Customer Reviews

Emergency! - Season Four

5 star:		(44)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

By its fourth season Emergency had really settled into a groove. The stories were exciting and action packed, and the writers and actors had the characters nailed. Sure, Gage & DeSoto's fellow firefighters were fairly one dimensional characters - but they were FUN one dimensional characters, and the focus of the show was really Gage, DeSoto, Dr. Brackett, Dr. Early, Nurse McCall, and Dr. Morton anyway.

The realism presented on the show by this point had become expected, and the technical jargon was actually fairly well known and understood by the fans. Emergency was a driving force behind the education of America on the procedures and perils of being a firefighter or paramedic, and it gave a glimpse into what doctors and nurses really did in a hospital.

The fact that Emergency was as successful as it was paved the way for later TV shows like E.R. and movies like Backdraft.

The previous DVD set (Season 3) was a hit or miss affair. Good episodes, some looking good on the DVD, some just OK, but several episodes had the wrong theme song and opening credits. It was the same opening credit sequence used for the TV Land showings, which had always been a bone of contention with some fans (the original theme song was one of the best in TV history, and to have it replaced was foolish). Hopefully for this set Universal gets it right. (Update: Well, I've watched several episodes, and they all have the wrong opening theme.)

Even with the minor quibbles about past DVD sets, Emergency is a MUST HAVE TV show on DVD, and Season 4 is no different.

I must echo the other recent reviews of this DVD set. (I've only watched the first disc so far, so the review is based on those 4 episodes.)

While I am less picky than most reviewers about DVD quality (I have a small television with a so-so picture anyway, so I don't fret about less than perfect images), the picture quality on this set is amazingly bad even on my 13 inch tv -- jittery images, blurriness -- at one point you get about 3 seconds of white scratches across the screen. The sound quality too is less than ideal; as another reviewer noted, the dialogue is often barely audible, so you turn up the sound, and are then blasted out of your chair by the sirens!

Which is so much more the pity, because the episodes themselves are wonderful. The writers have finally found just the right balance of humor and drama,("Miss...?" "October.") characterizations have settled in and become more three dimensional, the acting is improved over earlier seasons, and production values are excellent.


While it's hard to complain about the price, why oh why can't they take just a LITTLE time to clean up the master tapes before releasing them on DVD?

Emergency! was one of my favorite shows as a kid. And as far as television shows go, this was a classic. It's still good and stands up to the test of time, something a lot of shows haven't done. Rediscovering it in a motel room one night on TVLand made me decide to pursue my childhood dream of being a fireman.

I'm happier to have this DVD set than I would be not to have it at all. But I am disappointed by the mediocre picture and sound quality and that the open was replaced by the final season's open on each episode. The DVDs from the previous three seasons, with a few exceptions in Season 3, offered good quality picture and sound and the right open for the season. Episodes from those discs were a much greater pleasure to watch.

Frankly, the Season 4 DVD quality is something I would expect from a bootlegger.

Universal, if good-quality prints of Emergency's remaining seasons exist, please use them to make the remaining DVD sets.

I am so excited that they are going to release another season. I can't find it on TV anymore and I so enjoyed it.

This show was before it's time. I just can't wait. Just three more seasons after this.

Just received my season four of emergency

while picture is ok for a show from 30 years ago the sound track is poor and at times out of sync. Sound quality is variable and though i am not sure of this it appears that some scenes have been shortened.

the only plus for this season is that i dont have to watch the universal logo 22 times.

If you are going to restore sneek previews why not remaster the whole season. Certainly not a season i will be watching more than once

Emergency! - Season Four

Pulling a DVD out of the pack, the first thing you notice is the solid purple "design". Looked very cheap to me - they could have at least put an image.

The quality of the episodes varied widely. Image quality was very poor in some episodes with noticeable fluttering and video artifacts. Sound quality was also poor in a few cases with the dialog barely audible, forcing me to crank volume to max, then quickly back down again due to the sirens.

For the price, they could and should have put more time/effort into the product.

My review of "Emergency!" Season 4 leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
I was anticipating "more of the same" from the previous releases.

Season 3 upset me some in that included syndication prints.
My heart sank on the opening menu of season 4, with the poor quality audible of the "Emergency!" theme.

Not only are these syndication prints, there's no original master print to the entire "E!S-4" collection. What a shame for a great season. This is probably my favorite "Emergency" season, containing many note worthy episodes.

What's good about this release; it's a step above cable TV and VCR.
Though not all bad, my recommendation lies in Season 3, with more quality prints on the DVD's, better sound and presentation.

Universal really blew the enjoyment of this show for me.
Whoever cleared the release either had a deadline or didn't consider the fan base. I'm going on record at this moment; "Universal, find the original prints to make a decent collection".

Both Chet and Marco are given storyline, and the characters of all players become more rounded. This is no doubt "Emergency!" at its best, with budget, guest stars (Mark Spitz, John Ashton {Beverly Hills Cop, I & II} Reb Brown {Captain America, Uncommon Valor} in minor guest starring roles), and bigger explosions.

It's fun watching our heroes getting out of tight spots over and over, and from what I recall to be the best dramatic sequence using the defibrillator in "Smoke Eater". Although the patient in that episode passes on, it also spoke volumes in real life situations, that not everything has a happy ending, and also marks the shows realism and charm. (it also has, for me, one of the funniest goofs; Chet asks Marco for the salt and gets passed the ketchup, which gets used like it was the salt)

The best "Emergency!" series explosion also lies within the last segment of "The Mouse" episode.

I could go on marking more favorites, but find it in my heart to recommend this only for the die-hard fans, like me. The print quality is just too poor, (cropped, chopped and scratched, audio at times uneven and inaudible), and will dissapoint the majority of viewers.

These "E!S-4" DVD's need Emergency! treatment....I will end any further "Emergency!" Season puchases until I get some quality transfers from Universal.

I agree with the most recent reviews - this is a fantastic show, and season 4 contains many of the best episodes, but Universal's treatment of the DVD releases continues to be horrendous. I got used to seeing the sharp colors & good sound quality on previous releases (with the exception of the few on the Season 3 set that obviously didn't come from good masters & had the wrong opening credits tacked on) so this was a huge disappointment. Emergency! seemed to have escaped the awful treatment Universal gave to the sole Adam-12 & Dragnet releases, but that is obviously no longer the case. Also from reading the episode summary on the cases, it is obvious the writer of those didn't bother to watch any of the episode (eg: summary for "Details": "The line between business & pleasure blurs when a stripper collapses in a nightclub & later does her best to entice Gage." .... uh, no - he dated a woman involved in an accident, & the stripper that collapsed didn't try to entice anyone except some mild flirtation with Dr. Early at Rampart. This is just one of the many errors of this type).
So buy the DVD set - it's not that expensive & it's better than watching tapes of the hacked-to-bits TV Land version, but as one reviewer has already said, the Columbia House tapes are far better quality than this disappointing release.
Shame on Universal. The ironic thing is, that if they released quality sets of the Webb shows, we fans would be willing to pay quite a lot for such a product, but they refuse to do so.

This was by far my favorite show as kid. Now that I have 3 kids of my own they love watching it as much as I did then, and even more so now.I remeber playing emergency with my freinds and drove our parents nuts making the siren sound and runing through the hopuse saying that "we were off to a rescue1" If you were ever a fan of the show, and you have young kids now these are great DVD's to enjoy with them.