Friends: The Complete Series 4K UHD Review
By Paul Rudoff on Oct. 3, 2024 at 5:50 PM in Home Video
Warner Brothers recently released the Friends: The Complete Series 4K UHD. Read on to find out more about it...
[ SYNOPSIS ]
Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston), Monica Geller (Courteney Cox), Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow), Joey Tribbiani (Matt LeBlanc), Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry), and Ross Geller (David Schwimmer) are six twenty-somethings living in New York City. Over the course of 10 years and seasons, these friends go through life lessons, family, love, drama, friendship, and comedy.
[ EPISODES ]
The 25-disc set (23 triple-layered 4K discs plus 2 dual-layered Blu-ray discs) includes all 236 original broadcast episodes of the 1994-2004 ten-season NBC series. Each episode runs about 22 to 28 minutes. The image below, which is a scan of all of the pages of the included booklet, lists the entire disc breakdown.
[ SPECIFICATIONS ]
The show is presented in a 1.78:1 aspect ratio (open-matted from its original 1.33:1 broadcast aspect ratio). The show is Not Rated. Audio languages include English, French, Spanish, German, Japanese. Subtitle languages include English SDH, French, Spanish, German SDH, Japanese, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Mandarin, Norwegian, Swedish.
Friends was originally shot on 35mm film and then cropped (or framed) for 4x3 televisions, since widescreen was not that common in the 1990s for television. In 2012, when the show was released on Blu-ray, the powers that be went back to the source material, completely remastered it, and then decided to alter the aspect ratio to fit 1.78:1 (16:9) televisions. Instead of cropping the top and bottom to make faux widescreen, Warner trimmed the top and bottom ever so slightly, and then opened up the sides, along with slightly re-framing and re-centering everything to make it appear as natural as possible. The end result is that the show's new 1.78:1 widescreen looks pretty good in terms of framing, but opening up the sides introduced some unintended consequences. Just like open-matting films (see Pee-Wee's Big Adventure), things like the edge of a microphone, or a bit of unfinished set will now be seen that couldn't be seen in the original 4x3 framing. Some examples can found at MovieMistakes.com and Reddit. Is this a deal-breaker? In this case, I don't think so, but the original framing of a show or movie is always preferable.
[ SPECIAL FEATURES ]
All of the special features below can be found on the noted discs. Audio commentaries - with executive producers Kevin S. Bright, Marta Kauffman, and David Crane - are with the episodes on the noted 4K discs, while everything else is on the two Special Features Blu-ray discs. All "Original Broadcast Super-Sized Version" episodes are presented in standard definition, as are all of the DVD-era content, but all have been stupidly pillarboxed into a 16:9 frame because someone at WB doesn't realize that 720x480 can suit both 4:3 and 16:9 video and that by adding unnecessary blackness to the video itself they're reducing an already-low resolution image even more.
- DISC 01 (S01,D1): Audio Commentary on "The Pilot"
- DISC 05 (S03,D1): Audio Commentary on "The One Where No One's Ready"
- DISC 05 (S03,D1): Audio Commentary on "The One with the Football"
- DISC 06 (S03,D2): Audio Commentary on "The One the Morning After"
- DISC 08 (S04,D1): Audio Commentary on The One with Chandler in a Box"
- DISC 08 (S04,D1): Audio Commentary on The One with the Embryos"
- DISC 09 (S04,D2): Audio Commentary on The One with Ross's Wedding, Parts 1 and 2"
- DISC 10 (S05,D1): Audio Commentary on The One Hundredth"
- DISC 10 (S05,D1): Audio Commentary on The One with All the Thanksgivings"
- DISC 11 (S05,D2): Audio Commentary on The One Where Everybody Finds Out"
- DISC 12 (S06,D1): Audio Commentary on The One Where Ross Got High"
- DISC 13 (S06,D2): Audio Commentary on The One that Could Have Been, Parts 1 and 2"
- DISC 14 (S06,D3): Audio Commentary on The One with the Proposal"
- DISC 15 (S07,D1): Audio Commentary on The One with the Holiday Armadillo"
- DISC 16 (S07,D2): Audio Commentary on The One with Joey's New Brain"
- DISC 16 (S07,D2): Audio Commentary on The One with Monica and Chandler's Wedding, Parts 1 and 2"
- DISC 17 (S08,D1): Audio Commentary on The One Where Ross Tells Rachel"
- DISC 17 (S08,D1): Audio Commentary on The One with the Videotape"
- DISC 18 (S08,D2): Audio Commentary on The One Where Rachel Has a Baby, Parts 1 and 2"
- DISC 19 (S09,D1): Audio Commentary on The One with the Male Nanny"
- DISC 19 (S09,D1): Audio Commentary on The One with Rachel's Other Sister"
- DISC 21 (S09,D3): Audio Commentary on The One in Barbados"
- DISC 22 (S10,D1): Audio Commentary on The One with the Late Thanksgiving"
- DISC 23 (S10,D2): Audio Commentary on The One Where the Stripper Cries"
- DISC 23 (S10,D2): Audio Commentary on The Last One"
- DISC 24 (BONUS1): Friends: Through the Peephole (15:18) - This new 2024 retrospective piece is hosted by Warner Brothers archivist Matt Truex, who shows off a few of the props, costumes, and other items kept from the show's original run. Highlights include a signed copy of the original pilot script (when the show was still called Six of One), Joey's Soapie Award, Rachel's handwritten 18-page letter, Monica's peephole doorbell frame, the Holiday Armadillo suit, and more.
- DISC 24 (BONUS1): How Well Do You Know Your Friends? (6:37) - This new 2024 featurette contains seven "Easter Egg Edition" trivia questions presented game-show style to test the show's biggest fans.
- DISC 24 (BONUS1): Friends of Friends - Season 1 (8:33)
- DISC 24 (BONUS1): Season 2 Trailer (1:17)
- DISC 24 (BONUS1): Friends of Friends - Season 2 (11:12)
- DISC 24 (BONUS1): Uncut "Smelly Cat" Music Video (1:49)
- DISC 24 (BONUS1): What's Up with Your Friends? - Season 2 (7:50)
- DISC 24 (BONUS1): Friends of Friends - Season 3 (10:44)
- DISC 24 (BONUS1): What's Up with Your Friends? - Season 3 (8:11)
- DISC 24 (BONUS1): Friends Around the World (7:36)
- DISC 24 (BONUS1): Friends of Friends - Season 4 (8:10)
- DISC 24 (BONUS1): What's Up with Your Friends? - Season 4 (9:08)
- DISC 24 (BONUS1): Gunther Spills the Beans About Next Season [Season 6] (1:31)
- DISC 24 (BONUS1): The One that Goes Behind the Scenes (42:29)
- DISC 24 (BONUS1): On Location in London (2:16)
- DISC 24 (BONUS1): True Friends - Friends From the Start (27:48)
- DISC 24 (BONUS1): True Friends - When Friends Become Family (29:18)
- DISC 24 (BONUS1): True Friends - The Legacy of Friends (10:44)
- DISC 25 (BONUS2): Friends of Friends - Season 6 (12:31)
- DISC 25 (BONUS2): Gag Reel - Season 6 (9:37)
- DISC 25 (BONUS2): Gunther Spills the Beans About Next Season [Season 7] (1:26)
- DISC 25 (BONUS2): Friends of Friends - Season 7 (19:49)
- DISC 25 (BONUS2): Gag Reel - Season 7 (9:26)
- DISC 25 (BONUS2): Gunther Spills the Beans About Next Season [Season 8] (2:11)
- DISC 25 (BONUS2): Original Broadcast Super-Sized Version - "The One Where Rosita Dies" (27:57)
- DISC 25 (BONUS2): Original Broadcast Super-Sized Version - "The One Where They All Turn Thirty" (24:53)
- DISC 25 (BONUS2): Original Broadcast Super-Sized Version - "The One with Joey's New Brain" (28:27)
- DISC 25 (BONUS2): Original Broadcast Super-Sized Version - "The One with the Truth About London" (29:18)
- DISC 25 (BONUS2): Friends of Friends - Season 8 (19:40)
- DISC 25 (BONUS2): Gag Reel - Season 8 (8:37)
- DISC 25 (BONUS2): Gunther Spills the Beans About Next Season [Season 9] (2:00)
- DISC 25 (BONUS2): Behind the Style: The Look of Friends (20:08)
- DISC 25 (BONUS2): Gag Reel - Season 9 (6:40)
- DISC 25 (BONUS2): The Flaming Lips' "Phoebe Battles the Pink Robots" Music Video (2:08)
- DISC 25 (BONUS2): Gunther Spills the Beans About Next Season [Season 10] (3:00)
- DISC 25 (BONUS2): Friends Final Thoughts (25:30)
- DISC 25 (BONUS2): Gag Reels - Season 10 (41:33)
- DISC 25 (BONUS2): Friends of Friends - Season 10 (17:04)
- DISC 25 (BONUS2): Matt LeBlanc's "Joey Joey" Music Video (2:37)
- DISC 25 (BONUS2): "The One Where Rachel Tells Ross" - Producer's Cut (22:49)
- DISC 25 (BONUS2): "The One Where Rachel Tells Ross" - The Original Script - Gallery of 148 still images, including the introduction.
- DISC 25 (BONUS2): The One with the Never-Before-Seen Gags (7:01)
- DISC 25 (BONUS2): Friends Visits The Ellen DeGeneres Show (16:08)
- DISC 25 (BONUS2): Friends on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (22:01)
- DISC 25 (BONUS2): The Rembrandts' "I'll Be There for You" Music Video (3:09)
No digital copy code voucher is included. However, I'm highly impressed by the way Warner Brothers put this set together. Instead of putting all of the discs inside one ugly thick case with the discs stacked on top of each other (see Young Sheldon) or on pages unattached to the case (see Powerpuff Girls and Succession), they actually put each pair of individual seasons in its own 4-disc or 5-disc black plastic Amaray case (a two-disc blue plastic case is used for the pair of Bonus Discs), with all situated inside a form-fitting outer slipbox. As you can see in the photo below, it's beautiful and worthy of giving as a gift this upcoming holiday season.
[ NOTES ]
Friends: The Complete Series is available on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, Blu-ray (Lenticular Box + Book), DVD (25th Ann), DVD (Big Red Box), and DVD (Big White Box). The DVD release not only contains the episodes in the original 1.33:1 broadcast format (if that interests you), it also contains the longer extended versions of select episodes, which were never ported over to the 4K or Blu-ray releases. (The "Extended Broadcast Episodes" on the Bonus Disc is not the same thing.) Also missing from this 4K release is the 2021 feature-length HBO Max Friends: The Reunion special. That is a shame, as including both would have made this the definitive release. As it stands, die-hard Friends fans will want to have all three formats, or at least the 4K and the DVDs. For the casual fan, get which ever release you can afford. Hopefully Sony will release Seinfeld on Blu-ray or 4K UHD next. Yeah, sitcoms about friend groups of stupid white people living in New York City were really popular in the 1990s :-)
This item has been provided by Warner Brothers for review on this site.
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