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"Just one more
question." Would you watch Columbo on DVD? Now's your chance.
Arguably TV's greatest detective, Lt. Columbo, is now available to
buy or rent. The classic trench coated clue seeker was a part of the
rotating NBC Mystery Movie from 1971-1977. Several more movies were
made in the late 70s, and returned again as a rotating element in
the late 1980s and early 1990s in the ABC Mystery Movie. The only
way the later episodes are distinguishable from the early ones is
the fact that Falk is older. The episodes themselves never changed.
Even though the series was by far the most popular of the rotating
elements, Peter Falk refused to do more than a few episodes per
year. The series was spawned from two made-for-TV movies, both of
which are included in this set. Upon viewing this set, it really
shows me what made Columbo so groundbreaking. It was really the
first whodunit in which we actually saw the murder at the beginning
of the episode. All the fun was in finding out how Columbo was going
to put the pieces together and figure out who committed it. Quite
fascinating. Although this is not one of my favorite series, it
certainly will find a nice place in my DVD collection and should
yours.
Packaging
The outside of the box is white. It features the word "Columbo" in
red print, and has a photo of Peter Falk in the classic trench coat.
The inner digipak is quite attractive, much more so than the outer
box. It has famous Columbo quotes spread throughout and on the back
an episode listing. The digipak makes good use of the white and red
contrast and overall makes everything jump out and be quite pleasing
to the eye. The discs themselves each feature a photo of Peter Falk
in front of beautiful scenery. Overall, the packaging for this set
was very attractive. Universal did a really good job.
Menus & Functionality
When you first insert the disc and get past the Universal opening
logo, you come to the main menu - more of the red and white featured
on the box and a photo of Peter Falk. The following options are
available: Play All, Episode Index, and Languages. Clicking on
either Episode Index or Languages gets you a photo of Falk from
behind. The Episode Index is nicely laid out with a still from each
of the episodes available on the disc. From the episode index, you
can access a list of all the episodes available on the other discs.
The menu system is very nicely laid out and very easy to both
navigate and understand. Universal typically does a good job with
menus and this is no exception.
Video & Audio Quality
The Audio and video quality is very good for a 30 year old show.
Both appear to be remastered. The audio is in Dolby Digital 2.0
Mono, as stereo TV had not been invented yet. Nevertheless, it
sounds very crisp and clear. It is quite easy to make out the
smallest of sounds and dialogue is very easy to understand. The
picture quality is also very good. Colors seem to jump out on the
screen and there is not a fleck of dirt in sight. Over-compression
isn't a problem either. Movement is fluid and looks great.
Special Features
No special features can be found on this set, unless you count the
rarely seen pilot movies. It would have been nice to see some
original promotional materials here, or some commentary of some sort
from either producers or Falk himself. The lack of special features
is one of the few things I can find wrong with this set at all, but
this is such a big letdown, that it hurts the release in my opinion.
Hopefully future releases will have some sort of special features.
Rewatchability
Normally, I wouldn't give a detective series much of a
rewatchability rating, but Columbo is an exception. You know who
committed the crime at the very beginning of the episode. That
element of suspense is completely gone. What you are left is more of
a psychological drama in which you find out how Columbo is going to
solve the murder. Because of this, the episodes are very
rewatchable. Every time you watch it, you catch on to new things
that Columbo is discovering from his unusual lines of questioning
and clue finding. I would definitely give this episode a high
rewatchability rating, and in fact would recommend watching each
episode more than once.
Final Thoughts & Recommendations
The set is a little overpriced for only 9 episodes, but is still
very good. If you're unsure if you want this set, I would rent it
first. Overall though, it is a very well put together set and I
would recommend it to any mystery lover or TV lover in general for
that matter. The show revolutionized its genre and is a fascinating
watch. Go out and buy or rent it today!
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3.5/5