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Category:    Home > Reviews > TV Situation Comedy > Fantasy > Drama > Adventure > Children > Animation > Adventures Of Ozzie & Harriet: Ultimate Christmas Collection 70th Anniversary DVD Set (2022/MPI)/E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial 4K: 40th Anniversary Edition (1982/Universal 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray

Adventures Of Ozzie & Harriet: Ultimate Christmas Collection 70th Anniversary DVD Set (2022/MPI)/E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial 4K: 40th Anniversary Edition (1982/Universal 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray w/Blu-ray DVD)/We Baby Bears: The Magical Box (2022/Warner DVD)



4K Ultra HD Picture: A- Picture: C+/B/C+ Sound: C+/B+/C+ Extras: C+/B/D Main Programs: B-/A-/B-



There have been some family releases for the holidays, but a bit fewer than expected this season. Still, here are three of the better ones....



The Adventures Of Ozzie & Harriet: Ultimate Christmas Collection 70th Anniversary DVD Set (2022) is the second of the new wave of releases of the classic hit TV show in remasters with MPI, much longer than an older Christmas DVD we covered eons ago and also for the benefit of fans and TV scholars, the first look at choice remasters of episode from the third season onward. You can read more about the show at this link:


http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/16149/Adventures+Of+Ozzie+&+Harriett:+The+Complete


You get 12 half-hours, plus a bonus Day After Thanksgiving show, Rick Nelson singing The Christmas Song in 1964, Cast Christmas Spots and a very interesting 1984 Christmas Special that combines old film clips with new (analog) color videotaped segments and was part of a cycle (holiday and non-holiday) for classic hit shows of the time. What makes this one hold up is how thorough it is and the great interviews with various actors throughout. The one especially interesting is longtime Lyle Talbot (everything from drama to comedy to being the first big screen Lex Luthor in the 1950s Superman serial with Kirk Alyn and Mary Jane Kroft (who started in radio and moved onto other huge hit comedies (I Love Lucy, Our Miss Brooks, The Lucy Show) having a particularly fun interview. This remains one of the best such shows and I was glad to see it again.


The 1.33 X 1 black and white image on all the original shows, especially the later ones, looks better than even I expected, even in this older DVD format. Video Black and gray scale are solid, while the lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono sounds pretty good for the format. Would be more curious than before to see this in HD. The 1984 special is in simple, lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo.


Sadly as we were posted, David Nelson's wife on the show and for years in real life, June Blair, passed away at age 90. Hope she got to see these restorations.



Steven Spielberg's E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial 4K gets a second Ultra HD release for its 40th Anniversary that includes the new limited edition gift box set in the picture above, a steelbook version, a version with a bendy figure and some new extras. The picture and sound quality are the same (though why do the models have more grain than I remembered in their shots?) and you can read more about the film at this link:


http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/15053/Batman+and+Harley+Quinn+(2017/DC+Comics/W


Watching the film again for the first time in a good while, without guns being turned into walkie-talkies and a CGI E.T. that never worked for me, the narrative economy of the film impresses, the cast is as great as ever with chemistry all around and now more than ever, I can see Spielberg knew exactly what he wanted and it is fair to say he had the whole film in his heart and head when he came up with it, got the script and directed it to the full.

Extras (per the press release, but they're all good) include 40 YEARS OF E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL: An all-new retrospective of the film and its lasting legacy.

  • TCM CLASSIC FILM FESTIVAL: AN EVENING WITH STEVEN SPIELBERG: The acclaimed director reflects on his career and the making of E.T. 40 years later.

  • THE E.T. JOURNALS: Retrace the day-to-day experience of creating E.T. from never-before-seen, behind-the-scenes footage shot by Academy Award-winning cinematographer John Toll.

  • DELETED SCENES

  • STEVEN SPIELBERG & E.T.: Watch an interview with Steven Spielberg, as he reflects back on the film and discusses his experience working with the actors, as well as his overall and current perspective on E.T.

  • A LOOK BACK: A special insider's look into the making of E.T. featuring interviews with Steven Spielberg, the cast, and others intimately involved with the film.

  • THE EVOLUTION AND CREATION OF E.T.

  • THE E.T. REUNION: The cast and filmmaker reunite to discuss their thoughts on the impact of the film.

  • THE MUSIC OF E.T.: A DISCUSSION WITH JOHN WILLIAMS: Interviews and footage focused on the long-standing relationship between John Williams and Steven Spielberg.

  • THE 20TH ANNIVERSARY PREMIERE: Composer John Williams played the score of E.T. live at the Shrine Auditorium for the re-release premiere of E.T. This featurette gives us a behind the scenes look at this presentation.

  • DESIGNS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND MARKETING

    • E.T. Designs by Production Illustrator Ed Verreaux

    • E.T. Designs by Carlo Rambaldi

    • Spaceship Designs by Ralph McQuarrie

    • Designs by Production Illustrator Ed Verreaux

    • Production Photographs

    • Marketing E.T.

  • THEATRICAL TRAILER

  • and a SPECIAL OLYMPICS TV SPOT



Last but not least, We Bear Bears has been a hit for Cartoon Network, so going back to a trend that especially hit in the 1980s and 1990s, they decided to make a spinoff version with much younger variants of the hit characters. Panda, Grizz and Ice Bears are here in in 20 episodes of the show, which run 229 minutes! That's plenty of show.


In that, the series remains child-friendly and aimed at a very young audience, they should be just fine with it. Older viewers might get a little bored after a certain point, but there are no bad surprises and that's that. Amusing and entertaining like its predecessor.


The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image on all Bears episodes have a good look and fine color like the original series, while the lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo mixes sound fine, why no 5.1 mix? The combination is solid enough considering its in older format on and older format and is as good as it can be here otherwise.


There are no extras.



- Nicholas Sheffo


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