Review of Friends: Series 7 Boxset

Introduction

Ah, the comfort blanket of one of the most popular TV sitcoms ever is back to comfort us viewers.

There are many classic episodes in this series, most notably the grand series finale - the wedding of Monica and Chandler, complete with trauma of course! Other notable episodes include Winona Ryder`s excellent guest apperance (no, she isn`t shoplifting, instead she is engaging in, er, relations with Rachel...) and the time when Ross dresses up as a `holiday armadillo` to try and teach young Ben all about Hanukkah.

Video

It is presented in 4:3 Fullscreen, which is normal for a TV-DVD transfer, but that doesn`t mean it`s necessarily good. The palette is OK, and there is the odd compression sign, but on the whole it is a fairly good print slightly sullied by the odd flaw.

Friends doesn`t revolve so much on visual comedy as say, a spoof, but there is plenty for your eyes to lap up. The situations the characters get them into is humourous, and there are some excellent set-pieces in this series, as always.

Audio

Dolby Digital 2.0 (English). It is sufficient for this, being a dialogue-driven feature. The main audio stream is crisp and clear, and the ambience level is just right. As an added bonus, on the second side of the discs (reserved for the director`s cuts), the episodes are in Dolby Digital 5.0 (English) - and although the surrounds aren`t as active as they could be, it is better than nothing.

I said that the scripts in Series 6 were the best ever, well now that series has some real competition. The scripts for each episode in this series are full of so much energy it is a shame that we are only restricted to 24 of them.

Features

The first three series had a music video. The next two had the music video plus two featurettes. Again, this series is totally avoid of extras - except for `Instant Episode Access`...a feature that has been available on every other series, but since Warner Bros. needed a main extra, they gave it a seemingly impressive name. Thanks but no...

The menus are completely static as usual, but are easy to naviagte.

Conclusion

This is up with the last series as laying claim to the title `best Friends series ever`, and all I can say is that my expectations for Series 8 are huge.

Just like every other series, the DVD itself is average: OK presentation sullied by non-existent extras.

Yet again, collectors are going to have to justify this purchase by saying "Well, the content alone is worth it".