21 Jump Street – The Complete Third & Fourth Seasons
Picture: C
Sound: C+ Extras: D Episodes: B-
Though still considered a silly series that was a hit, 21
Jump Street actually did grow a little bit more as it went on (and that I
remembered) but by the time it hit its third season, Richard Grieco joined the
cast. For a while, it looked like the
show could be a launching pad for young stars, but by the fourth season, Johnny
Depp was bowing out and the ratings were not strong enough to help the show
survive that. The other problem is that
it simply could not escape the 1980s corner it painted itself into.
Another issue is that the stars playing teens and being
able to go undercover for so long before they got too old. Certainly, the formula and general TV series
grind were more than enough to play the show out for Depp to leave, but the
other thing that is interesting it the show’s idea of high school in its
day. There may have been trouble in
these shows, but they are often a picnic as compared to what is going on too
often now. Though a TV version of
reality, it is “good old days” if they ever really existed. That, as much as the corniness, the stars of
tomorrow, the ones that did not have an enduring career and strange nostalgia
are the main reasons anyone would still look at The Complete Third &
Fourth Seasons. Of course, there
are the Depp fans, who all look on in amazement with non-Depp fans just how far
he has gone since.
The full frame 1.33 X 1 image is again mixed, especially
from show to show, with image trouble off of tape sources that particularly
have noise and even bleeding color. The
old early TV stereo is available here in Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo when even Pro
Logic surround was still not common, and these shows have no surrounds to speak
of. These shows run 1988 – 1990. This time, unlike the first season, all the
DVDs are in slender cases, there are no booklets or extras.
- Nicholas Sheffo
