Review of Spaced (Series 2)

Introduction

Spaced Series 2 continues on where "Spaced Series 1" finished, which is pretty sensible and predictable. Predictability ends there, however as the various characters continue their slightly surreal lives.

To recap., Tim and Daisy share a flat which they rent from the landlady upstairs, and who thinks they are a professional couple. They aren`t either. Tim works in a comic store and Daisy occasionally remembers to sign on (she`s a writer you see). Then there`s a slightly odd painter in the basement and a dog called Colin.

They have some odd friends, some equally odd enemies and a courier who seems to exist in a slightly different time-space continuum.

Got that?

Spaced is (or was, they don`t intend to write any more episodes) one of the funniest sitcoms ever shown and should be watched by all and understood by only the most insane amongst you.

Video

As with the first disc, the entire production is anamorphic widescreen and very well encoded. Whilst the picture quality isn`t as good as modern blockbuster movies like The Matrix, Gladiator or the Phantom menace, it`s just about as good as TV shows get.

Colour fidelity is excellent, there are no digital artefacts, and contrast is good. The picture lacks the intense contrast of big-budget Hollywood productions - but that`s a very minor point.

The anamorphic DVD menu is nicely animated and easy to navigate.

Audio

The original TV series is in stereo, and somewhat predictably, so is this DVD :). Sound is generally good, with decent stereo separation and clarity. Voices come across well and the music is excellent - and quite important too.

I should probably mention Dolby Digital too, `cos it is.

Features

Features..

This disc has almost all of them. The main cast are anoraks of the highest order and the commentary is well worth the effort. It`s fairly obvious they just sat down somewhere and chatted whilst watching each episode, which lends a nice, spontaneous and friendly atmosphere to it all.

There`s also a very useful reference subtitle track (as well as the normal subtitles) which gives the many film and literary references through the episodes.

Lots of funny outtakes, including at least one electrocution and a whole host of deleted scenes, complete with commentary as to why they were made/deleted.

Lots of utterances of "yay". ;)

We also get the complete set of trailers and some "raw footage" - oh and "Daisy does Elvis"….. Essentially, all the features are worth watching.

I forgot to mention the biographies!

Conclusion

This is as good as, if not better than, the first disc. The story lines are just as funny, the disc quality is as good (well, OK, better) and the extras are also just as good (yes, yes… I mean better)

If you liked the first series (or enjoyed this when it was on TV) then it comes highly recommended. If you have no idea what I`m on about, go and watch the first series and then get this one :)