Review

Release date: Nov 14, 2006

I like Family Guy, I admit it.  Actually, a lot of us out there like Family Guy, so much so that it was brought back on the airwaves after Fox received enough feedback to realize that Family Guy had a very large and loyal following.  So here comes Volume 4 of the series, containing 14 episodes, tonnes of commentary, deleted scenes, a few featurettes and access to special on-line content via the third DVD disc and a Windows PC.  Not to shabby!

      As far as the episodes goes themselves, let's just say there's some stuff I can't even describe in this review if I want to keep it clean.  There is even an option of using the un-censored audio on a few of the episodes!  This is all great classic Family Guy stuff; I just can get enough of the segways in each episode and every episode gave me something to laugh about.  In case you aren't aware of some of the things you can expect to experience in this fourth season, here's a few tidbits:  Peter starts his own version of the A-Team, Lois finds here long lost brother, Peter starts his own TV station, Brian attends college, and a lot more.  This package has a lot to offer the typical Family Guy fan.

      The discs contain 5.1 Dolby Surround sound, and a full frame 1:33:1 aspect ratio.  It looked good on my TV, about as good as you would expect animated video to display.  Menus were fine, with each disc containing extra features for each episode, plus the last disc containing the extra special features.  Speaking of extra features, this is where this set shines best.   It's packed with stuff, I especially like the featurettes.  One shows us the workings of the Family Guy office, complete with Mr. Macfarlane himself as well Adam West!  Another interesting featurette was how they explained how the director of an animated show differs from a typical director, they are apparently much more involved then one would think.  The deleted scenes were good, although a lot of them were a little risque nor did they make me laugh.  Probably why there were deleted screens I suppose.....

If you haven't noticed, I really haven't mentioned much on the quality of the video and audio.  Well, that's because I feel that animated shows, especially TV shows and not something like Finding Nemo, really don't show a lot of detail, and the sound is just not as important as the content itself.  So, while it may seem that this sounds negative, it is not, just how I think this type media is delivered.  I have no problems with that, either.

There is no question that a person who enjoys Family Guy should buy this set.  They have probably already pre-orderd it. It contains all the episodes, alternate commentaries, deleted scenes, those great featurettes, plus some other great stuff.  I would have to say that if you are not familiar with Family Guy, this may not be the set to pick up.  Catch it on TV first, if you enjoy it, then pick up this set, but not before you consider purchasing the previous three.  They'll all have you laughing for sure.

Eric

Gadgetboyz Team