7.1 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
Described by Entertainment Weekly as 'the most popular show in the history of the planet', Baywatch spawned a legion of international stars including David Hasselhoff, Pamela Anderson, Carmen Electra, Gena Lee Nolan, and Yasmine Bleeth. All episodes are now available in High Definition, at 16:9 cinematic widescreen. In addition, 350 songs have been re-created to score the iconic Baywatch montages. First airing in 1989, Baywatch broadcast into over 200 different countries, was translated into 48 languages, reached an estimated audience of 1 billion viewers worldwide according to TV Guide, and was awarded a Guinness World Record for having the largest global TV audience in history.
Starring: David Hasselhoff, Jeremy Jackson, Michael Newman, Pamela Anderson, Chris FioreDrama | Insignificant |
Action | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.33:1
English: Dolby Digital 2.0
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Thirty six-disc set (36 BDs)
Region A, B (C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 3.5 | |
Audio | 3.0 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
There's classic, and then there's classic. There are shows which will be remembered for exceptional narrative depth, exemplary production values, timeless characterization, and so one and so forth. Baywatch isn't one of those shows. It falls into that second tier of "classics," those shows which just resonated with their audiences, which defined a television generation, which reached beyond their limits to become one with the culture of their time. Baywatch is classic in that sense of the term. The smash hit was not only one of the great success stories of syndication but it was also one of the quintessential 1990s televisions events, rivaled by few others -- The X-Files, Friends, The Simpsons, Beverly Hills, 90210, for example -- for longevity and popularity alike. There's no shortage of reasons why, but the most important of them all: it's just fun.
This review is based upon an extensive sampling of episodes from seasons 1-9; time did not allow for a full viewing of every episode. There may
be abnormalities or one-off issues that may not be mentioned in this review.
The following text appears on-screen upon initial disc insertion: "Due to the age of these original programs and the high quality resolution that
Blu-ray
provides, you may or may not notice technical anomalies on this Blu-ray presentation that we are unable to correct."
What the disclaimer doesn't state is that Baywatch's nine season remastering undertaking has transformed the picture from the
native
1.33:1 aspect ratio into 1.78:1 high definition using a variety of techniques to zoom or otherwise crop the image to fill the modern frame. Most of
the
results yield a very watchable image insofar as the framing is concerned; there are some troubled residuals that never quite feel organic but
generally
speaking the show remains very watchable in this structure. Certainly purists will not be pleased, and rightly so. There are plenty of TV shows on
Blu-ray that, if nothing else, retain their original presentation ratio including Star Trek: The Next Generation and Hasselhoff's own Knight Rider but the decision has been made, the work has been
done, and the
material is now on Blu-ray for better or for worse.
"Panic at Malibu Pier" isn't exactly going to blow up the forums with raving reviews for its video quality. It's decent looking but it's also smoothed
over,
resulting in an artificial, borderline waxy looking façade. Skin and clothes show minimal intimacy but enough core complexity to hold to that "HD"
look.
Certainly don't expect intricate, razor-sharp, film-looking textures on sandy beaches, facial stubble, and the like. Colors are appropriately vibrant,
particularly, and obviously, the red lifeguard suits, but don't expect a dazzling display of richly lifelike tones. This look holds for the season one
duration.
It's not bad, but it's certainly not the product of a careful restoration meant to preserve the original look. Here it's clearly been smoothed out in an
effort to make it "pop."
Things improve a bit -- a good deal, really -- with season two and beyond. While some flatter, smooth textures remain, there's a sense of finer and
firmer definition at play,
of more
complex facial and location renderings that offer a more stout, more accurate type of presentation. There's very little residual grain left over, but the
noise reduction has not entirely left the picture devoid of critical textures. Clarity and resolution carry the image far more than grain and natural
sharpness. This is definitely an image geared more towards casual viewers and less to hardcore home theater buffs. Color preproduction is very nice,
particularly as the series goes along. The pasty-flat tones from season one give way to more robust, vibrant colors later on. Look at "Aftershock" in
season six for a great example of brilliant blues and yellows (both worn by Hulk Hogan in the episode) and for a fine example of the red-hot red
swimsuits for which the series is known. Sandy beaches, blue waters and skies, and all variety of color output is very good, including balanced skin
tones (which are often bronzed) and deep black levels.
There are some technical bugaboos here and there, including some mostly unobtrusive but nevertheless evident macroblocking, usually most readily
visible across solid background colors like blue skies. There are also odd examples of banding; look around the 7-minute mark in the episode titled
"Aftershock." A handful of obviously standard definition shots remain, too, including at the 31:30 mark of the first season episode "Message in a
Bottle." These issues aside, and season one in general, the image looks pretty good all things considered.
There's only one audio option available on the entire set: a lossy Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack. It's rather pedestrian and uninteresting. Music demonstrates some stretch and plays with adequate clarity but there's not much to say in terms of authentic playback fidelity. It's not mushy or crunchy but neither is it necessarily a force of nature, either. It gets the job done with a level of instrumental and lyrical (as applicable) definition to satisfy requirements, particularly over the opening title sequence. Listeners will enjoy light but mood critical and decently integrated ambience in various locations, primarily on busy beaches, of course, where crowds and rolling waves and seagulls make sonic appearances but also some little office audio cues in some interior locations, too. Dialogue is clear and images to the front-center area with no obvious drift to the edges where it doesn't belong. This actually isn't a poor track. Yes there are concerns with music rights and replacement and yes it's not lossless but as far as core clarity and basic spacing go there's not a whole lot of complaint here.
There's absolutely no on-disc supplemental content to be found on any of the 36 discs that comprise all nine seasons. Nothing. No promos, no
interviews, no retrospectives on the show's legend, nothing. That's a great shame and one of several negatives surrounding this set. However, the set
does ship with a glossy paged, full color, and stapled booklet titled "Baywatch Fun Facts" that includes bits of trivia on the production and the
cast (a few morsels therein were used in this review). There's no real feel or flow to it; it's literally just a collection of sometimes interesting (the rights
being sold for $10) and sometimes not so interesting (who brought which of their pets to the set) content. Also included is a folded poster depicting a
trio of Baywatch babes. The poster measures approximately 14"x9.5".
Similar to Visual Entertainment's Stargate releases, the Baywatch discs ship in a hugely oversized Amaray case
(and a slipcover) and the discs are packed in plastic sleeves reminiscent of those storage units for CDs. There are two such bundles of sleeves. The
first six seasons sit in the larger one and the last three in the smaller one. The discs do ship one per sleeve so there's no stacking. They do require
fingerprinting the bottom side to get out which may cause playback problems if they're not wiped clean prior to insertion.
No DVD or digital copies are included with purchase.
The legendary Baywatch stands as one of the hallmarks from the 1990s television landscape. Fans long desiring to own the show on Blu-ray will be excited that it's here but just how successful this release will be will depend on a few key factors: the recreated rather than original music, the so-so video quality (and the new aspect ratio), the absence of supplemental content, and the exclusion of Baywatch: Hawaii, and probably in that order. For newcomers to the show, the music might not be a major hurdle to overcome. The video quality isn't bad, per se, but it's not great, either. No supplements is no surprise for a set this size, and Hawaii wasn't that good, anyway. Worth it? Yes. It's still Baywatch, a nostalgic slice of TV history that every TV buffs needs to own, re-watch, and enjoy all over again. Recommended despite the set's shortcomings.
(Still not reliable for this title)
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