He's vain, fussy, and supremely egotistical; he's brilliant and doesn't believe in being humble. Yet behind the prim and fussy facade is a warm-hearted and generous soul who puts his much-vaunted "little gray cells" to the service of detecting crime and seeing that justice is done, while appreciating the comradeship of his faithful friend Hastings. Yes, it's none other than Hercule Poirot (David Suchet), here appearing in the sixth volume of episodes from the BBC's Poirot television series.

Poirot: Collector's Set 6 includes the final three episodes from the third season of the series, originally aired 1990-1991. Thanks to Agatha Christie's wealth of stories written over the course of a long and fruitful career, all the Poirot episodes are based on original material from the "Queen of Crime" herself. These episodes are based on short stories from Christie's early production: all three were originally published in 1923.

"The Theft of the Royal Ruby" (also known as "The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding," a title that does make sense once you watch the episode) is a typically entertaining and solidly constructed Poirot episode. From the very opening scene of the episode, we know the problem: a stolen ruby. When Poirot is brought onto the case, we find out that it has political ramifications as well, and that it will require him to go "undercover" to track down both the ruby and its thief. The plot develops nicely as the episode progresses, and though there's a bit of padding at the end as Poirot explains a few things that we've already figured out, there are also some surprises reserved for the very end.

The next episode, "The Affair at the Victory Ball," is a disappointment; it departs from the generally successful mystery structure of most Poirot episodes, and ends up in a muddle. To begin with, this episode features a large cast of characters, and unlike most Poirot stories, they are introduced very poorly. And while Poirot is drawn into the events of the story early on, it's as a spectator at first: there's no mystery for him to investigate at first, and thus no "hook" for viewers to be interested in the story's events.

The third episode in the set, "The Mystery of Hunter's Lodge," gets off to a slower start than "The Theft of the Royal Ruby," but fortunately the mystery turns out to be quite intriguing. What I liked about this episode was that the clues are set out in plain sight for the viewer, as well as Poirot, to find them: it's a question of putting the pieces together into the right pattern.

The DVD

Video

None of the Poirot collections have had particularly good image quality, but unfortunately Set 6 even falls a bit below the norm for the series. Darker scenes are definitely problematic. The contrast is too heavy, with dark areas generally completely black and lacking detail, and with dimly-lit areas looking grainy and indistinct. Unfortunately for this collection, two out of three episodes have many scenes that take place in dark or shadowy conditions. In the more brightly-lit scenes, the image looks better, but edge enhancement still reduces the overall clarity of the image, and colors are a bit brownish. On the bright side, the print is in reasonably good condition, with only a few small flaws appearing. The episodes end up being watchable, but barely so.

The episodes are presented in their original 1.33:1 aspect ratio.

Audio

The Dolby 2.0 soundtrack is adequate, barely. No distortion or background noise appears in the track, but overall it does sound rather flat and occasionally a bit muffled. I found that the overall volume was rather low, requiring me to crank up the volume a bit to hear the dialogue.

Extras

For special features, we get text biographies of David Suchet and Agatha Christie, and a set of filmographies for the main cast and guest stars of the episodes.

Final thoughts

Two out of the three episodes are entertaining, though they're not among the best of the Poirot series. Considering the disappointing image and sound quality of this set, below even the modest standards of earlier sets, I had a tough time deciding on a recommendation for this set; it hangs on to a "recommended" by a hair. It's worth picking up, though I'd suggest getting the earlier volumes first. Overall, Set 6 is best suited for existing Poirot fans who are filling out their collection; for those who haven't delved into the Poirot series, I suggest Set 3, Set 4 or Set 5 as an introduction to this entertaining series.