Customer Reviews

Fastlane - The Complete Series

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

First let me say that I am a huge fan of Fastlane. I signed all the silly petitions to bring it back on air, to bring it to DVD, and so on. If I knew what they were going to do to the show for the DVD release, I would've kept my mouth shut.

First and foremost, the DVD release does not contain the same music as the aired series. Let that sink in.

So in the pilot episode, you aren't treated to The Vines, Limp Bizkit, and N.E.R.D. as you were on television, but rather some nameless hack band spouting generic platitudes about being "hip". This is ironic, considering the point of the show is to be bombastic and authentic. Instead we get the audio equivalent of "white socks and a Corolla," to quote the show. They don't even have the theme song for the opening credits.

Even worse, the DVD isn't widescreen. This would be fine if the show was originally aired fullscreen. But it was aired in widescreen. This is baffling. I get the music thing; it takes money to re-license tracks. But why not widescreen?

The show would get a 5-star rating, but the poor quality of the DVD is what gets 1 star. It's sad when the pirated version of the show that fans have been keeping on their hard drives for all these years is of superior quality to the trash I just paid money for. Get your act together, Warner Brothers.

DO NOT BUY THE DVD SET OF FASTLANE IT's NO good!
NO widescreen
NO Dolby Digital 5.1 surround Sound
No animated menus
Worst of all they changed the music! the music they used does not work.

DO NOT BUY THIS! Warner Brothers is asking you to buy six discs of a series that is missing ALL of the best music. Sure, this happens a lot, but come on. For Fastlane, the music was one of the main characters. Do not get tempted to buy an inadequate version. I just returned my copy! The set would have gotten NO STARS, but the system made me enter one.

Finally, fastlane has made to dvd. Great news right? Well, kind of. This dvd set is missing almost all of the original music. Now, this might not seem like a big deal, but it totally changed the tone of the show. In the pilot, where a Chris Isaak or Phil Collins song added drama and emotion to the scene, has now been removed and replaced with some no name artist and song. This really does mess up the whole mood of the show. On top of that, this dvd is FULLSCREEN, isn't that odd since it was filmed in widescreen? A large part of the screen is cut off due to this reformat of the show. If you do not have all episodes recorded from when it originally aired, this is the best you are going to get. Buy this set if you don't have the originals archived somewhere, this is a great show. It's just too bad they could not have given us the full package on this dvd set. I give this dvd set 3 stars and the show itself 5 stars.

Get free - The Vines is NOT the opening track for the pilot. I just popped this in to watch and the thing is not even in 16:9 format!! How unreal is that? I'm seriously dissappointed at that. I was ready to enjoy my Fastlane in widescreen with original music and all, well its not going to happen. This DVD collection is great if you loved the show but don't expect a lot out of it.

To top it off the quality doesnt look that great, episodes look grainy.

What do you get when you mix speed, violence, righteous babes and top it off with a rockus soundtrack? Fastlane. It's Miami Vice for the new millenium. Ok, it's fairly shallow, mindless and occasionally cheesy, but it's definitely fun, exciting and entertaining. Oh yea, they blow the everloving hell out of everything and smash up some of the prettiest rides you wish you could own. It won and Emmy for its action sequences, proabaly to be expected when you're spending $2.6 million an episode.

[Soundtrack Note]After 5 years of silence from the show's studio, Warner Brothers finally released the series to DVD this past Tuesday. Why'd it take so long? Most stories lead back to the expansive soundtrack featured throughout the Fastlane series. The problem seems to have been that many of the songs were originally licensed only for television and not a DVD release; as such, the series has jumped over to disc shy of nearly every single one of its original songs (thumbs down). Unfortunate, yes, but the new soundtrack has been reworked with a slight attention to the mood layed out by the original songs. That said, you can't take out a Coldplay or Phil Collins song from a dramatic scene and shovel in some unheard of tune. Half the reason this show was worth watching was simply for it's endless barage of hit tracks.

Video Quality: The Fastlane DVD set looks good, but there is some noticeable grain in each episode. The grain was perhaps a decision by the series' writer/director/producer, McG. Colors are vibrant, intense and saturate well. Resolution is hit or miss at times, but acceptable for the most part, especially when viewed with an upconverting player. Overall, the five year old series has a respectable transfer, but not great.

Audio Quality: Alas, it's 2.0 Stereo. For the most part, songs tend to be the focus of the audio mix and often overpower effects such as car engines and shootouts. Use a receiver with pro-logic II, Neo:6 or any mode that will matrix 2.0 into 5.1 or more, ramp the bass up a bit and you won't be missing much.

Verdict: Likely a buy for just the fans. The total change in the series soundtrack is definitely heartbreaking.

On the DVD release, most of the hot songs that were in the broadcast versions have been replaced by generic music (including the original theme song done by Snoop Dogg). I presume this was done because licensing the original music for the DVD release would have been too expensive, but it's a real disappointment, since in addition to the high-production-value "look" of the show, the soundtrack was an integral part of making this show such Bruckheimer-esque lowbrow fun.

When this show first came out, I was blown away. The production value, the storylines, the music... all were big screen quality. This DVD set does it no justice. The parties responsible should be ashamed. Poor transfer, not wide-screen, and all the incredible music has been stripped away and replaced by a canned, generic, bland score.

I am sure that this is a show that could have achieved cult status on DVD if properly produced and marketed. Hopefully the fan reaction will send the message and a new set will come out that is worthy of this great show.

If you want a better picture, you may be better off downloading the HD DivX from a Russian torrent, then transcoding to a 160x120 AVI which is then uploaded to YouTube, then watched in a Mosaic 1.0 browser with a 16-color display. You then get out your grandpa's Super8 handheld camera, the film inside which is eaten by a panda and excreted in to a DVD case.

Everything is fine except they changed the music. That's part of what made it a great show. I don't what they were thinking. If you've never seen the show it won't matter but if you've seen the show I can't recommend it because the music is horrible.