The FBI (the Quinn Martin/WB series) on DVD discussion thread

[OceanBlue]

Have been meaning to get round to starting a DVD Movies thread for the Quinn Martin/WB series The FBI. Below is the thumbnail artwork for all of the US and Canadian DVD releases by the Warner Archive Collection that are in the database here:

Canada:



US:

[Show spoiler]

[OceanBlue]

Earlier this autumn, I resumed watching the first season of The FBI. After a very good series premiere ("The Monster") the next couple of episodes didn't seem as good, and compared to other Quinn Martin television series (The Invaders and The Streets of San Francisco) I couldn't get into the series. Following resuming watching the series, I finally got into the show ("The Giant Killer", whose guest cast included Robert Duvall, has been one of the best Season 1 episodes so far).

[Bradsdadg]

Nice idea to start a thread here. I do not think I've seen this show, but it looks like an interesting one, and one I would like to check out

[OceanBlue]

Originally Posted by Bradsdadg

Nice idea to start a thread here. I do not think I've seen this show, but it looks like an interesting one, and one I would like to check out

Started on the penultimate disc of The First Season: Part Two last night with the episode "The Divided Man" (guest stars included Bradford Dillman). I thought the first half was very good (the teaser was well shot), the second half not so much.

I'm 'getting' the show now, and what is helping me to enjoy it is the music score (Dominic Frontiere has been credited for some episodes (they would later work on The Invaders. The music score at times does make me think of that show, as well as the look (outside locations especially).

Regarding the remastering, on the whole with the Season 1 episodes so far you can tell they're remastered. Each episode so far has ended with a white WB logo on a blue background (I'm assuming the original closing logo (the later seasons in the DVD releases use an eighties or eighties-style Warner Bros. Television logo).

I'm sure the WAC's DVD releases of the show are available on Deep Discount as well. I remember when the first few seasons were released, they were available as 'back-to-back' bundle packs when the season was split into two DVD volumes.

The only glitch I've noticed was in the teaser for "The Man Who Went Mad by Mistake" (guest stars included J.D. Cannon). The characters in the office scene, when the picture moved there was a slight jerkiness (not as bad in VEI's DVD releases of Arthur Hailey's Hotel: Season Two onwards).

[OceanBlue]

The season 1 episodes I watched this past weekend were on the whole very good transfer-wise (weird, the first part of "The Defector" had been remastered (looked very nice) but whoever did the remastering work on the first season must have been asleep when doing the second part (looked very rough. Either not remastered or part-remastered. The next episode on the third disc in The First Season: Part Two was back to the high standards of the episodes this season up-to-and-including "The Divided Man" with the episode "The Tormentors" (transfer was very nice).

There are plenty of studio set-shot scenes, but I've been surprised by how much of the show was shot on location (by this point in the season, I was expecting to see some budget-saving episodes). A good example of the on-location shot scenes I've been impressed by with their use of lighting and locations was in "The Tormentors" (guest stars included Lew Ayres, Ed Asner, Wayne Rogers pre-M*A*S*H) and a young Kurt Russell (another notable addition to the guest cast was William Reynolds, who would join the show in Season 3, playing a different character).

[OceanBlue]

Peculiar thing I heard during the teaser, title sequence and Act I of the first season episode "The Animal" last night (something I heard during some episodes of western series Black Saddle when I watched it on Talking Pictures TV). The audio/sound was like a plane moving fast (one example being in a scene in Act I when a character turned on the ignition of a car). Then, Act II onwards the sound/audio was as it should have been (like it has for all of the previous episodes in the WAC's DVD releases of The First Season: Part One and Part Two).

[OceanBlue]

The two-part story/episode of The FBI that I watched two nights ago, "The Executioners", what a treat it was, partly because of it having a few extras alongside the two episodes:

- "The FBI in color" (spoken by a similar-sounding voiceover to the one heard in the Invaders DVD boxset(s)

- a Ford logo before both parts started

- the bit between the end of one act and the start of the next seemed longer than normal

- Efrem Zimbalist Jr appeared before the end credits on both parts, speaking to the camera (previewing part two and speaking about an airing on US TV the following week of film The Robe, followed by saying that The FBI would be back in two weeks)

- and part two being remastered, compared to part two of "The Defector" in the First Season: Part Two DVD set.

Both parts were over fifty-one minutes long (I'd say they were uncut or close to uncut).

[OceanBlue]

"The Gold Card" started off the third season as well as the second season ended, with the same quality. William Reynolds debuted as Special Agent Tom Colby and I thought they were very good. I thought his predecessor Stephen Brooks played a good part, but based on their debut Reynolds will fill their shoes well. The change with a main cast member aside, the episode had a familiar, but not complacent feel, and it was reassuring.

I couldn't remember which season was the last that the Warner Archive last did restoration work on (based on what I had read on the web back at the time the show was being released on DVD in the States), but based on the first episode of season 3, the first three seasons at least (it looked remastered, with one prime example being the title card at the beginning (very vibrant colours).

[OceanBlue]

Sailing through the WAC's DVD releases of The FBI. About a week ago I started on The Fifth Season: Part One.

Can confirm that the first four seasons had some remastering work done to them, as the fifth season so far looks like off the shelf masters (some episodes and scenes look better than others). But the episodes appear to be uncut with runtimes usually being between fifty to fifty-one minutes.

Forgot which episode it was, but only one episode in the Fourth Season DVD volumes ended with the Seven Arts logo, and one episode's end credits abruptly cut off just before the end, going back to the episodes menu screen.

Some actors have guest-starred in more than one episode, like Robert Duvall. Harrison Ford guest-starred in a late season four episode. One of the memorable guest star appearances in the fifth season so far has been by Vera Miles (belated birthday greetings (she turned 95 a week ago). I know her best for playing Marion Crane's sister in the first two Psycho films, but have also seen her in one episode of the original Hawaii Five-O (season 3's "Dear Enemy").