Review of Dr Quinn Medicine Woman - Series Six [1998]

Introduction

`The Waltons` has a lot to answer for, and arguably `Little House on the Prarie` and `Dr. Quinn - Medicine Woman` are just two of the many copy-cat crimes that could be attributed to it. OK. Maybe that`s a bit harsh. There`s no doubt that this particularly sugary view of American frontiersmanship has spawned an incredibly popular genre of TV; the re-writing of
American history into soap episodes where `do-gooders` and a sense of fair-play generally prevails.

Arguably they also go some way towards redressing the blatantly racist account of the winning of the west delivered by countless cowboy movies of the thirties onwards. They generally mix some of the obvious harshness of life during those hard years with all the ingredients of good soap - romance, injustice and duplicity.

`Dr.Quinn` is regarded by many as a shining example of the genre and there is no doubt that it`s hugely entertaining, moving from episode to episode by leaving a cliff-hanger than can only be resolved by tuning in again next week. That frustration is put aside to a degree by DVD releases of entire seasons.

Though I haven`t seen any of the previous seasons, it wasn`t hard to catch up and join in with Season 6 (the finale), despite the fact that it starts with the resolution of a cliff-hanger that I presume concluded Season 5.

I was reasonably impressed with the package overall. Nicely produced menus and despite a generous four epiosdes per disc, very reasonable quality transfers. I`m guessing that they`re NTSC to PAL conversions though they look very good despite this. Maybe they were remastered for Region 2 though this seems unlikely given the probable market return. Or maybe I`m just blissfully unaware of the series` considerable fan base.

I`m guessing that anyone reading this review will already know the series. After all, why would anyone in their right mind choose to dip into something new in the sixth season, particularly as the stories are ongoing serials.

It may be worth noting though that the series was nominated for no less that 19 Emmy`s in the US as well as 5 Golden Globes, including Best TV Series. Maybe putting classy British actress Jane Seymour in the title role lent the show a certain cultural air. It premiered in January 1993 and then ran for an astonishing six seasons due to its considerable popularity, and spawned a couple of bigger budget made-for-TV movies that can be seen doing the eternal rounds today.

I suppose something in the show`s favour was the casting of a woman in the lead role - and a powerful, gutsy lady at that; a super-mum raising a large family, keeping house and home and also curing all the sick and wounded within a 50 mile radius of her home.

The original conceit of the series was that Dr. Quinn decides to leave the relatively civilised life of working in Boston for life on the frontier. By Season 6 (which is where I stepped in), Dr. Quinn is well settled into life in Colorado Springs, which is absolutely stunning here, and now has a growing family to support her. Her partner, Byron Scully, (played by mullet donning Joe Lando), starts off the series in serious trouble as a renegade wanted by the `law`.

I don`t know what unfolded in previous episodes, but there`s certainly a lot of activity in this season. There`s a miscarriage, an epidemic (spread out across two episodes allowing the Producers to cull a large percentage of the peripheral cast), a doctor gets shot and Colleen gets her very own stalker, before eventually tying the knot with Andrew. Phew!!!

So here`s the complete episode list for this set. Even a cursory read of the titles will give you a good indication of what to expect.


Episode Listing:
1.Reason To Believe
2.All That Matters
3.A Matter Of Conscience
4.The Comfort of Friends
5.Wave Goodbye
6.A Place Called Home
7.Lead Me Not
8.A Time To Heal (1)
9.A Time To Heal (2)
10.Civil Wars
11.Safe Passage
12.The Homecoming
13.Point Blank
14.Seeds Of Doubt
15.Seven Kinds of Lonely
16.Life In The Balance
17.Happily Ever After
18.Birdman
19.Vengeance
20.To Have And To Hold
21.The Fight
22.A New Beginning

Video

The cinematography in the series is very impressive and almost certainly shot on 35mm, often in stunning exterior settings. Though there are 4 episodes per disc, the quality holds up well and I suspect that it isn`t the standard NTSC to PAL conversion you`d expect for this type of series and possibly a PAL mastered transfer from original reels. Or maybe I`m dreaming. Whatever the case, not bad at all.

Audio

Perfectly adequate stereo sound - with warm dialogue drenched with a relentless string-heavy score.

Features

Each disc has an impressive animated menu, but only Disc 6 has any bona-fide bonus features. These comprise text based cast biographies as well as a photo gallery (for those who don`t know how to use the pause button). And that`s it.

Conclusion

Well, joining a series in its final season is never a great place to start and I have to confess to finding nothing appealing about this sub-Waltons/Little House on the Prairie genre of American TV. However, I enjoyed this rather more than I feel I ought to have done. Like all good soaps, it has a way of drawing you in. A quick dip into the next episode to resolve the cliff-hanger from the previous one is almost impossible to resist. With a DVD set this means you can get locked into some fairly long viewing sessions with no necessity to wait a week for a resolution.

Though it`s undiluted schmaltz, Jane Seymour is a good steady lead and the series has plenty of good production value including some breath-taking exterior shots filmed on location in Colorado Springs. It`s also not short of melodrama and it doesn`t shy away from any of the big issues: death, disease, injustice or country dancing.

Series 6 won`t win any new fans though it`s worth mentioning to those that have stuck with it thus far that this is a very decent set - nice transfer, and good steady compression with very few glitches, despite packing so many episodes on to a single disc. Unlike so many US imports, this R2 doesn`t look like an NTSC to PAL conversion either (though I may be wrong).

All in all - if you have series one to five, this set is a no-brainer. If you haven`t, then this is no place to start.