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Absolutely Fabulous - Complete Series 5

Absolutely Fabulous - Complete Series 5

List Price: $34.98
Your Price: $26.24
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: "they can turn a pube into a bouffnat"
Review: I have been a fan of this program since it's initial showing on the BBC back in the early 90's. Jennifer Saunders has done such a brilliant job of parodising our culture's relentless obsession with the new, the hot and the trendy. Johanna Lumley is still wickedly funny as Patsy Stone and has some of the funniest lines of the series. Jane Horrocks is back as Katy Grinn/Bubble and has somehow managed to remain one of the most underrated actreses of her time(check out Little Voice). Bo, Marshall and Justin make their cameos alongside Sir Elton JOhn, Minnie Driver, and Emma Bunton. I only have two faults with this release. Series 4 had a fantastic commentary with Jennifer Saunders and Jon Plowman, executive producer. I was hoping for that this go-around as well. And secondly, in the BIrthin Episode, Bo had an ecstasy induced hallucination with the cast of Chicago with all of the series regulars making an appearance. However it was not on the DVD...maybe a licensing issue? These two minor things aside it is still a must have for any die hard fan and comes off much funnier than when aired on Oxygen. Let us hope that if Pats and Eds make a 6th series as is rumored that a better network on this side of the pond picks it up.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: SSOOOOO Funny!!!!
Review: I never would have expected to like this show, but after watching just a little of it I was laughing hyterically!!! If you like the Golden Girls, you'll LOVE AbFab! I myself am just a 23 yr old American girl, but this show is just so full of original, off-the-wall humor and situations that it's impossible to resist! And some of it is SO seemingly random and unexpected--Patsy getting birth-waters gushed all over her for example!! Pats and Edina are so lovable; sometimes I wish I could be them!!! Watch this show when you're in a bad mood and it WILL pick you up! So so funny!!!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Absolutely Fabulous Darling!!!!
Review: I personally have seen this show when they air and this is a hilarious season. Absolutely Fabulous is at its best. Patsy and Eddy steal the show even when there are guest characters that aren't particularly funny. I haven't laughed so hard since I watched The Golden Girls for the first time about a year and a half ago. This is definitely a must own for anyone whether you're an old time fan or a new one.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Essential Hilarity. A must for all AbFab fans and newbies..
Review: I spent all day Christmas laughing my arse off! Eds and Pats are at it again and truly funnier than before. Earlier reviewers have been less kind and I think too critical. It's best to watch AbFab with a group. You'll then see how some people get the jokes and others do not. Maybe the earlier reviewers just didn't 'get' all the jokes. I think I did though! Season 5 is sooo good I'm buying it today! Go get it and save it for a day when you feel clinically depressed. Pop it in the player and voila! Instant healing via Edina & Patsy... Laughter, it's the best medicine!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Excellent, Fabulous, Keep Them Comin'!!!
Review: I was very surprised by series 5. I ended up catching loose re-runs on the Oxygen channel. And once I saw this set, I had to snatch it up!! Now, in my opinion i love all the Ab Fab episodes. Series 1 through 3 were classic. Series 4 was good, fresh, and unique. And Series 5 is a combo of the all the past series. Here is a breif episode guide:

CLEANIN'- Saffy has gone away to college and is finally coming back home. Like always, Edina and Patsy have trashed the place. But with the help of Baby Spice (Emma Bunton), can the girls get the house ready in time for Saffy's coming, and surprise?! Awesome start!!

BOOK CLUBIN'- Edina has started a book club. And Saffy gets a visit from a mid-wife.

PANICKIN'- A halarious episode. Edina is a little paranoid and decides to get a panic room. Patsy gets a visit from Minie Driver. See what laughs and troubles ensue in this great episode.

HUNTIN' SHOOTIN' FISHIN'- Edina and Patsy decide to take country style. A root'n toot'n fun episode with horses, ghost brids, baby showers, and a "Spice stalker."

BIRTHIN'- Yep, Saffy's due. See what happens when a lot of old characters come back just for the experience!

SCHMOOZIN'- Edina and an old lover have rekindled. Some lost Beatles tapes have been discovered. Well, not for long! :)

EXPLOITIN'- Edina and Patsy decide to take the Chanel of all babies out to the zoo...er uh...fashion shoot. See what happens when Mother Saffy finds out!!!

COLD TURKEY- A bonus episode that was originally a tv special, is included as episode 8. Its Christmas time at the Monsoon house. And this year, Edina is staying! A wonderful ending to a wonderful series.

ENJOY! HAVE FUN!!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Very Unforgivable
Review: I will not buy this DVD. I will wait for it to come out in the UK and then get it from there. The production of this DVD is so cheap and yet it's makeing BBC a lot of money. What a rip off.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Oh dear, oh dear...
Review: I'll never forget the first time I saw 'Absolutely Fabulous'. I was 15 years old and Series 2 was re-running on BBC One. It was the episode 'Death' and from the second Eddie's recurring oddball Jamaican Nurse bandaged her for her mud wrap to the close with Patsy falling into an open grave, I laughed deepr and harder than I had in a very, very long time.

Sticking with the buzz, I treated myself to Series One on VHS - excellent - and was duly rewarded by Series 4 after a very lacklustre Series 3. Inbetween, the almighty 'Last Shout' tided me over, and thanks to those interminable re-runs, even Series 3 grew on me after a while.

Which brings me full-circle to this, the complete series 5.

Now, oddly enough, this isn't available here in Region 2 on DVD just yet, so I am prepared to put up with minor (yet completely unforgivable in terms of necessity) flaws like the absence of Debbie Harry's vocal on the opening credits, and the lack of the 'Chicago' scene from the 'Birthin' episode (I did catch that one on TV, and believe me, American buddies, you're missing nothing. In vulgar parlance - it SUCKED), but what I was not prepared for in the slightest is the total lack of laughter, smiles and general Humour that made the first four series such a wonderful thing to watch.

For every decent, solid joke (Bubble's New Duchess persona, Patsy's recurring collagen disasters, Eddie singing Christmas Carols) there are three or four totally humour-free incidents (Eddy and Patsy worrying Saffy about post-pregnancy womanhood, preditable and tired Liza & David jokes, Bo and Marshall's infomercial, all appearances by TitiCaca, the entire 'Huntin', Shootin', Fishin' episode, etc etc etc). Laugh-For-Laugh, it's not great, and a feeble second even to the rushed, gimmicky 'Gay' TV Special.

One reviewer here levels a criticism at the studio lighting, and he/she is completely, 100% correct on this score - the harsh, high-contrast key-lighting ratio makes for a cheap and tawdry-looking Monsoon household, and, rather than looking like their fabulous selves, Eddy and Patsy now look like scary old has-beens. Even at DVD quality it's difficult to see detail sometimes, and the whole visual quality is very amateurish - NOT the Thing, sweetie.

Worryingly, Sauders seems to be taking parts of her writing into a 'Surreal' and decidedly less funny area - what works for Britcoms like 'The League of Gentlemen' and 'The Fast Show' most certainly does not work with Eddy and Patsy - case in point, the opening 1940's sequence of 'Huntin', Shootin', Fishin', the Patsy voodoo doll and the 'Boobarella' skits, while solid surreal comedy ideas, are not well-suited to a show where the whole raison d'etre is to keep one's finger on the pulse.

For all the bad points, however, there are some classic moments - Katy Grin and the Tank, 'Big Mother', "Is he from a-Gabon?", and Patsy & the pheasant - but these moments of true Ab Fab glory are few and far between, and I, for one, can't force a smile for that length of time while waiting for them to appear.

DVD-wise all is good, the outakes are plentiful (if bog-standard, most outtakes from everything seem to be people getting the same line wrong ad nauseam) and the presentation and audio are top-notch.

Sadly I cannot recommend this DVD to anyone but the most avid of Ab Fab completists. It's rare that I consider an Amazon purchase a waste of $40, but there it is.

Not Good.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: I'm chanting as we speak
Review: I'm sure that most of us AB FAB fans agree that series 1,2 and 3 are the absolute best. Series 5 was better than series 4. As always, the bloopers are hillarious. I was disappointed that "Wheels On Fire" was instrumental in series 5. It's a great song and could have been done in a Junior Vasquez version by Bette Midler or Joan Jett. I am just thankful that Jennifer Saunders keeps AB FAB going. The woman is just brilliant. The things that come out of that mind! I hope there are many more series to come. Nothing makes me laugh as hard. Jennifer Saunder's Edina just blows me away. Her mannerisms, her facial expressions, her impatience with people. I could be in the worst mood, down and out, depressed; I pop in AB FAB and it instantly cheers me up. It almost works just as well as an antidepressant! If you have all the other series, naturally you have to have series 5!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: I'm chanting as we speak
Review: I'm sure that most of us AB FAB fans agree that series 1,2 and 3 are the absolute best. Series 5 was better than series 4. As always, the bloopers are hillarious. I was disappointed that "Wheels On Fire" was instrumental in series 5. It's a great song and could have been done in a Junior Vasquez version by Bette Midler or Joan Jett. I am just thankful that Jennifer Saunders keeps AB FAB going. The woman is just brilliant. The things that come out of that mind! I hope there are many more series to come. Nothing makes me laugh as hard. Jennifer Saunder's Edina just blows me away. Her mannerisms, her facial expressions, her impatience with people. I could be in the worst mood, down and out, depressed; I pop in AB FAB and it instantly cheers me up. It almost works just as well as an antidepressant! If you have all the other series, naturally you have to have series 5!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Tarnishing a brilliant legacy.
Review: I've been a longtime Ab Fab fan but Series 5 is dire. One of the first things I noticed was the high-contrast harsh studio lighting, it looks horrible. Secondly the script has few laughs and lots of dialog that just sounds like gibberish. I sat patiently waiting for punchlines that never arrived. The ratio of meanness has also increased to a level that overrides any heart that the show had, Patsy is shrill and hateful without the humor of earlier episodes to balance her character.

All of the characters have been pushed to such an extreme that they no longer have any humanity to them, they're cartoonish. I found watching these episodes to be quite depressing, not a feeling you want from a comedy series.

The celebrity cameos are pointless and painfully unfunny, particularly Kristin Scott Thomas. Their presence seems to weigh down the comedy rather than enhance it. There's simply too much going on in each episode, remember how funny the earlier episodes were with fewer characters? Most scenes of this series seem crowded with needless characters that are more annoying than funny.

It's time for Ab Fab to be put out to pasture before it goes any further downhill than this.


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