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TITLE: DRAGNET 1967 - SEASON 1
Info:
DVD Release Date: June 7, 2005 (Universal Studios Home Entertainment)
Color/1967
MSRP: $39.98
Number of Discs: 2 DVDs, 1 CD
Number of Episodes: 17
Running Time: 432 Minutes
Total Run Time of Special Features: 30 minutes
Languages, Subtitles, Closed Captioning: English,
Spanish, and French subtitles
Special Features: "The Big Cut" episode of Dragnet
radio program
Introduction:
Dragnet was one of the earliest police dramas in
television that was spawn from a radio series of the
same name that began in 1949 on NBC radio. Just three
years later, the series began airing on the NBC
television network in addition to the radio shows,
where it remained until 1959. Several reincarnations
of the program were made after that cancellation,
including a recent one on ABC, but perhaps the most
well-known reincarnation of Dragnet is the series that
ran on NBC between 1967 and 1970. And now, the first
season of the 1967 version of the series, Dragnet
1967, is available on a two-disc set that additionally
includes a bonus CD. Dragnet 1967 follows Sergeant Joe
Friday (Jack Webb and his partner Bill Gannon (Harry
Morgan) as they try to track down the murderers,
thieves, robbers, and other criminals that do their
crime in Los Angeles, California. Every single case is
based upon a true story, and at the end of each
episode, the viewer finds out what happened to each of
the suspected criminals in the episode. As always, the
names have been changed to protect the innocent.
Memorable Episodes / Notable Guest Stars:
Season One contains 17 episodes, and begins with "The
Big LSD"�a rather well-known episode that deals with a
"new" drug at the time,
LSD, and Friday and Gannon's struggle to take down the
LSD dealer before it is too late. A neo-Nazi brings
his hatred�and maybe terrorism plans�to Los Angeles in
"The Big Explosion." Before going on to star in the
series Adam-12, Kent McCord plays a police officer
that may be in trouble with the law himself in "The
Big Interrogation."
Friday and Gannon try to take down a habitual drunk
driver that may have murdered two pedestrians in "The
Big Accident." Friday and Gannon try to solve a
suicide�or maybe a murder�when the evidence just
doesn't add up in "The Big Bullet."
Packaging:
The packaging in this set is very well-done, with
three slim cases in the box. The picture of Friday
that is included on the box cover is the same picture
that is displayed on each of the slim cases. On the
back of each slim case on the two DVDs, there is a
listing of the episodes that are contained on that
disc. The DVDs are two-sided, so there are no pictures
on them, but the bonus CD has a picture of Jack
Webb as he appeared on Dragnet in the 1950s. The
breakdown of the discs on this packaging is very odd,
with episodes 1-7 on Side A of
Disc 1, episodes 8-14 on Side B of Disc 1, and
episodes 15-17 on Disc
2. In other words, 14 episodes are contained on Disc 1
and only three episodes on Disc 2. What is even more
unusual is the fact that Disc 2 appears to be a
two-sided disc, but there is nothing on the other side
of that disc. The episode breakdown could have been
done much better than it actually was on this set.
Menu Design and Navigation:
The menus in this set are sufficient, but very plain.
When the disc is inserted, the options that are
displayed include Play All, Episode Index, and
Languages. Play All will play every episode on the
disc, obviously. Episode Index takes you to a menu
where you can choose the episode that you wish to
play. Once you have selected an episode from that
menu, you are taken to another menu that describes the
episode and gives you the options of Play, Scenes,
Episode Index, Languages, and Menu. The Scenes option
takes you to the Scene selection menu, which allows
you to start the episode at any place where a
commercial break would be inserted (chapters are
placed at the same positions in the episodes). The
Languages option that is available from the Main
Menu allows you to turn on subtitles, which are
available in English, Spanish, and French. Side A of
Disc 1 also contains previews for other
Universal DVD releases, which play immediately upon
inserting the disc. The menu button, however, will
help you skip past these previews.
Video and Audio Quality:
There is quite a bit of grain on the picture in the
episodes, particularly in the earlier episodes on the
set. As a matter of fact,
I've never seen a set with as much grain as is
contained on the picture of these episodes. There are
a few episodes that are very clean, but some of them
have somewhat major grain problems. The series is an
older one, of course, but I would have expected a
cleaner picture than what I saw on this set. Other
than that, there are no other major flaws with the
video quality. The audio on this set is provided in
Dolby Digital 2.0 mono, which is good enough for a
series as old as this one. There are no major problems
with the audio other than the typical problem that
many sets have�low volume. The set is not
closed-captioned, but English subtitles are available.
The episodes appear to be unedited, with each episode
running around 25 minutes.
Special Features:
This set could have been a little bit better in
regards to special features, but the set isn't a
complete disappointment either. The only special
feature included is a bonus CD that contains a 30
minute episode of the Dragnet radio series from
9/14/54 titled "The Big Cut."
This disc is NOT a DVD, although it will play in a DVD
player as a CD.
Or, you could just play this CD in a stereo, including
a car stereo if you want to. The audio quality of the
radio program is surprisingly good. The episode sounds
as if it was taken directly from an NBC radio
broadcast from the time period. Even the original
advertisements (the program was sponsored by a
cigarette company) are included in the program, as
well as a voiceover advertising other NBC Radio
programs running over the closing music. Anybody that
remembers the era where radio programs were common
will probably love this. It would be nice to see more
special features on future releases.
Final Comments:
This set could have been a little better organized and
could have included some more special features.
Regardless, though, this set is still a very good set
that any fan of Dragnet or police drama in general
should seriously look in to. Even though I enjoy very
few dramas from this time period, Dragnet is one of
those series that I can actually watch and enjoy,
perhaps because the show takes real cases and
dramatizes them to a point where they don't even seem
real anymore. The show can take cases that would
seemingly be extremely boring, such as con artists
that are selling fake magazine subscriptions, and turn
it into a very interesting story. And of course, at a
list price of $39.98, this set is definitely a great
value.
Final Numbers (out of 5 stars - How our point system works)
Video Quality: 4/5
Audio Quality: 4/5
Special Features: 1.5/5
Menu Navigation/Design: 4.5/5
Overall: 4/5
-- Reviewed by skees53 on 06/01/05
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