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| Dvdivas
was founded by John Gabbard in 2000. It's purpose has been and
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“Joan
of Arcadia-Season -1“
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Reviewed
by: |
Wayne A. Klein |
| Genre: |
Drama |
| Video: |
1.78:1 Anamorphic
Widescreen |
| Audio: |
Dolby Digital
5.1 |
| Languages |
English |
| Subtitles |
None |
| Length |
1028 Minutes |
| Rating |
NR |
| Release Date |
5/10/05 |
| Studio |
Paramount
Home Video |
| Commentary:
|
On five episodes
by the cast, writers, director and producer |
| Documentaries:
|
None |
| Featurettes:
|
“The Creation of ‘Joan
of Arcadia’”,”Joan of Arcadia: A Look at Season One” |
| Filmography/Biography:
|
None |
|
Interviews: |
None |
| Trailers/TV
Spots: |
None |
| Alternate/Deleted
Scenes: |
Deleted scenes
|
| Music
Video: |
None |
| Other:
|
“Faces of
God” |
| Cast
and Crew: |
Amber Tamblyn,
Joe Mantegna, Mary Steenburgen, Jason Ritter, Michael Welch,
Chris Marquette, Becky Wahlstrom |
| Written
By: |
Barbara Hall,
Joy Gregory, Robert Girardi |
| Produced
By: |
Barbara Hall
and James Hayman |
| Directed
By: |
Jack Bender,
Elodie Keene, Alan Myerson |
| Music:
|
Eric Bazilian
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| The
Review: |
When most folks have a conversation
with God face to face we’d very carefully walk around them
and notify the police. Luckily, that didn’t happen to Joan
(Amber Tamblyn). It’s probably because she really is talking
with the same God of the Old Testament, the New Testament
and the Koran. Barbara Hall’s series touches on spirituality
and how one person can change other people’s lives. It’s a
concept that most of us have forgotten in the post 9/11 world
we live in. 9/11 brought us all closer together in some sense.
There’s also a sense that it made the United StatesJoan talks
to God. God looks different every time and Joan has a slightly
different “mission” every time. The series reminds me of a
more spiritual version of “Quantum Leap” (although Joan appears
as herself all the time); that’s not to suggest it’s derivative
as Joan explores similar territory with equal success. ---
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| Image
and Sound: |
A nice,
solid transfer from Paramount, “Joan of Arcadia” looks exceptionally
crisp with nice bright colors. There’s little to no digital
artifacts and, although the image quality is a tad dark at times,
the series is nicely reproduced for this boxed set. The stereo
2.0 surround has nice solid presence with crystal clear dialogue.
--- |
| The
Extras: |
Creator/producer/writer
Barbara Hall discusses how she came up with the concept of
the series but, more importantly, how to sell the show without
worrying about appearing like a clone of another spiritual
show like “Touched by an Angel” in “Creating Joan of Arcadia”.
“The First Season” features the actresses Steenburgen, Tamblyn,
Mantegna comments about the significance of the show to them.
Mantegna’s comments touch on the heart of the show the best;
Joan’s interaction with God may be the catalyst but the show
is really about the interaction of the mortals and real people
that drive the show not the gimmick. Hall uses Mantegna’s
part as a police officer who isn’t religious and doesn’t believe
in God as a springboard to examine both the darkness and light
i life. The “God Gallery” puts together clips from various
episodes where he/she appears under various guises. The producers
discuss how the importance of who God appears as and where
he appears helps direct the each story having symbolic weight.
We also get two deleted scenes with a play all feature. ---
|
| Commentary:
|
The commentary
tracks for “The Gift” and “Silence” are among the best on this
set. “The Gift” features Tom Garrigus, writer David Grae, writer/producer
Joy Gregory and Executive Producer/writer Stephen Nathan having
a lot of fun discussing the creative process on the series.
All the writers have a nice interplay on this particular episode
clearly they enjoy working together. “Silence” features writer/producer
Barbara Hall and director/producer Jim Heyman interact really
well both focusing on their respective crafts and making interesting
observaions about both the production side of things and also
the writing process Hall went through in creating the last episode
of season one. Heyman and Hall work well together interviewing
each other and digging below the usual production details to
add another dimension to each episode via the commentary track.
There are also three other commentary tracks featuring the cast
and/or the producers. --- |
| Final
Words: |
A funny
“dramedy” that touches on a number serious issues, “Joan of
Arcadia” is an example of that rare miracle for a new TV show;
the cast, writers, directors and producers gel perfectly from
the first couple of episodes. Paramount has done a nice job
with the special features and the transfer on this terrific
series. Now if the series could find the large audience it deserves,
life would be good. |
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