Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, The-Season 2 (1990)

This review is sponsored by

BUY IT

General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Main Menu Audio Featurette-Best Bits Of Bel-Air Outtakes-Bel-Air Bloopers
Rating
Year Of Production	1990
Running Time	554:26 (Case: 553)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered Multi Disc Set (4)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Language Select Then Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	2,4,5	Directed By	Debbie Allen Madeline Cripe Ellen Falcon Eddie Gorodetsky
Studio Distributor	Warner Home Video	Starring	Will Smith James Avery Janet Hubert-Whitten Daphne Reid Alfonso Ribeiro Karyn Parsons Tatyana Ali Joseph Marcell Ross Bagley Jeffrey A. Townes Nia Long Vernee Watson-Johnson Jenifer Lewis
Case	?
RPI	$39.95	Music	Quincy Jones III Tom Jones Marco Marinangeli

By the time the second season of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air had arrived in 1991/1992 the sitcom was starting to build a loyal audience and thankfully the show was starting to come together as a whole. As the first season introduced the characters and location, the second further developed the relationships and character traits. Will and Carlton are trying to make the transition from boy to man. Hilary is given responsibilities in an attempt for her to become independent. Ashley is a moody teenager, struggling to change from child to adolescent; all the while Phillip and Vivian try to maintain a peaceful household.

Some memorable episodes include:

The Mother of All Battles: Ashley is being bullied at school by a classmate and Will tries to help Ashley by teaching her to defend herself while Carlton tries to bribe the bully.

Guess Who's Coming to Marry? Will’s aunt is to be married and unfortunately Will’s mother Vy forbids the interracial marriage.

She Ain't Heavy: Queen Latifah guests stars as Dee-Dee, a girl who seems to have everything in common with Will. Unfortunately her self image causes Will to place the friendship in jeopardy.

Cased up: The Cosby Show had ended by the time Malcolm Jamal-Warner guest starred as Eric, the pompous lawyer boyfriend of Hilary in this episode. Eric and Will are involved in a minor car accident and Eric sues uninsured Will, who is a minor and therefore Phil’s responsibility.

All 24 episodes appear on this 4 disc set as follows:

Disc 1:

Did the Earth Move For You? (23:14)

The Mother of All Battles (22:06)

Will Gets a Job (23:09)

PSAT Pstory (23:14)

Granny Gets Busy (23:14)

Guess Who's Coming to Marry? (23:15)

Disc 2:

The Big Four-Oh (23:13)

She Ain't Heavy (23:14)

Cased Up (23:15)

Hi-Ho Silver (22:54)

The Butler Did It (23:14)

Disc 3:

Christmas Show (23:14)

Hilary Gets a Life (23: 16)

My Brother's Keeper (23:16)

Geoffrey Cleans Up (23:14)

Community Action (23:14)

Ill Will (23:14)

Disc 4:

Eyes on the Prize (23:14)

Those Were the Days (23:08)

Vying for Attention (23:13)

The Aunt Who Came to Dinner (23:14)

Be My Baby Tonight (23:14)

Strip-Tease for Two (22:54)

Overall the show has certainly improved since season one as the cast feel comfortable in their roles and working with each other. The show has its balance of juvenile as well as contemporary adult issues such as teenage pregnancy and interracial marriage but overall maintains its lightweight comedy. If you enjoyed the first box set you will certainly enjoy season two.

Video

Picture quality has improved vastly in comparison to last season’s box set. The show is presented as it was broadcast, in full frame and the colour is bright and vivid with minimal grain. The picture is notably soft but this isn’t intrusive as the show looks similar to how it was broadcast in the early 1990s. Overall this is of an average picture quality but certainly not disappointing given that this is a television show and more than a decade old. Subtitles are clear and true to the onscreen dialogue.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

The main soundtrack for the show is English Dolby Digital 1.0 (192Kb/s). Dialogue is audible and clear with no flaws. As expected such a soundtrack is quite limited in regards to surround sound however being a sitcom and mostly dialogue based the set up is practical. Other than the main theme no apparent music is featured in the season except for an episode where Bell Biv DeVoe shoot their upcoming music video at the Banks residence in exchange for some fast cash for Carlton.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Two extra features appear on disc 4 which match the show quite well. The first, titled Best Bits Of Bel-Air, is a montage of clips from the show interspersed with tidbits regarding the era and explanation of some of the subtle jokes regarding U.S. politics (7:58).

The second is a standard blooper reel; some bloopers were featured at the end of many of the episodes (4:09).

The R4 presentation is identical to the R1.

The Fresh Prince of Bel Air in season two was starting to find its own ground as a sit-com. The DVD presentation is quite good with limited extras. The release is identical to R1.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall