The Munsters - The Complete Second Season Studio: Universal Studios Home Video Year: 1965-66 (2005 Release) Rated: Not Rated Aspect Ratio: 1.33x1 Audio: English DD 2.0 (mono) Captions/Subtitles: English SDH; Spanish Subtitles Time: 824 minutes Disc Format: DS/DL (DVD-18x2, DVD-9x1) Case Style: Herman Munster 
The Feature: I was too young to watch The Munsters when it originally aired (by a few weeks) but thanks to the miracle of syndication, the series has played ever since the Caped Crusader and the Boy Wonder put the kapow on Herman, Lily, Grandpa, Marilyn and Eddie by airing in the same time slot. That was in 1966, after a two season run that started in the fall of 1964--the same time The Addams Family and Bewitched made their television debuts. The Munsters was conceived as a way to utilize the Universal Monsters and put them into a situation comedy like Leave it to Beaver. With TV veterans like Fred Gwynne and Al Lewis in the respective roles of a fatherly Frankenstein and a grandfatherly Dracula, and screen siren Yvonne DeCarlo as the frightful matron, the material transcended the concept and provided laughs despite the laugh track. (Personally, I never liked laugh tracks, but at least this one was on a funny show!) It is a shame that such campy competition like Batman spelled the doom of the Munster family, but both shows were geared for kids, and Batman was in living color. The kids ruled. Heck, I watched Batman. But The Munsters will continue in syndication (in a number of languages around the world) and on DVD. Universal Home Video's DVD release of The Munsters - The Complete Second Season includes all 32 episodes across the four sides of two DVD-18 discs. The set was manufactured in Mexico, so this may be a cause for concern for those of you who, like me, have had problems with DVD-18 product from Universal. I did not have any problems with this set, however (knock wood). A third disc, DVD-9, contains the discs supplements. The packaging is a little less than pleasing. It's cute--a top-to-bottom tri-fold package in the shape of Herman Munster's head--using digipaks to hold the three discs. The head slips into a plastic cover that is just slightly too tight to fit. Recommendation? Put the discs into separate packaging and put the original package on the shelf to forget about it. You can see the episode guide listing here. These shows are great fun. And yes, I ordered the first season to go along with the second. Now if I can only find the time to watch them all... The Feature: 4 / 5 
Video: Video quality is surprisingly good. For a black and white show shot some 40 years ago, it has held up well. There are white speckles, nicks and the occasional scratch in the presentation, and infrequent bits of soft focus, but the picture by and large looks great--even large (on the equivalent of a 50-inch RPTV). The supplemental documentaries also look outstanding considering their mix of vintage footage and recent interviews. Video: 4 / 5 Sound: The DD 2.0 mono sound is also very good. Only an English soundtrack has been provided. English subtitles for the deaf and hearing impaired, along with Spanish captions have been provided. I guess that Universal has forgotten that Canada is part of Region 1, and that a French subtitle track would have therefore been appropriate. Sound: 4 / 5 Extras: The extras were a real treat. Four documentaries from the A&E Biography series have been included, in slightly truncated form. They are: In Conclusion: Apart from packaging and DVD-18 concerns, The Munsters - The Complete Second Season is an entertaining package, with interesting supplements, and an affordable way to own these classic TV shows. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with it. Overall Rating: 4 / 5 Recommended Display calibrated by Steve Martin at http://www.lionav.com/
