Midsomer Murders: Tom
Barnaby’s Last Cases DVD 15-Discs (24 hours)
Released by Acorn
Media on March 26, 2013. SRP $149.99 (DVD)
Subtitles: English SDH 16:9
“I’m going to have my cake and eat
it.”
I was reading my review I did last
year for the DVD set Midsomer Murders:
Mayhem & Mystery Files and I was thinking how strange it was to have a
period of my life without having this series I could go back to again and
again. When I wrote the first review for this series, I knew I was going to
like it but I was really surprised by how much I liked it. That DVD set is one
that I go back to often. Luckily I have a short-term memory so I am not always
sure who the murderer was but I really enjoy the settings and main characters.
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When I was able to review this new
set, Midsomer Murders: Tom Barnaby’s
Last Cases, I was very happy because I was able to see more great episodes
of this series starring John Nettles as Tom Barnaby and Jason Hughes as Ben
Jones but sad as these was the final episodes with Tom Barnaby. I don’t know what
I am getting so worked up about, he had left two years ago but I hadn’t seen it
yet. How would he go? Tom Barnaby is truly one of the great characters in
British television. He holds many of the traits of a seasoned detective with
one of the traits being patience. It is painfully obvious how his Sgt. is ill-prepared
to handle an investigation on the scale that Barnaby can with his final episode
really punctuating what an amazing character he is for the series. Yet, I am
getting ahead of myself. What about this set?
What we get in Midsomer Murders: Tom Barnaby’s Last Cases is Series 12 & 13 of
Midsomer Murders. This was
previously released as DVD Sets 17, 18, 19, and 20. I have learned that I do
not want to live in any of the Midsomer villages. Not one of them is good if
you want to live. Yet, the villages of Midsomer are beautiful. They are often
sprawling English countryside with gorgeous manor houses. We also get villages
that have bustling activity. There are a lot of events, fetes, and general get-togethers
that allow people to mingle and interact. Perhaps that what I like best about
the series is that these murders are not stereotypical inner-city sort of
affairs. These are not grungy dirty back alley criminals. These are often
people with high standing in the community. Murders are a big deal; the series
never “sends up” the tragedy yet the murders themselves can sometimes have an
eccentric over-the-top feel to them. Some examples, in the episode Secrets and Spies, the Beast of Midsomer
comes out and leaves large gashes on their victims which cause death. Where
else can a murder suspect be a cat burglar known as The Creeper? What if the settings are too English for you? In that
case, how about when someone dies in an old-style Western gunfight?
We get a total of 15 stories and
the outlandish circumstances are one reason why this series is so appealing. There
are also the guest stars that show up in the episodes too. We get Susannah
Harker in one of my favorite episodes from the set. The episode is The Black Book is a story of an old
woman who has a painting that she doesn’t realize its worth. Peter Davison puts
in quite a nice performance as a drunken man named Nicky in Secrets and Spies. What I like about him
in that episode, he looks like he is having a great time with everything. It’s
very enjoyable plus he is playing a role I have not seen him play before. There
is even a guy named Neil Dudgeon who puts in a couple of good performances too.
Neil plays John Barnaby and we are introduced
to him in an episode called The Sword of
Guillaume. A lot of the story takes place in Brighton which requires Tom to
call on his cousin John. I don’t know if at the time anyone knew of John’s future
role in the series but it doesn’t matter because he is so natural. The way the
John Nettles and Neil Dudgeon play these roles together is a lot of fun to
watch. The two characters are good friends with slight amount of competition
between the two of them. They work well together and it would have been fun to
see more episodes with the two of them solving crimes together.
The relationship between Tom and
his Sgt. Ben Jones is still strong. They respect each other though it is always
fun to see Barnaby pull rank on certain situations. I did feel that some of the
Jones’ moments with some of the episodes were too comedy-driven. I think it has
always been there but it is even more prevalent here. One of the finest
relationships in the series is one that can almost easily be forgotten as we
get involved with “the case”. The relationship between Barnaby and his wife
Joyce is really strong. Joyce is a very patient woman as she has to deal with
calls in the middle of the night and the possibility of her husband getting
injured or killed. In this set, there are a couple of times where Joyce comes
face to face with the case itself. One time she thinks she hits someone with
her car in The Silent Land and she
has a big role in Fit for Murder as
she “discovers” the first dead body at a health spa. All the time, Barnaby is
very concerned for his wife making sure she is OK. It is sweet to watch.
This set has some real good
episodes to it. Some of my favorites are The
Black Book, Secrets and Spies, The Creeper (with Rik Mayall), The Great and the Good, The Sword of Guillaume, Master Class, and Fit for Murder. There are some real great moments. The Black Book is fun as it has that
whole art culture and murders happen over ownership of pieces of art. Master Class is a creepy story about a
girl named Zoe who has a ton of talent playing piano but much happens to her in
this episode and it becomes really disturbing. Not all of the episodes are
classic. One that comes to mind for me was Blood
on the Saddle. It involves a Wild West Society which is not something I am a
huge fan of watching. It’s funny because the menu for this episode shows
Barnaby and Jones dressed in old west style clothing. I suddenly had a fear
that we were going to be watching a “dream” episode where perhaps one of them
is dreaming they are in the Wild West or something. Luckily that is not the
case but that being said it was not a favorite.
The whole theme of this set is the
final episodes that feature Tom Barnaby and his last episode is especially
good. The episode is called Fit for
Murder and focuses on murders that start to take place at a health spa that
Barnaby and his wife are staying at for relaxation. The reason why I think this
is such a great final episode for the character is that it handles the farewell
of the character in the same vein of the character himself. It is subtle just
like Tom Barnaby. When the episode ends, I realized I didn’t want this
character to leave. Tom Barnaby is one of the great detectives of British
television and possibly all television. A much underappreciated gem.
Extras:
Interview with Jason Hughes: (23 min) This is a nice little
interview that is with Jason Hughes aka Jones. Jason comes across as someone
who is very humble and gives a little bit of background to his career and also
to the making of the series. He talks about the great locations and he goes
through some of his favorites deaths that have appeared in the series. A set
this big is not going to have a ton of extras but it is a nice extra bit of
value added.
Acorn Media as usual also includes
extras such as photo galleries and an essay called “Saying Goodbye to Barnaby”
I am not a huge fan of reading long essays on TV screens but clearly people
must like them since they end up in most of the Acorn sets.
Quality and Packaging:
Even though by this point the
series switched to HD, these are presented as SD DVDs. As this is a compilation
of previously released sets, I understand why there is not a Blu Ray equivalent
available. The picture quality is still fine yet some of the stuff is shot so
well I would love to see this stuff jump off screen in high definition. I would
love to see the greenery of the all the fields and trees in these episodes come
to life. That is not to say this isn’t very good; it still is very nice. The
picture is graded in a way to bring out the warmness of the image whether it is
inside a pub or in the countryside.
The packaging is just like the last
compilation set that came out: Midsomer
Murders: Mystery & Mayhem Files. It is 4 amary cases with either 3 or 4
DVDs in each case. It a heavy compact box of love. It’s nice to have these all
together.
Disc 1: The Dogleg Murders
Disc 2: The Black Book
Disc 3: Secrets and Spies
Disc 4: The Glitch
Disc 5: Small Mercies
Disc 6: The Creeper
Disc 7: The Great and the Good
Disc 8: The Made-to Measure Murders
Disc 9: The Sword of Guillaume
Disc 10: Blood on the Saddle
Disc 11: The Silent Land
Disc 12: Master Class
Disc 13: The Noble Art
Disc 14: Not in My Back Yard
Disc 15: Fit for Murder
Click below to read my other Midsomer Murder Reviews:
Midsomer Murders: Mystery & Mayhem Files
Next week: I have some more reviews coming down the pike but
I also am itching to get back to some randomly chosen series. Some titles I may
do includes possibly more Dad’s Army and the Peter Cushing Sherlock Holmes
series. Also the fourth installment of 50WHO should be posted sometime in the
next couple of weeks.
Have a great week!
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