Why So Blu?

American Dad – Volume 6 (DVD Review)

Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane is the man behind American Dad which centers around CIA Agent Stan Smith and his family and their wacky adventures.  Stan’s family consists of his wife Francine, daughter Hayley and son Steve, and an alien named Roger.  Roger was rescued from Area 51 by Stan and most days Roger makes Stan regret that decision.  Last but not least is Klaus – a German man trapped in a goldfish body.  American Dad could have easily been called Craziest Family Ever.

 

Film 

I greatly prefer Family Guy to American Dad.  American Dad has some very stupid story lines, but at the same time has some very clever writing and almost every episode has many funny, quotable lines.  I am very irritated by the character Roger and can’t seem to care what happens to him.  I think the point is to be annoyed by him but still care for him at the same time, and I can’t seem to do the latter.

Volume six apparently consists of all the episodes from season five.  This collection is not, in my opinion, superior to the previous seasons.  However, if you enjoyed seasons one through four of American Dad, I see no reason why you would not enjoy this collection as well especially since this is the uncensored version.

Disc One

1. In Country…Club – Stan takes Steve to the Vietnam War re-enactment at the country club so that Steve can properly sing the national anthem after being exposed to war.
2. Moon Over Isla Island – When a dictator dies accidentally (during a trip to the mall), Stan has Roger step in to step in.
3. Home Adrone – Steve is left home alone and he and his friends make their way into Stan’s study.  There they discover a flight simulation game that turns out to be a real military drone.
4. Brains, Brains and Automobiles –The CIA tries to enter the mind of Bin Laden’s cat.  Stan worries that Francine will leave him because he is boring.  After Roger moves out forcing Stan to drug him, Roger ends  up in a coma.   Stan and Francine  enter his mind to help him out of it and they realize life is pretty interesting.
5. Man in the Moonbounce – No big surprise – Stan didn’t have much of a childhood and discovers this in his son’s Moonbounce.
6. Shallow Vows – Francine and Stan renew their vows for their twentieth wedding anniversary.  Stan says that Francine’s beauty is the only reason he married her and she goes on a beauty strike, refusing to maintain her looks in a variety of ways.

Disc Two

1. My Morning Straight Jacket –We learn that rock music is the main cause of teen pregnancy, school violence and leather pants.  Stan is concerned about his daughter seeing a rock concert and he becomes obsessed with the band himself.  I love the name of the strip club in this episode – Xana Boobs!
2. G-String Circus – Hayley plans to take a semester off school to devote her time to the Heffer Project.  Stan thinks she should open a dry cleaners.  When she won’t take his advice Stan finds some strippers to work the business.
3. Rapture’s Delight – Stan and Francine get frisky in the closet at church and miss the rapture and must battle the antichrist.
4. Don’t Look a Smith Horse in the Mouth –   Even the American Dad economy is bad.  Stan refuses to give up his SUV so he has to find a way to earn extra money. Steve and his friends are doing odd jobs to earn new video games ending up trapped under a fat neighbor.  Roger’s plan for money involves fixing horse races and the plan sounds good to Stan.
5. A Jones for a Smith – This episode discusses whether or not social programs like welfare are a crutch.  Stan decides he won’t help anyone – not his son with homework, his choking daughter or his jailed wife (DUI).  Stan meets a girl whose parents are advocating a sexual relationship between the teens.  The only thing standing in his way is his parents and their inability to make a good impression.  This is especially difficult given Stan’s new, and accidental cocaine addiction.
6. May the Best Stan Win – Stan signs up for a CIA program which will eventually turn him into a cyborg after he dies.  Stan is very inconsiderate and has a hard time competing with his future self, who is competing for Francine’s affection.

Disc Three

1. Return of the Bling – Steve writes a paper about his hero, Legolas from Lord of the Rings.  Stan tells of his heroes – Ronald Reagan and the 1980 US Hockey Team.  Roger claims to be a member of the team and Stan doesn’t believe him until they attend a reunion.  Stan finds out Stan was telling the truth about being a member of the team but learns he used steroids.  A quest to return the medal begins as Roger becomes a more annoying version of Gollum.
2. Cops & Roger – Roger and Francine are mugged leading Roger to join the police academy.  Roger falls for a corrupt cop and Stan ends up staring down the barrel of a gun.
3. Merlot Down Dirty Shame – Roger and Stan finally bond but after too much wine, Roger ends up kissing Francine.  There goes that friendship!
4. Bully for Steve – Stan spies on Steve after discovering he is too passive.  Stan then poses as a bully to toughen him up.
5. An Incident at Owl Creek – Stan is overly concerned with what everyone in town thinks of him.  When his family is invited to a party Stan stresses over it spending much time and effort preparing his family so they don’t make him look stupid.  During the part Stan makes himself look stupid with no help from his family and becomes the laughing stock of the party, the neighborhood and the nation thanks to the internet.
6. Great Space Roaster – Roger wants to be roasted for his birthday but it hurt by the jokes the Smith family tells.  Roger tries to kill the family in various ways and they take a job in space hoping for safety.  Of course, Roger hitches a ride on the underbelly of the shuttle and terrorizes the family there as well.

Video

This was the season that the show transitioned to HD so for the first nine full-frame (1.33:1) episodes, the video quality of the episodes is equal to that of the TV broadcast, but the second nine are wide-screen (1.78:1) and look a lot better.  Overall the quality is pretty good but the second nine look sharper and provide more detail.  Colors are bright and eye-catching as well.  With that being said, the video quality of the special features is very poor as they appear pixellated and look so bad that straight lines look more like stair patterns.

Audio

American Dad’s Dolby Digital 5.1 mix offers a satisfying mix that isn’t reference quality but pretty good for an animated show.  Dialogue is clear and easy to understand and the music and effect are well balanced.  There isn’t a lot of power to this mix and there’s hardly any use of satellite speakers, but I think that’s a deliberate choice and no fault of the DVD.

Special Features

There are deleted scenes from every episode.  They are available from the main menu or within the sub-menu for each episode.  In my opinion the deleted scenes would not have added to the episodes had they been left in.  Often, they were really just extended scenes.  The commentaries are fun to listen to and if you are wondering what is the “The Interdisciplinary Collective for American Dad Studies,” it’s a group of PhD candidates specializing in cultural studies and critical theory.

Final Thoughts

My final thought is how on earth did they get Patrick Stewart to be attached to this show.   Every time his character Avery Bullock appeared I couldn’t help but wonder more about Patrick Stewart.  I wonder if he finds American Dad hilarious.  I know almost nothing about Patrick Stewart except I considered him a serious actor and by association a serious person.  I wonder now – does Patrick Stewart have a better developed sense of humor than I do?  The answer, is probably yes.  All in all, this is the kind of show that you either love or hate, so your experiences may vary.

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