Fancy Some Sex?? (Sex and the City - The Complete Season 1 (DVD))

Member Name: TigerTiger

Product:	Sex and the City - The Complete Season 1 (DVD)
Date:	17/02/02 (404 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: You can watch all those funny episodes again and again and again...., Excellent picture quality and you can skip through the intro music each time!

Disadvantages: ??

Sex and the City" is based on the novel by Candace Bushnall and deals with the lives of four thirty-something successful, attractive, yet more often than not single New York women. "Sex and the City" is now in its 4th series and is going stronger than ever. The writing has gone from strength to strength and I am happy to say that the plots have focused on more daring issues and the on-liners have become ever more scandalous. The programme also continues to win many awards for both the writing and acting, which are well deserved.

I had been waiting for ages to actually own the Series of "Sex ahd the City" on DVD and finally they have been released. Last year I finally got my hands on the 1st series.

Here are my mini reviews of each of the episodes contained on the discs.

~~~(1)Sex and the City~~~
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Can women have sex like a man?
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Here we are introduced to Carrie and her friends. What I like about this introductory episode is that she is conducting interviews with her friends for her column and so you see their names on screen and what they do as a way of introduction. This also gives you great first insights into their characters. It all happens at a 30 something dinner party for Miranda in which they all start worrying about finding Mr Right (don't we all!) and somehow it lead them to think that maybe they should start having sex like a man!

In this episode we also meet Mr Big, who is set to have great impact on Carries life right through the series. He actually appears to be a total bastard from the start and initially it is Samantha that tries to seduce him,in her usual blantent fashion!

The episode is actually the pilot and you can tell from all the different hairstyles and the general feel to the program, it matured well in later episodes.

~~~(2) Models and Mortels~~~ <
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If models could cause otherwise rational individuals to crumble in their presence, exactly how powerful is beauty?
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I really liked this episode as it showed all these NY men who would only date models, Mr Big being one of them at the time. Miranda actually starts to date one of them only to discover that his friends told him to go out with someone ordinary for a change!

Meanwhile, the ever sexually mental Samantha gets into being videotaped whilst in bed and Carrie ends up in bed with a model herself and realises that there is something more to models than there looks as he confesses his issues to her.

~~~(3) Bay of Married Pigs~~~
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Is there a secret cold war between marrieds and singles?
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This episode looks at the issue of how married people interact with singletons. It is all started after Carrie goes to stay with one of her old friends who is now married. She finds that things definitely do change when her friend feels her to be a great threat after her husband exposes himself to her.

I also liked this episode because the ever successful career women Miranda is presumed to be gay by her work colleagues as she isn't married! Indeed they even quite like it when she is gay and think it makes a welcome addition to their social group!

~~~(4) Valley of the twentysomethings~~
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Are men in their twenties the new designer drug? One hit and you are hooked?
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Age is the all important factor in this episode. Carrie decides to go out with a twentysomething guy as everyone else seems to be, however, she soon discovers the limitations and decides to go back to men her own age! it appears some things have changed since she wa
s in her twenties, making her re-think her own life.

Samantha comes to the conclusion that she will always be older than her toy boy (NO!) and Charlotte confronts the issue of anal sex, which with her slightly prudish attitudes is never going to be straighforward!

~~~(5) The power of the female sex~~~
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Where is the line between professional girlfriend and just plain professional?
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I love this episode. One of Carrie's friends is back in town. She she seems to be the serial girlfriend of wealthy men that take her round the world and shower her with expensive gifts. She introduces Carrie to a gorgeous French architect who leaves a thousand dollars beside her bed in the morning which gets Carrie thinking. The whole issue of girlfriends like her friend who are sleeping with their boyfriends to get all the gifts and glamour of the lives they lead, so where does the line go between being a hooker basically or a girlfriend?

In addition to that this is hilarious as Charlotte goes to see a talented artist for her gallary and he has a famous series of paintings of womens vaginas (they use the C word, but I won't go there, you get the gist). I just fell aboug laughing when his wife told Charlotte she bet she had a beautiful vagina!

~~~(6) Secret Sex~~~
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How many of us out there are having sex with people that we are ashamed to introduce with our friends?
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Another interesting topic as one of Carrie's friends confesses that he only takes his girlfriend to places where they won't see anyone he knows as he is embarrassed by her, she isn't the woman he thought he would end up with. It gets her to thinking how common this is and upon investigation she realises that most people have at one time or another felt this way.
She then starts to worry that Mr Big never introduces her to anyone so he must be embarrassed by her and sets about sorting this out, this includes meeting his mother!

~~~(7) The Monogomists~~~
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In a city like NY with it's infinite possibilities, has monogomy become too much to expect?
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Carrie's relationship with Mr Big is blossoming, however then she discovers that he is still dating other women.He actually tells her straight when they are out one evening and she realises their relationship is not what it seemed. This makes her think about monogomy and whether in this age if it is still possible. With friends like Samantha she probably hasn't got the greatest sources of support!

~~~(8) Three's a crowd~~~

This debates the whole issue of threesomes. It is started when Mr Big confesses that not only was he married, but he and his wife had a threesome. Carrie is not just shocked by this revelation, but it also gets her thinking about his ex wife and starts to feel that there are three people in hers and mr Big's relationship. To get this out of her head Carrie makes the decision to check out his wife and as it turns she is successful, sexy and most of all they get on really well.

Charlotte's boyfriend meanwhile is trying to persuade her to let another women into their bedroom. They find themselves at a party and Charlotte actually ends up with her boyfriend and another woman, however at the last minute backs out and leaves them to it. They don't even realise as she gets her clothes and leaves!

Miranda rather comically starts to feel left out that no-one wants a threesome with her and she resorts to firstly seeing a counsellor and then when that fails she starts answering ads in the paper just to find someone who wants a threesome with her!when someone finally does want a threesome with her, s
he declines, it was just the whole process of needing to feel wanted.

~~~(9) The Turtle and the Hare~~~
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In a city of great expectations is it time to settle for what you can get.
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As the foursome attend one of their friends wedding, a friend that could have dated anyone, but appears in their eyes to have "settled" for someone a lot less than they expected. Carrie raises the issue of whether you should settle? I have been here myself and so found it all very interesting. Should we all go after the ideal, or why waste time when you can just find someone to be happy with??

Samantha meets a guy they call the turtle. He is repulsive and definitely not someone she could date, as he is. So, she sets about transforming him, bad breath and all, into someone she could date and yet after a lot of work realises that he will never be someone that she can date and thus she could not settle.

Meanwhile, Carrie is told by Mr Big that he will never marry again and she starts to think should she just settle for someone that she likes being with, but will never marry her when one day she does want to get married eventually.

The most classic scenes from this involve Charlotte being introduced to her first vibrator "the rabbit" which she subsequently becomes addicted to!Millions of women across the world since ran out to buy a rabbit to see what it did for them! Sex aids have never benefited so much from a tv show!

~~~(10). The Baby shower~~~
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Is motherhood a cult?
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A friends baby shower gets the foursome thinking about their own lives and the issue of children.At the shower they are very much treated as if there is something wrong with them and so they start to wonder if there really is something wrong with them.


Carrie's period is late and so she faces the prospect of motherhood, but doesn't know whether she wants to be pregnant or not.What would it means for her and big?

Charlotte fears that she may never have the daughter that she always wanted.

Just when they were thinking there was something wrong with them the friend whose baby shower they attended confesses that she longs for her pre-baby life back. So, maybe they don't have it so bad after all!

~~~(11) The drought~~~
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In a city of 12 million people, about 12 think they ar having enough sex. How often is normal?
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One of the questions that is raised which most people will think about at some time is how much sex do normal people really have? Are they having less or more than other people?

All four women find themselves facing cellibacy for whatever reason and it gets them all considering what if they never have sex again!

~~~(12). Oh Come all ye faithful~~~
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Are relationships the religion of the 90's?
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Samantha deals with the whole "size" issue this time to much amusement. Whilst Charlotte is in panic mode after she keeps visiting fotune tellers and the keep predicting her a life as a singleton. Time and time again the fortune tellers don't see white dresses and children in her future and she carries on the search to find one that does.

The up and down relationship between Mr Big and Carrie continues to dominate with a cliff hanger ending to the series(but I can't tell you that because quite frankly it would spoil it!).

If you liked the series then I believe this is a very good box set to have, especially considering the price. After all, then when you are feeling miserable and need something to make you sm
ile you can watch it whenever you like.

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So, why buy the DVD rather than the VHS?
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For me since switching over to DVD at the end of last year I bought it primarily because I could! However, for all those technical minds out there I had better tell you more (I by the way I am technically minded and the only reason I like DVD is because I can skip through the scenes faster!)

*Presentation*

"Sex and the City" Series one on DVD comes in a red collection box featuring all 4 girls on the cover. Inside you get 2 DVD's containing 12 episodes, six on each. The packaging is nothing special it has to be said. However, it matches in with Series 2 which is now out, so that makes me happy enough.

*Regions and Technical Stuff*

The DVD which I bought was suitable for Region 2, which includes Europe, the Middle East and Japan and the picture format is NTSC 4:3. I do believe though that there is some issue with this DVD as because the broadcast format is American NTSC and not PAL, thus if you don't have a reasonably modern TV you'll have trouble playing the discs in the first place. However, having a new TV I had no problems. I just thought you should be aware of this. I have not heard of many problems though.

The interface also lacks a "Play All" facility, which forces you to skip back and forth from the main menu after each episode. This is very annoying. Coupled with the fact you had to put up with the intro music and credits time and time again, it was most certainly irritating at times when you just wanted to get on and watch something.

*Extra Features*

To be honest there are no outstanding features on this DVD and what there is has simply been thrown on to give the buyer a sense that they are getting something extra from the VHS version.

The extras do include:


-Episode Preview Trailers and Synopsis

What is the point of this when you have the whole version? The only reason this is useful is a) for anyone who has never seen the programme before and b) if you want to see a certain episode and cannot remember which (but then again you could just look on the back of thr box)

The synopses pop up before each episode which was very annoying. I would rather this had not been present.

"Inside Sex and the City" Featurette

"Research" Trailer

Cast and Filmmakers Information

Awards and Nominations Information

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Conclusions
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"Sex and the City" Is fabulous, the writing, acting and way it gets you thinking. I cannot fault the content on this DVD at all.

However, this DVD is most certainly not worth buying for the extras. The fact that the programme is so outstanding was the only reason I bought this. There are some great deals out to buy this as well. I managed to get it from HMV a while back for £20. However, it retails on Amazon for £27. I do't believe either is a bad price for many hours of entertainment.

Series 2 is now also out on DVD and 3 and 4 are to follow.

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