Product Details

• Actors: William J. White
• Directors: Joe Napolitano, Randall Miller, Matt Nodella
• Format: NTSC
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Universal Studios
• VHS Release Date: July 20, 1999
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00000K14E
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #569,249 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great set of Northern Exposure, June 19, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Northern Exposure - First Episode/Cicely [VHS] (VHS Tape)

For fans or even casual watchers of Northern Exposure, these are two must-see episodes. The series pilot introduces the plot and characters, and "Cicely" is, in my humble opinion, the greatest episode of the series. The first episode I ever saw was "Cicely", and I loved it. The unique humor I found to be very engaging, and the ensemble cast is terrific. You don't need to be familiar with the show or its characters to appreciate the quality of this extremely witty and very well done portrait of Cicely's colorful past. When the town doctor hits a 108 year old man with his car, and the man spins a tremendous yarn of the town's early development while being treated, the unfolding tale twists and turns with many delightful surprises. For any fan of Northern Exposure, these two episodes are mandatory viewing, and for those new to Northern Exposure, they are an excellent introduction, embodying the wit, intelligence, ambience, and color of the outstanding television series.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The "Northern Exposure" Pilot and the story of Cicely, May 27, 2005

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Northern Exposure - First Episode/Cicely [VHS] (VHS Tape)

The "Fish Out of Water" story (a.k.a. the "Stranger in a Strange Land" story) is a narrative staple given all the different types of fish and all the myriad bodies of water available. "Northern Exposure" was about a young Jewish doctor from New York City, Dr. Joel Fleischman (Rob Murrow), who had his medical education paid for by the state of Alaska and consequently owes them several years of medical servitude. Fleischman expects to end up in a large hospital in the state's largest city, but instead ends up in the town of Cicely, a small logging village in the middle of nowhere where he gets to be the only doctor in town. To Fleischman, operating a free clinic in bombed out Beirut suddenly looks better.

"Northern Exposure" was created by Joshua Brand & John Falsey, the same pair who gave us "St. Elsewhere," and in the First Episode (First aired July 12, 1990) Fleischman arrives all ready to fulfill his obligation in repayment of the $125,000 the start anted up for medical school, but the hospital in Anchorage does not need him and his services have been bought, so to speak, by Maurice Minnifield (Barry Corbin), a former astronaut not developing his small part of the Alaska wilderness as a money making opportunity for tourism (and anything else he can think up).

"Northern Exposure" is actually established as two shows in one. First the pilot shows Dr. Fleischman being introduced to the interesting characters in town, most notably Holling Vincoeur (John Cullum), Ed Chigliak (Darren E. Burrows) and Marily Whirlwind (Elaine Miles) in the pilot (One of the surprising things about the pilot is that John Corbett's Chris Stevens, who becomes the voice of Cicely on KBHR, has no dialogue in the first episode). One of the best sources of humor on the show is Fleischman's sense of outraged civilization beating impotently against the ways of the Native Americans. Ed and Marilyn listen to Dr. Fleischman, but they certainly do not obey.

Second, there is the constant battling and bickering between Fleischman and Maggie O'Connell (Janine Turner), the bush pilot who flies him to Cicely. Whereas everybody else in town takes Fleischman's outbursts in stride, Maggie insists on getting in his face and outbursting right back. Of course these two are going to end up in the sack together (actually it would be a literal role in the hay), and it is a question of whether we will be witnessing another romantic disaster a'la Dave and Maddie on "Moonlighting" (okay, not that bad, but it was not pretty). The two parts of the show did not exactly mesh, but in most episodes you were usually going to like most of the entwined plotlines.

"Cicely" (First aired May 18, 1992) finds Joel encountering Ned Svenborg (Robert Blossom), a 108-year-old man who tells him the story of how the little Alaskan town of Cicely came to be back in 1909. It seems way back when the community was a cultural mecca known as "the Paris of the North," established by a free-thinker named Cicely (Yvonne Suhor) and her companion Roslyn (Jo Anderson). As Ned tells his story, Joel imagines the town's present citizens as the characters in Ned's tale: Ed becomes the young Ned, Maurice is the power hungry Mace Mobrey, Chris is his hired gun Kit, Shelly is the young harlot Sally, Holling is Abe the man who loves her, and Maggie is missionary woman Mary OKeefe. Joel, of course, is Franz Kafka, who is struggling with an idea for a story about metamorphosis (Hmmmm).

As Ned tells the tale of how Cicely was intended to be a utopian paradise and her tragic fate, Joel appears to have some appreciation for what a special little town he is stuck in by a simple twist of fate. Of all the Cicely history episodes, this one is definitely the best. The final episode of the third season, "Cicely" was written by Diane Frolov and Andrew Schneider, this episode was directed by Rob Thompson, and makes a nice counterpart to the pilot episode. By the way, in Italy "Northern Exposure" was known as "Un medico tra gli orsi," which translates as "A doctor between the bears."