THE MOVIE

Introduction:

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to the DVD enthusiast that TV-to-DVD box sets have become all the rage. In fact, you might even say that the DVD medium is perfectly suited for TV-to-DVD releases. Whether your interests lie in cult favourites like ’Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ and ’Babylon 5’ or more recent offerings like ’24’ and ’Sex and the City’, TV-to-DVD offers something for everyone.

For those of you with a thing for police/legal drama, things are set to become rosy indeed! Of particular note is the soon to be released DVD box set of the long running series ’Law & Order’.

A quick note prior to launching into this review…Universal only sent through discs 4 to 6 of this six disc set, therefore the technical aspects of this review will focus on these particular discs.

Synopsis:

”In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate, yet equally important groups: the police who investigate crime and the District Attorneys who prosecute the offenders…”

Emmy Award winning ’Law & Order’ is currently the longest running and most popular drama series on TV to date. It has also spawned not one but two extremely successful spin-offs ’Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’ and the more recent ’Law & Order: Criminal Intent’ and let’s not forget the crossovers with ’Homicide: Life on the Street’. Not such a shoddy legacy for a TV series which initially had troubles keeping its head above water.

’Law & Order’ is structured into two parts each week. The first half of the episode concentrates on the investigation of a crime by the police detectives and the second half follows the prosecution of the crime in court. The first season of ’Law & Order’ initially aired in North America during the 1990/91 period and starred:

(i) Michael Moriarty (‘Along Came a Spider’, ‘Courage Under Fire’) as ADA Benjamin Stone;
(ii) George Dzunda (‘Crimson Tide’, ‘Basic Instinct’) as Det. Sgt. Max Greevey;
(iii) Chris Noth (‘Sex and the City’, ‘Cast Away’) as Det. Mike Logan;
(iv) Richard Brooks (‘The Crow: City of Angels’) as ADA Paul Robinette;
(v) Dann Florek (‘The Flinstones’, ‘Law & Order: Special Victims Unit’) as Capt. Donald Cragen; and
(vi) Steven Hill (‘The Firm’, ‘Billy Bathgate’) as D.A. Adam Schiff.

This first year box set includes the complete set of 22 episodes from the first season of ’Law & Order’ as follows:

Disc 1:

Episode 1 – ‘Prescription for Death’
Episode 2 – ‘Subterranean Homeboy’

Disc 2:

Episode 3 – ‘The Reaper’s Helper’
Episode 4 – ‘Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die’
Episode 5 – ‘Happily Ever After’
Episode 6 – ‘Everybody’s Favourite Bagman’

Disc 3:

Episode 7 – ‘By Hooker’
Episode 8 – ‘Poison Ivy’
Episode 9 – ‘Indifference’
Episode 10 – ‘Prisoner of Love’

Disc 4:

Episode 11 – ‘Out of the Half-Light’: The detectives investigate the death of a little girl in a respectable middle class family and uncover an unsuspected battered wife and evidence of long-time child abuse.
Episode 12 – ‘Life Choice’: Stone faces pressures from the public and from Schiff as he prepares to prosecute the person accused of bombing an abortion clinic.
Episode 13 – ‘A Death in the Family’: The detectives search for a man suspected of throwing a cop out of a tenement window even as his lawyer tries to arrange a deal for the man with Stone and Robinette.
Episode 14 – ‘The Violence of Summer’: Greevey and Logan reopen an investigation to help Stone and Robinette build a stronger case against the person accused of assaulting a TV reporter.

Disc 5:

Episode 15 – ‘The Torrents of Greed (Part I)’: An assault on a candy storeowner leads Stone and Robinette to build a case against a powerful gangster.
Episode 16 – ‘The Torrents of Greed (Part II)’: Stone tries to salvage his prosecution of the Masucci family when Leigel faces bribery charges and seems willing to turn against his brother-in-law.
Episode 17 – ‘Mushrooms’: The accidental shooting of two children by a fourteen year old hired killer leads to a drug dealer and a real estate agent.
Episode 18 – ‘The Secret Sharers’: Stone faces a flashy Texas lawyer and a hostile community as he tries to prosecute a young man accused of killing a drug dealer.

Disc 6:

Episode 19 – ‘The Serpent’s Tooth’: Two brothers appear to be logical suspects in the murder of their wealthy parents.
Episode 20 – ‘The Troubles’: Logan is forced to face his cultural biases when both a Lebanese gunrunner and an Irish terrorist are suspected of killing a drug dealer.
Episode 21 – ‘Sonata for a Solo Organ’: Stone and Robinette prosecute a surgeon and the wealthy father of a transplant patient for illegally obtaining a kidney.
Episode 22 – ‘The Blue Wall’: Cragen comes under suspicion during his investigation of Chief of Operations Farrell, who may have laundered drug money.

Commentary:

”Tung! Tung!”

At last…the signature sound of ’Law & Order’ will now resonate across thousands of living rooms across Australia, thanks to the medium of DVD. So what exactly has been the secret to this series’ longevity and success?

For me personally, it would have to be the fact that the series never felt the need to descend into the ‘ridiculous plot scheme’ path which plagued so many other TV dramas in the nineties. ’Law & Order’ instead existed (and indeed still exists) on the premise of good old fashioned story telling. Essentially the show satisfies the overwhelming curiosity of the general public in relation to the events that take place as part of a police investigation (i.e. the first half of each episode) followed by the ever-pleasing courtroom sequences (i.e. the latter half of each episode).

Stylistically, ’Law & Order’ has always been unashamedly gritty. Year one is no exception, with NBC Executives at the time complaining that the harsh/gritty stylistic formula adopted by ’Law & Order’ would not succeed on network television. Worse still, the first season of ’Law & Order’ holds the record for the biggest drop in sponsorships in a single season due to what was considered the controversial subject matter of the series (e.g. assisted AIDS suicide and abortion). Interesting then to note how many of its successors and imitators have adopted this same style, hoping to cash in on some much sought-after street cred!!! Obviously ’Law & Order’ was well ahead of its time and it is a credit to NBC for having the foresight to stick with the series.

Whilst some things do change (e.g. none of the original cast from year one are now with the series), it is pleasing to note that another key aspect of ’Law & Order’ remained intact over the years, i.e. presenting stories which have been ripped from the headlines. This wasn’t too evident in the first year, however as time progressed, episodes became so timely that the pre/post legal disclaimers of each episode took on a life of their own!!!

Another reason why ’Law & Order’ succeeds is because in presenting a realistic portrayal of law and order in today’s society, the series does not sugar-coat the lives of cops and lawyers. Forget the wild shenanigans of ‘Ally McBeal and ’The Practice’, these stories show that cops do make mistakes, that prosecutors sometimes lose and that suspects can just as easily confess as well as recant. Ultimately, it is this uncertainty that makes the series such a pleasure to watch!!!

Oh, and did I forget to mention the cast!!! This is an amazing ensemble, perfectly suited to this kind of dramatic serialisation. Headlined by the charismatic George Dzundza and Chris Noth who play the investigators, and followed by the equally charismatic lawyers Steven Hill, Michael Moriarty and Richard Brooks. This is one power-house of talent and is just as important to the series as its storylines. In fact, ’Law & Order’ has been renowned for making house-hold names of Benjamin Bratt, Chris Noth and Jerry Orbach.

Finally, as with any vintage TV series, it is always fun to check out the guest stars. In year one, expect to see the likes of Cynthia Nixon, William H. Macy, Gill Bellows, Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Christine Baranski.

THE TRANSFER

Video:

’Law & Order’ is of course presented in its original 4:3 (full-screen) aspect ratio. Given the age of the series (i.e. well in excess of a decade), the image is pretty much what you would expect. There has been very little clean-up (if any) afforded by Universal, which is not necessarily a bad thing as the transfer does hold up well enough, and more than likely looks better than it would have ever looked on television.

Specifically, you can expect unintentional grain and artefacting throughout the transfer. That said, colours and shadow details were represented faithfully for a show of this vintage and detail was fairly sharp.

As these discs are dual layered discs, there is a layer transition on each disc, although I assume that it has been placed between episodes as I did not notice any layer transitions.

Audio:

’Law & Order’ is presented with a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. Whilst I could harp on about how other studios have paved the way for immaculate 5.1 remixes, I won’t bother in this case as the original ’Law & Order’ soundtracks are more than adequate for this release.

Like the video, there really is not much to be said about the audio except that it does the job. Dialogue is always clear and easy to understand and background music was apt, yet subtle.

THE EXTRAS

Menus are static and are basic in terms of navigation. The ’Law & Order’ theme plays on loop during menu activation.

There is also a single 15 minute interview with ’Law & Order’ creator Dick Wolf included in this six disc set. Unfortunately I did not get to view this interview as it was not included on the discs provided to us by Universal.

The Region 4 version also seems to miss out on a 1 minute trailer for the ’Law & Order’ video game (yes, you heard that right) titled ’Law & Order: Dead on the Money’.

I guess you could say that the lack of supplemental features was a missed opportunity, however, given the quality of the actual episodes, it doesn’t really matter in the greater scheme of things.

SUMMARY

Great storylines, awe-inspiring acting and the reason why a multitude of innocents (including yours truly) decided to pursue a career in law!!! What other evidence do you require to be convinced that this is one TV series that rightly deserves a place in your DVD collection? Of course, any long-time fan of the series will tell you that whilst Year One was fabulous, the best was yet to come…bring on Year Two!!!