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Survivor: Best Of Season Two
Paramount // Unrated // September 25, 2001
List Price: $19.99 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
The landscape of television as we know it has at least changed somewhat since the birth of "Survivor", a reality-based TV show that brought a group of people from different backgrounds together in an exotic land and watched personalities either clash or come together. Those who were deemed weakest or not helpful were voted off. The first edition of the show took the castaways to an island in the middle of nowhere; there were some dangers, but the biggest challenge that was presented to the "survivors" was not the environment, but the schemes of their fellow tribe members.
The second edition of the series was rather different in the way that the tribe members had to not only worry about working with each other, but working in the middle of a harsher environment - the Australian Outback. Although this new landscape created more tension and more possibilities for the show, the one fault that I felt was that the group of people included were not quite as consistently interesting as the group involved in the first series. There were a few standouts in this group, but there were also a few folks that were rather bland.
Still, the show's challenges were creative and entertaining and the show still managed to capture some entertaining moments (one tribe's house essentially washed away by a sudden flood) between the group of folks stuck together in the middle of the Outback. There's been several shows since: Boot Camp, Temptation Island, Lost, Amazing Race, the upcoming Love Cruise and others, but none have really been able to recreate the kind of addictively watchable television that "Survivor" has.
This "Best Of" for the show's second season does focus a little more on the events of the show than the interviews, unlike the "Best Of" that was offered for season one. Still, it does go for the same structure: audition tape for an individual and some moments, general events, tribal council and exit interview, then things start over once again. This edition is also somewhat shorter than the first "Best Of", but still comes in at 122 minutes.
Additionally, the two books by series creator Mark Burnett about the experiences of production are quite interesting and informative, especially the one about the first season.
The DVD
VIDEO: The program is presented in the show's original full_frame 1.33:1 aspect ratio and generally, the scenes showed looked at least slightly better than the broadcast quality. Sharpness and detail are solid, although with some of the varied footage (audition tapes, etc), some scenes do look not as well-defined as others. Still, I didn't see any instances of pixelation, although I did notice a couple of slight traces of shimmering. Colors appeared bright, vibrant and often gorgeous. Overall, as with the first edition, this is a very nice transfer.
SOUND: The sound has been brought down a notch for this second "Best Of" DVD. The first "Best Of" actually had a rather nice Dolby Digital 5.1 presentation that offered fairly generous ambient sound from the surrounds. This edition only is presented in Dolby 2.0 audio and the audio presentation seems rather less engaging in comparison. Audio quality was certainly pleasing though; the show's exotic score sounded rich and bold, while dialogue and interviews were clear and easily understood. A bit of a dissapointment, considering I found the 5.1 presentation of the first season's edition suprisingly enjoyable.
MENUS:: Basic, non-animated menus that essentially use show-themed images and cover art.
EXTRAS:: Retrospective interviews with the cast and DVD-ROM "Survivor 2" website.
Final Thoughts: I didn't particularly find the second season quite as engaging as the first season, but it still had its share of thrills and laughs. I was also a little dissapointed that the "Best Of" DVD for this second season has been brought down in terms of features - no 5.1 presentation, a little bit less in the way of extras, etc. Still, for the low retail price, it should certainly interest fans of the show who are waiting for the next installment to air.
The landscape of television as we know it has at least changed somewhat since the birth of "Survivor", a reality-based TV show that brought a group of people from different backgrounds together in an exotic land and watched personalities either clash or come together. Those who were deemed weakest or not helpful were voted off. The first edition of the show took the castaways to an island in the middle of nowhere; there were some dangers, but the biggest challenge that was presented to the "survivors" was not the environment, but the schemes of their fellow tribe members.
The second edition of the series was rather different in the way that the tribe members had to not only worry about working with each other, but working in the middle of a harsher environment - the Australian Outback. Although this new landscape created more tension and more possibilities for the show, the one fault that I felt was that the group of people included were not quite as consistently interesting as the group involved in the first series. There were a few standouts in this group, but there were also a few folks that were rather bland.
Still, the show's challenges were creative and entertaining and the show still managed to capture some entertaining moments (one tribe's house essentially washed away by a sudden flood) between the group of folks stuck together in the middle of the Outback. There's been several shows since: Boot Camp, Temptation Island, Lost, Amazing Race, the upcoming Love Cruise and others, but none have really been able to recreate the kind of addictively watchable television that "Survivor" has.
This "Best Of" for the show's second season does focus a little more on the events of the show than the interviews, unlike the "Best Of" that was offered for season one. Still, it does go for the same structure: audition tape for an individual and some moments, general events, tribal council and exit interview, then things start over once again. This edition is also somewhat shorter than the first "Best Of", but still comes in at 122 minutes.
Additionally, the two books by series creator Mark Burnett about the experiences of production are quite interesting and informative, especially the one about the first season.
The DVD
VIDEO: The program is presented in the show's original full_frame 1.33:1 aspect ratio and generally, the scenes showed looked at least slightly better than the broadcast quality. Sharpness and detail are solid, although with some of the varied footage (audition tapes, etc), some scenes do look not as well-defined as others. Still, I didn't see any instances of pixelation, although I did notice a couple of slight traces of shimmering. Colors appeared bright, vibrant and often gorgeous. Overall, as with the first edition, this is a very nice transfer.
SOUND: The sound has been brought down a notch for this second "Best Of" DVD. The first "Best Of" actually had a rather nice Dolby Digital 5.1 presentation that offered fairly generous ambient sound from the surrounds. This edition only is presented in Dolby 2.0 audio and the audio presentation seems rather less engaging in comparison. Audio quality was certainly pleasing though; the show's exotic score sounded rich and bold, while dialogue and interviews were clear and easily understood. A bit of a dissapointment, considering I found the 5.1 presentation of the first season's edition suprisingly enjoyable.
MENUS:: Basic, non-animated menus that essentially use show-themed images and cover art.
EXTRAS:: Retrospective interviews with the cast and DVD-ROM "Survivor 2" website.
Final Thoughts: I didn't particularly find the second season quite as engaging as the first season, but it still had its share of thrills and laughs. I was also a little dissapointed that the "Best Of" DVD for this second season has been brought down in terms of features - no 5.1 presentation, a little bit less in the way of extras, etc. Still, for the low retail price, it should certainly interest fans of the show who are waiting for the next installment to air.
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