Customer Reviews

The Addams Family - The Complete Series

5 star:		(52)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The Addams Family TV show was based on a series of cartoons started back in the 1930's and authored by Charles Addams for the New Yorker. Whether or not Addams intended for there to be some kind of Depression-era message on the idle rich being scary in more ways than one I do not know, but it does seem like that is one of the messages trying to come through all the dark humor. What I do know is that a show this offbeat and creative would never get aired on network TV today, and even if it did, the minute it got successful the network suits would start tinkering with it and ruin it. If you need an example of this phenomena, I point you in the direction of Lost.

The Addams' are portrayed as a close knit and happy family - in fact they rarely have contact with outsiders other than the children attending school. They appear completely human, but they eat food that seems completely inedible by any normal human being and they each have their own peculiar qualities that seem beyond those of normal humans such as Uncle Fester's ability to generate electricity. If they do have visitors, they are usually other family members from some remote area who display these same characteristics. The show never explains the origin of the Addams' or their great wealth - that's just part of their intrigue. There are a few episodes here and there that reference popular culture as it existed then such as "Lurch the Teenage Idol" which pokes fun of the early Beatles and similar rock bands of the time. For the most part, though, the show is pretty much timeless and thus is still funny today.

all 64 episodes are spread across 9 double-sided discs in this set. Episodes are presented in Full Frame with English, French and Spanish audio and English and Spanish subtitles. The specific list of extra features include:

Audio commentary for "The Addams Family Goes To School", "Morticia, The Matchmaker" and "Cousin Itt Visits The Addams Family" featuring cast members Lisa Loring, Ken Weatherwax and Felix Silla with "The Addams Chronicles" author Stephen Cox and director Arthur Hiller.

Thing and Cousin Itt select scene commentary on "Thing is Missing", "My Son, the Chimp", "Cousin Itt and the Vocational Counsellor", "My Fair Cousin Itt" "Morticia's Dilemma", "Ophelia Finds Romance" and "Lurch's Little Helper".

Commentary by Steven Cox, author of "The Addams Chronicles" on "Morticia Meets Royalty" and "Morticia the Decorator".

Tombstone Trivia on "Morticia's Romance" (Part I) and "Cat Addams".

"You Rang, Mr. Addams" - featurette

"Snap, Snap" - featurette

"The Addams Family Portrait" featurette including on-camera interviews with John Astin.

"Mad About The Addams" featurette

"Guest Star Séance" with Parley Baer, Milton Frome, Vito Scotti, Elizabeth Fraser, Richard Deacon, Sig Ruman, Margaret Hamilton, Elvia Allman, Eddie Quillan and Peter Bonerz.

Theme Song Karaoke

Still galleries featuring original drawings and photos

The whole family has been enjoying the original Adams Family series.

All 3 seasons in one box set. Some could complain that they are flip side discs, but just stick a cloth in the case if it bothers you.

My parents watched this when it started, I enjoyed growing up watching it, and even my 8 year old niece loves it.

How could you not love this timeless classic of a deranged and strange family that poke fun at normal living and flip reality around to make it a fun half hour show with true morals and fun zany comedy.

The DVD's come complete with all 3 seasons, digitally remastered, subtitles in yellow (important to those who care) and a few bonus features here and there.

The Addams Family still hold up well with todays audience both young and old and I can't see why anyone would ever have anything bad to say about one of the all time great comedy series.

The bonus features on the first season show a heap of interviews, and behind the scenes stuff, interesting to watch for any fan. The other discs mostly contain an audio commentary here and there, and some silly Audio Commentaries to a scene by Cousin Itt and Thing.

I bought the region 1 version cause it is half the price of the Australian release. And I am not at all disappointed with the purchase of this great timeless classic.

The only reason I wont give a perfect 5 stars is because it was the perfect opportunity to include the 1977 Halloween (reunion) show they did, and was the only Adams Family of the series in color. Had that have been included, I would have been very happy with the bonus content.

The DVD's are recorded on both sides; therefore, there are NO labels on any of the discs. It is impossible to know which side is 1 or 2 or which disc goes into which jacket. Other than this, the series is great - love the Addams Family - great entertainment for our entire family.

Originally, I knew the Addams Family not from the television series, but from their first animated series. Many know the Addams Family spawned from drawings and characters created by Charles Addams for the New Yorker.

The Addams Family appeared like your average, eccentric rich family. Except for the fact, they lived in an old mansion containing trapdoors, a lab, torture chamber and dungeon. Had pets like a live lion, vulture and African Strangler, and a disembodied hand as sort of a relation.

Gomez Addams was the cigar-smoking, fencing, always nimble head of the household, while Morticia tended to her garden, fed her plants, and made sure everything ran smoothly in the house. Next was Lurch, their zombiesque butler who would appear out of nowhere whenever the noose gong was pulled.

He'd come in and claim, 'You rang?' Then you had Uncle Fester, who mysteriously kept an electric charge through his body, had a penchant for explosives, and kept a vulture in the house. Grandma-ma who loved casting spells, fortune telling, and cooking the occasional spider, snakes and bat-shaped cookies for her grandchildren, Wednesday and Puggsley Addams.

Unlike their film counterparts, Wednesday and Puggsley were actually nice kids with some odd habits of having pet spiders and octopi, and liking things like wild gorillas and such. Wednesday even carried around her headless doll, Marie Antoinette.

Besides the standard brood, the Addamses' relations were not exactly normal either: Grandma Frump (Morticia's mother, played by Margaret Hamilton - aka Wicked Witch of the West) who originally wanted Gomez to marry Morticia's 'flowery' twin sister, Ophelia (played by Carolyn Jones as well). Then you had Cousin Itt, the dark-glasses, derby-wearing, living hair.

Now the strange thing was, overlooking their macabre and gruesome environment, the Addams Family was far from evil or sinister. They simply viewed things differently than what the average person might view them.

For instance, in "The Addams Family Goes to School," Wednesday comes home crying because in 'Grim's Fairly Tales,' she learns things like dragons, witches, and ogres are slain by 'horrible' knights, children, and warriors. Naturally, Gomez and Morticia go to complain about their children being exposed to such 'violence.' Reluctantly the school truant complies, stating he'll make certain 'violence will be abolished' in the school.

Besides the hilarity though, the Addams Family did demonstrate it was better accepting people for whom they are than to change them. In "The Addams Family Meets a Beatnik," the family rescue a beatnik who has just crashed his motorcycle on their property.

At first, "Rocky" reacts to the Addamses as most people would. Rather than being adversed to Rocky's beatnik behaviour, they become fascinated with his speech and manor. They even throw him a surprise birthday party as well. Meanwhile Gomez and Morticia discover Rocky's true identity of being the heir to a business tycoon. Except what they don't realize is, Rocky and his Dad don't see eye-to-eye on things.

It isn't until after the Addams brings them together, Rocky and his Dad learn they have to accept each other for who they are, not what they want them to be.

Overall, the timelessness about the Addams Family is they live carefree, and enjoy their way of life, accepting everyone and everything around them. Even when most people have a hard time accepting them.

The collection is great for those who fondly remember Gomez and Morticia, and definitely wonderful for the next generation who might wonder why we loved shows about an odd family living in an old house.

Although still creepy and spooky, and altogether ooky, we still love the Addams Family.

I just purchased the third volume of the Addams Family TV show and it was comprised of three double-sided discs. Unless I got some cheap version from Wal-Mart, and there is a nicer 6-disc version out there, then I'm sure the early reports were wrong, and this volume also has just three discs. (Hence the Complete Series having only 9 discs...)
The packaging is in the same condition as the previous volumes, so I doubt there's more than one version out there. Anyhow, unless The Complete Series has any special features that are going to be outrageously different or exciting, I'd recommend you just stick to the three volumes. I bought them all for about $20/each, and with the new edition coming in at around $70, buying them separately is a better deal anyway.
And for the record, The Addams Family is far superior to The Munsters, for me, and the DVDs I have for the show are great!

I ordered this during the 2008 Christmas season so my young daughters could watch it during their time off during the holidays. We put in the first disc and watched the fist episode. From that point forward is was basically two months of a chant in chorus: "Addams Family! Addams Family!" They watched it straight through and then went through it again and again, perhaps a total of five times. They still won't let me pack it away, they want it readily available.

I didn't complain too much, because to my delight I found that this show, like so many from the era, is simple astonishingly good television. I had enjoyed it as a kid, but I didn't remember it as well as the Munsters (which is also, obviously, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED). The creativity of this production is just fabulous, and the acting superb. Lurch is fascinating, with his dead-pan visage, spontaneous appearances and harpsichord playing (backed by the genius Vic Mizzy). The same actor plays "Thing"--and he says so much with his animated hand movements. You can't overstate the fundamental brilliance of Thing. Morticia is as glamourous as the living-dead (or whatever she is) can be. She is gorgeous, and quite the botanist with her collection of highly cognizant plants. The Addams' life of leisure is quite enviable, as they always use their infinite time at home to fine-tune their various blue-blooded skills, and they prove themselves to be true Renassaince folk. Jackie Coogan's Uncle Fester is out of control. Illuminating light bulbs in his mouth, getting stretched on the rack, he's always up for a good time, and apparently oblivious to pain. Aleister Crowley, I suspect, would consider this zany character his most cherished legacy. And "Cousin It"? Wow, that character almost scares me. He, or It, I should say, is truly a psychedelic and sophisticated flourish which takes the show into a different realm of bizarre surreality.

The real show-stealer is Gomez, played by John Astin. Good grief, the character he created here is just insanely funny. He is dynamic, eccentric, suave, outrageous, gallant, compassionate, dapper, forgiving, generous...I could go on with descriptors for an hour. I've told my wife I really need to become a lot more like Gomez. He is truly one of the all-time great television characters. I read somewhere that Groucho Marx was used as a reference point for the character, and it makes sense. John, if you by chance read this, my deepest thanks for all the happiness you have brought to the world. It must be immensely satisfying knowing that you have brought so many smiles to this planet.

The scripts are extremely clever, with both an adult level and a kid's level. I'm surprised how many of the issues the family deals with are relevant to today's world: turbulance in the stock market; issues with school officials (who disapprove of the kids bringing weapons and dynamite to campus, etc.), taxes, dysfunction in government, etc.

In the extras, there is an effort to remind everyone that this show was derived from the comic strip. That is generous, but I personally think this this show transcends and betters the comic strip in a multitude of ways. The debt of gratitiude should run to the show, not the other way around.

What has happened to our world? Yeah, global warming, over-population, the economy...but also look at television as a micro-paradigm of societal decay. I know you will say there have been good shows recently, and there have been (some). But if you do a side-by-side comparison of, say, some good shows like The Sopranos, Frazier, Seinfield, and Friends and you compare them with The Wild, Wild West, The Munsters, Addams Family, Batman, Mission Impossible, The Night Gallery, Benny Hill, Leave it to Beaver...one gets the strong impression that creativity is really in decline. The sheer level of elaboration in the production values alone distinguishes the eras: the sets themselves were works of art. Television used to go full-out, now it is so frequently about compromise and cost-cutting. Are "reality shows" going to implant the wonderful visions into the minds of kids that these shows did? Instead, I get a migraine from "Survivor" and the like--and even "American Idol" has a chaotic, campy aspect which certainly doesn't enrich the world much.

But I digress. The Addams Family is one of life's really good things. For the ten times the price, you would be well rewarded by what you get here. The pictures look great, and the fun is non-stop. Buy this for yourself and revive your own memories, or buy this for your kids or grand kids and create a whole new generation of memories. I am convinced: 200 years from now people will be watching this show, laughing until their sides split. This is television for the post-television age, televison for eternity. It will hold up for for as long as there are people, or ghouls.

When I saw this item I thought this would be a chance for them to redeem themselves and put out 18 beautiful one sided discs. But no, it's only a repackaging of the 3 volumes. 9 discs. Even as little as 11 discs would work to keep them one sided. Six episodes per disc for 10 discs. 4 episodes for the 11th disc with lots of room left over for Bonus Features. This set still does not contain the unaired pilot. Sometimes the companies that put out DVDs should hire people that care about the shows, and not just disinterested parties. Universal is releasing a complete Munsters series. 12 single sided discs Oct 7, 2008 packed with bonus features. MGM should follow suit because this show deserves the same respect.

This is simply the best set around,every episode in pristine dvd quality.A absolute must for any fan of the show.

I grew up watching THE ADDAMS FAMILY (in syndication) on TV. I ran home from school to catch the "latest" episode that I'd already seen dozens of times. To me, it's the perfect show. This "complete series" collection is for those of us who treasure these lovable loonies, and wish to have them forever. Morticia (love of my early life, Carolyn Jones), Gomez (the hilarious John Astin), Fester (Jackie Coogan), Mama (Blossom Rock), Wednesday (Lisa Loring), Pugsly (Ken Weatherwax), and Lurch (Ted Cassidy) are all preserved in glorious black and white! At last, I can watch this masterwork of subversive insanity over and over, without commercial interruption! I've watched the entire set twice, and every episode is a classic! Looking back, it's a wonder and a miracle that THE ADDAMS FAMILY ever made it to television at all. Just imagine such a series done today! I shudder to think of the abomination they could hatch! Buy this one immediately...

We love the whole series. Like everything about it - Because the series is on both sides of DVD's, it makes it very hard to read where you are - and sometimes you replay a disk - Could be better marked - but we're enjoying the nostalgia. If you like the Munsters shennanigans, you'll love the Addam's Family.