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by R.J. Carter Published: July 29, 2005
Posing as what they believe to be a typical human family, this extraterrestrial crew came to Earth for a brief mission to study human behavior. But when the High Commander, aka Dr. Dick Solomon, goes undercover as a college professor, he becomes smitten with a colleague, Dr. Mary Albright, and chooses to extend the mission indefinitely -- for purely scientific purposes, of course. Boldly going where a small number of sitcom situations had gone before, 3rd Rock nevertheless stands out as a uniquely insightful and yet hilarious take on the various foibles of the human condition. Dick struggles with the variety of human feelings and emotions; Sally struggles with being a woman; Tommy, who's older than all of them, struggles with his own body as it goes through human puberty; and Harry... well, no one's quite sure about Harry (but I'm wild about him!) It's what the plot of Coneheads could have been, only done without the extra makeup and prosthetics. With over-the-top comedy straight out of Fawlty Towers, this ensemble cast performs brilliantly, each actor given lines delivered with comedic perfection. Without commercial interruptions, these now 20-minute episodes fly past far too quickly, delivering non-stop laughs from start to finish with a perfect blend of physical comedy and situational absurdity. One of the advantages of a DVD collection is that you get to learn the episode titles. This boxed set includes a 16-page booklet that is more of an alien's guide to Earth, but finally ends as an episode guide -- wherein we learn that nearly (but not quite) every episode title is a double entendre on "dick" -- from the questionably titled "Dick, Smoker" and "I Enjoy Being A Dick" (in which John Lithgow dresses in drag once again, looking far better this time than he did in "The World According to Garp") to the more playful "Dick Like Me" and "Post-Nasal Dick", it becomes clear that, while the show thrived as an ensemble, there was a central focus of each plot: Dick. 3rd Rock From the Sun - Season 1 is comprised of 4 discs, held in a fold-out case that also contains the 16-page booklet, all of which fits in a sturdy cardboard slipcase. I've reviewed a good number of DVD boxed sets, and Anchor Bay demonstrates they certainly know how to put together a class act, from the outside in. BONUS MATERIAL This set is stuffed with more special features than should rightly be able to fit in the box. To begin with, each episode has a selection to view the original television spots promoting the episode, as well as a text synopsis of what the episode is about. But the real gems are on the fourth disc, where each actor is interviewed at length. Many of the questions (and, to be fair, many of the answers) are the same, although they are tweaked for each individual. There's a brief "Behind the Scenes" segment that is mostly showing the filming of a few key scenes, and a blooper reel that clearly shows the fun the actors had creating the episodes. A ten-minute highlight reel is also included, but I find the scenes to be funnier when seen in the context of their original episodes rather than cut apart and collaged together into this. And finally, for the DVD-ROM, there are four PDF scripts of episodes, including the pilot, "Brains and Eggs." Also available for purchase: Season 2 | Season 3 | Season 4
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