Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #570 in DVD
• Released on: 2007-11-12
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 30

Amazon.co.uk Review
A US sitcom behemoth with a global brand, Friends shot out of the gate in 1994 with snappy writing and an attractive cast. The exploits of sensitive paleontologist Ross Geller (played by David Schwimmer), his obsessive-compulsive sister Monica Geller (Courteney Cox, now Cox-Arquette); Monica's roommate Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston), a spoiled rich girl trying to live on her own; earthy aromatherapist/masseuse Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow); and Monica's neighbours across the hall -- sarcastic Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry) and his struggling actor roommate Joey Tribbiani (Matt LeBlanc) became a nationwide obsession, spawned pop-culture trends (remember "The Rachel" haircut?) and was a ratings hit for its entire run.

The first two seasons were mostly centered on the on-off saga of Ross and Rachel, and while their relationship remained a strong presence through romantic rivals and even a baby, the other characters eventually moved from sideshow players into a shared comedic lead. But Friends was not without its heart. Most of the cast had dysfunctional relationships with their parents and went through loss, divorce, marriage, parenthood, and love triangles. The emotional pregnancies of Rachel (by Ross) and Phoebe (surrogate to her half-brother's triplets) won the actresses Emmy Awards, and Joey's tender feelings for Rachel in Season 8 won LeBlanc, the most improved actor in the series, a nomination.

Most sitcoms run out of ideas by the fifth season, but Friends gave itself a refreshing jolt the minute Monica and Chandler wound up in bed together. Their budding romance was not only the one of the funniest plot arcs of the series, but one of the most sentimental, as they planned a wedding, struggled to have a child and eventually turned to adoption. By seasons seven and onwards, the characters had each "grown up" from young singletons to thirtysomethings finding permanence in their careers and love lives but never losing the laughs.

Friends featured a parade of celebrity guests, but utilised most of the stars as more than mere cameos: The sextet's parents were all brilliantly cast, particularly Kathleen Turner as Chandler's drag-queen father and Teri Garr as Phoebe's dizzy mom. Everyone from George Clooney to Sean Penn to Julia Roberts to Bruce Willis has appeared on the sitcom, and Tom Selleck certainly enjoyed a career resuscitation after his recurring role as Monica's older man.

Yet, no star power ever penetrated the bond between the six stars and their unmatchable chemistry worked for ten seasons. Even though the show is probably repeated somewhere in the world every day, this boxed set of Friends remains watchable over and over again -- even if that theme song eventually grates on your nerves! --Sally Giles

Customer Reviews

Defining TV series of the 90s
What was the defining TV series of the 90s?

Maybe the X-Files, possibly Frasier, Inspector Morse if you like something more British, but Friends is probably the series that held the most attention for longest for the greatest number of people. Certainly, of all the romantic comedy series, Friends was the clear winner.

Why was Friends such a great series? It's easy to talk about the attractive cast, the fast moving banter, the endless flow of comic situations, and the overall energy of the performances. But all these things were true of Veronica's Closet, Seinfeld and Ellen, and are as true today of Ten Simple Rules, Big Bang Theory and a dozen other would-be hit shows.

What Friends had was a perfectly balanced set of core characters, with the most unlikely pairing - bookish, unsophisticated Ross and fashionable, unintellectual Rachel - destined from the beginning to be the key romantic interest. But there was much more embedded in the mix. The first time around, few of us spotted the potential for romance between Chandler and Monica. Watching from the beginning again, the tension between them is palpable, and probably most of us are wondering how we missed it.

The main attraction of this boxed set is the ability to watch all the way through from the beginning to the end. Of course, actually doing this will take five solid days without a break, which wouldn't be medically advisable, but it does mean that you can relive the years 1994 to 2004 in a virtually endless experience of romantic nostalgia.

Other reviewers have complained about the packaging and the fact that it doesn't include the uncut US scenes available on Region 1 discs. You need to make your own mind up about this. Personally, five solid days is enough for me and I don't need the extra scenes. Equally, the extremely compact packaging is a real plus -- actually quite a triumph getting 236 episodes on 40 discs (including two music discs) into a nice sized box. You also need to make your mind up about whether you want the inconvenience of Region 1 discs. We have a multi-region DVD player which is fine, but the upscaling on our Region 2 Blu-Ray player produces a vastly better picture. For my money, this was the set to get, and I'm not disappointed.

Do not buy this red box
Show is absolutely brilliant, but as mentioned in the other reviews, the packaging is unacceptable. I am starting to feel sorry that I got this as a gift for my girlfriend this christmas.

First, you have to take out the manual and look at the serial codes on each double-sided dvd to find your favorite episode. Or if you are watching one episode after the other and you put the dvds away, you can't find where you left off!

And in the version I received was one disc missing altogether and there were two same disks instead. I am now missing season four episodes 82-89 and I got two same disks with season four episodes 74-81 instead... just dreadful, not to say that most of the disks are scratched brand new out of the box.

What's more I was hoping for some extra stuff, like behind the scenes or bloopers, cut outs, you name it and there really isn't anything apart from the theme song video clip, which is on every single dvd.. I am giving this 2 stars, just because the show itself is great.

Great show, terrible presentation
I bought this for my partner, and returend it as the disks were smudged and scratched. The replacement was better but not perfect, no indication as to which disk has what on it, the sleeves are terrible at storing the disks, and the general packaging just seems such a shame ! I much prefered the previous black Box, much better packaged !