The Good

A great show finally gets another proper DVD release.

The Bad

Sadly, these episodes were a tad too overly compressed in parts. Paltry extras.Bonanza: Season One - Volume 2 gives us Ben Cartwright and his sons Adam, Hoss and Little Joe as they battle claim jumpers, brutes, and other evil types as they defend the area of land they own called the Ponderosa. This show always features rich acting performances, well written storylines that resonate today, and production values that make each episode appear to be its own mini-western movie. Thank goodness that Paramount has finally decided to release these shows in their proper form and not altered them in any way.

Features

Archival Interviews

Featured here are more old interviews with Bonanza hey are archival but it is interesting getting to hear Dortort talk about making this show. He discusses why he wanted to make Bonanza, what he wanted to accomplish, what the characters represented to him and why he wanted to bring these specific western tales to the small screen.

Bonanza Promos and Photos

Video

Aspect Ratio - 4:3. These 4 discs looked pretty solid for the most part. The colors are rich with a style that makes all television from that time look like paintings. All in all, I didn't notice any dirt or hairs on the DVDs. Again, I did notice certain corners of the screen, at times, getting a bit pixilated and noisy. Aside from that the presentation was rich and well compressed.

Audio

Audio: English Mono. The audio on this show was again quite solid. These assets are 51 years old so it would make sense if things didn't sound as amazing as they did back when this show aired. Well, one can cease having those fears because even though things are in mono they sound quite good. I wouldn't say the audio is used to get in any of the character's heads, but it does work well to give a sense of foreboding, comedy, seriousness, etc. that is always close to the surface.

Package

Again, the front of this amray DVD case features Lorne Green, Michael Landon, Pernell Roberts and Dan Blocker as the iconic characters that make up the Cartwright family. Below them is an image of our heroes as they walk through town with their guns drawn. The back serves up 4 images from this show, a small description, a special features listing, and technical specs. All four discs are stored very economically inside this packaging which again contains more artwork as well as episode listings and descriptions.

Final Word

Bonanza: Season One - Volume 2 is a well put together release. As a fan of the show I wish that they had put more into the extras, but all in all one cannot complain since it is great to have these episodes on DVD. Again, lets hope Paramount releases all 14 seasons of this extremely well made and important show on DVD.