Beauty & The Beast – The Final Season/Season 3 (CBS DVD)
Picture:
C Sound: C Extras: D Episodes: B-
At long
last finishing out the anxiously awaited final part of its triumphant saga is Beauty and the Beast: The Final Season
(Season 3). A series that died
before its time, Beauty and the Beast
is a 1980’s series that won’t soon be forgotten. For a series that made housewives weep and
trade their love tales all round the world, it is impossible to doubt the shows
deep, yet weird impact (at least for a little while). This Final
Season was cut short and only contains 12 great episodes.
In the Final Season Assistant New York DA
Catherine (Linda Hamilton) and her now love interest Vincent (Ron Perlman), who
share an amazing bond in which Vincent can sense whenever Catherine is in
trouble, take their relationship to the next level. The season starts with Vincent on the brink
of insanity, but Catherine brings him back just in time; but at what cost? It is quickly revealed that Catherine is
carrying Vincent’s baby, but before the two even have the time to rejoice in
the presence of new life, Catherine and her unborn child are kidnapped by the
worst drug lord in New York. Catherine
apparently got a little too close for her own good. It is suddenly Vincent’s mission to track
down Catherine and his unborn child (cub?), before it is too late.
This
reviewer would like to say it was time for the series to go by the time it was
canceled, but in reality the series could have still done so much more. The Beauty
and the Beast series set up wide story arches that could have went in many
different directions. If it wasn’t for
some major plot changes in Season 3
even more could have been done (I will not give a spoiler here). In the end, however, Beauty and the Beast was inevitably doomed and before long stripped
from television all together. At least
we get to relive its final moments here on DVD.
Beauty
and the Beast- The Final Season (Season 3) is a 3 disc 12 Episode set that contains the final
moments of an intriguing saga, but the technical features continue to
dissatisfy throughout in the areas of picture, sound, and extras. The
picture again is presented as a 1.33 X 1 full screen that once again
disappoints fans with its almost analog VHS appearance. The picture
quality again is highly distorted, with off balance colors that have an odd
orange twinge throughout. The picture
quality on these sets has sadly been disappointing without exception and for
such a great series the viewers ask why? The sound this time around is
presented in an inadequate Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, instead of a disappointing
Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono. The sound is highly compressed AGAIN; giving it a
stuffy quality as if a pillow is resting on the speakers, making it difficult to
achieve the full experience. Beauty and the Beast is a wonderfully
written series with great visuals that even remain strong after 20 years.
Disappointingly, each season set release holds no extras for fans to
enjoy. With Ron Pearlman (Beast/Vincent) and Linda Hamilton
(Beauty/Catherine) still doing work in the business, it would not have been
hard to gain commentaries and interviews to put on at least ONE of these sets.
This
reviewer has commented twice now on the poor condition these sets are in and
until the studio fixes them up and includes some extras they will always be
disappointing. Just goes to show no
matter how beautiful the show is, it is still a beast without the proper care.
- Michael P Dougherty II
