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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 was also the season's tragic moment, as player Michael Skupin was seriously injured when he accidentally fell into the team's fire pit, requiring him to be removed from the game and flown out of camp. This season was also the season where "All Stars" winner Amber Brkich started. Although the first season of the series is still one of the best of the show's run, I consider the second season up in the top three, as well. The casting was terrific, with a nice mixture of personalities that could work together one day, and clash the next. Amber and future "View" host Elisabeth were fairly quiet and kept going along by getting along well with the other tribe members. The buff Alicia was an asset to her tribe, yet her personality could sometimes result in clashes with other tribe members. Jerri was the season's "villain", but she was fairly passive for a reality villian, simply being snippy and rather sneaky.She also spent much of her time focusing on Colby, who focuses on the game (despite a very questionable move where he takes coral from the Great Coral Reef, which is illegal to do in Australia) instead and ends up in the final two. There's a few people this season who don't make much of an impression, but most of the personalities were memorable. The other nice thing about this early season of the series is that, while there are certainly some arguements throughout, the arguements usually don't seem petty. Again, while there are certainly some arguements, unlike other reality shows (and some other seasons of "Survivor"), the clashes never became so numerous as to get tiresome. Again, not as good - or as enjoyably rough around the edges - as the first season, but still a pretty solid follow-up. This set includes all of the "Survivor: Australian Outback" episodes, including the mid-season recap, 2-hour finale, reunion and the "Home From The Outback" special. The "Home" special is quite interesting, as it shows that life after reality TV has some positives, but also some definite negatives. It also offers an utterly horrendous musical performance from Mitchell and ome comments on season 2 survivors from some of season 1's cast. 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 other season presentations, this is a very nice transfer. SOUND: "Survivor: All Stars" is presented in 2.0 audio. The show's soundtrack sounds excellent when played back in Dolby Pro Logic II, creating an immersive environment out of the rain and other ambient sounds. It makes one wish that Paramount had remixed these soundtracks for Dolby Digital 5.1. Audio quality is very good, with full-sounding ambience and clear dialogue. EXTRAS: Audio commentaries are included on 6 episodes by combinations of: Rodger Bingham, Amber Brkich, Alicia Calaway, Colby Donaldson, Keith Famie, Kimmi Kappenberg, Tina Wesson and Michael Skupin. As with the other "Survivor" sets, the commentaries are natural and unforced, with the contestants having fun and telling all the behind-the-scenes tales that went on when the cameras weren't rolling. On the other hand, there are some tough, sad moments as Michael Skupin comments on the episode where he fell into the fire and had to be taken out of the game. The sixth disc is the previously released "Best Of" for the second season. 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. The fifth disc includes a series of other special features, leading off with a general "making of" documentary. It's pretty generalized, with not much in the way of specifics that "Survivor" fans likely don't already know. Next is a short piece about the luxury items that the Survivors chose, and then the actual items that they ended up being able to take. "Dining: Survivor Style" looks at some of the grosser things the castaways had to eat. Finally, Keith, whose cooking skills were called into question, offers a look at how to cook paella. Final Thoughts: "Survivor: Season 2" doesn't quite reach the heights of the original, but it offers a great cast and quite a few memorable moments. Paramount has once again put together a complete, well-done set, with very good audio/video quality and a terrific helping of supplements. |