DVD Reviews

The Addams Family: Volume One

I’m not going to creepy, kooky this review by mixing in the song like so many others probably have.  We ALL know that song.  Heck, it may be the reason the show was so popular.  I mean it is a pretty catchy song.  But in reality, this is pure comfort entertainment at its best. The dark humour and yet family friendly show was and is, such a beloved piece of television history that it’s nice to see it finally hit DVD.

The Addams Family, America's first family of ghastly giddiness are here in all of their ghoulish glory in the original TV series based on the delightfully demented imagination of Charles Addams. Tarantulas, torture racks, and tombstones have never been so much fun. Join Gomez, Morticia, Uncle Fester, Lurch, Cousin Itt, Pugsley, Wednesday and the rest of the gang for a fiendishly funny and altogether cooky experience.

Presented in 1.33:1 full-frame (of course), the episodes look pretty good.  The prints seem to have been cleaned up quite since there looks to be a significant reduction in print damage.  Contrast isn’t bad but could be a bit better and black levels are somewhat inconsistent.  Because there is only 4 episodes on each side of the DVD, there is no real encoding problems. The image is slightly soft but detail is still quite nice.  Considering the age of the production and the fact that it was made for television and not the big screen, I’m quite impressed with the video we have here.

Audio follows the same guideline as video… original is best.  The DVDs are presented in English mono with French and Spanish subtitles for those that need them. There is a lot of hiss and noise in the mix.  This is obviously attributed to the age but I found that they had managed to mix it a bit lower and so it wasn't distracting.  The sound could have used a bit more processing and cleaning to be perfect but I suppose we should just be happy with what we have here.

There are several screen-specific audio commentaries in this set.  I was quite surprised to find there was only 3.  They aren't the best commentaries but do give a bit of interesting insight into each episode involved.  The episodes "The Addams Family Goes to School," "Morticia, the Matchmaker," and "Cousin Itt Visits the Addams Family" feature commentaries by actors Lisa Loring, Ken Weatherwax, Felix Silla and moderator Stephen Cox. "You Rang, Mr. Addams?" is a 12 minute featurette which gives an interesting look at the great Charles Addams and his work. "Snap, Snap" is a short 5 minute piece on the music.  You know, that catchy song you've probably had flowing through your head this entire review.  "The Addams Family Portrait" is a nice watch unless you've listened to the commentaries already as there is some repetition of information. The next extra has to do ! with that catchy theme song again.  "Addams Family Theme" is a karaoke track that just might have you singing all night long.  The final extra is a still gallery containing "Original Drawings" and "Photos".  The "Original Drawings" consists of 17 images and "Photos" consists of 13 images.  Most of the pics were used in the featurettes which was kinda disapointing as I would have preferred seeing stuff that hadn't already been shown on the DVD.

Now the entire The Addams Family series is comprised of 64 episodes and one made for TV movie.  The first season had 34 episodes with the remaining episodes making up the second season.  So why release only 22 episodes?  That's not even a complete first season.  Perhaps they're trying to get more bang for their buck and are going to release it in 3 sets.  Or perhaps they just wanted to push the set out before Hallowe'en and this is what they were able to come up with.  For whatever reason, it's nice to finally have The Addams Family on DVD.  And since the math leans towards them probably putting out 3 sets, it's also nice to see them in chronological order. This is a definate must own for fans of the series.  Even the casual fans will enjoy this release as there is enough supplemental material to make spending your hard earned dollars worthwhile.

Review By Robert Harding