Friends-Series 5-Volume 3-Episodes 17-23 (1999)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Featurette-Friends Goes To London Featurette-Friends On Location In London Music Video-I'll Be There For You-The Rembrandts Web Links
Rating
Year Of Production	1999
Running Time	169:42 (Case: 176)
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Sided	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Shelley Jensen Gary Halvorson Todd Holland Gail Mancuso
Studio Distributor	Warner Home Video	Starring	Jennifer Aniston Courtney Cox Lisa Kudrow Matt LeBlanc Matthew Perry David Schwimmer
Case	Amaray-Transparent
RPI	$29.95	Music	Michael Skloff

    Friends is an American sitcom revolving around the lives of 6 close friends. It centres around the quirky habits of each character and is primarily filmed within the confines of their two apartments. Please see Michael's earlier review of Friends Series 1 - Volume 1 if you would like to read some background information on the main characters of the show.

    The episodes present on this disc (Series 5, Volume 3) are;

The One With Rachel's Inadvertent Kiss (21:12) - During a job interview at Ralph Loren, Rachel inadvertently kisses her potential boss on the cheek as she leaves his office. Monica is concerned that her relationship with Chandler isn't as hot as Phoebe's new relationship with Gary.

The One Where Rachel Smokes (21:12) - When Rachel starts her job at Ralph Loren, she decides to take up smoking so that she can be part of the important work-related decisions that appear to be made in the smoking area. Joey and Ross' son Ben audition together as father and son in a soup commercial.

The One Where Ross Can't Flirt (21:15) - All the gang, including Joey's Italian speaking grandmother, go to watch Joey's debut in "Law & Order". After meeting Caitlin the Pizza delivery girl, Ross decides to order more Pizza so that he can flirt with her and turn on his supposed charm. His idea of flirting will make you squirm!!

The One With The Ride-Along (21:12) - As Emily's wedding rapidly approaches, the gang does its best to occupy Ross' time. Meanwhile, Chandler, Joey and Ross go out on the beat with Phoebe's new boyfriend. Chandler's feelings are hurt when Joey hurls himself in front of Ross and not him after they hear gunshots.

The One With The Ball (21:10) - Joey and Ross try to break a record by throwing and catching a ball for hours on end without dropping it. Meanwhile, in an attempt to fulfil a childhood dream, Rachel buys a Sphinx cat, but when it turns out to be mean and vicious her dream is shattered.

The One With Joey's Big Break (21:07) - Joey is very excited about getting a lead part in a movie that is being filmed just outside of Vegas. Chandler decides to join him on the road trip but is thrown out of the car after telling Joey that he doesn't feel this movie will be the big break.

The One In Vegas (42:34) - Joey's film gig in Vegas didn't go according to plan but he lands a job working as a Gladiator in the casino. He tries to keep this to himself and tells everyone not to visit. Meanwhile, in New York the gang plans a trip to surprise Joey. Ross and Rachel end up in a drunken stupor and Monica and Chandler get serious about getting married. There could be wedding bells, but for whom??

Video

    The video quality of this disc was a pleasant improvement over past series. The last episode called The One In Vegas seemed to show the best and the worst as far as quality goes.

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

    This particular transfer was quite clear and suffered from only a few specific problems. In the last episode from 9:58 to 10:06, the image was of a poorer quality and rather dark in comparison to the rest of the disc. With those few seconds aside, the shadow detail for the remainder of the transfer was quite good even during the dimly-lit casino scenes and at the bar. There was no detectable low level noise.

    The colours were bright and clear at all times throughout all episodes. This was very evident during the bright Casino lighting in The One In Vegas. Also in this episode, the scene at 17:37 shows rich colours in the drinks on the bar. There were no irregularities with the colour rendition of this transfer.

    There were a few MPEG artefacts seen and as with the previous Series it is most apparent on the hallway and apartment walls than in any other areas. There was little noticeable aliasing and the worst was at 12:23 in The One In Vegas during a camera pan.

    As always, Friends contains a good collection of subtitles to choose from, and the English subtitles that I checked appeared close to the spoken word but were not exact. The font size is quite small, most likely to fit some of the long lines on screen at the same time.

    This DVD is presented as a double-sided single-layered DVD and therefore there is no layer change. Instead, you have to leave your chair for a moment and flip the disc manually to see the other four episodes. Although a minor point, this disc continues the tradition of poor Friends disc labelling. I would like to see the Side A/B information printed more clearly on the disc.

Video Ratings Summary

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

Audio

    There is only a single English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo track to listen to on this DVD.

    The dialogue was clear and easy to understand at all times and I detected no hiss during any of the episodes. Likewise, there were no audio sync problems detected either. The laughter and applause track was mixed at an acceptable and comfortable level as well.

    The theme and background score was provided by Michael Skloff, and has not changed since the very first Episode of Friends.

    The rears were used for the "canned laughter" and were merely a reproduction of the sound from the front speakers at a slightly lesser volume level.

    The subwoofer was not used by the soundtrack at all.

Audio Ratings Summary

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

Menu

Featurette - Friends Goes To London

    This Featurette focuses on the Producer and Director explaining why they decided to do a shoot in London. There is also footage of Phoebe, who stayed in the USA because in the storyline she was pregnant and could not join the group in London. The real reason she stayed in the US is that she hates flying, so they found a nice way to keep her at home and in the script.

Featurette - Friends On Location In London

    This featurette offers some background information and location shots of the London episode. This is the episode where the gang heads to London to see Ross get married (again).

DVD-ROM

    When the disc is loaded into a DVD-ROM, DVD Friendly is loaded. Two extra menus are available that link to the "Friends Website" and the "Friends Events" site which is really the main Warner Brothers Events site for all of their products.

    These episodes of Friends had some real side splitters amongst them and the special feature length last episode was a pleasant surprise. I personally like watching Friends on DVD where it is not interrupted by commercials - I think you get more laughs that way.

    The audio is fine - and this time they have mixed the laugh track nicely into the surrounds.

    The extras are the same on both sides of the disc, but The Rembrandts' song is still there...

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall