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The Movie:
 The
tough part about creating quality dramatic television is that,
unlike many sitcoms and reality shows, the hour-long drama (or
even comedy-drama) must grow. Sitcom characters never
have to change. That's part of the charm of those types of shows.
They are completely episodic, the characters can stay the same
age forever, and we can simply watch them go through some
different type of predicament every week. The hour-long drama
(especially those with season, or series, long story arcs like Buffy
the Vampire Slayer or Veronica Mars) has a
responsibility to allow its characters to grow, go through
transitions, and tackle all the difficulties that come along with
that growth. This difficulty, on the other hand, is also what
makes quality dramatic television so worthwhile. The viewers get
to know and love these characters, their arcs, growth, and
maturation. It's one of the most rewarding aspects of watching a
show like Gilmore Girls.
 That
being said, Gilmore Girls: The Complete Fourth Season
finds Lorelai, Rory, and the rest of the wacky Stars Hollow clan
during the most transitional periods of their lives. People are
moving, relationships are drastically changing, new people are
flying in and out of their lives, and the ever-present daily bond
between a mother and daughter is slightly severed. Season four
was a rough year for just about every single character on Gilmore
Girls. In my review of Gilmore Girls: The Complete Third
Season, I described season three as the transition into the
transition. Well, season four we are definitely into full
transition mode. Some fans cried foul, while others chose to
simply tune out. A ratings dip like Gilmore Girls
experienced in its fourth season, however, has to be expected. By
choosing to place their characters in new environments and
situations, Daniel and Amy Sherman-Palladino took a chance that
tests the true mettle of shows of this kind, and that risk is one
of the reasons that I love the duo so much. They trust, respect,
and never condescend to their audience. The ratings for season
four may have dipped, but the true quality of Gilmore Girls
showed through as season five provided some of the highest
numbers the series had ever garnered.
Instead of yammering on about how difficult it is for a show to
take the chances that Gilmore Girls takes in its fourth
season, I thought it might be best to examine some of the reasons
why this particular season ends up slightly less entertaining
than its predecessors. Now, don't get me wrong, Gilmore Girls
– even at its worst moments – is more entertaining and
insightful than 99% of the shows on television, but season four
certainly has its downfalls.
The biggest, and clearly most brutal, change in Gilmore
Girls: The Complete Fourth Season is the transition of
Lorelai and Rory's relationship. It was, in fact, a necessary
transition. We all knew that Rory would eventually have to go off
to college, but no one realized just how difficult it would be
not only for the two characters, but also for the show's viewers.
During "The Lorelais' First Day at Yale," we get to see
just how devastating the idea of not having her mother around is
for Rory. She, quite literally, freaks out and ends up begging
Lorelai to come back to Yale and sleep over. The really tough
part – at least for viewers – though was when Lorelai
finally did leave and Rory was left to her own devices at
college. No more lightning speed banter between Rory and Lorelai
every single day. They would, instead, be forced to use their
cell phones to communicate on a daily basis. This was a nifty
little idea (on the part of the show's creative team) to keep the
relationship afloat and chatting, but the connection just wasn't
quite the same during the fourth season. Watching Rory and
Lorelai go back and forth on their cell phones just doesn't carry
the same weight as their conversations in person.
 One
major benefit of Rory's college transition, however, is the extra
screen time for Paris Gellar. I've always had a
soft spot in my heart for the snide witticisms of snobby Paris
Gellar, but my affection for her character grew exponentially in
the show's fourth season. After ditching a silly subplot that
started the season by pairing her with a "life coach,"
Paris finally gets the chance to really shine. She becomes the
perfect match (and roommate) for Rory, taking over some of the
rapid-fire exchanges that Rory might have previously shared with
Lorelai. Their arguments are top-notch material that provides
some of the funniest moments of the entire series. By finally
becoming a fully fleshed out character – and not just an
adversary for Rory at Chilton – Paris gets to shine, and she
manages to become one of the season's biggest bright-spots. Where
she seemed to be a bit one-note during their Chilton years, Paris
uses the fourth season to not only continue to be the
tough-minded, sarcastic, rich snob, but she also seems to grow a
heart and become Rory's true confidante.
 There
are plenty of viewers that would say that the fourth season of Gilmore
Girls is the end of the line – the point of no return.
Rory can't be the same person she was for the first three
seasons, and her separation from Lorelai irrevocably scars the
series. To those viewers, I'd have to say that they are partially correct. Rory can't go back to the person she was for
those first three seasons, nor should she, but that in no way scars the series. The transition year is
a tough year for any show, but it is one that every quality
dramatic series must go through in order to truly win
over an audience. Sometimes the biggest risks reap the biggest
rewards, and Gilmore Girls is great evidence of that.
Daniel and Amy Sherman-Palladino take some very drastic chances
in their show's fourth season. Nearly every character
and relationship changes in a dramatic fashion, and the fourth
year of Gilmore Girls does, in fact, suffer from these
changes at times. It is, however, still an undeniably
entertaining show that bounced back with an excellent fifth
season. Big risks, big rewards. Remember? Gilmore Girls: The
Complete Fourth Season may have its rough spots, but the
good easily outweighs the bad, and I'd watch this slightly
less-than-perfect season of Gilmore Girls over 99% of
the other drivel on television any day of the week.
The DVD
Disc 1:
"Ballrooms and Biscotti" (original airdate: 09/23/03)
"The Lorelais' First Day at Yale" (original airdate:
09/30/03)
"The Hobbit, the Sofa, and Digger Stiles"
(original airdate: 10/07/03)
"Chicken or Beef?" (original airdate: 10/14/03)
Disc 2:
"The Fundamental Things Apply" (original airdate:
10/21/03)
"An Affair to Remember" (original airdate: 10/28/03)
"The Festival of Living Art" (original airdate:
11/04/03)
"Die, Jerk" (original airdate:
11/11/03)
Disc 3:
"Ted Koppel's Big Night Out" (original
airdate: 11/18/03)
"The Nanny and the Professor" (original airdate:
01/20/04)
"In the Clamor and the Clangor" (original airdate:
01/27/04)
"A Family Matter" (original airdate: 02/03/04)
Disc 4:
"Nag Hammadi is Where They Found the Gnostic Gospels"
(original airdate: 02/10/04)
"The Incredible Shrinking Lorelais" (original airdate:
02/17/04)
"Scene in a Mall" (original airdate: 02/24/04)
"The Reigning Lorelai" (original
airdate: 03/02/04)
Disc 5:
"Girls in Bikinis, Boys Doin' the Twist"
(original airdate: 04/13/04)
"Tick, Tick, Tick, Boom!" (original airdate: 04/20/04)
"Afterboom" (original airdate: 04/27/04)
"Luke Can See Her Face" (original airdate: 05/04/04)
Disc 6:
"Last Week Fights, This Week Tights" (original airdate:
05/11/04)
"Raincoats and Recipes" (original
airdate: 05/18/04)
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 Fourth Season is presented in an
adequate 1.33:1 full frame transfer that is easily better than
original broadcast quality, and is certainly on par with the
previous season 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 the first and
second season sets. 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 17,
"Girls in Bikinis, Boys Doin' the Twist" when The Shins
provide some live entertainment.
Extras:
I'm not exactly sure what Warner Bros. was thinking when they put
this set together. Not only have they included less
extra material than on previous Gilmore Girls season
sets, but the few extra features that are included tend to be
more filler material than actually entertaining or interesting
features.
 Nearly
all of the extra material for Gilmore Girls: The Complete
Fourth Season is located on the sixth disc, and the most
significant feature included on this set is Gilmore
Goodies and Gossip for "Girls in Bikinis, Boys Doin' the
Twist," which is basically a pop-up video version
of episode 17. The episode is shown in its entirety, only this
time around little factoids pop up, occasionally, on the bottom
of the screen. These factoids provide information about the cast,
the obscure references made in the dialogue, and many other
tidbits of information culled from the episode. While I think
this feature was a great idea, I'm not so sure it's as good as it
could have been. The pop-ups don't come frequently enough for my
taste, and sometimes they only provide the most general
information. Where they do shine, however, is when they refer to
the obscure pop-culture references that pepper the dialogue of Gilmore
Girls. This feature also appeared on the first season set
and the fact still remains that it would have been great to have
this feature for every episode to decipher the sometimes nearly
undecipherable references. It could have been an excellent Annotated
Gilmore Girls, but alas, comes across as merely hit-or-miss
in its current form. I mean, it's great to know where a
"brain freeze" comes from, but this type of information
doesn't exactly expand my knowledge or enjoyment of Gilmore
Girls.
There are also two additional scenes on two episodes
included on this release. "Ballrooms & Biscotti"
and "The Reigning Lorelai" each have one unaired scene,
which don't necessarily add much to the episodes, but are still a
welcome addition to this set. The unaired scene for
"Ballrooms & Biscotti" is a humorous little aside
featuring Kirk, and the scene for "The Reigning
Lorelai" is really just a filler scene featuring Digger
Stiles and Lorelai. It's certainly nice to have these two scenes
collected here, but there aren't really of much significance.
 The Stars
Hollow Challenge Trivia Quiz also appears on the sixth
disc, and is your basic set-top trivia game. While the graphics,
transitions, and menus are pretty neat, the game itself is
probably too easy for any serious Gilmore Girls fan.
Worse than the easy questions, however, are the rewards for
answering correctly. You guessed it: short video clips from the
season of Gilmore Girls that you probably just finished
watching. Great. This feature is fun for the first few minutes,
but quickly runs its course.
We also have a very short featurette called "Who
Wants to Get Together?: 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. They tried to
make this feature work on the first season box as well. It was
pretty much a waste of time then, and it's still a waste of time
here.
 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 and
third season releases. 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.
Yes, I am still pining for a release with those coveted
commentaries, documentaries, and extra goodies. Rumor has it that
Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino will provide
commentary for some episodes on the fifth season release. I'm
keeping my fingers crossed that this information is true, but I'm
certainly not holding my breath at this point.
A Note on the Packaging:
Gilmore Girls: The Complete Fourth Season is packaged
exactly like the previous season release. This time, however, I
managed to receive my copy with no cracked plastic holders,
scratched discs, or "floaters." Maybe I'm just lucky. I
don't particularly like this packaging and I'm still going to
urge Warner Bros. to switch over to the slim-cases in cardboard
packaging like many studios are using for their DVD sets these
days.
Final Thoughts:
 While
the fourth season of Gilmore Girls may be the hardest
for the casual fan to get through, there's still plenty for the
hardcore Gilmore fans to love. Rory going off to college, Luke
and Lorelai finally acknowledging that maybe there's
something between them, Paris and Rory ending up as roomies, and
Kirk running naked through Stars Hollow. What more could you ask
for, really? It takes a little getting used to, but Gilmore
Girls: The Complete Fourth Season handles the show's
transition year very well, and leads into one of the most
compelling years the show has ever seen. As long as Daniel and
Amy Sherman-Palladino are leading the way, I'll be along for the
ride.
Warner Bros., unfortunately, doesn't seem to share my sentiments
about the show. While they do still provide an adequate
audio-visual presentation, they decided to skimp on the extra
material for this season's set. I said, in my season three
review, that it was the last time I was going to let WB off the
hook for a sub-par DVD release and as much as I'd like to, on the
quality of the show alone, give this set a highly recommended
rating, I just can't do it. Hopefully Warner Bros. will wise up
and give the fan's of Gilmore Girls what they want:
better packaging, some real meaty extra material, and some audio
commentaries from the show's cast and creators. Until then, it's
only because the show is just so damn good that Gilmore
Girls: The Complete Fourth Season comes as recommended.
DVD Talk Reviews Link (Other Seasons of
Gilmore Girls):
Season 1 | Season 2 | Season 3 |
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