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ranked #206,602 most helpful
out of 571,544,897 reviews
★★☆☆☆
Packaging May Doom the Set
I am not going to speak about the show since others have written about it here already. Suffice it to say that I like the show very much which is why I purchased the complete set. What I do want to talk about is the packaging. Unfortunately, many reviewers ignore this along with the quality of the transfer in many of their "reviews".
Like quite a few other DVD box sets this one has problems. First, I have been sent two Lynley sets thus far. Both had the same problem. The first keep case housing discs one and two had fork spindles both of which had broken causing the discs to float around in the keep case resulting in (unsurprisingly) scratched discs. Discs off the spindles seem to be a consistent problem with these slimline keep cases regardless of source (Milestone, Criterion Eclipse). I don't spend new money for used looking discs.
The second problem is the lack of documentation. Inspector Lynley ran on the BBC from 2001-2007 and on PBS from 2001 to 2008. In this set there is no documentation of series/season. Nor is there any indication of original run dates. Apparently WGBH thinks none of us out here in DVD buying land are interested in TV history But hey, they do list the episode titles. One should, I suppose, be grateful for small favours.
As for the transfer (which is letterboxed), it looks good. I am of two minds with respect to the appearance of the Mystery openings and closings on some of the discs. It is interesting to see the show as first presented on PBS. On the other hand, I do wonder about the editing particularly at the end of the episodes with the PBS Mystery introductions and conclusions. My sense is that there is some editing out of these end scenes as they originally appeared on the BBC given the abruptness of these endings.
In conclusion: A big thumbs down to WGBH's production department and quality control. As of this moment the WGBH/PBS Lynley set is the only game in town. I do hope the complete set comes out in Britain at some point so I can see Lynley as originally broadcast.
