Customer Reviews

Sam & Max Freelance Police - The Complete Series

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

 

 

With Sam & Max breaking out into the popular scene with the Telltale episodic game series and a reprint of the Surfin' the Highway TPB, it was only a matter of time before the Fox Saturday Morning cartoon made its appearance on DVD. Shout Factory! as stepped forward and done an excellent job bringing the short-lived cult series to a wider audience.

The packaging for this release is superb. It includes new art from Steve Purcell (creator of Sam & Max), a Freelance Police sticker, and three discs. The first two discs hold the show episodes while the third is a bonus disc including several animated shorts (three of which were pulled directly from the show), an interview with Steve Purcell, a brief look at Telltale games, character art, a playable demo, and many other features.

The video looks great for the age of the material. Sound is great as well, though I do miss subtitles. Shout! Factory also decided to use chapter stops within the episodes themselves as opposed to each episode being its own chapter as is more common with recent releases of other animated shows. This is a great feature as Sam & Max can be taken in either extended or short watching periods (many of the episodes are under 10 minutes long).

Those who enjoy the Sam & Max comic will find that much of the mirth and humor have made it in to the show. It has been cleaned up quite a bit but you'll find yourself asking "How did that make it in to a kids cartoon?" in many instances. It's an excellent translation, but some folks may be turned off by the randomness of it all.

The show itself will give more than its fair share of good laughs and quotable quotes. It's well worth the price of admission!

This is the gripping, heart-felt telling of two freelance police officer's venture into the criminal underbelly. This set contains 24 horrifying cases that will push them to their boundaries and test the very essence of what makes them officers of the law.
Join them on this powerful journey that captures the gritty reality of detective work as never seen before and maybe even discover for yourself the answer to the age old question "Why?"

I've been waiting for this set to be released since DVD became the savior of TV. Being a fan of the original game (Hit The Road) when it was released, I was extremely excited to hear about a cartoon show being developed! In it's original airing I really didn't get to see that many episodes, but when they released a bunch of them on VHS I quickly bought them up.
After years of waiting for something to happen with a complete DVD release our prayers were finally answered by Shout Factory. Coming to the rescue with promise of an awesome set that would be worth waiting for and did they ever deliver!
Steve Purcell has done some custom art for this set that makes it stand out on the shelf. The packaging is a slipcover holding two thinpaks inside (each with their own artwork). It's a thing of beauty to behold. This set really shows that it was put together with a love and care of the series.

On to the actually content! The first thinpak holds two disc's which contain all 24 10 minute episodes (including the 3 shorts). The menu on Disc One is pretty much done in the style of the opener of the show which is a nice touch. The menu buttons are the bumper stickers on the front of the Desoto (The car Sam & Max drive) which take you to the episode selection which is done in a comic book style menu. I was expecting Disc Two to have the same menu but to my surprise when popping it in, it was totally different. This time it opens with a camera pan into the Geek's cave and uses one of her computers as the set of the main menu. The episode selection menus are the same as disc one but there really is no need to have a different one.

After seeing what the video quality on The Tick season sets were like I was a little worried about Sam & Max since they weren't that much older than each other. My fears were put to rest when I pushed play and saw that the video was beautiful! Crisp and clean as you can possible have in a 10 year old show.
It was a real pleasure finally getting to see all of the missing episodes from the VHS sets. I was especially excited to see "The Final Episode" which did not disappoint and left me wishing there was more.

The third disc which makes it's home in the second thinpak case contains the bonus material. This time the menu is in the style of the top of Sam's desk. The bonus material starts off with some shorts that are already included with the episodes in discs One and Two. I originally thought that they wouldn't be and was glad they were in the bonus material. But it isn't really a problem since they are great and worth watching again! After the three shorts from the series, there is flash short that was done by Steve Purcell (the creator of Sam & Max). I am so glad this was included. It has nothing to do with the cartoon series, but it shows Sam & Max in their original (more adult) setting. Not that the short itself is "adult" but it has a less "Saturday morning cartoon" style and feel to it. It's really nice to have something represent other aspects of Sam & Max on this set. Although, for some reason this version of it is missing the atmospheric music, which doesn't really bother me too much.
Next we have a Comic-CONversation with Steve Purcell which I really enjoyed. It gives viewers a nice history lesson on Sam & Max and how the series came to be. It's only around 10 minutes long, but it covers nice ground and is a well put together video.
There is also a feature called "Telling the tale of Telltale Games" which (like the last video) was filmed at Comic-Con. It's about the Sam & Max games that are being made by Telltale Games and is really a nice touch to this set because it shows viewers that these characters are still alive and kicking. The video is even shorter than Steve's video but I really have no complaint's. It even ends of with the most amazing trailer for the second season of the Sam & Max games ever conceived.
The rest of the bonus features include a concept art gallery and the series bible (which is viewable through your PC). A demo of one of the Sam & Max games is also on this disc which can be accessed through your DVD-ROM and I think that anyone who views that trailer for the will not be able to resist playing it.

I really couldn't have asked for a better set. Sure the bonus features don't last too long, but for a cartoon show like this there isn't much more to put on it. All I have to say is thank you Shout Factory for putting this out! It's not a Sam & Max revival without it!

In regards to the review about the show not being funny,
This show was made to be a saturday morning cartoon for kids so it very much so has that feel. Alot of what Sam & Max are had to be watered down because of this which causes some moments in the show to be hit and miss. That being said, the essence of Sam & Max still manange to shine through. For a kids show there is still alot of stuff that surprisingly made it past the censors and jokes that go way over chidrens heads.

When a show is said to be ahead of its time, it often still ends up being dated once that time has caught up. Not the case for Sam & Max. While still very ahead of its time for a late 1990s Saturday Morning Cartoon, the humor and wit can still be appreciated even now.

Even though most of the episodes are available on YouTube and all but a handful can be watched on Gamptap, having the episodes on DVD means you don't have to fight bandwidth traffic or compressed video and audio quality to enjoy the wacky cases of the Freelance Police. There are little details that you probably missed because of the low quality as well as jokes you probably want to revisit to find out what they said now that you can understand them clearly.

If you are already a fan, you probably already have this set of DVDs. If you like cartoons that skirt the lines of what can and cannot be said on TV, you'll enjoy what Sam & Max can get away with.

Either way, get this DVD set. "I have one, as does everyone I respect and admire!"

I'd personally like to mention the great job that Shout Factory did with the production of this DVD set. The quality is wonderful. It is nice and compact due to the use of thinpaks to hold the DVDs. Unfortunately, though it is much smaller than most 3 DVD sets, it won't quite fit in a storage container designed for single DVD cases. It's just a bit too thick. However, you still can take the individual thinpaks out of the slipcover and they will both fit into a slot designed for a regular DVD case. The custom cover art is amazing. The actual content of the DVDs is great too. Each of the menus fit very well with the show. Overall, it is a beautiful presentation and I'm really glad that Shout Factory put so much love and care into its production.
(And it comes with a nice Sam & Max sticker. Who doesn't like stickers?)

This show is hilarious. I've been waiting forever to have it come out on dvd, here it is and I couldn't be happier! You get the entire series (which was really only 1 season), a disk full of extras (standard stuff, including a really nice interview with creator Steve Purcell). The show was on in the mid nineties I believe, but even before this set my brother and I could remember specific episodes that still made us bust up laughing (i.e. "our bewildering universe: chock full o' guts). From Lactose the intolerant, to Lorn the friend for life, its all here just the way I remember it! I own it, as do all the people I respect and admire!

The package was great, new and never experienced any problems. I love this cartoon series and i'm so happy I have the series, the awesome special features, and the really cool sticker the set comes with, not only that but my package arrived really fast. I absolutely love the humor and the animation is really nice, but like everyone else, I dont know how this was a kids show, kids wouldnt understand alot of the jokes. Any way i'm am very happy with this dvd and i think everyone should buy this to have a good laugh.

As a long time fan of Steve Purcell's comic book, and having played Hit the Road all the way through (the only computer game I've bothered to play), I enjoyed this interpretation of the characters. Sam and Max have been made kid friendly, but the merry mayhem that makes them who they are is still very much present.

Have a corn dog, little buddy, and buy this dvd. In fact, buy a bushel, give them to your friends. This is fun, clever and demented. It's not for children. The humor is too adult, too sophisticated, and too over the top. It's right from the venue of Crusader Rabbit, Rocky the flying squirrel, and the Animaniacs. The pace is rocket fast and the slow and dimwitted need not apply. The dialog and the animation are first rate.

i miss this old series, which is why i bought it on dvd. the set arrived with no damage or scrapes.

This sadly short-lived animated series is as much fun as the Sam and Max comics and video games. A must for all fans of the freelance police.