The Sopranos: The Complete Series Gift Set
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Edie Falco, James GandolfiniBrand: HBO Home Video
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
DVD Release Date: 2008-11-11
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: HBO Home Video
Product features:
- Condition: Used, Good
- Format: DVD
- Box set; Color; Dolby; DVD; Widescreen; Subtitled; Closed-captioned; NTSC
Movie Reviews of The Sopranos: The Complete Series Gift Set
Movie Review: This Set Is A Well Made Car, You Have To Take Care Of It
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the finest DVD series set I have seen so far. The set is very well made and they have gone out of their way to keep it that way. After opening the outer case you'll find a velvet bag around the book the DVD are held in, the whole thing being kept safely in place by inserted pieces of styrofoam to insure safe arrivial to whoever purchases them. Aside from that there is the ribbon for removal and another styrofoam insert placed in the spine of the large book itself to keep it further protected. All the discs in the book are placed in neatly with their labels faced properly and none of mine had any scratches. I give this set and obviously this series itself 10 stars each. That said I want to comment on something in the other reviews.
True alot of people have stated how incredibly nice this set is, yet I keep seeing reviews from alot of others complaining about the set. I obviously really like this set, it is the nicest thing on my shelf and probably will be for quite a while. I think people are complaining because they don't understand what they bought. This set is for people who don't mind taking care of it as long as it's a nice expensive set they can appreciate, which it is.
In referring to issues raised in other reviews I'll address most remarks and discount them right away as being from people who just don't want to shell out for this set and already bought the previous seasons, that's fine guys and I'm sorry but this happens. Aside from those of us who didn't mind shelling out for such a nice set there are also all the people who are fans of the series who haven't bought it yet and this is the best option for them. You guys didn't want to buy a really nice car to take care of and show, you were fine with getting from point A to B with the car's you already had, that's fine but don't discount the set for that.
Aside from those remarks and reviews there are the others of legitimate concern over the packaging not being the best in terms of storing the DVD themselves and various claims that the set will wear too much over time. Well I am the most anal retentitive person I have ever met when it comes to DVD, the slightest dent on a box or scratch on a disc and I will return the set as faulty, if I'm paying upward of forty dollars I want my money's worth. I am here to say bottom line that I hold none of those conerns when it comes to the quality of this set. I was discouraged before I opened mine on Christmas because so many negative reviews had gotten to me but none of the discs were scratched and nothing came dented, torn or anything. Maybe I was just lucky, certainly a few customer's must've recieved faulty sets as happens with anything and I'm sorry for them. However, alot of others seem to be blaming the maker's of the set for something that isn't there fault.
In my set the ribbon never came undone, possibly because I didn't tug away at it rather I eased the book out of the box with complete care. The discs have been in and out repetitively since Christmas and none have scratched in the slightest way, possibly because I am reasonably careful and any lint or dust that is on them as result of transfering from one spot to another I lightly wipe off from inner to outer edge in proper fashion. Also I lightly lift the disc off the inner sleeve pressing the labeled side of it against the outer sleeve until it is slid to the bottom when I set it into it's place. In saying that it's not like it takes ten minutes to remove a disc or that I'm using tweezer's and rubber gloves, I am just taking appropriate care. The book itself I keep outside the storage box because it looks nicer set up on my shelf the way I have it and it makes it easier to get at the discs. The pages that some complain are already wearing at the seems and will worsen over time, mine have not worn and I can say will not excessively over time either, possibly because I carefully turn the pages and hold the heavy side of the book while doing it to keep the weight from straining the pages, this isn't a three ringed folder or five star note book built to withstand any amount of wear and tear but it is well made, serves it's purpose and when handled appropriately should keep until the day I expire.
The set is only going to keep as well as you handle it, if you are rough with it what do you expect, that doesn't mean it is poorly made. Our bodies are well made but if we were always throwing ourselves down flights of stairs we would get some broken bones, or if we slid our fingers over a knife blade they would get cut that doesn't mean our bodies aren't well made. Everything is built to be handled a certain way.
I believe that those complaining were either more unlucky than I with the sets they recieved or more likely most of them aren't so much showing concern for their sets but more over laziness on the part of their care of them. A set like this that cost two hundred dollars isn't supposed to simply serve it's purpose, though that's nice, it's supposed to be high quality. It's like having a nice expensive car, if you keep a cover on it and drive it appropriately and take care when handling it then you won't scratch it and there will be no forseeable damage. That's what you have to do with this set.
The set could have been made a hundred different ways but this is how they made it and personally I can't imagine it looking better than it does at the same time as serving it's purpose. They couldn't have done it the same with the plastic storage containers, and on that note these cardboard sleeves everyone is so mad about are not 'cardboard' sleeves when compared to other sets (like the dreadful Simpsons Season 11 which might as well have been sold between two old pieces of a cardboard pizza box), the pages are indeed made of fine doubled up bonded cardboard but the actual DVD sleeves themselves have a well smoothed back edge specifically to keep discs from scratching. This set is designed so that if you take care there will be no more scratches to your discs resulting over time than there would be in the handling of any other set from laying them on DVD Player Trays or placing them in their plastic holders.
This set is beautiful and made for those of us who want to drive an expensive car and want to take care of it just for the sake of owning such a nice well made car. Anyone who doesn't like taking the time for things like that and would rather have a regular car that takes less time to care for but still gets them from point A to point B should buy the individual sets. There is nothing wrong with that or with buying this one as long as you accept the wear and tear 'you' cause, don't blame it on the maker's of the set just because it isn't perfectly designed for every single person's needs in lowest common denominator fashion. That's like buying a book and being mad at the maker's of the book when you give yourself a paper cut while turning the pages because they aren't printed on Special Ed. class circle paper.
Thanks For Your Time, Just My Opinion.
Summary of The Sopranos: The Complete Series Gift Set
Studio: Hbo Home Video Release Date: 11/11/2008The Sopranos: The Complete First Season-The Sopranos, writer-producer-director David Chase's extraordinary television series, is nominally an urban gangster drama, but its true impact strikes closer to home: Like 1999's other screen touchstone, American Beauty, the HBO series chronicles a dysfunctional, suburban American family in bold relief. And for protagonist Tony Soprano, there's the added complexity posed by heading twin families, his collegial mob clan and his own, nouveau riche brood.
The series' brilliant first season is built around what Tony learns when, whipsawed between those two worlds, he finds himself plunged into depression and seeks psychotherapy--a gesture at odds with his midlevel capo's machismo, yet instantly recognizable as a modern emotional test. With analysis built into the very spine of the show's elaborate episodic structure, creator Chase and his formidable corps of directors, writers, and actors weave an unpredictable series of parallel and intersecting plot arcs that twist from tragedy to farce to social realism. While creating for a smaller screen, they enjoy a far larger canvas than a single movie would afford, and the results, like the very best episodic television, attain a richness and scope far closer to a novel than movies normally get.
Unlike Francis Coppola's operatic dramatization of Mario Puzo's Godfather epic, The Sopranos sustains a poignant, even mundane intimacy in its focus on Tony, brought to vivid life by James Gandolfini's mercurial performance. Alternately seductive, exasperated, fearful, and murderous, Gandolfini is utterly convincing even when executing brutal shifts between domestic comedy and dramatic violence. Both he and the superb team of Italian-American actors recruited as his loyal (and, sometimes, not-so-loyal) henchmen and their various "associates" make this mob as credible as the evocative Bronx and New Jersey locations where the episodes were filmed.
The first season's other life force is Livia Soprano, Tony's monstrous, meddlesome mother. As Livia, the late Nancy Marchand eclipses her long career of patrician performances to create an indelibly earthy, calculating matriarch who shakes up both families; Livia also serves as foil and rival to Tony's loyal, usually level-headed wife, Carmela (Edie Falco). Lorraine Bracco makes Tony's therapist, Dr. Melfi, a convincing confidante, by turns "professional," perceptive, and sexy; the duo's therapeutic relationship is also depicted with uncommon accuracy. Such grace notes only enrich what's not merely an aesthetic high point for commercial television, but an absorbing film masterwork that deepens with subsequent screenings. --Sam Sutherland
The Sopranos: The Complete Second Season-In its second season, The Sopranos sustains the edgy intelligence and unpredictable, genre-warping narrative momentum that made this modern mob saga the most critically acclaimed series of the late 1990s. Creator-producer David Chase repeatedly defies formula to let the narrative turn as a direct consequence of the characters' behavior, letting everyone in this rogue's gallery of Mafiosi, friends, and family evolve and deepen.
That gamble is most apparent in the rupture of the relationship that formed the spine of the first season, the tangled ties between capo Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini) and monstrous matriarch Livia (Nancy Marchand), whose betrayal makes Tony's estrangement a logical response. Filling that vacuum, however, is prodigal sister Janice (Aida Turturro), whose New Age flakiness never successfully conceals her underlying calculation and opportunism. Soprano's relationship with therapist Jennifer Melfi (Lorraine Bracco) also frays during early episodes, as she struggles with escalating doubts about her mobbed-up patient. At home, Tony contends with wife Carmela's ruthless ambitions on behalf of college-bound Meadow, as well as son Anthony Jr.'s sullen adolescent flirtation with existentialism--the sort of touch that the show handles with a smart mix of sympathy and amusement.
Without spoiling the surprise of the season's climactic last episode, it's worth noting that only on The Sopranos could we expect a scene that sets up a mob hit with a perversely funny touch of magic realism--a talking fish, lying on a fishmonger's iced display, speaking with the voice of the victim. It's a touch at once morbid and goofy, and consistent with the show's undimmed brilliance. --Sam Sutherland
The Sopranos: The Complete Third Season-"So," Tony Soprano asks analyst Dr. Melfi in the wake of not-so-dearly-departed Livia's death, "we're probably done here, right?" Sorry, Tone, not by a long shot. Unresolved mother issues are the least of the Family man's troubles in the brutal and controversial third season of The Sopranos. Ranked by TV Guide among the top five greatest series ever, The Sopranos justified its eleven-month hiatus with some of its best, and most hotly debated, episodes that continue the saga of the New Jersey mob boss juggling the pressures of his often intersecting personal and professional lives. The third season garnered 22 Emmy nominations, earning Lead Actor and Actress honors for James Gandolfini and Edie Falco for their now-signature roles as Tony and his increasingly conflicted wife, Carmela.
The Sopranos continued to upend convention and defy audience expectations with a deliberately paced, calm-before-the-storm season opener that revolves around the FBI's attempts to bug the Soprano household, and a season finale that (for some) frustratingly leaves several plot lines unresolved. The second episode, "Proshai, Livushka," confronts the death of the venerable Nancy Marchand, who capped her career with perhaps her greatest role as malignant matriarch Livia. A jarring scene between Tony and Livia that uses pre-existing footage is a distraction, but Carmela's unsparing smackdown of Livia at the wake redeems the episode. "Employee of the Month," in which Dr. Melfi is raped and considers whether to exact revenge by telling Tony of her attack, earned Emmys for its writers, and is perhaps Emmy nominee Lorraine Bracco's finest hour. The darkly comic "Pine Barrens"--another memorable episode, directed by Steve Buscemi--strands Paulie (Tony Sirico) and Christopher (Michael Imperioli) in the forest with a runaway corpse. Other story arcs concern the rise of the seriously unstable Ralph Cifaretto (Joe Pantoliano) and Tony's affair with "full-blown loop-de-loo" Gloria (Emmy nominee Annabella Sciorra). Plus, there is Tony's estrangement from daughter Meadow (Jamie Lynn Sigler), his wayward delinquent son Anthony, Jr. (Robert Iler), Carmela's crisis of conscience, bad seed Jackie Jr., and the FBI--which, as the season ends, assigns an undercover agent to befriend an unwitting figure in the Soprano family's orbit. Stay tuned for season four. --Donald Liebenson
The Sopranos: The Complete Fourth Season-Carmela to Tony: "Everything comes to an end." True enough, Mrs. Sope, but on The Sopranos, the end comes sooner for some than others. Though for some the widely debated fourth season contained too much yakking instead of whacking, and an emphasis on domestic family over business Family, what critic James Agee once said of the Marx Brothers applies to The Sopranos: "The worst thing they might ever make would be better worth seeing than most other things I can think of." And in most respects, The Sopranos remains television's gold standard. The fourth season garnered 13 Emmy nominations, and subsequent best actor and actress wins for James Gandolfini and Edie Falco as Tony and Carmela, whose estrangement provides the season with its most powerful drama, as well as a win for Joe Pantoliano's psychopath Ralph. The season finale, "Whitecaps," was a long-time-coming episode, in which Carmela at last stands up to "toxic" Tony, and "Whoever Did This" was the season's--and one of the series'--most shocking episodes.
Other narrative threads include Christopher's (Emmy nominee Michael Imperioli) descent into heroin addiction, Uncle Junior's (Dominic Chianese) trial, an unrequited and potentially fatal attraction between Carmela and Tony's driver Furio, and a rude joke about Johnny Sack's wife that has potentially fatal implications. Other indelible moments include Christopher's girlfriend Adriana's projectile reaction to discovering that her new best friend is an undercover FBI agent in the episode "No Show," Janice giving Ralph a shove out of their relationship in "Christopher," and the classic "Quasimodo/Nostradamus" exchange in the season-opener, which garnered HBO's highest ratings to date. Freed from the understandably high expectations for the fourth season, heightened by the 16-month hiatus, these episodes can be better appreciated on their own considerable merits. They are pivotal chapters in television's most novel saga. --Donald Liebenson
The Sopranos: The Complete Fifth Season-Facing an indeterminate sentence of weeks/months/years until new episodes, fans of The Sopranos are advised to take the fifth; season, that is. At this point, superlatives don't do The Sopranos justice, but justice was at last served to this benchmark series.
 James Gandolfini as Tony Soprano in a not-so-nice mood |
 Carmela and Tony |
The Sopranos: Season 6, Part 1-The Sopranos, Season 6, Part 1 is the most contentious release yet in the acclaimed series' history. While many fans think it jumped the shark at the exact moment Vito said "I love you, Johnny Cakes" , this season also contains some of the series finest moments and plumbs new depths of character, while continuing to add to the body count. Things get started with a bang, literally, that unexpectedly sends Tony (James Gandolfini) to the hospital and into a coma where he experiences an alternate reality while in limbo. At one point he awakes and asks "Who am I? Where am I going?" encapsulating this season's central theme in a moment of desperation wrapped in a fever dream. But it's not all existentialism. With Tony and Uncle Junior both of the picture, the capos in the Soprano crew try to take advantage of the situation and begin jockeying for position while a reluctant Silvio (Steve Van Zandt), acting in Tony?s place, struggles to keep everyone in check. Things aren?t going much better for Tony?s family, as A.J. (Robert Iler) confesses to Carmela (Edie Falco) that he flunked out of school, and while at Tony?s bedside, swears revenge for his injury. The stress of the situation finally gets to Carmela, who takes up Dr. Melfi?s (Lorraine Bracco) offer to help and finds herself in the strange position of confiding in her husband?s therapist, revealing for once that she feels some guilt over making the kids complicit in how Tony makes his living?plus there?s the issue of whether she really loves him. Christopher (Michael Imperioli) continues to provide much of the comic relief for the series, culminating in one of this season?s best episodes when he flies out to L.A. in a bumbling attempt to get Ben Kingsley to sign on for his fledgling movie (Saw meets The Godfather), and ends up mugging Lauren Bacall for her goodie basket at an awards ceremony. Sowing further discord in the ranks, Vito (Joseph Gannoscoli) finally gets outed as homosexual, and is forced to flee for his life up to New Hampshire where he meets "Johnny Cakes." Finally, even with New York boss Johnny "Sack" Sacramoni (Vince Curatola) in prison, Phil Leotardo (Frank Vincent) makes plays against Tony and eventually sets in motion a hit against someone on Tony?s crew, and now a larger war with Johnny Sack's crew seems to be looming. Series creator David Chase seems to be saying with this season that character is destiny. If so, then Season Six, Part 1 is taking the necessary time to flesh out who these people really are, and is leaving the destiny part up for Part 2. The fact that the series? writers have been able to maintain such a strong show with so many interweaving storylines for so long is a feat not to be taken lightly. That said, this season of The Sopranos does deserve some of the criticism it's received: the Vito storyline would have been better served by resolving it in fewer episodes, and the season ending is the most unsatisfying one yet, leaving many fans wanting more. But the bottom line is that this season deserves more praise than criticism, proving that even at its weakest, The Sopranos is still the strongest show on TV.--Daniel Vancini
The Sopranos: Season 6, Part 2-Completing the run of one of the most acclaimed television shows in broadcast history, season 6, part II of The Sopranos will be remembered mostly not for what happened during the season, but for what didn't happen at the very end. Creator David Chase pulled off a series ending that was as controversial as it was surprising and unforgettable, leaving countless fans to look away from the show and to blogs and articles for answers to the biggest mystery since "who shot J.R.?": what happened to Tony Soprano? But before we get to that point, there are nine episodes to digest, and they are some of the best in the run of the show since season 3. As Tony's (James Gandolfini) paranoia and suspicions grow, his family makes choices that are threatening to bring big changes to his personal life, and his other "family" is crashing headlong towards an inevitable showdown with Johnny Sack (Vincent Curatola) and the New York crew. Episode 1, "Soprano Home Movies," starts off peacefully enough with Tony and Carmela (Edie Falco) enjoying a relaxing summer weekend at Bobby and Janice's (Steve Schirripa and Aida Turturro) bucolic lake house, and by the end of the episode Tony has effectively taken Bobby's soul, proving Tony's ruthlessness and ending any doubt about his will to maintain dominance over his family. In "Kennedy and Heidi," one of the season's signature episodes, Christopher's (Michael Imperioli) drug use continues to spiral out of control, forcing Tony to take matters into his own hands and resolve things with his nephew once and for all.
Inevitably it's all leading up to that big finale, and it's deftly handled over the last two episodes, "The Blue Comet" and "Made in America" (an episode replete with subtle references to The Godfather). Things finally start to get resolved with Phil's crew, Dr. Melfi (Lorraine Bracco), Uncle Junior (Dominic Chianese), A.J. (Robert Iler), and Meadow (Jamie-Lynn Sigler), and as for Tony? Cut to black. To quote from another hit HBO show of the same era, "everything ends," even The Sopranos, and while the way Chase chose to end The Sopranos may not be to the liking of fans hoping for a definitive resolution, give the man credit for not stooping to clichés or tired old scenarios for the sake of a closing. As A.J. says in the final scene, quoting his father, "Try to remember the times that were good." Good advice. --Daniel Vancini
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