Flight Of The Conchords – The Complete Collection (2007 – 2009/HBO DVD Set) + Arj Barker – LYAO (DVD/CD Set/Warner Music)
Picture:
C+/C Sound: B- Extras: B/C- Episodes/Concert: B/B-
Though it
did not become one of their long-running hits, the HBO series Flight Of The Conchords is the kind of
show a network otherwise might not have tried and it has its moments throughout
its two-season run. Created by James
Bobin, Jemaine Clement (Despicable Me)
and Bret McKenzie (Tim & Eric
Awesome Show, Great Job!), Clement and McKenzie play the two leads who
happen to have the same first names, now here in a Complete Collection DVD
set. Loosely based on a BBC radio
comedy, the two play a music duo trying to make it in the declining music
industry. It does not help that they
play a genre that peaked in the early 1970s: Folk.
They also
come from New Zealand, but
are not even achieving the success New Wave/Rock/Pop band Split Enz briefly did
in the U.S., so we get their
trials, tribulations and encounters in New
York City for better and worse. The comedy works on a laid-back level, but
also has up-energy moments that punctuate the show throughout its run. There are side character like the obsessed
fan named Mel (Kristen Schaal) and pawn shop broker and personal adviser to the
duo, Dave (Arj Barker), this all leads to vicious enclosing circles for them
instead of new people they want and need to meet to grow as an act find
commercial and critical success.
Of
course, it may be a sitcom convention that they do not succeed or the show
would suddenly become interesting and that may be one of the reasons they could
not get it to work in the long term, but I like the casting, performances and
chemistry. At least it is an intelligent
show with character development and all 22 hour-long shows are consistent in
this.
Extras
include a 2005 concert DVD of the Conchords performing called One Night Stand, while the two season
sets in its larger box include Outtakes, Deleted Scenes, Dave’s Pawn Shop
Commercials, New Zealand Consulate Meetings with Murray & Greg (supporting
actor co-stars Rhys Darby and Frank Wood from the show) and Flight
Of The Conchords: On Air Documentary feature.
Barker is
a stand-up comedian and during the run of the show has released several programs,
including a DVD/CD set of a concert he released as LYAO. He is actually funny
on his own left to his own devices and the hour-long show has some smiles and a
few laughs. Both versions are just fine,
but there are really no extras and the paper pullout tells us little, though
this was taped at the Pantages Theater in Minneapolis,
Minnesota.
The anamorphically
enhanced 1.78 X 1 image in all cases are produced in digital High Definition
video, though the One Night Stand
concert is 1.33 X 1 and is not bad as well as on par with the anamorphic
programs. For the TV episodes, they can
be soft, but are not bad and a Blu-ray version would likely produce better
images, but we still get some detail issues and motion blur. The One
Night Stand concert is about as good, but the LYAO image is weaker, has staircasing, weak color and aliasing
errors throughout.
The Dolby
Digital 2.0 Stereo on Season One of
the series and the One Night Stand
concert have some surround information, but the Dolby Digital 5.1 on Season Two is better enough to sound like
a modern TV production. The PCM 2.0
16/44.1 CD Stereo and Dolby Digital 5.1 DVD mixes on LYAO are the best overall, though the Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo on
the LYAO DVD is weaker than
expected.
Something
tells me we have only just begun to hear from the cast and crew of these
projects and we’ll be talking about these releases more and more as time goes
on. Catch them now and be ahead of the
game.
- Nicholas Sheffo
