Friends - The Complete Season 1: CE

What began as just another American sitcom and went on to become possibly the most watched sitcom ever is currently in its tenth year. Viewers were first introduced to Ross, Rachel, Chandler, Monica, Joey and Phoebe all that time ago and quickly became addicted to the weekly goings on of a group of friends in their 20s. The viewing public related to the characters so easily and quickly pushed the show to the number one watched sitcom on not only US television but worldwide.

The famous title for the first time.

Friends – The Complete Season 1: Collector's Edirion takes us back to where it all began. This four disc set contains the entire first season and is a welcome release after the initial Best Of Friends compilations were released some time ago. Fans were not too pleased at these early releases, made up of random episodes and rightly felt hard done by. There were also the releases of seasons in volume format, meaning consumers had to purchase at least three separate releases to own the entire season. Recent times have seen complete seasons being released, though, and this will allow diehard fans to someday soon own the entire collection.

"How you doin’?"

There are 24 episodes contained in this four disc set. All are uncut and fully remastered, giving fans nothing but quality.

Episode Listing:

It was a pleasant surprise to watch this first season once again. Many older sitcoms have not aged well, however Friends has maintained its attraction after all this time. Many of Chandler’s one liners have aged, but the majority of the humour will still have fans laughing out loud. Part of the attraction is also seeing these characters in their infant stage, before we got to know them so well.

This season is a good reminder of where many of the themes of later years began. Ross’s obsessions with Rachel, the introduction of Chandler’s on again off again girlfriend Janis, Monica’s criticising mother, Joey’s stupidity, Phoebe’s strangeness and songwriting talent and Rachel’s naivety, to name but a few.

The soggy six.

This show has gone on to become possibly the most popular sitcom in history and is loved throughout the world. The first season is where it all began and is a pleasure to relive. Seasons two and three have already been released along with later seasons so all I can say to fans is start saving and get them all!

All 24 episodes have been remastered and they look better than ever. They are presented in full frame with terrific colour levels. There is the occasional pixelisation, but nothing too serious, plus a slight softness in some instances. Grain is also evident, but again this is very rare and causes little problem. There is a good choice of subtitles and the English ones sampled were true to what is said on screen.

Audio is supplied in Dolby Digital 5.0 and although not really necessary for a show such as this, it does add an extra quality. Dialogue is kept to the front speakers with the rears used for music support and some good directional effect. Although this is subtle most of the time, it does add to the whole mix well. Overall this is much better than the standard stereo mix we so often get with television series' and it does support the vision well.

Finally there are some decent extras on a Friends collection. There is not an abundance supplied, but compared to previous releases, anything is a plus. These are located on discs one and four.

Commentary
Only supplied for the pilot episode, the commentary is with producers Kevin S. Bright, Martha Kauffman and David Crane. All contributors appear to have been recorded separately and they all offer some interesting information about the creation of the show.

A Peek at Central Perk
This feature contains an interactive map of the coffee shop where the friends spend so much of their time. The viewer is shown different sections of the coffee shop and can learn some interesting facts about them.

Friends of Friends
Showing a list of guest stars that appeared in this season, the viewer can click on the name and see a short clip from that particular person’s appearance. Not a bad idea, but perhaps a more interesting idea would have been to show more about that actor rather than snippets from their performance?

How Well Do You Know Your Friends?
This is a trivia game where you are asked a series of questions. For each response you are shown the relevant clip from the show.

Preview of Season Two
This is simply an advertisement for the second season with a few clips that don’t really show that much.

Overall this is a must-have for Friends fans. The original season has lost none of its entertainment value and it really is terrific to relive these early episodes. With the final season to be shown soon on Australian television, this is definitely a sitcom that is well worth adding to any collection so why not start with the first season? Video and audio quality are better than ever before and with some extras finally being added, rush out there and get this one.