I have seen the face of horror, and it is Jane Curtin clad in a tight fitting vinyl dominatrix getup.

OK, that might be a little harsh, but no other single image could adequately encapsulate my feelings regarding 3rd Rock from the Sun - Season Two.

Basically, for those that might have forgotten the show and its six-year run on NBC, it concerns four aliens sent to earth to observe and learn about humanity. They take human form and have wacky adventures since they lack the context for almost every human emotion or situation they encounter. For instance, Sally, the security officer of the four (played by Kristen Johnston), ends up in a gay/transvestite bar by accident but does not have any frame of reference when the obviously “male dressed up as a female” client compliments her on looking so female. Oh the hilarity!

One commonly stated function of science fiction (of any type, even a sci-fi sitcom) is to allow us to examine ourselves from an outsider's perspective and, in doing so, revealing things about us and our humanity that were not obvious, or to delve deeper into our everyday existence for a greater understanding of how and why we live our lives the way we do. When the attempt to do so is successful, it can be interesting and poignant. When it’s heavy handed and dopey, it’s disastrous.

The major failure of the show to me is how completely silly the characters act. It makes sense that they would be confused and even bewildered, I suppose. And of course I kept telling myself that since it’s a comedy, they aren’t going to go for answering life’s big questions. Only British sci fi/comedy attempts that feat. Still, the characters are so incompetent and so completely clueless about everything they encounter that I find them immediately annoying.

Part of the problem, too, is the ridiculousness of the actors' portrayals of aliens. They behave almost as the antithesis to Ray Walston’s Martian from the 1960s' My Favorite Martian. French Stewart, and especially John Lithgow, are so ham-handed and over the top in every scene that it might have been better if they had written it so the four were escaped mental patients rather than aliens. You could substitute that and make no discernible difference in the show. In fact that may be the biggest fault of the show. It’s a standard fish out of water premise; safe; by the numbers; you’ve seen the gags done before (and better) dog and pony show.

Lithgow hasn’t chewed up scenery like this since Santa Claus: The Movie. He gets tiresome quickly. Kristen Johnston does indeed look like a man (and in fact the character itself is not a woman back on the home planet). Joseph Gordon-Levitt is passable, and French Stewart ought to be tried for crimes against humanity. If Lithgow’s character appears to be insane, Stewart’s seems mentally retarded.

It’s all here. Groundbreaking topics like eating meat, driving, sex, and familial relationships. Basically, every topic you’ve seen before on nearly every bad sitcom of the last 30 years.

At least I did get a laugh in one episode. In I Brake for Dick (OK, all of the titles are a hoot - Guilty as Dick, Dick and the Single Girl, etc), Dick (Lithgow) hits a squirrel. He and the rest of the alien clan decide to no longer consume animal products - no leather, no fur, no food, and so on down the line. Dr. Albright (Curtin) and Dick end up at a restaurant and she orders the surf and turf. Dick is distraught when he learns that Surf and Turf is not sod and water, but cow and lobster. He sets about letting the live lobsters in the tank go. That in and of itself was not funny. Thinking back though on life imitating art was, when I considered the recent antic of actor Edward Furlong; he was drunk in a Kentucky grocery store and set about freeing the lobsters from their tank, ala Dick.

That’s funny. Too bad Eddie Furlong couldn’t have been on 3rd Rock, I guess.


Video 
Looked good. Very clean, very clear. I will at least give Anchor Bay credit for spending the time to make sure the DVD’s video was pristine. Now why they wasted the effort on 3rd Rock, I have no idea.

Audio
Sounded fine. There are no special doohickeys on the sound in this set. If you have a pair of ears and a pair of speakers, you’re good to go.

Extras 
If you are a fan of the series (and why you’d still be reading this review if you are, I’ve no clue) then you will be in ecstasy here. The final two episodes of the season are in 3D, and the set includes glasses for those. (You can still watch the episodes without of course.) In addition there are some highlights and blooper stuff; fairly standard but entertaining none the less. There are TV spots and a John Lithgow interview that is neither illuminating nor that interesting. But then I also wanted him to apologize for being a spaz for six years. There is also some behind the scenes stuff from the 3D episodes.

The Bottom Line 
Alien retards makes for a bad show. This stayed on for six years with awards and ratings, and stuff like Arrested Development sits on life support? Bah!

Still, despite my feelings on the show itself, Anchor Bay and Carsey Werner Productions did a very nice job on the set. Fans will have a good amount of extras to enjoy. The effort for this set is above and beyond what we are starting to see on some larger, more popular TV show sets, and, for that at least, they both should be commended.