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| Dvdivas
was founded by John Gabbard in 2000. It's purpose has been and
remains to be to provide you, the entertainment community with
the latest dvds and movie reviews. It will continue to be your
link to the most popular dvd movies. |
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“Xena
– Season Four”
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Reviewed
by: |
Wayne A. Klein |
| Genre: |
Fantasy |
| Video: |
Full Screen
1.33:1 |
| Audio: |
Dolby Digital
Surround 5.1 (Remastered) |
| Languages |
English |
| Subtitles |
English |
| Length |
1040 minutes
|
| Rating |
NR |
| Release Date |
6/15/04 |
| Studio |
Anchor Bay
|
| Commentary:
|
Lucy Lawless,
Rene O’Connor, Robert Tapert, Chris Manheim |
| Documentaries:
|
None |
| Featurettes:
|
“Brining Monsters to
Life at K.N.B. EFX Group”, “Adventures in Sin Trade”, “Bruce
and Ted Cabin Fever” |
| Filmography/Biography:
|
None |
|
Interviews: |
Cast and
crew |
| Trailers/TV
Spots: |
None |
| Alternate/Deleted
Scenes: |
None |
| Music
Video: |
None |
| Other:
|
Bloopers
and outtakes, Photo gallery, DVD-ROM bios, chronicles, trivia,
production design drawings, sketches, director’s cuts of “Between
the Lines”, “A Good Day and “Locked up and Tied Down” |
| Cast
and Crew: |
Lucy Lawless, Renee O’Connor, Ted
Raimi, Bruce Campbell, Kevin Smith |
| Written
By: |
R. J. Stewart, Chris Manheim |
| Produced
By: |
Eric Gruendemann, Chris Manheim,
Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert, R. J. Stewart |
| Directed
By: |
Ken Girotti, T. J. Scott |
| Music:
|
Joseph LoDuca
|
| The
Review: |
What’s a warrior princess to do
when her best friend’s daughter turns out to be evil and has
given birth to a monster? Why jump right into battle but not
before some soul searching. The fourth season of “Xena” opened
with a difficult dilemma for Gabrielle. While Xena is ecstatic
that Gabrielle is still alive that euphoria is tempered by
the discovery that the that Gabrielle’s daughter Hope who
embodied evil has given birth herself to a horrible monster.
There’s a considerable amount of darkness and bumps in the
road ahead for Xena and Gabrielle’s friendship as they must
battle Hope and kill her offspring. “A Family Affair” is no
less dark as Xena discovers what happened to her son Solan
and the information she learns threatens to destroy her close
friendship with Gabrielle. ***
Although often viewer as a poor
cousin to Kevin Sorbo’s “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys”,
“Xena” continued to plough its own unique fertile field of
stories. Lucy Lawless and Rene O’Connor continued to add depth
and texture to their roles. While the lesbian subtext of the
series continued to draw attention, it seems to me that’s
a male interpretation of a very close bond between two women.
Perhaps it’s there, perhaps not either way it draws attention
from some terrific writing and direction during the show’s
peak season. ---
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| Image
and Sound: |
Looking
as sharp and shiny as Xena’s sword, the fourth season continues
to show improvement over previous editions. The image quality
seems slightly sharper. While the colors of the show have always
been vivid and bright, the colors seem crisper in this particularly
DVD than seasons one, two and three. The remixed 5.1 Surround
Sound sounds particularly good although I did notice more than
a hint of compression particularly during some of the action
sequences of the show. Also, there are times where the dialogue
seemed a bit too low in the mix. That could have been a problem
with the disc I watched. Regardless, Anchor Bay continues to
set a high standard that many of the major studios still can’t
match for the quality of the DVD transfer, extras and price.
|
| The
Extras: |
We get
three featurettes. The best of the three “Adventures in the
Sin Trade” focuses on the two part episode that was a cornerstone
of this season. The humorous “Bruce & Ted in Cabin Fever”
also provides a brief highlight in this great set. The featurette
on the special effects/make up on the series was fascinating
but probably not something I’d watch more than once or twice.
Now we get to the most important part of any boxed set—the
gag reel and bloopers. Any boxed lives or dies by these two
and the gag reel for season four is funnier than most. The
bloopers with people running into walls, blowing their lines,
cursing, etc. is always a delight. It reminds us all that,
no matter how good a drama becomes, the people that make them
always make plenty of mistakes on the road to success. It’s
something most fans can connect with immediately. ---
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| Commentary:
|
We get a
couple of commentary tracks provided by the stars and the writer/producers
for the show. Curiously, none of the supporting cast appears
on the commentary tracks. Also, the lack of any input from one
of the series’ regular directors (outside of Manheim who has
written/producer/directed a number of episodes and ditto for
Executive Producer Tapert) is sorely missed. Although Executive
Producer and guiding light Sam Raimi didn’t have a huge amount
of hands on involvement in the day-to-day production of the
series, I’m dying to get his droll insight into many of the
best episodes presented here. Perhaps we’ll get that as a bonus
next time although with Raimi’s success with “Spiderman 2”,
it’s unlikely. |
| Final
Words: |
Another
strong season for “Xena” as the show reached its dramatic peak
with season four. The strong writing, direction and performances
make this a set that fans will come back to again and again.
The featurettes make this a worthwhile purchase with the commentary
tracks of particularly interest. The best commentary tracks
make an episode we’ve seen six or seven times fresh again and
that’s the case here as well. “Xena” slices and dices the competition
when it comes to boxed sets. Let’s hope she continues to set
the standard for quality and price when it comes to TV on DVD.
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