Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #30705 in DVD
• Released on: 2004-05-17
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Number of discs: 3
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English, Hungarian
• Number of discs: 1

Synopsis
The entire first series of the popular sitcom 3RD ROCK FROM THE SUN, which follows the wacky exploits of a group of aliens attempting to pose as humans.

Customer Reviews

Just for fun !
Aliens coming down to earth disguised as "real people" just for the sake of observing us, is an old theme in the Sci Fi world. Some stories are gloomy ending up in dangerous confrontations, but some are humorous, like this series.
It's really all about "us people" behaving strangely and the aliens even more strangely when facing uncharted territory.
This "alienness" creates situations of misunderstandings and funny actions and reactions. And since the aliens by nature could be nonsexual or asexual or transsexual or trisexual or god knows what, the storyline is a lot about them misunderstanding the sexes in our (basically?) bisexual world!
Their internal bickering created by the lack of a biological understanding of the sex-genders they are playing, is expressed when one of the aliens, shaped as a male, says: "why can't I also have tits when it attracts many of their species in a most favorable way?"
Since 3'rd Rock From the Sun is a comedy no dangerous situations appears, which in real life surely would have happened.
The playing is quite good with the actors sometimes having so much fun that they every now and then almost "loose their face" and blurt out in unintended laughter .
So,do I laugh my head off?
Not really, but I'm having a really good time watching the series, and that's the main purpose, right?

Not bad at all
for mindless American pap, that is! And there are moments, aren't there, when that's just what is wanted? This is basically an American ensemble comedy, like Cheers, or MASH, or even The Simpsons, where the cast of characters all have clearly defined roles. Here, we have The Bossy One, The Young (and slightly bratty) One, The Spare Seat (possibly one of the most interesting types in the cast, as he is allowed to express sentiments the others are not) and The Woman. Obviously there is a section of American society that sees women as a strange, alien and slightly separate order of creation, but that's another story... These aliens, for all their wackiness, clearly did their homework better than Ford Prefect, but they fit into human society as well as a 5/8 screww into a 3/8 housing.This is an excellent way of passing a spare half hour, but I would recommend only watching one episode at a time- otherwise a feeling of extreme dislocation sets in.

It's about time
At last this wonderful series has appeared on DVD. The story of a group of aliens staying on Earth disguised as a highly dysfunctional Earth family. The High Commander becomes Dick Solomon, professor of Physics at a mediocre university. The Security officer becomes his glamorous and tough sister Sally. The information officer, the oldest member of the party, becomes Dick's teenage son Tommy. And Harry - well, they had an extra seat. All the actors in this series are wonderful, from John Lithgow (Dick Solomon) to wonderful Elmarie Wendel as the Solomons' landlady, Mrs Dubcek, a woman with a past. Many of the funniest episdoes are in this first series, as the Solomons struggle to understand earth and its inhabitants. I particularly like the one where Sally gets drawn into the bizzare world of cosmetics, and Harry gets a job selling a revolting skincare product for men 'Orca - made from whales' Dick's (at first) unrequited passion for his university colleague Dr. Mary Allbright (Jane Curtin) provides some of the series funniest moments. I love the episode where she takes him to a wedding with her, and when she is describing the ceremony to him he asks "and right after the ceremony, does the bride devour the groom?" "Oh no", she replies "that's a process that takes years." And then there's the episode where Dick gets snowed up with Mary in a cafe miles from anywhere, and Sally thinks the human race has perished and she'll have to repopulate the earth with Dick's dopey student Leon, and - oh well, every episode is funny, the whole cast is great, the sxcripst are wonderful. It's pure joy.