Customer Reviews

DUE SOUTH - SEASON 3

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Apparently I didn't read enough of the reviews because at least one of the reviews I read lead me to believe that this was the complete third season as it was seen in the US-it's not. Part of the confusion is because of the difference between the Canadian and US broadcast seasons. In the US, the show only had three seasons-I was expecting the full 26 episodes, especially given the inflated price of the set (I second another reviewer-you can find a cheaper source than Amazon).

Despite what another reviewer indicated, it does NOT include the four episodes that weren't shown in the US the first time around, since they are all part of the "4th Season" (is Amazon shuffling it's reviews or something?)

So a warning to all-this set only has the 13 episodes that comprised the _Canadian_ 3rd season:
41: Burning Down the House
42: Eclipse
43: I Could's Been a Defendant
44: Strange Bedfellows
45: Mountie and Soul
46: Bounty Hunter
47: Seeing is Believing
48: Spy vs Spy
49: Dead Guy Running
50: Perfect Strangers
51: Asylum
52: Mountie on the Bounty 1
53: Mountie on the Bounty 2
Bonus-Pilot Episode

And a final Plea to Amazon-I've submitted this as a suggestion so many times my fingers are bleeding, so if anyone else wants to take up the call: INCLUDE THE @#@$#!%$@# EPISODE LISTS IN TV-DVD DESCRIPTIONS!!!!!

I was excited to hear that I could purchase the Due South TV Series on DVD through Amazon since it was unavailable here in Australia (& since my VHS tapes were showing disintegration from the many times I was watching them!)

For Seasons 1-2, I was disappointed to find the packaging format was quite poor and there wasn't anything by way of DVD extras (not even out-takes). I also had problems with reading a couple of episodes even after attempting to clean the DVD disc surface.

When I purchased Season 3, I was also disappointed to find that it really only had half the number of episodes that make up a normal season, thereby forcing viewers to have to purchase the second half (and given the AUD$ exchange rate, does end up being quite expensive).

The only redeeming feature for the Season 3 release was that the episodes were not double sided this time around and they were properly labelled.

Overall, I'm just happy to have my own copies of the TV series that I enjoy immensely.

The VHS tape masters were used for the U.S. Platinum DVDs. The budget minded buyer can go for the cheaply mastered U.S. DVDs.

But those wanting quality will go for THIS much higher priced Canadian DVD from Alliance. These are mastered for DVD by the production masters. You can save alot of money by ordering them directly from Amazon's Canadian Division (click on the Canadian button at the bottom of this page).

I'm a faithful amazon customer but they've messed up on this one. Check your local Best Buy store, ya gotta buy it in the store, not online. Found seasons I and II there recently, both approximately $20. Season 3 will show up at Best Buy, found out today, on 8/9/05, again at around $20, nice quality package, sounds better all around than what you get for the higher price. Good DVD quality put out by Platinum Disc, LLC. Love this show, by the way, and am thrilled to have it on disc to watch anytime.

I love Due South. I love Paul Gross. I love Callum Keith Rennie. I kind of hated these discs. First, they're ridiculously expensive, especially considering that this isn't even the full 3rd season, just the first half. They're packaged poorly, with one disc overlapping another, which is just a big scratch waiting to happen.

Apparently, Alliance Atlantis has recently issued a new version of these discs, which is the entire 3rd season, including the last two episodes, "Call of the Wild 1&2," which is available on its own for now. This new version not only has the entire season, but it costs around $20 instead of $80. However, Amazon doesn't carry it--people have only been able to find it in the Best Buy stores, not online. I don't know who I should be frustrated with this about--Alliance Atlantis or Amazon. I'm leaning towards being annoyed with Alliance Atlantis, since they have a history of not really caring whether or not fans of the show can have access to it on DVD.

So, for price and poor presentation, this lost two stars. The content, however, is fantastic. I love this show so much. It's nothing like the hardboiled cop or crime scene shows on TV now. It's much more innocent, delving occasionally into cheesy, but I can't help loving it because of the characters. Paul Gross is fantastic as the repressed Mountie with issues the size of the Northwest Territories. Callum Keith Rennie is one of my favorite actors, and when he came on to the show in the 3rd season as the tough-talking, tortured, romantic, Ray Kowalski, he introduced a dark edginess that had been lacking the first two seasons.

The alliteration in the last paragraph was completely accidental, by the way.

One day I'll find that $20 copy of season 3 with all the episodes on it, but until then, this will have to do. Although, I recommend clicking on the "used and new" link over on the right instead of buying straight from Amazon. I got a brand new copy for around $45, which is far better than $80.

To clarify things - this is indeed the complete Third Season as it was seen internationally (i.e. everywhere but the USA). We in the US didn't get separate third and fourth seasons; we got a combined "third" season which was missing four episodes that were seen by everyone outside the US.

If this set had been the *incomplete* U.S. version of the "third" season, I for one would have been irate.

The four missing episodes, by the way, were Good for the Soul, Dead Men Don't Throw Rice, Say Amen, and Hunting Season. These four weren't seen in the US until cable channel TNT aired reruns.

I received my set recently, but haven't been able to watch it yet. I do see that Alliance is still using the badly-designed cases, which irk me no end. However, they have advanced to single-sided discs with disc artwork, so that's a (small) improvement. I was really hoping that the Pilot movie would be on a separate disc, and that Mountie on the Bounty would be in the original two-hour format (as it was on the VHS), but I guess we can't have everything.

As far as the more inexpensive USA releases from Platinum Disc Corporation, I understand that they do not include the French audio and subtitle options that the Canadian releases do. I'm not sure if they are captioned or subtitled in English; I do know that Platinum's release of Call of the Wild is not closed-captioned or subtitled in English. I also wonder if they might have image quality issues due to over-compression, as the Canadian releases are on twice the number of discs.

It's great having these episodes, even knowing you're going to have to shell out more money to buy season 4 when it is released. It's not a huge stretch of the imagination to see where the confusion came from: 13 episodes is a half season, and even trustworthy episode guide sites disagree on whether there were 3 or 4 seasons. Anyways, according to Alliance Atlantis, they are aiming for an early 2005 release of season 4. I'd take it with a grain of salt considering I got the same kind of message telling me season 3 would be released in January 2004.

I have enjoyed watching the Due South Season 3 DVDs. Especially since I didn't catch all the episodes while on sindication and some of the them are new to me. I have no complaints about the quality. I do wish that each episode had its own menu and that they had included some extras such as outakes or something that would take us "behind the scenes". Other than that I have to say that I have truly enjoyed watching this unique show.

Due South is a fantastic series -one of my favorites actually. It's a drama with lots of comedy about a mounty coming to the city... Season three was probably not the best of the three/four but once you get hooked to the characters/story you have to watch it through to the end. You have to be careful when you are buying the episodes because there are two or three versions of the seasons. Some versions divide it up into only three seasons, some four, and some include the mini movie special on a separate disc and others count it as a normal episode. As long as you get the discs from the same release you should end up with every show. The last season is a bit chaotic because they thought they were being cancelled and even tore down some of the set already, also Ray is replaced with an "imposter" for most of the season (which they explain). "Ride forever" is my favorite (a two parter) but there are several outstanding episodes in there. Benton and Dieff are so easy to love, and all the supporting characters do a great job - especially ray and franchesca. The music is really well done as well. If you like Canada, Chicago, Cop dramas, or any clever fast talking comedies you should check out due south.

tried to watch disc #2 tonight and it has no data on it! It won't load. My son said it doesn't look damaged, but it probably didn't get loaded at the factory. I have to send it back. Is anyone else having that problem? I was just getting ready to watch Bounty Hunter! How upseting!