Friends: The Complete 7th Season (DVD)

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Video:
The seventh season of "Friends" arrives on DVD with a 1.33:1 (full-frame on 4:3 monitors) video image. The video quality is still not as great as, say, the quality of the video of the "Star Trek: Voyager" DVDs. Most episodes are rather soft, and that softness can lead to the occasional blurring. Sometimes, the footage sports a digital sheen rather than appearing film-like, possibly due to overzealous edge-enhancement. However, colors and lighting schemes have been reproduced well.

Audio:
Warner Bros. re-mixed the show´s soundtracks into Dolby Digital 5.0 English presentations. Since "Friends" is a sitcom, there´s not much that requires the use of dazzling sonic effects. Therefore, while the 5.0 mixes help to "widen" the depth of the soundstage, there´s nothing on these DVDs that will compel you to pop them into your DVD player to impress your friends. Dialogue and music are well-balanced. Low-end frequencies are scarce, but they´re not necessarily suitable for something like "Friends" anyway.

Optional English, French, and Spanish subtitles as well as English closed captions support the audio.

Extras:
Despite the fact that there are four discs in this box set, there aren´t many extras to accompany the Seventh Season of "Friends". Where are the retrospective interviews with the cast members looking back at their costumes and their hairstyles from the early seasons? Sigh.

Disc 2: Audio commentary by executive producers Kevin S. Bright, Marta Kauffman, and David Crane for "...the Holiday Armadillo".

Disc 3: Audio commentary by Bright, Kauffman, and Crane for "...Joey´s New Brain".

Disc 4: Audio commentary by Bright, Kauffman, and Crane for "...Monica and Chandler´s Wedding".

The other "big" extras are also found on Disc 4. There´s a "Friends of ´Friends´ Guestbook" (a featurette that looks at five regular guest actors), a gag reel, and a "Monica´s Wedding Book Challenge" trivia game. There´s also "Gunther Spills the Beans", a featurette that has the Gunther character giving away some of the plot developments of Year Eight (it´s actually a promo for the next box set).

--Miscellaneous--
On each disc, the menu screen that allows you to pick an episode to watch also has "coffee cup" icons in front of each episode´s name. These icons access previews of the episodes. Each disc also has a list of the show´s leads as well as executive producers. There are some weblinks if you use a DVD-ROM drive to view the discs.

The cardboard gatefold packaging provides information about the episodes´ writers, directors, original airdates, and guest stars.

Film Value:
Season Seven of "Friends" has a couple of amusing guest appearances, but it is also considered to be one of the show´s weaker seasons. After all, it takes an entire year for the writers to get to Monica and Chandler´s wedding even though it is the most logical destination for the two characters. With so many moments devoted to the slow-in-arriving wedding, you get the sense that some episodes simply marked time. Still, "Friends" is one of the best TV shows ever, and if you´ve been buying every season anyway, then you can´t skip out on Season Seven, right?

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