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The Movie:
 If a show
happens to get through its first year as a critical darling and a
ratings success, the inevitable issue of the "sophomore
slump" usually rears its ugly head just about the time that
the first season is concluding. Needless to say, it's an
incredibly hard time for television shows to be a success with
all the reality programming jamming up the airwaves. For a show
to continually achieve that success year after year is even more
rare. Gilmore Girls really hit the ground running with
their first season, and their second season was nothing less than an
improvement upon the themes and storylines of the first. The
really tricky part, then, is to actually continue that progress
and ride the momentum into subsequent seasons.
The third season of Gilmore Girls is often referred to
as the weakest of the bunch, as the fifth season currently winds
down its initial broadcast run. I, however, seem to think a bit
differently. While there are some weak moments to be found in the
show's third season, I find it far from boring and far
from being the bastard child of Daniel and Amy Sherman-Palladino.
The season, in fact, does a fine job of making the transition
from cutesy, sometimes overly simplistic (in terms of storyline,
never in terms of pop-culture references and rapid-fire dialogue)
story arcs into tales of real consequence and choice for the
lovely ladies (and gentlemen) of Stars Hollow, Connecticut.
Lorelai and Rory have to finally face up to everything they've
done up to this point in the series. They have to make a few more
tough choices this time around, and it's clear to every viewer
that those choices are going to have a major impact on seasons to
come.
 If season four
is considered to be the real transition year for the show - with
Rory finally going off to college and all - then season three is
the successful transition into the transition year. You
can see the wheels beginning to turn about halfway through the
third season's episodes. The girls are forced to grow up a bit,
which in turn, tends to make the show seem to grow up a bit.
That's not saying that all the fun and whimsy of earlier seasons
is gone in this season. On the contrary, there's a lot of simple
fun and hilarity to be found in this season. The rapid-fire
dialogue, funky wordplay, oddball comedy of the secondary
characters, and obscure pop-culture references are all to be
found in abundance in this season (just like every other season).
The difference, however, is that not everything seems so easy for
Lorelai, Rory, and the rest of the gang this time around. They
not only find themselves in more squabbles with each other, but
also with other people around them.
 The show started
to get a bit more serious, and choices all of a sudden seemed to
hold much more weight and consequence for future events. As we
see the stress mount up on Rory and Lorelai, the rest of the cast
tends to get a bit wound up as well. Rory not only has to apply
to and decide upon the college of her choice, but she also has to
deal with a major decision in her love life (Dean or Jess), some
major family unrest (yes, Lorelai still can't seem to
get along with Richard and Emily for very long), and some major
competition from Paris (who she was finally beginning to
befriend). All this, along with the pressure of the entire town
of Star Hollow on her shoulders, is enough to make anyone more
than a little stressed out. It is, however, these very events in
season three that help shape the person that Rory has become now,
as the show concludes its fifth season. And it is these events in
the third season of Gilmore Girls that begins the show's
tough transition that gets fully underway in season four.
Gilmore Girls: The Complete Third Season captures the
start of this transition beautifully. We get to see Rory make her
difficult boyfriend decision, Luke's continued pining for
Lorelai, Richard and Emily's slow drift into marital trouble,
Rory's inevitably more independent life (she even does a few
things her mother disagrees with, and even neglects to
tell her some of the juicy details), and the proverbial planting
of the seed that will bring the Dragonfly Inn under Lorelai and
Sookie's care. That's a lot to cram into 22 episodes, and Gilmore
Girls manages to do with plenty of time to spare for the
colorful secondary characters as well. Lane finally meets herself
a boyfriend and joins a rock band, Sookie and Jackson get a great
surprise, Kirk does whatever it is Kirk seems to be doing on any
particular day, and the staff at the Independence Inn get a very
rude awakening.
 How anyone
could find all the greatness tucked into season three sub-par is
beyond me. It may not be the absolute best season of Gilmore
Girls, but it is far from the worst. For those poor
souls who happen to think that the show has already jumped the shark, they usually point to two
events: the arrival of Jess Mariano (and his relationship with
Rory) and Rory going off to college. I, of course, happen to
disagree on both counts. The role of Jess in the show's third
season is an important and necessary one. If it weren't for the
experience of dating Jess, Rory would never have been prepared
for college life and her later rekindling of her relationship
with Dean. She would never have had the arguments with Lorelai
that shaped their relationship in a way that prepared them for
life apart. And she probably would never have become the strong
female that she is in the show's current season. For those exact
reasons (and the fact that there are some of the funniest moments
of the series contained within), the third season of Gilmore
Girls proves to be much more important and entertaining than
you originally might have thought.
The DVD
Disc 1:
"Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days" (original airdate: 9/24/02)
"Haunted Leg" (original airdate: 10/01/02)
"Application Anxiety" (original airdate: 10/08/02)
"One's Got Class and the Other One Dyes"
(original airdate: 10/15/02)
Disc 2:
"Eight O'Clock at the Oasis" (original airdate:
10/22/02)
"Take the Deviled Eggs…" (original airdate:
11/05/02)
"They Shoot Gilmores, Don't They?"
(original airdate: 11/12/02)
"Let the Games Begin" (original airdate: 11/19/02)
Disc 3:
"A Deep-Fried Korean Thanksgiving" (original
airdate: 11/26/02)
"That'll Do, Pig" (original airdate: 01/14/03)
"I Solemnly Swear…" (original airdate: 01/21/03)
"Lorelai Out of Water" (original airdate: 01/28/03)
Disc 4:
"Dear Emily and Richard" (original airdate: 02/04/03)
"Swan Song" (original airdate: 02/11/03)
"Face-Off" (original airdate: 02/18/03)
"The Big One" (original airdate:
02/25/03)
Disc 5:
"A Tale of Poes and Fire" (original
airdate: 04/15/03)
"Happy Birthday, Baby" (original airdate: 04/22/03)
"Keg! Max!" (original airdate: 04/29/03)
"Say Goodnight, Gracie" (original airdate: 05/06/03)
Disc 6:
"Here Comes the Son" (original airdate: 05/13/03)
"Those are Strings, Pinocchio" (original
airdate: 05/20/03)
Episode titles in bold are personal favorites on
each disc though the entire season should, preferably, be viewed
in order from beginning to end.
Video:
 Gilmore
Girls: The Complete Third Season is presented in an adequate
1.33:1 full frame transfer that is easily better than original
broadcast quality, and even slightly improved over the previous
seasons on DVD. There are a few problems with this transfer, but
for the most part these episodes look great. All the various
colors that are the visual highlight of the show come across
beautifully on this DVD set, although overall color can, at
times, be a bit soft. Flesh tones are accurate, and shadows and
blacks are nicely rendered. Detail sometimes leaves a bit to be
desired, as the overall image is occasionally soft. There's nary
a sign of edge enhancement or visible layer changes on these
discs, and the only really noticeable blemish on this transfer is
the abundance of grain from time to time. The show has an overall
graininess to it that is far from distracting, but in some
lower-light scenes grain rears its ugly head in a big
way. Even these instances, however, are less frequent than in
previous releases. Nevertheless, the visual presentation on these
discs is on par with what most of us have come to expect from a
typical TV-on-DVD release and certainly outshines anything you
might have seen during the original television broadcast.
Sound:
The audio on these discs is presented in a Dolby Digital 2.0
format that also stands up nicely to the usual TV-on-DVD
expectations. Dialogue, as in previous seasons, is absolutely the
most important aspect of Gilmore Girls, as it comes
rapid-fire throughout every episode, and is presented beautifully
on this track. It comes across as crisp, loud, and distinct, and
is clearly the focal point of this audio presentation. The
soundtrack, however, also plays a crucial role in the show and is
presented nicely here as well. Balance is good across the front
soundstage, though there is some very slight level fluctuation
and some episodes seem a bit louder than others. The surrounds
provide some support to the soundtrack as well. The overall track
sounds just as good, if not better, than it did when originally
broadcast, and when piped through Dolby Pro Logic II encoding
actually comes alive. This is especially evident in episode 19,
"Keg! Max!" when Lane's band finally gets to play their
first gig.
Extras:
There may not be a large amount of extra material present, but
the features that are included on this release really fit with
the overall feel of the show and make the experience of this DVD
set even more enjoyable.
 The best extra
feature on this set is a 15-minute cast documentary called "All
Grown Up: Stories of Childhood Experiences," which
is basically a compilation of interview clips with just about
every cast member of the show. Each actor explains a little bit
about his or her childhood, where they grew up, and what types of
experiences they had as children in their community. Also
included are many still pictures of the actors as youngsters.
Although I wish this feature could have been even longer and more
involved, it's still a very entertaining feature in its current
state.
 Also included on
this set is a short featurette called "Our Favorite
'80s: Favorite Era Dance Moves," which is, for the
most part, more cast interviews where each actor tells his or her
favorite dance moves from the '80s. On the surface, this may seem
like a silly, boring little feature, but that all changes when a
few key cast members decide to break out their favorite dance
moves mid-interview. If you've ever had the urge to see Keiko
Agena do the "Running Man" or Sean Gunn do his best
"Human Robot," now's you're chance. Just watching Kirk
bust a move is worth the price of this entire DVD set.
There are also four additional scenes on three episodes
included on this release. "Swan Song" and "Say
Goodnight, Gracie" each have one unaired scene, and the
season finale ("Those are Strings, Pinocchio") has two.
While most of these deleted scenes are interesting, but not
entirely necessary, additions to their episodes, the most
important excised scene is probably the flashback scene in the
season finale that shows Lorelai and Rory living in the
Independence Inn many years earlier. The rest of the deleted
scenes are certainly funny, but this particular scene would
easily have carried the most weight had it stayed in the final
version of the episode.
We also have a very short featurette called "Who
Wants to Fall in Love?: Season's Most Romantic Moments,"
which is my least favorite type of feature. Running just over a
minute long, this is simply a collection of short clips from the
season that include shots of characters kissing and otherwise
being "romantic." This is a bit of wasted bonus
material, in my opinion.
Much more useful is the "Your Guide to
Gilmore-isms" booklet that rounds out the extra
material. This booklet is exactly the kind of "Annotated Gilmore
Girls" that I had hoped would be included in the first
season DVD release and, thankfully, was also included in the
second season release. It is a treasure trove of information on
the many different wordplays and pop-culture references that are
scattered throughout the season's rapid-fire dialogue. Sure, an
actual video feature on this aspect of the show - preferably
featuring the show's creators - would have been even better, but
this booklet is a very good alternative.
Although I still pine for a future DVD release of Gilmore
Girls that will include commentaries by the creators, cast,
and crew, the collection of extra material on this set is
comparable to earlier releases of the show. While there may not
be a ton of material here, what is provided is rather good.
A Note on the Packaging:
Possibly at the behest of many fans that complained about the
packaging of the first two seasons' releases on DVD, Warner Bros.
has decided to change their packaging for this DVD release. The
first two seasons featured thick, plastic disc-holders that
folded out like pages in a book, but failed to do a good job of
securing the actual discs. Nice design, but poor execution, as
many people ended up getting scratched discs and
"floaters." For this current release, Warner Bros. has
changed the thick, plastic disc-holders with weak clasps to
thin, plastic disc-holders with stronger clasps, opening up a
whole new set of problems. This time around, I had no scratched
discs or "floaters" in my set. This set was also
lighter and a bit slimmer. The problem, however, with these new
plastic disc-holders is that they're not exactly sturdy. Three of
the six in my set had some form of chipping, or a very blatant
crack, in them. Of course, the most important part of these DVD
sets are the actual discs and the content on them, but this
packaging issue seems just like a bit of shortsightedness on the
part of the studio. Please, Warner Bros., I'm urging you to
switch over to the slim-cases in cardboard packaging like many
studios are using for their DVD sets these days. It would solve a
lot of the aforementioned problems.
Final Thoughts:
 There's not
much more that I can say to actually sell you on Gilmore
Girls: The Complete Third Season. Chances are, you probably
already know if you're going to pick up this set or not. If
you're already a fan of the series, it's a no-brainer. Just
having all 22 episodes of season three on DVD is, alone, worth
the price of this set. If, however, you're one of the naysayers
who like the series but can't stand the sight of Jess Mariano
and, therefore, didn't really enjoy the third season in its
initial broadcast run, I urge you to pick up this set and give
the season another chance. As with every season of Gilmore
Girls, there's a lot more to enjoy the second time around,
and this DVD release is certainly the best way to go about
viewing the season again. The audio-visual presentation is just
fine and the inclusion of a few nice extras makes this a highly
recommended set. This is the last time, however, that I'm letting
Warner Bros. off the hook for shoddy packaging and the lack of
audio commentaries. Next time, I might not be so kind.
Nevertheless, this DVD set is definitely one the fans of the show
will want to add to their collection. |
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