The Good
Paramount is sitting on a goldmine of classic television.
The Bad
No Extras. Edited episodes.
The Streets of San Francisco: The First Season, Vol. 2 gives fans of this cop show the final 13 episodes of what has to one of the greatest procedurals to ever grace network television. Imbued with a sense of realism, Karl Malden plays veteran Detective Mike Stone. Michael Douglas plays his sassy, up for anything partner Steve Keller. Together these two men do everything in their power to keep the peace in the city by the bay.
The second half of this maiden season opens with the timely episode (especially in 2007), “Deathwatch.” Two men out fishing spot Illegal alien smugglers at sea. They are held at gunpoint and then after one is killed they are forced to take part in the operation. Well, it isn’t long before Keller and Stone are on the case. “A Room With a View” sees a seductive assassin starting a relationship with a high school teacher. His motives are devious and you can bet that Keller and Stone aren’t going to sit back and let him simply carry out his plans. Lastly, “The Unicorn” sees Stone and Keller get involved in a heroin ring involving a priest and some very bad dudes.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
Always hard edged, tough and thought provoking The Streets of San Francisco: The First Season, Vol. 2 delivers in all the ways one might hope for.
Features
No Extras came with this release.
Video
Full Screen Format. These shows were solidly compressed. I had a chance to watch this Paramount Home Entertainment release on a small DVD player that didn’t interlace the image. Therefore the episodes wouldn’t look as crisp as they normally might right off the bat. Well, these episodes passed this test with flying colors because the picture looked really strong. There’s a lot of blues, blacks and dark greens and everything seemed to hold together well here. The only problem was this disclaimer: Some episodes may be edited from their original network versions.
Audio
Dolby Digital: English Mono/Spanish Mono. Subtitled in English and Spanish. The audio for this release was solid even though there wasn’t anything too special about it. I had the pleasure of hearing this audio on two speakers that were at the front of the DVD player that I watched this show on. Everything played fine, I didn’t hear any drop outs or any points where I noticed anything that sounded bad. Thankfully they didn’t mess with the audio for this release and by that I mean they included the original soundtrack and whatnot.
Package
Malden and Douglas take over the front of this release both clad in suits with the city of San Francisco all around them. While they are in color the images around them are in black and white. The back of this release showcases a bunch of images from this show, a description of what The Streets of San Francisco: The First Season, Vol. 2 is about and technical specs. The four discs in this set are stored in two slim cases both of which have the same image of the city (I think it’s the Embarcadero section?), as well as some more images from the show on the front, and episode descriptions and airdates on the back.
Final Word
What I really enjoy about this show is the interplay between Michael Douglas and Karl Malden. Both of these characters are very different yet it is interesting seeing how they go about reaching the same objective. Also, it is very refreshing to see Douglas play the hotshot detective with a brain. He isn’t so much cavalier as he is street smart, but there’s something about Malden’s character that always keeps him a few steps ahead. I also love the measured pacing that this show employs. Oftentimes, we won’t see our stars until later in the game after their foils have been operating for some time. This gives us a perspective on these people and it also helps us get pulled into their confidence. As a viewer I found that it really allowed the slow burn of these San Francisco stories to translate into the high drama that it was supposed to.
Sure there were things about this release that bothered me (I already mentioned them above), but as far as solid, classic, groundbreaking television goes, The Streets of San Francisco: The First Season, Vol. 2 comes out of the chamber with a bang.
The Streets of San Francisco was released .
