scan/Full Frame | None |
English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Hungarian Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) |
|
| Widescreen Aspect Ratio | 1.75:1 | ||
| 16x9 Enhancement |
 |
||
| Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
| Original Aspect Ratio | 1.78:1 | Miscellaneous | |
| Jacket Pictures | No | ||
| Subtitles |
English French Hungarian Dutch Arabic Finnish Hebrew Norwegian Polish Swedish English for the Hearing Impaired |
Smoking | No |
| Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
| Action In or After Credits | No | ||
Six Feet Under, like The West Wing, has not had the best run on Australian TV. On again, off again, it is apparently scheduled to debut yet again on Channel Nine in the coming weeks. It is not completely surprising, however, as the show is certainly not your typical weeknight's entertainment. All but a couple of episodes begin with a death and then proceed to explore the lives of the Fisher family from a sober, sometimes downright depressing standpoint. From the muted colours to the frequent conversations the central characters have with the deceased, the show's tone does take some getting used to. It recently finished its five season run in the US, and is finding its way onto DVD. This is good thing, as its episodes, like those of many serious minded shows produced in the last few years (particularly by HBO), should be watched in relatively quick succession as they form a continuous arc.
This season, the third, is as defiantly strange and compelling as the previous two. The characters become richer and richer, the relationships more fraught and complex. The three Fisher siblings all struggle in their respective relationships. Nate (Peter Krause) struggles with the fact that obligation, not love, is keeping him with Lisa. He also has to try to deal with the re-entry of Brenda (Rachel Griffiths) into his life. David (Michael C. Hall) is still dealing with his sexuality, as well as facing up to the fact that he and Keith (Mathew St. Patrick) have a lot of issues to work through. Claire (Lauren Ambrose) is trying to break away from the family business and begins art school, falling for a young man who seems as confused about himself as the rest of her family. And then there is Ruth (Frances Conroy), the family matriarch, who forms an unlikely friendship with Bettina (Kathy Bates - an occasional director of the show) and eventually marries George (James Cromwell), who is not accepted wholeheartedly by her children. Frederico (Freddy Rogriguez) too is struggling to balance work and family, particularly as his wife seems to drifting further and further away from life.
Six Feet Under is as original a television series as you are likely to encounter. It is immeasurably better and more sophisticated than Alan Ball's first foray into suburban angst, American Beauty, and should appeal to anyone with a wry sense of humour who enjoys mulling over the weirdness of the world we live in from time to time.
Episode Guide:
Although shot for television, this well budgeted production is positively cinematic in scope and the accurately presented 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced transfer is quite marvellous.
Sharpness is excellent, with fantastic levels of detail. Shadow detail is always of a high standard. Blacks are clear and free of any low level noise.
Colours are varied but realistic. Skin tones are beyond criticism. Some of the fantastical elements are shot with a distinctive colour scheme and all are well captured.
There are nary any compression artefacts to speak of.
Film to video artefacts were absolutely minimal with only the mildest hints of aliasing.
Film artefacts are negligible.
| Sharpness |   |
| Shadow Detail | |
| Colour | |
| Grain/Pixelization | |
| Film-To-Video Artefacts | |
| Film Artefacts | |
| Overall | |
We have a choice of three audio tracks: English Dolby Digital 5.1, French Dolby Stereo 2.0 and Hungarian Dolby Stereo 2.0, all of which are well presented. I listened to the English 5.1 track.
Dialogue is at all times easily understood.
There were no reportable instances of distortion.
Audio sync was brilliant.
The surrounds and subwoofer are not used particularly often, even when the 5.1 track is selected, although the eclectic score is heard to full advantage. It is immersive but not explosive.
| Dialogue | |
| Audio Sync | |
| Clicks/Pops/Dropouts | |
| Surround Channel Use | |
| Subwoofer | |
| Overall | |
A good swag of extras have been included.
Audio Commentaries (5) with Michael Engler, Alan Poul, Bruce Eric Kaplan, Rick Cleveland & Alan Ball
There are five audio commentaries here, for five different episodes, each handled individually by a member of the creative team working on that episode. Only the last one with Alan Ball is really worth hearing. The others are not bad, but a little insipid. Ball is an engaging, passionate and extremely engaging speaker.
Featurette
This fourteen minute fluff piece betrays the seriousness of the series, although the promo made for HBO's advertising is great.
Deleted Scenes (3)
Three scenes, all out of context and therefore hard to appreciate.
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
The editions are basically the same, apart from the fact that we seem to have scored two foreign language tracks. Opt for the cheaper version.
Six Feet Under is terrific television - gripping and philosophical.
The video is brilliant, as is the audio.
The extras are good.
| Video | |
| Audio | |
| Extras | |
| Plot | |
| Overall | |
| Review Equipment | |
| DVD | Yamaha DVR-S100, using Component output |
| Display | Sony 76cm Widescreen Trinitron TV. Calibrated with THX Optimizer. This display device is 16x9 capable. |
| Audio Decoder | Built in to DVD Player, Dolby Digital and DTS. Calibrated with THX Optimizer. |
| Amplification | Yamaha DVR-S100 (built in) |
| Speakers | Yamaha NX-S100S 5 speakers, Yamaha SW-S100 160W subwoofer |