The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air - Series 3 (DVD)

...Tatyana Ali.

The initial first show aired in September 1990 with this third series airing two years later (1992), although not getting onto DVD until 2006.
This 4 disc set contains 24 episodes, (out of the 148 from the entire series) still with the same old faces and the same old attitudes, only a bit more mature and a lot more comical.


==MAIN CHARACTERS==

'''Will Smith''' _(himself)_is ...
...of him growing up with the wrong crowd in ‘Phili’.
He is still a typical loud mouth young man with attitude, although he has matured in the few years he has been living in Bel Air.
He still like to wind up his frighteningly large Uncle Phil and still has an eye for the ladies…

'''Philip Banks''' _(James Avery)_ Will’s rich uncle, starting as a being a high flying lawyer, then as a Judge, with a very ‘large’ personality. ... more

Creators: Andy and Susan Borowitz
Stars: Will Smith, James Avery, Janet Hubert Whitten , Alfonso Ribeiro, Karyn Parsons and Tatyana Ali.

The initial first show aired in September 1990 with this third series airing two years later (1992), although not getting onto DVD until 2006.
This 4 disc set contains 24 episodes, (out of the 148 from the entire series) still with the same old faces and the same old attitudes, only a bit more mature and a lot more comical.

MAIN CHARACTERS

Will Smith (himself)is once again the street wise teenage kid from the tough streets of West Philadelphia who lives with his relatives due to his mothers fears of him growing up with the wrong crowd in ‘Phili’.
He is still a typical loud mouth young man with attitude, although he has matured in the few years he has been living in Bel Air.
He still like to wind up his frighteningly large Uncle Phil and still has an eye for the ladies…

Philip Banks (James Avery) Will’s rich uncle, starting as a being a high flying lawyer, then as a Judge, with a very ‘large’ personality. His no nonsense attitude to teenage delinquents is still being put to the test with Will, although there relationship has grown stronger over time.
He is still mainly seen as a miserable man, who dotes on his wife and kids.

Vivien (Janet Hubert-Whitten) is the beautiful wife of Philip with her PHD, working as a professor of black history. She is a strong character who has worked hard to get where she is today.

Hilary (Karyn Parsons) is Philip and Viviens eldest daughter who is a very spoilt young lady, demanding everything and anything from her parents, usually getting her own way with her father, although she is standing on her own two feet as she grows up, although she still has no capabilities of taking care of herself and relies heavily on the mansions butler.
She is seen as a bit of a bimbo and spends her time mainly pampering herself and shopping for the latest fashions, on daddies credit card of course.

Carlton (Alfonso Ribeiro) is the slightly pompous, but very funny, son of Vivien and Philip, with his selfish attitude and rather immature behaviour.
Although he tries to be cool in character he is soon showing his true colours with his love for Tom Jones songs and his very jittery dance steps.
His relationship with Will is becoming stronger as they spend more time together.

Ashley (Tatyana Ali) is the youngest of the family, (until Vivien had another baby in later series) and loves spending time with her mother, that is until Will appears on the scene with his calm outlook on life, slowly changing her way of living, much to her parents horror as she grows up.

Geoffrey Butler (Joseph Marcell) is still the Banks’s household butler. He has a very calm attitude, which helps a lot considering the people he has to work for, and his proper use of the queens English, who seems to bond well with Will. He has a very dry sense of humour and enjoys making witty remarks, especially to Philip.
He has spent years as a butler for people such as Led Zeppelin and Chuck Norris.

Jazz (Jeffrey A. Townes) is Wills friend, who continues to come across as a very irritating person indeed, especially to Uncle Phil.
He still has an almost unhealthy crush on Hilary and is always trying to get her to go on a date with him, with many disappointments.
He dresses a bit like a pimp and has a personality to match, much to the disgust of Philip, who, in many episodes deals with Jazz in a certain way.

BRIEF IDEA…

In the beginning Will’s mother shipped him off to her sisters large house in Bel Air, aiming to get him a better education and a good start in life, keeping him away from trouble in Philadelphia.
Will has know properly settled into his new life in Bel Air, living with relations who seemed initially to be the total opposite to himself, but as time passed he was soon bonding with them, becoming part of the family as time goes on.
Even though Will is liked by his new family he still causes no end of troubles for everyone, many times involving his rather soft cousin Carlton.
So with Will relishing his new life with his rich relations in there huge mansion he is still creating a lot of hassle for everyone, especially his Uncle Phil, who is still often surprised by some of Will’s actions, but has become attached to the teenage joker, seeing him as another son along side Carlton.
But once again, Uncle Phil is the least of Wills trouble as he has to contend with his cousin, Carlton, who, although a little older, is still a child in a mans body, with his bad dancing style and his love of Tom Jones songs, Will certainly has a lot to deal with in his new ready made family.

SERIES THREE… DVD

1) How I spent my vacation…
Uncle Phil is not impressed with the new look Will when he returns back from spending time in Philadelphia, especially when Ashley begins to take after him.

2) Will gets committed…
The family return to Phil and Vivian’s old LA home only to realise they have a lot of clearing up to do.

3) That’s no Lady, that’s my cousin…
Ashley begins to dress to impress the boys at the newly revamped Bel Air school, but Will land Carlton aren’t going to sit back and let her get away with it.

4) Hilary gets a job…
Hilary hit’s the high life when she lands a job as a weather broadcaster.

5) Mama’s baby, Carlton’s maybe…
The banks family is in shock, especially Will, as Carlton’s girlfriend appears on the scene with a baby, claiming it is Carlton’s, only Carlton has a little secret of his own.

6) P.S. I love you…
Will is besotted with a student at school and Uncle Phil is working towards getting on the judges bench.

7) Here comes the judge…
When Will gets arrested for unpaid parking tickets it is up to Phil to help, only he still battling to get onto the bench.

8) Boyz in the wood…
A camping trip for the men turns into a holiday from hell when snow hit’s the adventurers.

9) A night at the Oprah…
When the Banks family are invited to apear on the Oprah Winfrey show Will is excited, but when he learns that he’s not been invited he takes revenge in the only wat he knows how.

10) Asses to ashes…
Will hears that Uncle Phil is being belittled by another judge he steps in to sort the problems out.

11) A funny thing happened on the way to the forum…
Will gets close to a pregnant woman whilst accompanying Vivian to her Lamaze class and is soon getting more than he bargained for.

12) The Cold War…
Carlton and Will are enemies due to the affections of a girl. Meanwhile, Phil and Vivian entrust Geoffrey with the results of the ultrasound regarding the sex of their unborn baby, but are soon curious about the answer.

13) Mommy Nearest…
When Will’s mother tells will that she wants him to move back to Philadelphia when he graduates, but Will has other plans for his future.

14) Winner takes all…
A practical joke which Carlton and Will play on Geoffrey backfires when the butler quits his job.

15) Robbing the banks…
When some items from the house go missing all fingers point to the new handyman, who happens to be an ex-criminal… but is all what it seems?

16) Bundle of joy…
Geoffrey plays a bit of a trick on the soon to be in labour Vivian, meanwhile, Ashley is feeling a little left out due to the forthcoming events.

17) The best laid plans…
Will’s tries his charms on with another unsuspecting female, much to his delight.

18) The Alma Mater…
Carlton is astonished to find he has been accepted by Princeton University, only Carlton has been rejected, leaving him a little depressed.

19) Just say no…
Carlton finds what he thinks are vitamin tablets in Will’s locker, only they are something very dangerous indeed, much to Will’s horror.

20) The baby comes out…
Vivian is a little frustrated due to being a week late giving birth, but when she goes into labour there is no one there to help apart form Ashley..?

21) You bet your life…
Will and Carlton are having a little trouble at a casino on there way to visiting a college.

22) Ain’t no business like show business…
One of Will’s friends gives Will a chance to appear on a comedy show.

23) The way we were…
Flashbacks from the passed as children make a photo album for Viv and Phil for the anniversary.

24) Six degrees of graduation…
Will has to do something drastic in order to pass his music class, but his only answer is a little embarrassing.

This series was the last for Janet Hubert Whitten as Vivian, being replaced in the next series by Daphne Maxwell Reid

==Extras on this disc set==
Some best bits of the series and some very comical bloopers from this series

Special guest have included

Sherman Hemsley, Oprah Winfrey, Tom Jones, Riddick Bowe.

IN CONCLUSION

This is another brilliant comedy series which is as good as, or even better, than the first two.
The powers that be in the casting crew have thankfully stuck to the original cast, allowing the audience to watch as the family grow, seeming to bond with them as they do, this is a great idea as introducing new main characters into a popular series like this is always difficult to pull off.

This show, together with the characters, is maturing quite nicely with age.
Smith as the slightly smug yet very comical young man with a zest for life, coming together with Rieiro, as his cousin and now new best friend Carlton, the mini man with a passion for Tom Jones songs and a dodgy dance technique.
In this series Smith and Rieiro’s characters seem to be becoming more alike than before, with Will seeming to be calming a little whilst Carlton is gaining the confidence to be more like his bouncier cousin, the two combining to bring so many one liners and buckets full of witty comedy that the show is hilarious from start to finish.
But again, the show wouldn’t be as good without the rest of the Banks family, especially Avery who continues to portray the big guy uncle Phil, who does seem to be getting bigger as the show rolls on, (if they say cameras add ten pounds then he’s got a lot of cameras pointing at him).
Parsons, as Hilary, is still giving her character the spoilt but likable mannerism that the audience have come accustomed to, although she is maturing quite well, seeming to find her feet in life.
Thankfully, during this series we see and hear a lot more of Geoffrey who Marcell still portrays with so much humour and a ‘spiffing’ English accent, seeming to be more like Will than the rest of the family.

And once again, the writers have continued to involve the very comical character of Townes as the ever so colourful yet slightly irritating Jazz, still dressing like a colour blind, part-time pimp, with his ability to fly out of the door, with Big Phil’s help of course.

In all, continuing the great combination of characters and creating yet another hilarious series…this entire show is definitely one of the best sitcoms ever made… ( IMO anyway)
This third series is available on DVD from amazon for just under a tenner and has is nearly 10 hours of comically witty entertainment split onto 4 discs… well worth the money you’ll find.

 

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