HawthoRNe - The
Complete Second Season (2010/Sony
DVD Set) + Robin Of Sherwood – Set One
(1983/Acorn Blu-ray Set)
Picture: C+/B Sound: C+ Extras: C/B Episodes: B-
Two TV
shows from two different eras and countries (for that matter) are arriving on
home video and I thought it would be interesting to see them together to show
two lesser-known series getting nice disc releases.
HawthoRNe - The Complete Second
Season (2010) is
the moderate hit Jada Pinkett-Smith medical drama that should be even more
successful, but has not found its peak audience yet as far as I am
concerned. We previously reviewed the First Season at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/9998/Hawthorne+%E2%80%93+The+Compl
The show
continues to be as good as it was before and the actors are easing more
smoothly into their roles. I think this
is a show where you should begin at the beginning, but it is a great role for
Smith and I would like to see this be a larger hit. The picture & sound are the same, plus we
get extras including two photo shoots sections and three behind the scenes
featurettes.
Then
there is the British Robin Hood series that has a serious cult following that
is now out on Blu-ray. First issued in
the U.K. by Network U.K., Acorn
Media has now issued Robin Of Sherwood –
Set One (1983) which we previously covered on DVD at this link:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/5437/Robin+Of+Sherwood+Set+1+(1983+Br
Fans can
remember when a few episodes on unauthorized VHS tapes were selling for $100
and up, but this set is much less and the quality is very impressive for a series
from its time. Though I am not as big a
fan of it as my fellow writer, but I liked the playback quality very much and
the 1080p 1.33 X 1 digital High Definition image transfer shows how weak and
soft the DVDs were. Though this is shot
to be naturalistic and soft, I think the Blu-ray captures color and detail that
the DVDs just cannot handle. It still
has the less-defined look of series of the time, but to make my point, I would
be thrilled if The New Avengers
(1976 – 78, reviewed elsewhere on this site) landed up looking this good on
Blu-ray whenever it finally reaches the format.
Part of
the idea was that it not look as manicured as most of the TV series and feature
films since the Warner Bros. Errol Flynn 1938 classic Adventures Of Robin Hood (see the Blu-ray review elsewhere on this
site) and I think it even look more realistic and natural than the recent
Ridley Scott/Russell Crowe film.
The set
retains all the extras of the DVD set (the fourth bonus DVD disc is the same as
the DVD set apparently) and a 40-page booklet that is very well-made. The episodes also retain their lossy Dolby
Digital 2.0 sound mixes which are still a tad weak, but this should only bother
audiophiles expecting DTS-MA, lossless PCM or Dolby TrueHD. That would have been nice, but that this show
is even on DVD let alone one of the first older 35mm TV shows on Blu-ray is
shocking and fans will love it while those interested who have never seen it
should only settle for seeing it on this set if they can help it.
- Nicholas Sheffo
