I Spy - Season 3
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Movie Reviews of I Spy - Season 3
Movie Review: Excellent Seller
Summary: 5 Stars
Dvd set received in excellent condition as described. Fast delivery. Would buy again. Thank you.Movie Review: I Spy and all the others I purchased
Summary: 5 Stars
I got all of these items for my husband and he is very pleased with them all.Movie Review: The Spies Who Are Loved By Me
Summary: 4 Stars
As for the final season of I Spy, there were a few more close calls and dramatic endings than perhaps the previous two seasons. Like the first 8 episodes of The Fugitive's final season, I Spy turned out some weak episodes early in Season 3. The Beautiful Children, The Red Sash Of Courage, The Honorable Assassins, This Guy Smith, and Carmelita Is One Of Us come to mind. These episodes are either painfully slow or have too many cutaways scenes which bury the plot.
Robert Culp & Bill Cosby work overtime ad-libbing in an effort to redeem the scripts, which by now, have become tedious and redundant. Some of the ad-libbing did not relate to the scenes in which it was employed. It had to be disheartening to the stars of the show to reenact an episode with a plot from the preceding week. For this reason, I believe our dear homers "went for themselves" at times. As physically, emotionally, and mentally weary the stars were during Season 3 they did their best to turn in very spirited performances.
There were some great episodes in this Season 3 set. Several which come to mind are Let's Kill Karlovassi, Turnabout For Traitors, The Spy Business, The Lotus Eater, The Name Of The Game, Laya, Pinwheel, Anyplace I Hang Myself Is Home, A Few Miles West Of Nowhere. The Grandaddy of them all is Home To Judgment, which is THE best episode of the series. It was a Robert Culp script and featured top notch acting, writing, directing, and a KILLER climax. It is the companion episode to the 2 part WASTE episodes of The Rifleman TV series (another Robert Culp script). A Few Miles West Of Nowhere and Home To Judgment were the two episodes where upon first viewing them, I really thought both main characters COULD die.
I noticed that the episodes which most captured what I Spy was all about were written by men like Michael Zagor, Jerry Ludwig, Ernest Frankel, Steven Kandel, and of course, Robert Culp. Espionage, treason, mystery, murder, romance and humor. I Spy teems with each of these elements while not weighing itself down with a bevy of villains intent on ruling the world. The latter is an ingredient habitually (at times nauseatingly) entrenched in various comedic and dramatic spy formats. Of course, the parenthesis to I Spy's premise was the chemistry and banter of Robert Culp and Bill Cosby which kept the series from taking itself too seriously. From the outset, the two stars performed more like brothers than partners. Their mutual off camera respect and affection is evident to I Spy viewers.
All in all, the show was actually gaining its bearings at the time it left the air. With a greater emphasis on quality writing (including more scripts by Robert Culp), had I Spy kept its 10pm slot on Wednesdays, and had Sheldon Leonard not pulled the plug for a subsequent bomb, this series lasts five to seven years, guaranteed. I Spy was an NBC ratings winner and a TV Guide review favorite.
This DVD set features all 26 episodes from Season 3 on 5 discs, with commentary from Robert Culp on his Home To Judgment masterpiece. Culp's commentary is insightful, compelling, and sharp when reflecting on technical aspects of the series, as well as his reasons for I Spy's demise. Of course, Culp's commentary wouldn't be complete without a bow to his relationship with Bill Cosby, who certainly would've had some stories of his own to tell. Robert Culp's reflections are too brief (age & time?) while Cosby's absence of commentary is inexplicable and sorely missed.
The picture quality is sharp in Season 3, unlike some of the episodes in Seasons 1 & 2 which have more grain, fade, and darkness. The show is 44 years old and has earned some concessions to the aging process. These are minor issues to circumvent compared to music alterations (hint, hint Paramount)or not having the show available, period.
The 5 discs require care when removing as they are difficult to lift off of their respective stems. Improper removal of a disc could result in surface scratches or cracks to the disc stem or the disc itself. A little more attentiveness to this matter by Image Entertainment would have been in order.
I Spy was a revolutionary show which deserved a revisit by former viewers and an invitation to newer generations. The Culp Cosby duo is one which may never be eclipsed or seen again. The single commentary feature from Season 3 simply whet our appetite for more of "The Wonderfulness of Their Creativeness". A full season collection - not a best of compilation or infernal 1/2 season releases - was a move Image Entertainment should be applauded for. They did this show and they did it right. And the price of $12.49 for 26 episodes is absolutely astounding.
Now, if we could get Image to take on The Fugitive...
Movie Review: I SPY #3: Hipper than Hip!
Summary: 4 Stars
Here's the third and final season (1967-1968) of "I Spy" which features a masterpiece entitled: "Home to Judgment", guest starring Will Geer, written by actor Robert Culp and directed by Richard Sarafian and whose Earle Hagen's music score is extraordinary. Find more important episodes as "The Seventh Captain" (guest starring Harold J. Stone and music by Robert Drasnin), "Oedipus at Colonus" (guest starring Maurice Evans), "The Lotus Eater", "An American Empress" (guest starring France Nuyen), and two terrific diehard espionage plots: "Anyplace I Hang Myself is Home" (guest starring Henry Silva as a Soviet mole brainwasher-psychiatrist and Denny Miller) and "Tag, You're It". Robert Culp carries his fancy hip sunglasses through this season...Movie Review: A Good Spy Series
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a good spy series if you're a fan of the 60's spy genre. It's not as good as "Danger Man/Secret Agent" but much better than "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." AV quality is pretty good (at least as good as A&E's release of "The Saint").