Courtesy: mpi media group
CBS at one point in time was the single greatest network on television. It had such variety in regards to its offerings. From classic variety shows such as The Carol Burnett Show, The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, and The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour to powerful dramas and dramedies such as Maude, M.A.S.H. and Murder She Wrote to equally great sitcoms including: I Love Lucy, Gilligan’s Island, The Bob Newhart Show, The Jeffersons, Good Times, The Andy Griffith Show and so many others, CBS offered programming for everyone. Its programming transcended limitations of viewers’ age, gender, and even race. By comparison it seems that the majority of the once powerhouse network’s programming is made up of crime dramas, medical dramas, and “reality television” series. The variety of offerings that once made CBS so great, it seems, has gone completely by the wayside. Thankfully though, a number of those classic shows have been resurrected on DVD and Blu-ray thanks to the efforts of just as many home entertainment companies. The latest of those classic series to finally see the light of day—My Favorite Martian—saw all three of its season released in their own standalone season sets between 2012 and 2014 courtesy of MPI Home Video. Luckily for fans of the standout sitcom MPI Home Video didn’t stop there. The studio released the series in a complete three-season box set this week. And for those that were not lucky enough to add the series to their home DVD libraries in their previous releases, this box set is just as enjoyable and a must have. For those that perhaps will see the series for the first time or even the first time again in purchasing this box set it is so enjoyable first and foremost thanks to the work of its writers. The writing behind the series’ 107 total episodes will put a smile on any classic TV buff’s face. That will be discussed shortly. In direct connection to the writing, the work of the series’ lead actors—Bill Bixby and Ray Walston—is just as entertaining. Their interpretation of each episode’s script makes for more than its share of laughs from one episode to the next. That will be discussed in more depth later. Last but hardly last of note in regards to this box set is the inclusion of its bonus material. The bonus material spread across the series’ three separate season setsis extensive to say the least. There are no fewer than three pilot episodes, one which was for My Favorite Martian, and the other two for a pair of series which sadly never went past their pilots. There is also a full-length clip of Ray Walston on the classic game show I’ve Got A Secret, interviews with Lucille Ball on her show Let’s Talk To Lucy and so much more. These bonuses together with those not named here round out the core of My Favorite Martian: The Complete Series’ positives. They are hardly the only positives worth noting, too. One would be remiss to ignore the set’s packaging or even its production values. All things considered, My Favorite Martian: The Complete Series proves in the end to be a piece that every classic TV buff should have in his or her collection and a collection that is one of the best of this year’s family friendly box sets.
MPI Home Video’s brand new release of My Favorite Martian: The Complete Series is a collection that every single classic TV buff should have in his or her own home DVD library. It is also one of the best of this year’s family friendly box sets (versus those box sets featuring TV shows and movies that are aimed more at grown up audiences). This is most obvious through the writing behind the series’ three season run. Over the course of the show’s 107 total episodes, it presents plenty of classic story lines that while familiar to the buddy comedy genre, have been tweaked to be fully original in their presentation here. “The Memory Pill,” which is presented in the show’s second season is a prime example of the writers ability to take one of those classic story lines and make them fresh and funny. Tim, wanting to forget a certain woman that he keeps thinking of, takes one of Martin’s memory pills, leading him to develop amnesia of sorts in this episode. So it is up to Martin to get Tim back to his old self. What ensues in the process of the episode is what really makes it funny. Martin brings in a doctor who is played by David White, who was also Darren’s boss in ABC’s classic supernatural sitcom Bewitched. The antics that play out will have audiences of all ages laughing uproariously as Tim continues to try (in his state of amnesia) to convince the doctor that Martin is in fact a Martian. “How To Be A Hero Without Really Trying” (Season One) is another example of the talent of the show’s writers. That is because this episode sees the bachelor Tim trying once again to impress a young woman (which in itself becomes part of the show’s comedy right up to its finale) by taking her and her young brother out for a day trip. The trip is in reality also to help Martin find an element that he needs in order to work on his ship. Thanks to Martin, though the young boy ends up stuck high up on a cliff and has to be rescued. Tim, trying to impress the boy’s sister decides to save her brother. Needless to say plenty of antics come from this decision that will once again have audiences laughing just as much as with any of the series’ other episodes. What’s really funny about the story in whole is that for all of its entertainment that entertainment in question comes about from Tim and Martin having to clean up the other’s mess again and again throughout the course of the episode’s script. Season Three is just as packed with laughs as Tim goes back in time in the season finale, causing quite the disruption in the time space continuum. Also in Season Three, Tim helps Mrs. Brown’s brother build a robot that does household chores. That is a theme that had and has been used so many times before and since in other classic sitcoms including Gilligan’s Island. It’s just one more of so many throughout the course of the series’ original run of the writers’ talents. There are 104 other examples from which viewers can choose throughout the series’ three seasons. In finding their own favorites, audiences will agree that the writing behind My Favorite Martian is one of the series’ most important elements. Through it all, the buddy comedy element never gets old at any point in the series’ run. And that is just the tip of the iceberg in the series’ enjoyment. The work of lead actors Bill Bixby and Ray Walston in interpreting the scripts adds even more enjoyment to the series.
The work of the writers behind My Favorite Martian lies at the center of its success even despite it having just a three-season run on television. The scripts that were crafted by this show’s writers is the kind of material that is so sorely missed today. It’s the kind of material that parents can feel good about letting their kids watch for the most part. It’s the kind of writing that parents will feel just as good about watching with their kids, too without feeling uncomfortable at any point. It is just one element of the show’s enjoyment, of course. The work of lead actors Bill Bixby and Ray Walston in interpreting the writers’ scripts adds even more enjoyment to the show. Bixby’s manic behavior, for instance, in “The Memory Pill” is reminiscent of Cary Grant’s Mortimer Brewster in the classic 1944 comedy Arsenic And Old Lace. He is just so frenzied in his state of amnesia. On the other end of the spectrum, one can’t help but wonder to a point if Walston’s deadpan demeanor as Martin was any influence on Harvey Korman’s portrayal of The Great Gazoo in The Flintstones. For those that might not know, The Great Gazoo was introduced to The Flintstones two years after the start of My Favorite Martian. So it would, again, be interesting to find out if there might have been any connection between the two actors if at all. Getting back on the subject, that deadpan persona that is most prominent throughout the series, set alongside Bixby’s own Dick York meets Alan Young look and persona, makes for its own share of laughs throughout each episode. On a related noted, Walston does break that self-righteous, snooty persona that that audiences love so much. One of the best moments in which Walston breaks that person comes early in Season One in the episode “There Is No Cure For The Common Martian.” Martin gets a cold for the first time ever in this episode and it sort of knocks him down off of his proverbial high horse and makes him no better than any human. It forces him at least for the moment to see that and just makes for a great break from the norm in terms of Walston’s general performance. In its own way, it could be argued that both because of their personas and how they handle them (and the scripts), both Bixby and Walston could be argued to be the straight man and the comedian believe it or not. That is something that audiences just don’t see in comic performances today. It really is something original. And that originality makes for so many great, memorable performances throughout the course of the series’ run. It’s yet more proof of why the work of both Bixby and Walston was (and is) so important to the success of My Favorite Martian: The Complete Series. It still is not the final factor in the set’s success. The set’s bounty of bonus material adds even more enjoyment for audiences.
The work of both My Favorite Martian’s writers and its lead actors makes for a great deal of enjoyment for audiences as they make their way through the course of the classic sitcom’s three seasons and 107 episodes. For all of the enjoyment that both elements bring to the series, they are not all that makes this set complete. The collection’s bevy of bonus material adds extra points to the newly released box set. And it is not an understatement to say that there are a lot of bonuses for fans included here. MPI has included in Season One the original pilot episode of My Favorite Martian, the pilot episode for the never-aired series The Reluctant Eye, and even a full appearance by Ray Walston on the game show I’ve Got A Secret. Walston’s appearance on the game show even includes the original TV spots (commercials) that ran in the specific episode between segments. So it really is complete in every sense of the word. On a side note, the episode in question features Walston trying to fool the show’s panels in regards to how he lights a jack-o-lantern. So this bonus is a great fit with Halloween only days away at the time of this posting. In regards to the pilot episode of My Favorite Martian, it should be noted that this is a little bit misleading. That is because episode #1 is in fact the series’ pilot episode. It hasn’t been separated out as a bonus episode. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing, either. It maybe just shouldn’t have been listed under the “bonus” section since it is not listed actually within the list of bonus materials when Season 1 Disc 5 is played. What is listed is that appearance on I’ve Got A Secret and all of the season’s other bonuses, including a complete soundtrack album containing music from My Favorite Martian as well as the season’s bonus photo gallery, and separate sponsor spots along with one of Walston’s own commercials. MPI Home Video’s people didn’t stop here with the bonus material. Season Two boasts interviews with the show’s cast as well as original billboards and ads featuring the show’s cast. Season Three adds even more enjoyment as it features a slew of bonuses. Those bonuses include: interviews with Bill Bixby and Ray Walston on Lucille Ball’s Let’s Talk To Lucy program, home movies filmed by the cast on the set of the show, and a pilot for the also never-aired series The Man in the Square Suit along with other bonus footage. There is so much that there is simply not enough room to list or even discuss it all. But it goes without saying that when audiences purchase this box set for themselves, they will be blown away by the vast amount of bonus material included with this box set. That extensive amount of bonus material coupled with the work of both the show’s writers and lead actors makes for an experience that helps My Favorite Martian: The Complete Series live up to its title. They make it not just a complete series set in name but in experience and in turn they collectively make it one of he best of this year’s family friendly box sets.
The writing and acting that went into My Favorite Martian across its short three season run paid off in spades for the series even with it having run only three seasons. They combine with the bonus material included in this collection to make My Favorite Martian: The Complete Series compete in every sense of the word and in turn one of the best of the year’s family friendly box sets. That is not to discount the set’s packaging, which while it looks bulky on the outside is actually quite ergonomic in and of itself. Each of the series’ three seasons has been presented within its own standalone season set once more. Each set’s discs are placed in what is the norm today in multi-disc packaging–placing discs on either side of a given number of “plates” and in some cases even on the inside front and back of the case. This conserves space within each set and ultimately in the bigger picture of the set’s packaging. Considering the route that the people at MPI Home Video could have taken, this was the smartest possible route for the set’s presentation. Even better for audiences is that an episode guide has been included inside the case for Season One and Season Two. Each guide includes a precise listing of the season’s episodes along with a short yet concise summary of each featured episode. In regards to Season Three, the episode guide only features a listing of the episodes with their original broadcast dates. While it would have been nice to have gotten a complete episode summary as in Season One and Two, it is still nice to at least have an episode guide, period. To that extent, the packaging is yet another positive to a set that is sure to be among any classic TV buff’s favorites this year. Add in the highly impressive look and sound of each episode and audiences once again get a viewing experience that is just as complete as the set itself. It is an experience that will leave audiences of all ages agreeing that this collection of episodes will be a favorite not just of classic TV buffs but even more specifically fans of this beloved classic. All things considered My Favorite Martian: The Complete Series proves unlike collections from so many other series to be truly complete in every possible sense of the word. My Favorite Martian: The Complete Series is available now in stores and online and can be ordered direct via MPI Home Video’s online store at http://www.mpihomevideo.com/products/my-favorite-martian-the-complete-series. More information on this and other titles from MPI Home Video is available online now at:
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