Millennium-Season 3: Part 2 (1999)

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General		Extras
Category	Mystery	Main Menu Introduction Main Menu Audio Bonus Episode-X Files "Millenium" Episode From Season 7 Featurette-Making Of-Endgame Featurette-Between The Lines
Rating
Year Of Production	1999
Running Time	434:58 (Case: 495)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered Multi Disc Set (3)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Various
Studio Distributor	Twentieth Century Fox	Starring	Lance Henriksen Brittany Tiplady Megan Gallagher Klea Scott Terry O'Quinn
Case	?
RPI	$44.95	Music	Mark Snow

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.33:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired Italian Swedish Italian Titling	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    As much as I disliked the way Millennium developed after Season One, the most disappointing event in the show's history was when Fox finally pulled the plug at the end of Season Three . . . with only 225 days to go until the real millennium would hit. The show had reached the end of its tether by the middle of Season Three and being axed was inevitable: but surely allowing just one more season to tie things up would have done more good than harm and who knows - maybe the rapidly approaching millennium would have added some much needed creative inspiration before the end.

    As it stands though, the second half of Season Three improves greatly on the first twelve episodes. Lucy Butler (Sarah-Jane Redman), Frank's arch-nemesis makes a welcome return and several of the episodes manage to approach something like creepiness, although none come close to the darkness of Season One. The Millennium Group step up their secret campaigns and begin to focus their attentions on Emma Hollis (Klea Scott). The conspiracies are laid on thick and the Millennium Group become something like the syndicate of Elders in The X-Files, claiming J. Edgar Hoover among their members. Frank (Lance Henriksen), of course, continues to fight the good fight, and does everything in his power to protect Jordan (Brittany Tiplady) and even Emma from the growing powers of evil. Everything builds to a final confrontation and finale that might have been satisfying had there been anything to follow. The only resolution comes in a crossover episode in Season Seven of The X-Files which, frankly, makes every episode of Millennium look brilliant by comparison. Surely Chris Carter wasn't planning such a wimpy ending to the series?

    What can I say: Chris Carter and the team behind Millennium gave it a good shot but didn't manage to come up with the goods. The series had excellent potential and perhaps if studio interference hadn't encouraged the constant re-tweaking things might have turned out differently. We'll never know for sure. Maybe Carter will be able to redeem himself with the much rumoured Millennium film. Until then, having this flawed but intriguing series on DVD is about as good as it gets.

    Disc Four

    13. Antipas (43:17) - Lucy Butler reappears as a manipulative and murderous au pair. Frank tries to put a stop to her once and for all.

    14. Matryoshka (43:37) - A Millennium conspiracy reaches back into the past to the development of nuclear weaponry. Frank knows the truth is out there.

    15. Forcing the End (43:39) - The Millennium Group have their eye on Emma Hollis. Meanwhile, a fundamentalist group prepare for a secret ritual to welcome the Messiah.

    16. Saturn Dreaming of Mercury (42:59) - Jordan finds an imaginary friend and starts to act out violently against her new neighbours. Things rapidly take a mystifying and dark turn for the worse.

    Disc Five

    17. Darwin's Eye (43:39) - A patient escapes from a criminal psychiatric facility and Frank and Emma discover evidence suggesting a vast conspiracy behind their cases and behind the girl's earlier crimes.

    18. Bardo Thodol (43:40) - A raid on a Japanese ship reveals a box of severed arms on ice. Frank and Emma's investigations lead to Dr Takahashi and Millennium Group assassins.

    19. Seven and One (43:42) - Frank starts receiving Polaroids in the post again - this time showing him drowning.

    20. Nostalgia (43:46) - More severed limbs lead to renewed interest in an old drowning case.

    Disc Six

    21. Via Dolorosa (43:37) - A violent criminal dies in the electric chair, but he somehow manages to keep killing. The Millennium Group offers a deal to Emma.

    22. Goodbye to All That (43:02) - The last episode and a continuation of the episode above. To reveal anything would give away too much: suffice it to say, the Millennium Group make life extremely unpleasant for Frank.

Video

    The video transfer is good and continues at the same standard set by Season Three Part One. Once again, the original full frame ratio of 1.33.1 has been cropped to 1.78:1, 16x9 enhanced. Consequently, the overall video rating has had an extra star deduction.

    Sharpness and shadow detail are satisfactory. Quite a lot of grain and some low level noise is visible in all episodes. Bright whites continue to be especially noisy. The cinematography is much brighter than Season One and colours are realistic and rendered without problem. Pixelization is often visible and posterization is an annoying issue. Edge enhancement is also visible and just a little distracting (see the opening of Via Dolorosa for example). Film artefacts are all but absent.

    Subtitles are accurate and in a readable, white font.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    Audio is available in English Dolby Digital 2.0 (surround encoded) and Italian Dolby Digital 2.0. The transfer is satisfactory.

    Dialogue is clear and audible but has a little crackle. Loud voices, shouting and yelling tend to distort somewhat. Audio sync is accurate. In general, the audio sounds tinny and flat. The surrounds carry atmospheric effects and support the score. The surround stage is let down by the track's limited dynamics. Enough bass information is available to keep the subwoofer involved.

    Mark Snow finishes his score work admirably enough and produces his usual good work. If you find you need a fix of Snow music, switch over to Smallville or One Tree Hill, if you can stand it.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Main Menu Introduction

Main Menu Audio

Bonus Episode

    Millennium (42:40) - Fox have very thoughtfully included the X-Files crossover episode in which the Millennium conspiracy was finally unravelled. As mentioned above though, the denouement is just a little odd and unexpected given the way the series progressed. I am quite happy to think of this episode as non-canonical, but its inclusion is very welcome.

Featurette-Making Of

    Endgame: The Making of Millennium Season 3 (38:12) - Focuses mostly on the difficulties in following on from the apocalyptic ending of Season Two. All three seasons' making-of documentaries have been interesting and will please any fan of the series.

Featurette

    Between the Lines (12:41) - A final look at the Academy Group, the real-life inspiration for the Millennium Group.

    The Region 1 release of Season Three is all but identical to ours, differing in secondary languages and NTSC formatting. Season Three is available as single set.

    After a slow start in Part One, Season Three picked up by the end. Unsurprisingly though, cancellation left many elements unresolved. Rumours of a movie still circle the internet - give Frank Black one last run, I say.

    Video and audio are satisfactory.

    Extras are interesting and the crossover X-Files episode is a great bonus.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall