Freaks and Geeks: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		5.0
Overall		4.5

Freaks and Geeks: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie Review

Back to school.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 22, 2016

There have been a number of iconic television series anchored around life at school, including such beloved titles as Mister Peepers, Our Miss Brooks, Mr. Novak, Room 222 and Welcome Back, Kotter, but as several of those titles suggest, often stories revolved at least as much around teachers as around students. Though certainly not alone in this regard, Freaks and Geeks offered a school-centric series that instead stayed focused largely on the kids. While Freaks and Geeks had a rather short and even ignominious broadcast run, its cast and crew featured so many ultimately well known names that the series has become more and more of a cult item over the years as more and more of its participants grasped the brass ring of fame. Freaks and Geeks was created by Paul Feig (Bridesmaids, The Heat, Spy ) and executive produced by Judd Apatow (The 40-Year- Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Trainwreck), and its cast featured future notables like James Franco, Jason Segel and Seth Rogen.

Anyone who has survived the rigors of school life can probably spin their own tales of horror in the supposedly hallowed halls of academia, and some of that trauma seems to spring almost organically from one of the seemingly unavoidable facts of educational institutions: the splintering of certain elements of the population into cliques. Freaks and Geeks makes its delineations clear from almost the get go, as some of the supposed “bad kids” (the freaks) are holed up underneath the sports field bleachers, while a trio of “90 pound weaklings” (the geeks) attempts to stave off what seems to be a certain smackdown at the hands of some nasty bullies. It turns out that a young girl seen hanging around the periphery of the freak contingent has a connection to the geeks as well. She’s Lindsay Weir (Linda Cardellini), a once fairly traditional “good girl” and star student who is in the early stages of a certain self reinvention, something that brings her into closer contact with the freaks. But the hapless younger boy who seems to be the main focus of the bullies’ attack is revealed to be Lindsay’s little brother Sam (John Francis Daley), an “obvious” member of the geek squad (so to speak), and one who is patently embarrassed when it’s the sudden involvement of Lindsay which puts a quick end to any physical interchanges with the bullies.

The Weir family is the anchor of Freaks and Geeks, and it’s notable that the series tends to hew a fairly traditional line in this aspect, with a somewhat gruff but still loving dad named Harold (Joe Flaherty) and a kind of June Cleaver-esque mom named Jean (Becky Ann Baker). While Freaks and Geeks’ title might hint at a series built entirely around school life, in fact the home life of the Weirs tends to be at least part of every episode, quite often built around family meals where Harold is frequently unhappy with various things that are happening (not necessarily relegated to the kids) and Jean is there as a supportive helpmate who is traditionally preparing food.

In terms of the school gangs, the geeks are a bit less numerous (at least in this particular formulation), consisting (mostly) of Sam’s two best friends Neal Schweiber (Samm Levine) and Bill Haverchuck (Martin Starr). Several episodes deal with various “adventures” this unlikely trio gets involved in, and many of them tend to presage similar comedies of errors that involve Luke and Manny in Modern Family: The Complete First Season, in tone if not in actual content. The freaks are relatively more numerous and include Daniel Desario (James Franco), the kind of boy “nice girls” are warned to stay away from, but who turns out to be rather kind hearted and vulnerable. Also on hand are class clown Ken Miller (Seth Rogen) and Nick Andopolis (Jason Segel), a would be musician who has a fondness for getting high. The only other regular female in the group (other than Lindsay, who is a “newcomer”) is Daniel’s on again, off again girlfriend Kim Kelly (Busy Phillips), a knockout blonde who (initially at least) is kind of a “mean girl” to Lindsay, perhaps not all that fond that she suddenly has a little competition around the freak crew.

Freaks and Geeks is rather interesting in how it slowly starts to unravel the subtexts of the various characters while it also follows more of a traditional sitcom ambience in terms of its humorous proclivities. There’s rather appealing depth to many of the characters here, albeit admittedly probably more on the freak side of the equation than on the geek side. Lindsay’s uncertainty of where she “stands” at an important juncture of her still young life provides the fulcrum around which much of the content hinges, but the series commendably delves into several plotlines where supposedly supporting characters are given rather substantial moments for character development, at least within the confines of a weekly series featuring a rather large cast. In fact what continually impresses throughout Freaks and Geeks is how nuanced even transitory characters can be, including many of the adults.

There’s frankly a bit of clunkiness in terms of performances from time to time, more noticeable in the first few episodes where the actors are still finding their way. But there’s a really appealing naturalism at play here, especially with regard to the younger kids, another element which may tend to remind some viewers of similar tendencies in Modern Family. The “message” of Freaks and Geeks isn’t especially subtle, but it’s perhaps more profound than it initially might seem. Finding oneself is one of the “prime directives” of high school life, and this series shows a nicely varied set of characters each trying to do exactly that in their own sometimes rather odd (and at times illogical) ways. The series develops quite a bit of emotional heft as it moves along, and this is one “school year” that many viewers will probably feel ended much too soon.

Freaks and Geeks: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Freaks and Geeks: The Complete Series is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Shout Factory with AVC encoded 1080p transfers in both 1.33:1 and 1.78:1. Some pertinent information about this choice to release the series in two aspect ratios, as well as the provenance of the masters, is included in the informative booklet included in the set:

Freaks and Geeks was done in the heyday of standard def, shot on 35mm film and then transferred and finished on video. HD masters of the show never existed. . .(W)e had the chance to go back (to) the original camera negative, clean it up, and preserve it. . .The good people at Illuminate Hollywood went back to the film masters and made 4K scans of the entire series. And there was a ton of footage. They said some episodes shot as much as a feature length production.

To faithfully recreate the series from the 4K scans, Illuminate used a tool called iConform to perfectly match every shot, take and synch to the original and made that sure each one looks exactly as it did when it aired for the first time on TV. That means they painstakingly recreated all original artwork, fonts, titles, dissolves, transitions, speed changes, and visual effects to match the original NTSC masters.

We took nearly 1 petabyte worth of digital files, removed all the dirt and scratches, and color graded the whole thing to take advantage of the original film quality. And all of this was done under the watchful eye of series cinematographer Russ T. Alsobrook.

And then series creator Paul Feig noticed something: even though the show was framed by 4x3 TVs, the full 1.78:1 image that was originally shot looked great. . .so in addition to the 4x3 transfers, we decided to give you 33% more Freaks and Geeks on screen—what the camera actually shot, rather than what was later framed for TV—all in crystal clear high def from a 4K scan.

So, what that out of the way—how does everything look? In a word (or maybe two words): largely great. I've included several screenshots from both aspect ratios so that geeks (and/or freaks) can do a compare and contrast, but my hunch is the "new, improved" widescreen ratio will not raise the hackles of purists who have been upset by reframings done for everything from The World at War to The X-Files: The Collector's Set, especially since the OAR is also included in this set. There's certainly considerably more information on the sides, but nothing ever looks patently "off". Detail is very good to excellent, though it, along with grain structure, tends to be at least slightly variable at times (contrast screenshots 1 and 10 for an example). Colors are generally quite pleasing, but occasionally can look a little pallid, something that again tends to vary from episode to episode. Finally, there are some of the compression anomalies seen in previous Shout releases, especially with regard to grain resolution, but nothing that rises to an overly objectionable level.

Freaks and Geeks: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Freaks and Geeks features both a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track, with the surround iteration getting most of its activity from (its frequent) musical elements, along with occasional discrete placement of ambient environmental effects. Purists will probably want to opt for the 2.0 track, and in fact there's relatively little difference between the two other than with regard to the aforementioned elements. Fidelity is fine throughout the series, with clearly articulated dialogue and excellent prioritization. The series is often rather intimate, something that again probably tends to work against a completely immersive surround experience, but what's here sounds fine, with no problems of any kind.

Freaks and Geeks: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Somewhat interestingly from a packaging standpoint, the same supplementary material adorns both the OAR and widescreen iterations of the series which are included in this new set. Therefore, "Disc One" is the same in terms of supplementary material whether the OAR version or the widescreen version is selected.

Disc One

• Commentaries:

  The Pilot:

  Commentary 1: Judd Apatow, Paul Feig and Jake Kasdan

  Commentary 2: The Fans Meet Samm - Michael "Humphries" Beardsley, Arnold "The Vegan" Freeman, Kibbles the Rocker (on phone), Samm Levine

  Beers and Weirs:

  Commentary 1: Judd Apatow, Linda Cardellini, Paul Feig, Jake Kasdan, Jason Segel, J. Elvis Weinstein

  Commentary 2: The Parents - Bob Daley (John Francis Daley's father), Debbie Hagan (Sarah Hagan's mother), Jean St. James (Martin Starr's mother)

  Tricks and Treats: John Francis Daley, Paul Feig, Samm Levine, Stephen Lea Sheppard, Martin Starr

  
  

  Kim Kelly is My Friend:

  Commentary 1: Judd Apatow, Lesli Linka Glatter, Mike White

  Commentary 2: The Executives - Justin Falvey (DreamWorks), Shelley McCrory (NBC), Dan McDermott (DreamWorks), Judd Apatow

• Deleted Scenes:

  The Pilot (480i; 4:23) with optional commentary by Judd Apatow, Martin Starr and John Daley

  
  

  Beers and Weirs (480i; 5:40) with optional commentary by Judd Apatow, Martin Starr and John Daley

  
  

  Tricks and Treats (480i; 5:20) with optional commentary by Judd Apatow, Martin Starr and John Daley

  
  

  Kim Kelly is My Friend (480i; 2:20) with optional commentary by Judd Apatow, Martin Starr and John Daley

Disc Two

• Commentaries:

  Tests and Breasts:

  Commentary 1: Mr. Fredericks, Mr. Kowchevski, Mr. Rosso (in character)

  Commentary 2: Paul Feig and Ken Kwapis

  I'm With the Band:

  Commentary 1: Judd Apatow, Paul Feig, Jeff Judan, Gabe Sachs and Jason Segel

  Commentary 2: The Production Team - Russ Alsobrook, Judd Apatow, Curtiss Bradford, Paul Feig, Victor Hsu, Debra McGuire and Jeff Sage

  Carded and Discarded: Judd Apatow, Linda Cardellini, Paul Feig, Joanna Garcia, Samm Levine, Seth Rogen, Mr. Rosso and Jason Segel

  
  

  Girlfriends and Boyfriends: Judd Apatow, Linda Cardellini, John Francis Daley, Paul Feig, Samm Levine, Patty Lin and Jason Segel

• Deleted Scenes:

  Tests and Breasts (480i; 3:58) with optional commentary by Judd Apatow, Martin Starr and John Daley

  
  

  I'm With the Band (480i; 6:14) with optional commentary by Judd Apatow, Martin Starr and John Daley

  
  

  Carded and Discarded (480i; 4:03) with optional commentary by Judd Apatow, Martin Starr and John Daley

  
  

  Girlfriends and Boyfriends (480i; 10:16) with optional commentary by Judd Apatow, Martin Starr and John Daley

Disc Three

• Commentaries:

  We've Got Spirit: The Fans - Geoff Black, Tami Lefko and Eric Williams

  
  

  The Diary:

  Commentary 1: Judd Apatow, Paul Feig and Rebecca Kirshner

  Commentary 2: Judd Apatow, Paul Feig and Joe Flaherty

  Looks and Books:

  Commentary 1: Judd Apatow, John Francis Daley, Paul Feig, Samm Levine, Natasha Melnick, Jerry Messing, Stephen Lea Sheppard and Martin Starr

  Commentary 2: Paul Feig and Ken Kwapis

  The Garage Door:

  Commentary 1: Judd Apatow, John Francis Daley, Paul Feig, Jeff Judan, Sam McMurray, Seth Rogen and Gabe Sachs

  Commentary 2: Paul Feig, Bryan Gordon and Samm Levine

  Chokin' and Tokin': Judd Apatow, Miguel Arteta, Sarah Hagan, Seth Rogen and Martin Starr

• Deleted Scenes:

  We've Got Spirit (480i; 8:12) with optional commentary by Judd Apatow, Martin Starr and John Daley

  
  

  The Diary (480i; 12:53) with optional commentary by Judd Apatow, Martin Starr and John Daley

  
  

  Looks and Books (480i; 5:58) with optional commentary by Judd Apatow, Martin Starr and John Daley

  
  

  The Garage Door (480i; 2:58) with optional commentary by Judd Apatow, Martin Starr and John Daley

  
  

  Chokin' and Tokin' (480i; 8:51) with optional commentary by Judd Apatow, Martin Starr and John Daley

Disc Four

• Commentaries:

  Dead Dogs and Gym Teachers: Judd Apatow, Claudia Christian, Sarah Hagan, Bob Nickman, Susy Philipps, Seth Rogen, Martin Starr and Tom Wilson

  
  

  Noshing and Moshing:

  Commentary 1: Judd Apatow and James Franco

  Commentary 2: Michael Andrews and Jake Kasdan

  Smooching and Mooching:

  Commentary 1: John Francis Daley, Paul Feig, Samm Levine, Natasha Melnick, Jerry Messing, Stephen Lea Sheppard and Martin Starr

  Commentary 2: The Girls - Linda Cardellini, JoAnna Garcia, Natasha Melnick and Sarah Hagan

  The Little Things: Judd Apatow, Jon Kasdan, Seth Rogen and Mike White

  
  

  Discos and Dragons: Judd Apatow, Linda Cardellini, John Francis Daley, Paul Feig, Samm Levine, Stephen Lea Sheppard and Jason Segel

• Deleted Scenes:

  Dead Dogs and Gym Teachers (480i; 4:05) with optional commentary by Judd Apatow, Martin Starr and John Daley

  
  

  Noshing and Moshing (480i; 2:22) with optional commentary by Judd Apatow, Martin Starr and John Daley

  
  

  Smooching and Mooching (480i; 7:48) with optional commentary by Judd Apatow, Martin Starr and John Daley

  
  

  The Little Things (480i; 6:10) with optional commentary by Judd Apatow, Martin Starr and John Daley

  
  

  Discos and Dragons (480i; 5:12) with optional commentary by Judd Apatow, Martin Starr and John Daley

Bonus Disc

• A Conversation with Paul Feig and Judd Apatow (1080p; 45:59) is moderated by Los Angeles Times critic Robert Lloyd.


• Paley Center Q&A (480i; 1:12:11) is an archival piece featuring several members of the cast.


• Table Reading:

  Kim Kelly is My Friend (480i; 49:38)

  I'm With the Band (480i; 47:16)

  Girlfriends and Boyfriends (480i; 51:45)

• Deleted Scenes (480i; 9:04) feature optional commentary by Sam Weir and Bill Haverchuck.


• Cast Auditions:

  Main Cast (480i; 12:16)

  The Freaks (480i; 7:37)

  The Geeks (480i; 6:54)

  Students of McKinley High (480i; 8:57)

  Freaks and Geeks Alternate Universe (480i; 11:37)

  The Authority Figures (480i; 11:45)

• Long Live Rock (480i; 7:41) offers a few musical segments.


• Sober Students Improv Players (480i; 5:04) is a little theatrical presentation.


• Tales of the Secret Service (480; 7:19) features a fun early look at Ben Stiller.


• Behind the Scenes (480i; 18:32) offers some sweet candid footage.


• Smorgasbord:

  Raw Footage (480i; 27:01)

  Odds and Sods (480i; 26:03)

  NBC Promos (480i; 27:58)

  Bloopers (480i; 5:28)

  Seven Minutes in Heaven (480i; 1:51)

  Graduation (480i; 2:33)

  Extra Goodies (480i; 14:46)

  Thanks, Goodbye (480i; 2:50)

• Digital Yearbook instructs viewers to visit WilliamMcKinleyYearbook.com.

There's also a nicely done booklet which includes a lot of background information, reminiscences from the likes of Paul Feig, and information on all the episodes.

In the proofreading department, someone misspelled Seth Rogen's last name on some of the disc menus.

Freaks and Geeks: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Freaks and Geeks has a timeless appeal that speaks to anyone who might have felt like an outsider in high school, if only for a moment. A large but accomplished cast brings the motley crew of characters vividly to life, and some exceptional writing makes the situations feel real and authentic. Shout has done an exceptional job on this release, and fans should be very well pleased. Highly recommended.