Is Green Acres the place to be?

I picked up Green Acres Season One yesterday and watched the first 4 episodes last night. Overall, I think MGM did an okay job. The video transfer is a 'hit and miss' affair; at times things look pretty good while other times, the picture quality is poor (soft images, weird color shifting, etc.) Also, there is a fair amount of film grain, plus dirt & speckles throughout. My guess is that many different elements were used to strike the transfers. That being said, from what I've seen so far, this is undoubtedly the best that this series has looked since its original network run. The DD mono soundtrack is downright serviceable, bordering on very good. Nothing to complain about there.

Now for the things I don't like...

First off, I HATE DVD-18 discs!! Every single time I have purchased one of these sets, if it contains DVD-18 discs, at least one disc in the set has scratches. In this instance, both discs (yep, 32 episodes on TWO discs) were scratched and full of fingerprints and smudges. Plus, the digi-pack hubs are by far the absolute worst I have ever encountered. I honestly thought the disc was going to crack in half as I tried to pry it off this thing. Talk about a death grip! So far though, no playback problems.

The menu system is very plain which is okay, but it sure would be nice to have a "play all" option. You have to go back to the menu after each episode and select the next one. A much more serious omission is the lack of any chapter stops. Each episode is a single chapter, so you select the episode and hit play. In theory, that's not so bad, but the way these things are set up, every single episode opens with an MGM lion roar (always about 20 db louder than the actual episode!), and as much as I like the theme song show open, it would be real nice to be able to skip past it and get right into the action.

At the end of the day, if you are a fan (and who isn't? ), you'll want to pick this up. It's interesting to see how the characters are introduced and then 'tweaked' into the characters we vividly recall from years of viewing. For instance, Lisa's accent is much less pronounced in the early episodes and her indelibly stamped "hot cakes" are simply called pancakes. When County Agent, Hank Kimble, is introduced, he speaks with nary a stammer. And Alf (or is it Ralf) Monroe (Sid Melton) first appears as a completely different character (a plumber.) You get the idea... Fun stuff!

 

Yup, I received mine full of fingerprints & a huge scratch on one disc! Very frustrating...In reference to the 2 disc set,...What can we expect for a little over $20.00 for 32 episodes! I really dislike DVD-18's too The price is right at a cost...I'm thrilled to own these! Do you usually keep scratched discs or return them? I return them only if they don't play...Although it bugs me when I see the scratches! Amazingly, the scratched DVD's I've come across play perfectly A few pristine DVD's gave me problems...

 

At this point, Michael, if a DVD-18 plays correctly, I don't bother to return it. Of course, the downside is that if you ever go to trade one in at a store with a trade-in program, they may not take the disc because it has scratches. I went through 3 copies of season one of The West Wing before I settled on a set with only two scratched discs. I can't imagine that the manufacturing process of these discs is that much different from a DVD-9, but this sure seems to be a widespread quality control problem...

As far as the price goes, I'm not complaining. It's a decent value. I paid $25 for mine at a local retailer. I hope that if this sells well, MGM will 'raise the bar' with the release of future seasons. I can't believe that there is nothing in the way of extras available for a special features section.

Gary