First of all, thanks for your interest on my review.
I have always been a big fan of cartoon series such as The Simpsons, Futurama, Committed and South Park. I got to watched most of the series online or on Sky. However, I wasn’t able to catch one of my fave shows The Family Guy. I was only able to watch odd episodes and never the whole season.
My chance on getting the whole season collection on DVD was when I was given a £50 HMV voucher recently in an award ceremony during the Leap festival (http://www.lsbu.ac.uk/leap) organized by my University. It was an award to honor the contributions of student ambassadors. I was quite disappointed as the grand prize was 12 tickets to The London Eye and 1 bottle of champagne. However, I should have be thankful as it is only my first year and I beat people that were student ambassadors for over 5 years. There were only 5 awards up for grabs anyway.
With a voucher on my hand, I bravely visit the HMV store at Oxford Street and HMV at Trocadero Centre to check out the offers available. I was the perfect time as the Summer Sale was on. You can really grab good deals during the sale period.
I browse through the CDs on the first floor and found nothing. I took the escalator upstairs and a table with a set of DVD box sets welcomed me. There were CSI: Miami Season DVDs, Friends Series and on the corner, a picture of a cartoon family caught my eye. It was The Family Guy Season DVDS from season 1 to 3. Since it was on sale, it only cost £11.99 each season. It was a great deal indeed. Without hesitation, I grab the whole collection of Season 1,2 and 3.
The Family Guy is a cartoon series made in the US and shown on Fox TV. It airs on Channel 4 here but is currently off season. It consists of a regular US family, The Griffins lead by a weird father Mr. Peter. He is married to a very loving and caring wife Louis and they are blessed with three kids, Chris, Megan and a baby, Stewie. They also have a talking dog, Brian. To those that are unfamiliar with the series, I have uploaded each characters picture for your viewing pleasure. Together, they go through fun and hilarious family adventures some might say similar to the Simpsons. Fans of Family Guy please don’t be offended of what I have said. Family Guy does stand out with original characters and their own jokes.
My favourite character of them all is a tie between Brian The Dog and little baby Stewie. Brian is a high class talking dog with a drinking problem. Stewie on the other hand is a genius and mischievous talking baby that everyone seems to not understand except for the dog. But, both of them are enemies. Well, in season 3, you can expect the whole cast of Family Guy together with regular characters like Joe, the cop on a wheelchair and Death going through different adventures each episode. I guarantee that you will laugh at each episode like I did. It will definitely be a season to enjoy. There are no swearing like South Park in this animated comedy and it suitable to be watched by mature teenagers.
The season 3 DVD comes in three discs with 7 episodes on each. The 3 discs are neatly packed on individual cases in a box. The picture on the box is of the main characters of the Family Guy. Disc 1 has Stewie and Brian on the cover, Disc 2 has Mr. Griffin and Louis on the cover and Disc 3 has Chris and Megan. Each disc has a brief summation of each episode. Each DVD has a running time of 151 minutes where each episode runs for approx 25 minutes. Here is other info on the DVD as stated on the box.
Certificate: 15 Special Features: None Listed. Subtitle Languages: English for the hearing impaired Original Language:English Region: 2 - Europe and Japan
The advantage of the Season 3 DVD is that it comes with 3 disc and is packed with 21 episodes that includes a special 3 story episode that features storylines suggested by fans. Here is the full listing of episodes on each disc.
Disc 1: - The Thin White Line - Brian Does Hollywood - Mr. Griffin Goes To Washington - One If By Clam, Two If By Sea - And The Wiener Is - Death Lives - Lethal Weapon
Disc 2: - The Kiss Seen Around The World - Mr. Saturday Knight - A Fish Out Of Water - Emission Impossible - To Live and Die In Dixie - Screwed The Pooch - Peter Griffin: Husband, Father…. Brother?
Disc 3: - Ready, Willing, And Disabled - A Very Special Family Guy Freakin’ Christmas - Brian Wallows and Peter Swallows - From Method To Madness - Stuck Together, Torn Appart - Road To Europe - Family Guy Viewer Mail #1
The jokes in Family Guy are mostly made for US viewers. However, fans in the US have to purchase each disc separately. Yup, they are not as lucky as the fans here which get all the three discs together for the price of 1.
The disadvantage of the DVD is that it lacks extra features. You get the plain old chapter search and everything but there is nothing much to make it stand out from DVDs of similar genre.
My conclusions are that the season 3 DVD set of Family Guy is worth it as you get at least 7 more episodes than the previous two seasons and an extra disc than the rest. However, try and get it during sale as it will save you up to 50% off the suggested retail price. Used ones are available on ebay.co.uk auctions and Amazon.co.uk.
There is also a box set with all the 3 seasons with an additional free disc that is available for a little bit above £50.00. Get it if you are a big fan as the extra DVD should be worth it. If not, get the 3 DVDs separately at £11.99 each during sale and they will total up to as what I did.
This DVD can be purchased either in store or online on the following websites http://www.amazon.co.uk http://www.hmv.co.uk http://www.virginmegastores.co.uk
You can get further information on this DVD from http://www.foxtvdvd.co.uk
The Family Guy Official Website http://www.fox.com/familyguy
I hope this helps. Feel free to comment on my review and leave any questions on my guestbook. I will try to reply as soon as possible.
cartoon family even more animated than usual. As MacFarlane himself noted, he was inspired to go for broke, thinking that the series--already juggled like a hot pota...
cartoon family even more animated than usual. As MacFarlane himself noted, he was inspired to go for broke, thinking that the series--already juggled like a hot pota...
very helpful
very helpful
helpful
