Customer Reviews

Friday the 13th: The Series - The Final Season

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I'm happy to announce that today, I received my copy of FRIDAY THE 13TH: THE SERIES - THE FINAL SEASON on DVD. (The box states there are 19 episodes, but not to fear: "The Prophecies," often seen as a 2-parter, originally aired as a 2-hour episode, and is included uncut in the set.) I looked at the back cover for evidence of bonus features, and it said, and I quote: "Special Features: Promos on Selected Episodes"!

I've been pretty vocal about my dislike for the previous two season sets, with their near-total lack of extras and, most noticeably, the glaring omissions of the pre-titles sequence from every episode, and for the hardcore fans, the lack of the 30-second promos for the next week's episode. Leave it to me, a fan of the show from 1988 (not quite the beginning) to notice and be bugged by these things. So the "Special Features" note on this set was something I was too curious about.

So far, I've only gone through disc 1, but it appears MY prayers, at least, were answered--to a degree. Not only does "The Prophecies" have the opening pre-title sequence ("Lewis Vendredi made a deal with the devil...") intact, but also, all episodes on the disc have the original 30-second episode promos, very nearly as they appeared during the original airings, complete with the red band across the screen denoting an "All-New Episode."

Why are they "very nearly" as they appeared? Well, do you remember at the very end of the promos, when they showed the tombstone with the F13 logo, the announcer said something like, "Next week, drive like the devil!"? (Bonus points to the fan who can identify that particular episode!) Well, they edited out that part of the audio from the promo. CBS/Paramount has them, master and all! (If they didn't have the masters of the promos, then they would have been unable to separate any audio, as music and dialogue would be on the same "tracks.")

I'm afraid we don't have all the promos--six are missing from this season ("Mightier Than The Sword," "Epitaph For a Lonely Soul," "My Wife as a Dog," and "Jack-in-the-Box," as well as those for the component halves of "The Prophecies"), and definitely we won't see the promos from seasons 1 and 2 on these discs. I have to at least give CBS/Paramount kudos for restoring the promos in this set, and giving us the 30-second opener for the first time in the sets!

What about the episodes themselves? Well, Johnny (introduced in 2 episodes from season 2) is no Ryan (who departs after the first episode in this set), but aside from him, we do have an exciting season where the writers experimented with different types of curses. If the show hadn't been shut down by parents' groups, we would have likely seen even more of a departure from the previous seasons like in this collection of episodes.

Rating: 4 stars. Not perfect, but this is the set I wish we'd received for seasons 1 and 2, and I'm very happy.

It is about time that the final season is released. Many people are complaining about the lack of extra features in seaon 1 & 2. It would be nice but who cares as long as we now have the entire series on DVD.

The 3rd season of Friday the 13th continued the innovative curses and excellent production values of Seasons 1 and 2, but the show really missed John D. LeMay as the male lead.

His replacement, Stephen Monarque, just isn't a very good actor. His voice is an annoying, high-pitched squeak. His character really doesn't fit into the action well or establish any chemistry with the other characters. The producers' attempts to create sexual sparks between him and the beautiful Robey result in scenes that are awkward, unreal, and distracting.

The 3rd season's shows are still good, but Seasons 1 and 2 are better examples of this series operating on all cylinders.

Well, all I can say is.....it's about time they got around to releasing Season 3! I was 18yrs old when this Series first was on TV, & I watched it faithfully every week! I already own Seasons 1 & 2, & these episodes really bring back alot of memories, I was crushed when it was cancelled cause it was one of the best shows ever!! They just dont make'em like this anymore, & Louise Robey what a Gorgeous Babe too! I wish they'd bring this show back, especially with the original cast!! My 8yr old daughter is now a 2nd generation fan of this show & is excited to see that its coming out on dvd September 22nd, I just cant wait either to see the last episodes of that season!! So take my word for it people, GET OUT & BUY THIS SET, a must have for any collection...... Ron Garvey

It is to bad that this series only lasted 3 seasons. I think they should bring it back!

I just wanted to comment that this is an excellent series. I didn't understand some of the reviews saying that the picture quality looks like a pirated version. I initially watched the series on my tube TV and then have rewatched some of the episodes that I really liked on my flat screen. The quality is different when watched on tube TVs versus flat screen. Quality is much lower on flat screen and I can kind of understand what some reviewers are saying. No kidding. Perhaps it is my imagination!

I watched these as a teenager and had to have them - great low budget horror series with a unique idea.

i got it when it came out and i have been watching the whole series. i just started watching season 3 last night and i can,t believe how awful the opening title looks and the credits look awful. after watching seasons 1 and 2 where everything looked great, i was shocked at how bad the credits looks,seeing how good they looked for seasons 1 and 2. i hope they remaster season 3 sometime after how good the other seasons looked. as far as extras go, i have come to expect no extras for these older shows. I,m happy to have the previews for each episode but i would rather see more then that. how about new interviews with the cast or mybe some out takes. I,m just happy to finally have season 3 on dvd and to finally own the whole series on dvd. This has been one of my fave shows since i was a kid. i remember watching it right from the shows start in 1987. After watching all the episodes, i wish someone would do a tv movie to finally give us fans a ending to friday the 13th the series.

Although this series has a dark theme (and is darkly shot as well) if you enjoy dark drama then this series has a lot to offer. I have read many criticisms of this series and have to admit they are all TRUE! Of course that is like listing the faults in your favorite aunt Marge's complexion (wrinkles, warts etc) and not mentioning her sugar cookies that were your favorites or the way she held you close and comforted you during the scary lightning storm. I have very fond memories of this series and seeing it again just brought them all back. I enjoyed the characters. They were easy to understand and empathize with. The concept was simple in principle but convoluted in execution. I enjoyed when staying up late enough to watch a scary show like this (days of broadcast tv) was a guilty pleasure, an indulgence. I am delighted to see the series come to DVD finally after all these years. I would have bought bootleg but I wanted to see the actors and writers get some cut for the work that brought me many hours of enjoyment.

Don't expect the world from this series... and you will not be disappointed. Accept it for what it is, and measure it against the standards of it's day. What a perfect thing to watch on an october evening!

I can't believe the 3rd series is going to be a similar price as the first 2 seasons considering there aren't as many episodes in the final season. There better be a LOT of extras. And I can't believe I didn't realize there was going to be a cheaper box set....I should have waited. But this was/is an awesome show. It was an interesting horror concept. I really thought it would go on longer considering all the antiques they could have recovered but it seemed that most of them did the same thing, take life to give life. Replacing Ryan was wrong and the replacement was horrible. Someone else mentioned that they should bring the show back....well they did. It's called Warehouse 13. It's on the Syfy (Sci-Fi) channel on tuesdays.