The Fugitive: Season 3 Vol.2 (2 Viewers)

[stevelecher]

There are six or seven very good episodes in the last half of season 3. The problem is there are seven or eight mediocre ones. Cora Lee, Not With A Whimper, Shadow Of The Swan, White Knight, With Strings Attached, and several others leave the impression you've seen it before and it was better before.

For the record, I love Ill Wind, Wife Killer, The 2130, Echo of a Nightmare, Running Scared, and for its light comedic touch, The Chinese Sunset.

I'm one of those who thinks Season 4 drops off a lot in quality. We'll debate that one when Season 4 is released.

Thanks....

Steve L.

 

[Gary OS]

Paul Mavis's review is now up at DVDTalk for anyone interested. As always, he does a great job!

Gary "busy day for me so I doubt I'll be posting much until late tonight" O.

 

[Roy Wall]

I'm one of those who thinks Season 4 drops off a lot in quality. We'll debate that one when Season 4 is released.

I can't imagine there being much of a debate about the drop off pertaining to season 4 but I do enjoy the two part finale as I think we all do.

 

[JoshuaB.]

I've always enjoyed The Fugitive, but I do feel that the S4 episodes don't have the same quality of the first three years. Maybe it's the jarring switch to colour--I feel much atmosphere is lost when Kimble runs in colour--but there are many episodes in S4 that just don't hold up for me. Of course the QM repertory of actors continue to do great work, as does Janssen (except for that episode where he's temporarily blind--ugh) and the final two-part episode is fantastic (I love the final scene). Regardless of the quality drop, there are still many good episodes and I look forward to their eventual release on DVD.

 

[stevelecher]

Funny, one of the season 4 episodes I do like is the blind episode. I know Ed Robertson didn't like it, but it seems more like a Fugitive episode than many of the others.

For now, I'm looking forward to S3V2 and hope the music's no worse than V1. It will be interesting to see how they handle Ill Wind.

Steve L.

 

[Roy Wall]

The other highlight to season 4 other than the classic two part finale as I recall is like four or so appearances of Fred Johnson...as I'm guessing the producers realizing this was the last season of the Fugitive...decided to wet the appetites of viewers with more stories involving the one armed man....so that's another plus taking in consideration the drop off. Speaking of Fred Johnson episodes...I recall enjoying "A Clean and Quiet Town" with Janssen getting roughed up quite a bit back when A & E was airing the show. I remember the "blind" episode from the A& E days too (was Fred Johnson in that one, too ??....seems like I remember him in that one briefly)...but I DO remember laughing outright at Janssen's acting "blind"...somehow I felt that performance belonged in Police Squad.

Anyway....I'm definitely looking forward to the final season of The Fugitive

 

[JoshuaB.]

Other S4 highlights for me are "The Ivy Maze" (I love William Windom) and "Dossier on a Diplomat"--diplomatic bureaucracy prevents Gerard from arresting Kimble! I look forward to the S3 V2 release this Tuesday and have no doubt we'll see S4 released next year on DVD!

 

[Brent Avery]

I always enjoy getting these releases a bit early - I've had S3 Vol.2 since Friday but was finishing Vol.1 before going into it. Since I obviously cannot readily differentiate between what is original vs non original regarding the music best not to try! Hopefully I will start watching it by Monday.

 

[Sam Favate]

Looking forward to hearing how S3v2 fares in the music department. My copy isn't likely to arrive for a week or so, which is fine as I am backed up and making my way through the previous volumes.

 

[Clugul]

Music info from a poster (Robert Dahl) on Amazon: (not mentioned below since he hadn't watched Ill Wind yet, but a couple of people have reported that the song in Ill Wind is intact):

[COLOR= rgb(0, 0, 0)]The music in Season 3 Volume 2 seems to be a mixed bag. Some episodes are nearly free of the awful Heyes replacement music, while others have much more.

NOT WITH A WHIMPER has quite a bit of Heyes replacement music. I noted soft Heyes cues at 18:00, 25:52, 29:32, and loud Heyes at 18:21, 28:40, 36:10. But I gave up taking notes in Act 4 when my hand started to cramp from jotting down all the Heyes cues that I heard.

WIFE KILLER is a pleasant surprise. Yes, there are a few Heyes cues, but just a few. Overall, this episode's original music is mostly intact. I wonder if we'll ever get an explanation from CBS as to how one episode can be awash in Heyes, while the next is almost Heyes-free? Go figure.

THIS'LL KILL YOU lands somewhere in the middle. It's about 50% original and 50% Heyes. The more prominent Heyes cues are at 15:29, 29:32, 35:25, 42:15, and the one at 47:07 was so loud that it nearly blasted me out of my chair. Most of the too-loud Heyes cues are in Act 4.

ECHO OF A NIGHTMARE has a handful of Heyes cues. The ones that are noticeable are at 0:08 (in the teaser?!), 11:09, 17:11, 28:19, 35:02, 36:18, 43:19, and 47:09. But there are several more that are softer and blend so well that you don't notice them at first. Even though this episode has a fair amount of Heyes, it feels more like an original episode since so much of the Heyes is well-blended.

STROKE OF GENIUS is almost completely untouched. The only Heyes cue that I noticed is at 4:08. The cue has the crisp artificial sound of a synthesizer, but is not overly loud. The remainder of the original music is intact.

SHADOW OF THE SWAN is completely intact as far as I can tell. I heard no Heyes music at all; just a great many cues lifted from THE TWILIGHT ZONE. But it's just another version of the "Kimble meets psycho female" story, with Joanna Pettet as the wingnut with a crush on Kimble.

RUNNING SCARED is also completely intact, with no Heyes cues that I could hear. I thought that the scriptwriter gave us a nice bit of humor when Kimble's sister, meeting up with Kimble for the first time in many months, hands over his accumulated mail - mostly junk mail from pharmaceutical companies! It was a nice touch.

THE CHINESE SUNSET has a few Heyes cues, at 10:05, 20:53, 22:48, 44:24, 46:45, 47:25, and 48:38, but most of them are quiet and well-blended. Only the ones in Act 4 are noticeably loud.

I've noticed that in several episodes, CBS has used overly-loud Heyes cues to underscore the episode's climax, usually occurring in Act 4. In Heyes-heavy episodes, Act 4 generally seems to be the worst. [/COLOR]

 

[Gary OS]

Oh my, that's just horrible news Joyce. Just when we thought they had figured this thing out after glowing reports that S3, V1 was pretty solid we get this review. Ugh. I can't express my dismay if this report holds up as solid.


Gary "the last thing I wanted to hear is that this volume was going to be another 'mixed bag'" O.

 

[Jack P]

I haven't gotten it yet but I am finding myself perplexed since V1 had a very low percentage of replacement music. I do have to caution one thing though if this is the same person who was at first in error about the amount of replacement music in "Landscape With Running Figures", we should get some multiple takes on this.

 

[Clugul]

Originally Posted by Jack P

I do have to caution one thing though if this is the same person who was at first in error about the amount of replacement music in "Landscape With Running Figures", we should get some multiple takes on this.

Yes, it's the same person.

 

[Gary OS]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Clugul

Yes, it's the same person.

Ok, so what does this mean? The guy doing this review is not a good judge of percentages? Is that what you all are saying? If so, then maybe all is not lost yet.


Gary "I know from firsthand experience on this very board how confusing things can get when people give out inaccurate percentages about this type of thing" O.

 

[Jack P]

I'm just saying that in light of how he turned out to be wrong on no less than four instances of moments in "Landscape" that turned out to be the original cues after all, I'd rather wait and see for myself before affixing a percentage. I really have to get skeptical on any assessment that says "50% Heyes" because I have found in past experience that even those episodes that have a large amount of Heyes are never more than about seven to ten minutes of the episode overall which is never "fifty percent" by any stretch of the imagination.

I won't doubt there's likely some Heyes in there, but I refuse to be too pessimistic just yet. Heck, I can even remember when the replacements for S2 V1 came out there was an erroneous assumption that a prominent TZ cue from Invaders wasn't in "Man In A Chariot" when in fact it was.

 

[JLKINSER]

I don't know about percentages but I am on the last DVD of Volume Two and I can assure you that this is not like Volume One. There is much more music replaced in this volume. The good news is "ILL WIND" is untouched. I do know personally the fellow who did the review on Amazon and agree with his assesment with this volume. Granted, it is not as bad as Season Two Volume Two, but it does have a lot of replaced scores. Still worth having but not as untouched as the first volume of season three.

 

[Gary OS]

I have only two words: Oy Vey.

Gary "so basically CBS/P never really got this problem straightened out" O.

 

[Jack P]

Well, it's disappointing to hear that they took another step backward but I have to just be among those who'll be content with half a loaf at this point. I've already made my standard clear on what is and isn't acceptable for me when it comes to this show and even in the worst case scenario, it's not the standard that would keep me from buying, especially since "Wife Killer" and "2130" are the only episodes from this batch I can claim to have seen before.

I'm more concerned at this point what happens in S4 when we get into the use of "Outer Limits" cues, though admittedly only the last episode is the one that I'm familiar with in minute detail.

 

[Dave Scarpa]

Would fellow HTF'ers call me a loon if I tell you I thinking when I get Season 4 and I encode it for my Apple TV I'm thinking of having Handbrake's option "Greyscale" filter checked...

 

[Jack P]

Well I bought my copy today and will start watching later in the week. I won't have my expectations too high, but as I've said, I'm in the category of people in the middle who can settle (albeit grudgingly) for half a loaf because CBS has screwed up titles worse than this on DVD ("Odd Couple" anyone?)