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The Movie:
Before "Moonlighting" and Pierce Brosnan's efforts as James Bond, there was "Remington Steele", a mystery/comedy that focused on Laura Holt (Stephanie Zimbalist), a female private eye who did all the research and apprenticed her way into excellence in her field. However, no one seems to want to involve themselves with a female detective. So, in order to get business going, she creates a fictional boss named "Remington Steele", and suddenly, the clients start coming through the door. Yet, Holt manages to keep the secret going and do the work herself, while Steele "advises".
Suddenly, a man comes into Laura's life (Pierce Brosnan), taking on the role of Steele when he answers a phone call in order to escape from potential danger. While Steele remains the face of the business, Holt gets to keep on doing her work and getting more clients. Despite being over twenty-years-old "Remington Steele" still holds up pretty darn well, as the writing is clever, the plots are inspired and Brosnan and Zimbalist make for a terrific team.
22 episodes on 4 dual-sided discs: License to Steele, Tempered Steele, Steele Waters Run Deep, Signed Steeled and Delivered, Thou Shalt Not Steele, Steele Belted, Etched in Steele, You're Steele the One for Me, In the Steele of the Night, Steele Trap, Steeling the Show, Steele Flying High, A Good Night's Steele, Hearts of Steele, To Stop a Steele, Steele Crazy After All These Years, Steele Among the Living, Steele in the News, Vintage Steele, Steele's Gold, Sting of Steele, Steele in Circulation
The DVD
VIDEO: "Remington Steele" is presented by Fox in 1.33:1 full-frame. Although there are some issues present, the picture quality was mostly very good, considering the age. Sharpness and detail were satisfactory, and the picture remained almost consistently crisp and well-defined, with only a couple of minor touches of softness on rare occasions.
No edge enhancement or pixelation showed up, but there were some minor instances of wear on the elements used, such as some very light dirt and a couple of specks/marks. Colors seemed a tad subdued, but still pleasing and without any smearing or other faults.
SOUND: The mono audio track seemed to be in perfectly fine shape, with clear dialogue and score.
EXTRAS: Commentary by series creators Michael Gleason and Robert Butler on "License to Steele" and "Tempered Steele" and Commentary by Gleason and writer Susan Baskin on "Vintage Steele". The commentaries do provide some interesting tibits and insights as to the development of the series, but it seems like it's been a while since the participants have seen the episodes, and there are times when the commentary falls back into small talk, narration or silence.
Final Thoughts: "Remington Steele" remains great fun - it's an energetic, fun and involving series that offers great performances from the two leads. Fox's DVD edition provides very good audio/video quality, along with a nice helping of supplemental features. Recommended.
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