Customer Reviews

Gilmore Girls: The Complete Series Collection

5 star:		(149)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I want to preface this review by saying this: I envy each and every person that will forever be able to pick up this set and experience the magic, whimsy, and zanyness of the Gilmore Girls fresh and anew for the first time.

`Gilmore Girls' which ran from 2001-2007 on the WB and CW networks is a show that is simply about a mother and daughter. But it goes so much further than that. This particular mother/daughter combo are best friends and separated in age by a mere 16 years. Yet, more than the interactions between Lorelai and her daughter Rory, typically the zany towns-people are the characters that steal the show. Their incredibly charm, matched with `the Gilmore Girls' wit, all set within the picture-perfect New England town of Stars Hollow, makes "Gilmore Girls" seem almost like a story book fantasy.

The series begins with Lorelai reluctantly starting to rebuild her relationship with her waspy high-society parents, after they agree to fund Rory's private school education. Throughout the seven seasons the audience watches as Lorelai relationship with her parents start to blossom, as well as the bond that forever strengthens between her and her own daughter, Rory. Lorelai was raised as a princess, but always hated her parents for the rules that society put upon her - hence why she ran away from home when she was 16 and pregnant. Throughout the years as well, the audience watches as Rory grows from an innocent and naïve 15-year-old girl, into a mature and seasoned 22-year-old college graduate.

It's impossible to put into words just how magical this show really is. And it is not the perpetual `chick-flick' that many write-it off as. It is infact probably one of the smartest and best written television shows to grace the small-screen in recent years. One would need several PH D.s in Popular Culture to get even 80% of the refrences that these girls throw around. And beyond that the performances of the actors makes this show something special. And, although the show started as a drama, the humor was always present and by the middle of season one the glimpses of the great comedy to come started to make themselves known.

My review my sound like a very proud grand-parent raving about their grandchild, but that shows the love I have for this magical series. I watched from the very first episode at 14 years-old with my best friend until the series finale in my apartment during my sophomore year of college (with the same friend by my side, traveling 700 miles so we could watch it together). I have loved every moment, and will buy this set in a heartbeat.

This DVD set includes all 153 episodes on 42 DVDs in their original full-frame broadcast video with Dolby Surround Sound. Special Features include a "Welcome to the Gilmore Girls" documentary, deleted scenes from select episodes, pop-culture montages, a `gilmoreism' book, commentary on "I Jump, you Jump Jack" by series creators Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino, as well as several `behind-the-scenes' featurettes.

Picked up my set today and I am submitting my review for those of you wondering about the extras and such. First off the packaging: As you can see in the pictures, the packaging is something you would expect to find in a Barbie Doll box. All of the seasons come in their own respective folders with pictures of the cast and different designs on each. All of the discs are numbered 1-42. The discs come in cardboard sleeves which worried me at first because I was expecting to find a lot of scratched or damaged discs(Like in the Stargate-SG1 set). But upon inspection of all the discs, they all came in perfect shape with no scratches at all. There is also the "Gilmore-isms" book with all of the references arranged alphabetically with the episodes they appear, and a short description of each. The other book is the episode guide which has all of the same descriptions for each episode as the season sets. The discs, while having different cover art than the seperate season sets are all the EXACT SAME DISCS! All have the same featurettes, deleted scenes, etc. etc. There is nothing new. So anyone thinking about selling your season sets in favor of the complete series, keep in mind that you are getting nothing new except for the dorky cover art and "Gilmore-isms" book. I don't really care about the cover art myself, I'm just glad to have all the episodes in one box. The only season set I owned prior to this is the first season. I'd been planning on picking up the other ones but now I'm glad I didn't. I borrowed the other sets from a friend so I could compare the discs. Bottom line: it really is a good set, but in my humble opinion, it is not worth the money if you own the individual season sets. If I had the other six, I'd buy the seventh and be done with it.

Let me begin by saying this is a review of the product...NOT the show. The show is one of my all time favorites, I miss it and I wish it were still on.

Anyway, I had purchased every season individually as they were released. Each season was in a very nice, well constructed box set and the design of them fit the show perfectly. I'm a person who appreciates a good product when I see it and I was happy to collect these.

As a collector, I was VERY surprised and pretty disappointed to see this complete series set. I had every intention of buying it when it came out...glad I didn't. A friend bought it before I had the chance and I have never seen something so poor. The discs are in cardboard sleeves that promote scratching. The box itself is very flimsy and not very well put together. And who designed it? The design is WAY off and doesn't really go with the show. It's cheap and just all together weird. It all seems very much thrown together as an after thought. Clearly not much was put into this as all the pics and graphics look like they were done in someone's basement using photoshop and bad stock photos. I was expecting something SO much better. Especially for the price.

Needless to say, I decided NOT to purchase it. I'll stick with my individual seasons. I would suggest others just buy them seperately as well. I was hoping for MUCH better treatment for one of my favorites.

Like another reviewer, my set had one disc that did not work! (The last disc of season 5.) It's heartbreaking because this disc has several of my favorite episodes on it. I hope the manufacturer takes another look at the DVD authoring process and corrects this error.

The set itself has clunky, outsized packaging. Lengthwise it's about the size of a loaf of bread, and it's puffy. I mention this because it can be kind of a hassle when some of your DVDs can't sit neatly next to the others.

The show itself is wonderful, though.

As excited as I was to hear that the seventh and final season of "Gilmore Girls" will be coming to DVD on November 13--just in time for the upcoming holiday season--the fact that this deluxe full-series edition is being released on the same day is more than a little bit frustrating. As a fan who started loyally watching at the beginning of Season 6 and has quickly caught up with every episode since then, I think that this new collection--with the fancy cover art, more efficient packaging, and a slew of little extras, including a complete book of "Gilmore-isms"--will be pretty tough to pass up. Oh, but what's a Gilmore junkie to do when she has already purchased the first 6 individual seasons? Yes, unfortunately, these are the exact types of appeals that these companies present to mess with our minds and make an even larger profit. It's a pain, for sure, and yet here we all are, adoring this series and debating whether or not this investment is worth the money.

Setting all that aside, if you have not yet obtained the current DVD's and/or are thinking about introducing yourself to the magic, this might be a good opportunity to do so. As another reviewer here has already indicated, this is a genuinely unique work of art that began as a mother/daughter relationship study and gradually evolved into several layers of subtle humor, poignancy, character flaws, and imperfections that manage to never cut down on what is most important in life. The show always succeeded in maintaining a contemporary edge, but those timeless values of family and community hold up strong, and there is perhaps no series that combines it all better than "Gilmore Girls."

Most fans of the show will agree that the plot's true backbone belongs to the character of Lorelai Gilmore--a strong-willed, stubborn, occasionally selfish person whose heart is generous, sincere, and filled with everything that young people should strive for today. Getting pregnant at 16 and alienating herself from her straight-laced parents did not prevent Lorelai from creating her own life and being the best mother she could possibly be. When we meet her and her 16-year-old daughter Rory in the pilot episode, we get a glimpse of a genuinely successful young woman who works hard and provides well for her child, both physically and emotionally. As financial situations with Rory's schooling plummet Lorelai back into a world where her parents are part of her daily regime, we begin seven incredible years of bantering and conflict that any human being can relate to on some level.

As for the unforgettably bright and academically passionate Rory Gilmore, it is her and Lorelai's very connection that drew so many people into the plot in the first place. Going beyond the basic mother/daughter closeness, these two are best friends who essentially grow up together, experiencing everything from heartbreak to realizing their personal dreams. Their relationship radiates from the very beginning, and even as the superachieving Rory Gilmore grows older, heads to college and starts making her own way, you can see EXACTLY where her varying successes have stemmed. By the time she receives the payoff in the finale and tastes the glory of all her hard-fought efforts, it is not difficult to see how she got there, and for long-time viewers, that just makes it all the more heartwarming.

As I said earlier, this series has an overwhelming number of layers and would take hours to write in full detail. I could write forever, but since it's basically impossible to put everything about this show into words, I can only say that it is something of susbtance, quality, and true value for our world today. It starts out with a young woman living and enjoying life with her teenage daughter, and it deepens as a talented ensemble cast creates their warm, ideal, and welcoming town of Stars Hollow, Connecticut.

There's just something about it. It is an ongoing story that is sensitively told, complete with pitch-perfect acting (especially from Ms. Lauren Graham) and a solid script that is not afraid to show how these characters change, make some poor decisions, and come through it in a way that you can often admire. The messages are positive and sweet, yet even with its generous poignancy, you never feel like you are watching something too saccharine or unrealistic.

If you love this show as much as I do, then you know just what I mean, and if you haven't, then I hope you will pick up this set in November and give it a shot. The story is addictive in nature, and the writing is razor-sharp in wit during every single episode. As for this particular special edition set, well, I think I'm going to have to give in to it and continue enjoying my Gilmore Girls for years to come. It's still unknown whether or not this will include bonus features that are exclusive only to this boxed set, but either way, it's shaping up to be a pretty impressive collection that is worth the extra bucks if this is one of your all-time favorites. The 2007 holidays are coming up quickly (believe it or not), so go ahead. Save up your money, revisit the episodes, and treat yourself to a modern-day classic that certainly managed to become some of the most well-loved television of our time.

The set arrived in good condition and is pretty much what I expected.
As other customers said : it is pretty big, and the DVDs are in cardboard pockets.
I liked the episode guide and the book of gilmorisms.

However, disc number 24 (season 4 last 4 episodes) doesn't work.
Apparently Amazon is aware of the problem since some customers received a replacement disc. But, for an unknown reason, I cannot benefit from this replacement disc.
I have been exchanging e-mails with the customer service for 3 days now and I am not any closer to being able to watch the missing episodes.

I am pretty dispointed in my purchase since the reason I buy complete series boxed set is to be able to watch ALL the episodes, and not miss a season ending.

Warning! Spoilers ahead!

Before I write about one of my all time favorite shows I should say that when I decided that I wanted all seven seasons of the girls, I looked both at buying the entire series all at once or buying each individual season in the original packaging. I decided to go with the latter. This decision was aided by Amazon offering each individual season at only $19.99 a season, making it considerably cheaper than buying the complete series in the collected edition. But even if I had had to pay a bit more, I would have opted for the individual seasons. I might have taken a bit longer to get every season, but I would at least have been able to avoid the rather unattractive packaging. This is actually a problem with a lot of series that you can collect in their entirety in a single package. Many of them have extremely unappealing containers. I recently acquired the complete SIX FEET UNDER. Same deal. Unattractive box with a bit of faux grass on top of the case. I want to get the complete NORTHERN EXPOSURE (a show that in many ways resembles THE GILMORE GIRLS), but I've been horrified when I've looked at the ugly backpack containing them. Are the cases underneath like the original packaging? If so I can toss the canvas bag. I just wish the studios would try to do a little better job with the artwork and packaging.

THE GILMORE GIRLS lasted seven wonderful seasons (well, five wonderful seasons and then one not so wonderful season, one god awful unbearably painful half season, and a final fairly decent half season). More as to what went wrong in those final two years below. It was built around a story of quiet heroism. Lorelai Gilmore at age 16 finds herself pregnant by her boyfriend Chris. Rather than succumb to the control of her overweening parents, she leaves home, finds a job as a maid in a Connecticut Inn, and determines to be a single mother. We join the show 16 years after this event. Lorelai is no longer a child mother, but a young woman who enjoys a magnificent relationship with her precocious daughter, and has worked her way up to become the manager of the inn that took her in. We join the show at a moment of crisis. Rory, Lorelai's daughter, has been admitted to the prestigious private school Chilton, a school integral to Rory's goal to attend Harvard. But the school tuition is considerably beyond Lorelai's ability to pay. She therefore makes the reluctant decision to ask her parents for tuition for Rory. They agree, but only on condition that Rory and Lorelai attend dinner each Friday with Emily and Richard Gilmore. They want to get to know their granddaughter.

This provides a great deal of the narrative of the structure for the show for most of the run of the series. Sometimes the dinners are more poorly attended. Sometimes they are not attended at all when one or more of the Gilmore women won't talk to one of the others. Much of the rest of the show consists of rather mundane things as the main characters live out their lives in Stars Hollow, Hartford, and New Haven, all in Connecticut. They show does a pretty remarkable job of faking those three east coast towns on the Warner Brothers lot in Hollywood. Shooting on a section of the lot that adjoins sets upon which shows and movies as diverse as THE MALTESE FALCON, THE ADVENTURES OF LOIS AND CLARK, BLADE RUNNER, THE BIG SLEEP, and PUSHING DAISIES have been made, they do a great job of evoking New England. (Taking great care to never shoot very far to the right of the hills in the distance from the town square, since to do so would be to reveal the famous HOLLYWOOD sign high on the ridge.) Having attended Yale, I did cringe in the season were Richard, Emily, and Rory strolled through the Yale campus, which was not only not Yale but not even a college campus, but apparently a public park where they plastered up a sign reading Yale University on a wall. Later, when Rory sees the light and opts for Yale rather than Harvard, they build some rather impressive Yale sets (though I was always troubled that Rory never went to Sterling Library, which is where the bookish girl would certainly have lurked for four years).

But I'm missing the point. The point is that the show over seven years explores deeply the lives of these people we come to live in their "little corner of the world." I compared THE GILMORE GIRLS and NORTHERN EXPOSURE above. It is apt. We get to know Stars Hollow very much the same way that we got to know Cicely, Alaska. And if the residents of Stars Hollow (excepting Kirk) are not as bizarre as those in Cicely, they are at least more approachable.

But regardless of where we are on the show, the finest thing about it is the talk. There have been other shows that excelled at dialogue. BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER (which GILMORE GIRLS creator Amy Sherman-Palladino has called her favorite show) had wonderful talk. And the current ABC series PUSHING DAISIES (which has taken over many of the sets used by THE GILMORE GIRLS -- in one episodes, "Bitches," the hero of the show tackles a murderer right in front of the gazebo we all associate with Stars Hollow) has talk that might even exceed THE GILMORE GIRLS in originality. But no show ever made had so much outstanding talk before. You can find better dialogue in movies like HIS GIRL FRIDAY (one of the movies Amy S-P cites as a GG inspiration), but it is concentrated in a 90 minute time period. THE GILMORE GIRLS had great talk thousands and thousands of minutes. Some complained that the brilliance of the dialogue died in Season Seven, after Amy Sherman-Palladino and her husband Daniel both quit the show when the WB refused to give them a two-year extension. But even then I found the talk among the best on TV.

One of the greatest things about the characters was that they were not perfect. Rory is a delightful young girl, but she frequently makes bad decisions about guys. Lorelai is magnificent, but her love life often sucks, sometimes by her own dumb decisions. In fact, her sudden break up with Luke at the end of Season Six and her idiot marriage to Chris in early Season Seven (I literally stopped watching the show for several months, asking a friend to tell me if and when Lorelai and Chris broke up -- otherwise I was quitting the show) goes down as one of the dumbest romantic decisions in the history of TV. And don't blame David Rosenthal, who took over the show when the Palladinos left. Amy herself had planned the Luke break up and marriage to Chris. Luckily the show ends on a good romantic note.

The acting on the show is magnificent from beginning to end, but I'll focus on just one person. In my opinion, Lauren Graham is the finest comic actress in the history of TV. Yeah, I know. Everyone will say, "But what about Lucille Ball." Lucy was great at slapstick and broad comedy, but not much else. She certainly wasn't good at drama and she was never asked to engage in the witty banter we associate with Katherine Hepburn in BRINGING UP BABY or Rosalind Russell in HIS GIRL FRIDAY. Lauren Graham is extraordinary at both. There is no greater indictment against the Emmys and proof of their ultimate irrelevance than the fact that Lauren Graham, easily the dominant actress of the past decade, never received an Emmy nomination. There is simply no excuse for this.

I've written a lot, but I've barely touched at the astonishing richness of the show. Many of the major character have barely been hinted at, like Luke (who along with Rory and Lorelai is the third crucial member of the cast) and Lane. But even if I doubled the size of the review too much would be left out. Let me just end by saying that this is one of the richest, most delightful American series ever. Start watching (if you haven't before) and you'll find that you simply don't want it to come to an end.

I'm just now watching the "Gilmore Girls" series purchased as new some months ago as a gift. Unfortunately I didn't have time to check this product earlier. I'm on Season 5 and every disc so far has glitches with color hazing, skipping and stopping at times. I've stopped and restarted to get through the disc, cleaned and recleaned the player and skips continue. I tried Disc #24 several times on two different DVD players and it appears to be completely blank!
Love this series, but this is a disappointment.
April 25...I am now on Season 7 and again find all discs very difficult to run. I've tried them on multiple players {cleaned DVD players multiple times}, and again the first disc appears to have no information on it.
This is a very nicely packaged series with very faulty discs throughout each season. A great disappointment.

I bought this and this is NOT problem free. Some discs didn't play, some episodes have no visuals and/or sound for the first 20 minutes. Such a poor product for a great show.
Most problematic are seasons 4 and 5. Of course by the time you get to that point, you can't exchange anything from amazon (unless you are watching 5 episodes a day!), and are left trying to contact the manufacturers direct.

Had to watch missed episodes on-line, and buy the individual season in one case to compliment this poorly devised set. Clearly no-one quality checks.

Okay folks,
since I didn't find any details -other than on amazon- about the DVD Set, I thought I'd write some down.
My set arrived yesterday!
Why I didn't write then you ask? Well, I didn't have enough money to pay for customs, so the post man didn't give it to me.

For those of you living in Germany: Be prepaired to pay 29,38EUR on arrival. IF you have bought your set off amazon for 160$. They actually add the shipping to the calculation basis. Yes, not as cheap as you wish.

Since I don't know how to add pictures here, let's try telling you what it looks like in writing:
The outer box is made of plastic, the inner box, holding the set DVDs is cardboard. The season sets are cardboard too.
There is a magnet inside the overlapping lashes of the outer box that closes it.
The episode guide as well as the gilmoreism book are paperback, no hardcover.

I have not had the time to search for any easter eggs, but I doubt there are any since everybody says the DVDs are exactly the same as in the set boxes. I wouldn't know, because I don't own the individual sets.
From the fancy episode guide thingy you get I can tell this much:

SEASON 1
Disk6 Bonus materials:
Welcome to the Gilmore Girls
-Series creator and cast describe how this family-favorite series evolved.-
Gilmore Goodies and Gossip - Rory's Dance
-On-Screen factoids-
Gilmore-Isms
-A look at many of the show's witty and memorable wordplays.-

(I remember that there was this "blooper wheel" on the Season 1 DVDs, but it is not listed in the ep guide. Does anybody remember if it was hidden somehow?)

SEASON 2
Disc 7 "Sadie, Sadie" - unaired scene
Disk 8 "Presenting Lorelai Gilmore" - unaired scene
Disk 10 "There's the rub" - unaired scene
Disk 12 "I can't get started" - unaired scene
Also on Disk 12
Bonus materials:
A Film By Kirk
International Success - How other countries welcome the girls
Gilmore Goodies & gossip - A-tisket, a-tasket
-On Screen factoids-
Who wants to argue?
-The season's best shouting matches-

SEASON 3
Disk 16 "Swan Song" - unaired scene
Disk 17 "Say Goodnight, Gracie" - unaired scene
Disk 18 "Those are strings, Pinocchio" - unaired scene
Also on Disk 18
Bonus materials:
All Grown Up
- Cast stories of childhood experiences-
Who wants to fall in love?
-The season's best romantic moments-
Our Favorite '80s
-Favorite dance moves-

SEASON 4
Disk 19 "Ballrooms & Biscotti" - unaired scene
Disk 22 "The reigning Lorelai" - unaired scene
Disk 24 Bonus materials:
Gilmore Goodies & Gossip
-Fun facts bonus version of "Girls in bikinis, boys doin' the twist"-
Who wants to get together?
-The season's most romantic moments-
Stars Hollow Challenge
-Trivia Quiz-

SEASON 5
Disk 26 "You jump, I jump, Jack" - Commentary by Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino
Disk 30 Bonus materials:
Gilmore Girls Turns 100
-Taking stock on reaching five years and 100 episodes-
Behind the scenes of the 100th episode
Who wants to talk Gilmore?
-The season's wittiest wordplay moments-

SEASON 6
-No Bonus-

SEASON 7
Disk 38 "The great stink" - unaired scene
Disk 42 Bonus materials:
Gilmore Fashionistas
A Best friend's peek inside the Gilmore Girls with Keiko Agena
Who wants to talk boys?
-The season's best boys montage-
Season Montage
Kirk's tour of Stars Hollow

So all in all you get what everybody else already owns plus a cute box that does not fit on your DVD shelf with the other DVDs since it's way larger though.
I am glad I bought it but for those of you who already own the DVD sets... don't bother. Just like my fellow reviewers already told you: There's nothing new.
Still, I'm glad to have it and I give this box 4 stars.
It would have gotten 5 if there had been any additional extras.