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Jerry Seinfeld, Jason Alexander, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Michael Richards, John Randolph, Jerry Stiller

Yep, pirates are in right now. Thank Johnny Depp for that and “Pirates of the Caribbean”. Once again “Seinfeld” was ahead of the curve. “The Puffy Shirt” episode was one of many classics that came out of “Seinfeld” during its peak years—the fifth and sixth seasons. It’s appropriate that it is in the Smithsonian right next to Captain Kirk’s yellow spandex shirt and on the other side of the falsies of the first transvestite. Larry David, Jerry Seinfeld and the cast found their groove and made the most of it with the most outrageous stories one can imagine in a comedy TV series. We also learn tht just because a woman has a Chinese name that doesn’t make her Chinese and that it’s OK to eat out of the trash as long as your mother’s girlfriend doesn’t see you. Valuable lessons all and without them our lives would be diminished or, at the very least, less amusing. As time as progressed “Seinfeld” hasn’t been the victim of “shrinkage” and doing the opposite of what was expected in TV paid off in spades. Gee it sounds as if the show mirrored George’s life not Jerry’s.

Columbia-Tristar has sprung for the best for “Seinfeld”. The series is presented in high definition with a picture much, much better than what has been seen in syndication. “Seinfeld” was originally shot on 35mm film so some of the grain visible was inherent in the original film. I didn’t detect any analog defects nor did I see any digital ones that were noticeable. The sound has nice presence and the dialogue is crystal clear.

Since the gift set is, essentially, the same as the individual releases (minus the puffy shirt and copy of Seinfeld’s handwritten script), I’m going to break them down based on the season. With Season five “Jason+Larry=George” discusses the creation of George out of the parts of Jason Alexander and co-creator/writer/producer Larry David. “Inside Look” has featurettes for the following episodes: “The Puffy Shirt”, The Glasses”, “The Sniffing Accountant”, “ The Mango” , “The Lip Reader”, “The Non-Fat Yogurt”, “The Barber”, The Conversion”, “The Stall”, The Marine Biologist”, “The Pie”, “The Stand-in”, “The Fire”, “The Raincoats”, “The Hamptons”, “The Opposite” we also get deleted scenes for all of those episodes except “Sniffing”, “The Lip Reader”, The Barber” and “The Hamptons”. Promotional spots are included as well. Stand up footage cut prior to the airing of the episodes is included as well. ***

Also included are alternate versions of “The Non-Fat Yogurt”. One was created with an eye towards syndication and runs slightly longer. The original episode will play automatically unless you selected the syndicated version. There isn’t a huge difference between the two episodes although, again, the syndicated version runs a little longer probably due to the timing and performances. ***

Season six has a half hour featurette calling “Running with the Egg” which provides an inside look at the creation of a single episode from conception to the time its shot. Bloopers are include and run about 20 minutes as well as a short animated version of the episode “The Race” entitled “Sein-imation: The Big Race”. There’s also a pair of more animated segments entitled “Seinfeld: Noir” and “Kramer vs. The Monkey”. We also get “Inside Looks” for the following episodes: “The Big Salad”, “The Pledge Drive”, “The Couch”, “The Soup”, “The Switch”, “The Race”, “The Label Maker”, “The Kiss Hello”, “The Doorman”, “The Diplomat’s Club”, “The Jimmy”, “The Fusilli Jerry”, The Face Painter” and “The Understudy”. Deleted scenes include most of the above episodes as well with the exception of “The Fusilli Jerry”, “The Jimmy” and with deleted senes for “The Beard” and “The Scofflaw” as well. ***

Let’s not forget the puffy shirt and the replica of the handwritten script. While these aren’t as informative or fun as the extras include on the DVDs, it is nice to have something tactile that you can touch or play with while you’re watching various episodes. I’d like to note that if you can get a better price on the two sets individually than the boxed set, I’d suggest that approach because, while thee extras are clever and fun, they don’t add that much value to the package.

Seinfeld at its peak. While the show would coast at the same level for some time, the writing, direction and performances never got better than seasons 5 and 6. The extras are great providing viewers a chance to see the creation of an episode, inside glimpses into some of the most popular episodes and commentary tracks that are both amusing and enlightening. If you absolutely need the puffy shirt and script (which make for a great gift with the set if you’re giving it to someone else), keep in mind it’s a miniature puffy shirt. The script is a miniature replica of a handwritten script as well.