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Archer: The Complete Season One
R1 - America - Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (4th March 2011). |
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The Show
 Adam Reed is one funny motherf**ker. Having been responsible for some of the funniest (and twisted) animated shows on television, with a tenure at Cartoon Network's Adult Swim with such shows as "Sealab 2021" (2000-2005) and "Frisky Dingo" (2006-2008) as well as taking on writing duties on "Space Ghost Coast to Coast" (1994–2004), Reed developed a unique and celever comedic style with these shows. Reed's totally original "Frisky Dingo" was one of the funniest shows in the network's line-up (sadly it didn't last very long) but the comedy was pitch perfect, the animation was nicely rendered and the voice work was spot on. Taking all those elements, and parlaying them into an espionage setting with a collection of all new characters, throw in some dysfunctional sitcom style family business, a little bit of blue humor and lots of violence and you've got "Archer", another winner in the humble opinion of this reviewer. I don't think I've ever laugh so loudly and for so long on my own than when watching the first season of this show. "Archer" is clever and simply brillant. "Archer" is a 1960's style spy spoof, complete with stylized credit sequence (although judging by the computers it's seems to be set in the 80's, during the height of the cold war). The series is based around the fictional spy agency ISIS, run by Malory Archer (Jessica Walter) an overbearing control freak and mother of ISIS's top agent Sterling Archer (H. Jon Benjamin). Archer and occasional partner and former lover Lana (Aisha Tyler) who seems to be having sex with everyone but Archer, and are sent on mission to find a mole, train a new agent, perform assassinations, etc. filled with other eccentric characters "Archer" packs an incredible amount of story, filled with action, thrills, gags and hilarious one-liners within 20-22 minutes. There are a lot of "best things" about this series, lets start at the heart of it and that's the writing. Adam Reed and Matt Thompson have written something truly special, a series that's sharp, witty and packed with gut busting one liners you'll be repeating to friends over and over again. The genre lends itself to some perfectly timed and brilliantly executed comedy, from the hapless-over sexed agent and his femme fetale ex-girlfriend offering a lot to play with. Archer's overbearing mother makes for another memorable character, one a lot of people might be able to relate to and voiced brilliantly by Jessica Walter, who has essentially taken her "Arrested Development" (2003-2006) character Lucille Bluth into the animated realm. She really hones that character type here and is used to great effect in many a gags that pepper the first season. The interactions are quick-fire, the plots are tight and the characters are all well written and over the course of the first season we get a deep understanding of all that is employed at ISIS. A feat that's surprising considering the runtime of each episode. If anything "Archer" is a good example of economy in storytelling that also uses visual tools to its advantage. The second "best thing" about this series is the voice cast, who not only deliver their lines with the comedic timing of some of the best working in the profession but all encompass their characters so excellently you can't help but get lost amid these episodes. Archer is played by H. Jon Benjamin, a veteran of voice acting having been in "Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist" (1995-1999), "Home Movies" (1999-2004), "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" (2001-2009) and "Family Guy" (1999-Present), he plays Archer with an equal amount of suave, ego and stupidity. As mentioned before Jessica Walter is great, equally so is Aisha Tyler as Agent Lana Kane, who brings a dash of sexy in her voice the character requires. Judy Greer and Chris Parnell are also on fine form here, especially Greer who plays secretary Cheryl with in a gleefully dirty manner whoring her way around the office in moments that'll have you in fits with laughter, especially if you have a twisted sense of humor like myself. With an equal amount of humor and action, "Archer" strikes the right balance resulting in a show that truly deserves your viewership, I absolutely cannot wait for season two, and the FX channel now has a new fan of the network as they continue to deliver excellent programming. The first season is presented here on two discs with all ten episodes, five on each disc, they are: - "Mole Hunt" - "Training Day" - "Diversity Hire" - "Killing Utne" - "Honeypot" - "Skorpio" - "Skytanic" - "The Rock" - "Job Offer" - "Dial M for Mother"
Video
Presented in anamorphic widescreen ratio 1.78:1 preserving the show's original broadcast ratio, this DVD looks good. Striking colors are the fist impression, with vibrancy that ranks among the best in terms of animated content on the format. The animation style is slick bordered by thick black lines and shadow detail that adds to the character's expressions and sells a lot of the jokes. Without that detail the effect would be rather bland. Movement is smooth and doesn't seem to suffer from any blurring or jaggedness that some animated show display. Being an animated show the transfers were sourced from the original digital files, thus there's no print damage or any of those little flaws seen on film to digital transfers, no grain, specks, etc. Black detail is rich and bold, and overall it's a superb picture.
Audio
A single audio track is included on each episode on this season, the English Dolby Digital 5.1 surround track perfectly suits this series, while some times the audio is very much focused on the front with a majority of show made up of dialogue moments and back-and-forth quips between characters. The dialogue is clear and distortion free, with no problems that I could detect. Now, this is also a spy parody, and there's plenty of action packed moments as well, made up of helicopters, car chases, guns firing, as well as the music that kicks in, etc and those moments utilize the surrounds well enough. I say well enough because it's not mixed like a big studio picture with complex sound design and surround effects, it's simply designed but effective. Optional subtitles are also included in English for the hearing impaired, French and Spanish.
Extras
Fox has released this first season with a few extras, included on this 2-disc set are an unaired pilot, a featurette, deleted scenes, unaired network promo, plus a couple of bonus episodes for other FX shows. Below is a closer look at these supplements. DISC ONE: First up we've got an unaired pilot episode which runs for 21 minutes 29 seconds, this is basically the pilot episode only the character Archer has been replaced with a dinosaur. He doesn't talk, just yelps and roars... it's bizarre and frankly if there's a joke here then I certainly don't get it. Also featured is a bonus pilot episode for the FX series "The League" which runs for 26 minutes 53 seconds. If you're into it then check it out, the purpose of these is to spread the word on other FX shows, frankly I wish they would have focused more on added value material for "Archer" than promoting other shows. There's also a bonus trailer for: - "Fox Blu-ray" spot which runs for 1 minute 49 seconds. DISC TWO: The major supplement on this disc is the 6-part "Making of Archer" featurette which can be viewed individually or with a 'play all' option. This short segment covers the production process of the series through the various stages. There's some good stuff here that provides insight into the process but it's all too brief and really needs to be expanded into a more substantial extra, alas the segments are broken down into 6 parts and include: - "3D" which runs for 3 minutes 26 seconds. - "Animation" runs for 4 minutes 48 seconds. - "Art Direction" runs for 2 minutes 39 seconds. - "Backgrounds" runs for 1 minute 39 seconds. - "Illustrations" runs for 4 minutes 58 seconds. - "Storyboards" runs for 3 minutes 43 seconds. Next up is an unaired network promo which runs for 18 seconds, it's pretty easy to see why this promo was not aired, featuring a bathrobe ladened Archer telling viewers that he didn't have sex with his mother. Following that are the deleted scenes reel running for 2 minutes 22 seconds, featured are a handful of scenes omitted primarily for time I assume as the scenes are rather humorous and feature some more of that brilliant banter. Rounding out the supplements is the "Louie" bonus pilot episode which runs for 23 minutes 41 seconds, another promotional method for FX to get viewers to watch this rather dark comedy. Frankly I enjoyed this show (having seen the entire season already) and it is worth checking out if you're into comedian Louis C.K.
Packaging
This set is packaged in a standard 2-disc keep case.
Overall
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