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Degrassi: TNG Season 1 DVD Review
by cerebral assassin
Packaging and Discs
The three crimson backed DVDs are packaged in three separate plastic slim-line cases inserted into a cardboard sleeve wrapping the whole set together nicely. Pretty standard packaging and is quite comparable to many other DVD sets on the market. The cardboard sleeve has a nice cast picture from season one. The back of course has a description and some episode screens shots. The three cases are similarly decorated with various season one characters.
The front of each disc contains similar artwork to the cases. Each disc is clearly labeled and the inside of each case lists what is all on each disc. Disc one contains episodes 1-8, disc two has episodes 9-15, and disc three contains all the 100+ extras of the set.
Also packaged inside is a locker calendar, or rather four separate cardboard cutouts sized to hang inside a locker. Each cutout has three months worth of a calendars and a picture of various cast members. The calendar runs from September 2004 through August 2005, while it is a full years worth of calendars I do question the logic of having June, July, and August included in a locker calendar, ah well summer school I guess. All in all the packaging does its job of decorating the set and clearly labeling everything, really nothing innovative here, but is par for the course and pretty standard.
The Extras
Disc 3
May seem a little backwards to start with the extras but I’m going to get most of disc three out of the way upfront before diving into my episode by episode analysis. Starting with some of the lamer features there is Degrassi Karaoke. You can sing the Degrassi theme song, standard karaoke with the words along the bottom and the option to have the vocals on or off, but honestly is anyone going to use this? Is someone seriously going to sing the theme song to Degrassi? Like on a Friday sometime are you and some of your friends really going to put this in and sing-along? The feature seems throw-away to me but it’s there none-the-less.
On to something at least a little better, there are a couple features you may look at once but is really more fluff. First off is the Degrassi Photo Album pretty straight forward just some screenshots of various season one episodes, would have been neat if they included some behind the scenes pictures but nothing too special here. Also included are some character description screens that contain a description of the character and a bio of the actor who plays that character accompanied by a picture of them, for most all of the season one characters. The character descriptions are nothing new to fans of the show; the cast bios can be neat to read through if you don’t know a whole lot about the actors, but there is nothing too in-depth here. A nice little feature to read through at least once, I suppose.
One of the cooler features I really like is On the Casting Couch. It contains 10 of the actor’s original auditions for the show. Each are performing a monologue in the character of which they are auditioning for, which may not be the character you expect for some of them. The monologues are kind of interesting in themselves as they aren’t taken form a specific episode but are more just a character defining speech. They are pretty cool to watch and contain at least a couple read throughs of the monologue for each one.
The best and largest part of the extras are the oops and bloopers and the deleted scenes, but I will get to both of those later in my episode by episode analysis.
Also included is a short 100% Intense season one promo taken from The N, pretty straight forward what you get there.
Last but not least I want to comment on the DVD menus, not much special about them but they get the job done; no animations or easter eggs I could find, just pretty straight forward menus. Each menu is laid out clearly over a mono-color background of various cast members and scenes, a different color for each disc. The main menu of each disc has the Degrassi melody playing in the background with some screen shots of various episodes on the top and the Degrassi logo in the center. The menus are laid out clearly at the bottom and all are quite easy to navigate.
Episode by Episode Analysis
Disc 1
Episode 101: Mother & Child Reunion Part 1
This episode is pretty straight forward of what you saw on The N. As a review and for those who haven’t seen it, basic plot is Emma has an internet crush and despite warnings from her friends against it she decides to go ahead and meet him. Meanwhile Joey is persuaded to go to his high school reunion. Aside from being cut into two episodes; part one is petty much the same thing the N showed us. There are quite a few bloopers from this episode on disc 3 though; the funniest involving Caitlin, Snake, and a thong, nuff said, you just have to see it. Other bloopers include Raditch flubbing his lines, Emma and Manny falling off a tire swing, and Joey and Angela opening the car lot. Deleted Scenes here include an extended opening scene and an extended scene involving the content of one of Jordon’s emails.
Episode 102: Mother & Child Reunion Part 2
Here is where the meat and potatoes of this two parter are. Emma goes to see Jordan in his hotel room and finds more than she bargained for and Joey finds out about Caitlin’s fiancé’s true intentions. The episode has a much better string of sequences from when Emma enters the hotel room through where Snake and Spike save her than were shown on The N. We see Jordan set up a camera and his true intentions are a lot more evident than they were on the N; as we see him begin to put “the moves” on Emma. The whole final sequence of scenes from this episode are a lot more intense than in The N’s version, if you haven’t seen this unedited version of the episode I would say it’s by far one of the best reasons to buy this DVD set. This episode also has one of the better deleted scenes especially if you are a Degrassi (Jr.) High fan. There is an extended ending of the episode of all the older cast that were in at the reunion telling where they are now. We see everyone from Yick to Duane to Alexa, it really ties the whole reunion part of the episode up nicely and it is kind of sad this scene was cut from the episode as it really links The Next Generation to the older series. The scene is quite lengthy and was obviously cut for time; oh well at least we get to see it now.
Episode 103: Family Politics
Not much to say about this episode. Basically Ashley runs for school president and her new kinda step-brother Toby hell bent on making her suffer talks JT into running against her, meanwhile Manny and Emma learn about Jr. High hazing. The Episode is exactly what we saw on The N as far as I can tell. A couple of bloopers here the best being a scene of Emma, JT, Manny, and Toby is supposed to be with them. Its a funny take because Emma talking to Toby motions towards where he is supposed to be standing but he isn’t there, Toby then enters from off screen in front of them and answers her. It’s a simple missed cue but the scene that ends up being delivered is quite comical. Another blooper has JT forgetting his lines while talking to Ashley. Just one deleted scene here and it’s of Spinner stealing money from Manny and Emma and Emma finally telling him off. It really isn’t a scene that advance’s the main plot at all, it was probably was cut for time but seeing as there isn’t much of a subplot in this episode any extra scenes are welcome.
Episode 104: Eye of the Beholder
And now, the episode that established Paige as the bitch of Degrassi, this episode has it all flirting, dancing, alcohol, drunk chicks, betrayal, and porn; no it’s not Spring Break at Degrassi. For those who haven’t seen it and want to know what I’m talking about, the plot revolves around a rivalry between Paige and Terri over Spinner’s affection and Paige wants to win at all costs, including playing on Terri’s insecurities and getting her drunk to make a fool of herself at the dance, meanwhile Toby and JT have an adventure of their own when Toby’s parents catch them surfing porn on the internet. This is also Sean’s first episode and establishes his problems with Jimmy. The episode itself is just a DVD quality version of what you saw on The N, but disc 3 does contain a couple deleted scenes. One has Spinner, Paige, and Terri decorating for the dance where Terri obviously has a crush on Spinner, and the other is an extended version of JT giving the paper with the porn sites on it to Toby, where they talk about the online officer program that could halt their surfing, but Toby’s not worried. Both scenes seem to have been cut most likely because the same thing they establish is established in other scenes throughout the episode so they weren’t really necessary, but it’s always cool to see things that were filmed but left on the editing room floor.
Episode 105: Parents’ Day
Another episode that The N aired flawlessly; quick recap, Toby tries to keep his divorced parents from both coming to parent’s day at school because all they do is fight, meanwhile the subplot brings us a standard Emma protest episode. The one blooper for this episode has Emma clearing her throat in the middle of her lines. There’s a pretty good deleted scene involving Emma, Spike and Mr. Raditch at parents’ day, the scene also feature’s Emma blushing at Sean and Spike taking notice a pretty good scene I can only guess it was cut for time. There is are a couple other deleted scenes but nothing else too interesting, one of Ashley being pissed off at Paige talking to Terri, and an extended scene of Toby’s Dad being proud of him for what he did at the meeting with Simpson.
Episode 106: The Mating game
As far as I can tell even with the sexual content The N aired this episode untarnished. The main premise of this episode revolves around Jimmy and Ashley considering going all the way; meanwhile we get Toby versus Sean for Emma’s affection; round one. This episode has actually always been one of my favorites from season one and the bloopers here also some of my favorite, two of them involve Jimmy buying the condoms, I must say form the two deleted scenes that involve him the actor they had playing the cashier had to be really fun to work with because he is funny in the bloopers. There is also a blooper of Dr. Sally missing her lines in her sex talk scene. The only deleted scene of this episode is of Jimmy and Ashley deciding what they are going to do on their eighth month anniversary. I can actually see why this season was deleted it drags on way too long and actually it’s kind of boring if left in I feel it would have hurt the episode’s momentum.
Episode 107: Basketball Diaries
As far as The N was concerned this episode received no edits. The main plot has Jimmy trying so hard to make the basketball team he is willing to resort to taking Spinner’s Ritalin. Off the court Ashley and Liberty go one on one for the spot of morning announcer. This is also an episode that furthers the war between Jimmy and Sean which climaxes in a fight later in the season. It’s probably my least favorite episode of the season, and ironically it has the second most deleted scenes next to Jagged Little Pill. But first the bloopers, the first involves Liberty not being able to keep a straight face after saying her lines about signing off for the announcements, for some reason she just cracks up laughing. The other two are basically just flubbed lines one with Jimmy one with Raditch. And the first three of a whopping five deleted scenes for this episode are all linked, they are about Jimmy skipping lunch to study in the Resource Center. In the first one Jimmy tells Spinner he’s going to study instead of lunch. In the second there is a semi-comical scene of Paige, Ashley, Terri, and Spinner at lunch. Spinner basically cuts Jimmy down for studying and Ashley calls him on it saying if he were a better friend he would be more supportive and Spinner tells her if she was a better girlfriend she would do his English homework. There is also a line were Terri is cutting down Liberty about wanting to be on the announcements in this scene. The last of these linked segments has Jimmy studying in the Library and stopping to play a little “Paper Basketball”. As these first three scenes are all linked I assume it was a time issue that they were cut for and since the first was cut the other two had to be or they wouldn’t make sense. The last two deleted scenes are actually one scene cut in half, the take place in the cafeteria. In the first Sean tells Jimmy he looks tired and makes a comment about not being worried about the cuts because it’s not a big deal just a Jr. High team, and Jimmy responds it is a big deal to him. The second shows Jimmy walking away and the camera focusing on Liberty at lunch practicing her lines for her announcements and Ashley trying to break her confidence. I assume these scenes were also cut for time as most of them are.
Episode 108: Secrets & Lies
We have some content on sexuality in this episode and The N decided there was no need to leave anything on the cutting room floor this time. This episode was another of my favorites. In the main plot we get Ashley finding out about her Dad leaving her Mom because he is gay, and in the comical sub-plot JT claims to be gay to avoid Liberty’s crush on him. This episode established two long standing plot threads, first a thread that wasn’t visited again for 3 years as we find out Ashley’s dad is gay, and Liberty’s crush on JT also found root here, this theme would be revisited time and again over the years to come. Only one blooper here; at least according to the case it’s a blooper, but on the DVD it is in the deleted scenes menu, I think it was actually meant to be a blooper though, so we have a blooper, blooper here I guess. Anyways the scene is rather confusing but here’s what happens. It shows a dry-erase-board and than all of the sudden Mr. Simpson’s head comes into frame and he says “Alright who’s the aranox expert.” I believe it’s a blooper of the scene where he is hit by the paper airplane and asks who the aeronautics expert is, but the scene just looks strange. Now onto the true deleted scenes, two of them, the first is an extended scene of JT telling his plan to “come out to Liberty” to Toby. Essentially only a line or two at the end was cut and the last one is pretty funny, I wish this would have been left in. After JT explains his plan to Toby; Toby asks, this doesn’t mean I have to pretend to be your boyfriend does it? It would have made another of many funny scenes in this episode had it been left in. In the second deleted scene Ashley asks her father if him being gay means she is going to be gay too. I assume this scene was cut for time, but I would have cut it on the grounds of it making Ashley look like a complete moron. Either way this is disc one’s final episode so let’s move on to disc two.
Episode by Episode Analysis
Disc 2
Episode 109: Coming of Age
This episode also avoided hacking from The N. The main plot of this episode revolves around Jimmy and Ashley’s relationship trouble due to Jimmy being around too much. We also see the beginning of a Toby and Jimmy friendship that as we find 2 years later in Accidents Will Happen Part 1, was just a momentary thing based around Ashley. In the subplot Emma still crushing on Sean finds herself in an embarrassing spot when she starts her first period at school. We also see part of Paige’s nice side come out when she helps Emma out. In the only blooper for this episode Sean, talking to Emma takes a sip of his milk and has a milk mustache. He soon realizes it and asks to start over its kinda funny. The first of 3 deleted scenes has the beginning of Jimmy smothering Ashley when he sits down with her while she is hanging out with her friends, instead of playing football with his like she suggests, and does a love quiz out of their magazine. The scene hammers the Jimmy smothering Ashley storyline more but was an obvious time cut. The second deleted scene is of Ashley, Paige, and Terri rating various celebrities in the magazine mentioned above, the scene being cut is quite justified because it has nothing at all to do with the plot and is quite long. It actually seems less like a deleted and more like just the actors hanging out on set looking at the magazine, which it actually might be, but on the DVD it is listed as a deleted scene. In the final deleted scene of the episode there is an extended scene of Ashley and Terri talking about Ashley breaking up with Jimmy. Just a few lines are added in the delete and it doesn’t do much for the scene, obviously another time cut.
Episode 110: Rumours & Reputations
This is more of a lighthearted comedic episode and The N left it in tact. The main plot shows how quickly rumor can be spread when Emma accidentally spreads the rumor that Liberty and Mr. Armstrong are having a inappropriate relationship. The comedy comes in when Emma not knowing she started the rumor tries to hunt down its source. The subplot has Spinner find a bug in his lunch at the cafeteria. When no one believes him he infests the cafeteria himself. This is Hazel’s first episode, and is also the episode where Spinner has to start working in the cafeteria a storyline that carries through the next season. We also find out about Liberty’s dyscalculia in this episode. The one blooper from this episode has Spinner forgetting his lines in the scene where he puts bugs in Ashley’s food. The first of two deleted scenes shows an extended view of what led up to Mr. Armstrong putting his arm around Liberty. I believe this scene was cut so the audience didn’t know what was going on either when Emma saw them together. Much like the first deleted scene the second shows an extended scene of Mr. Armstrong giving the note to liberty, and explaining it’s a pamphlet on her disability. I believe this scene was cut for the same reason as the first; the writers wanted the audience to wonder what was going on along with Emma.
Episode 111: Friday Night
The N also aired this episode uncut; the main plot revolves around Sean and Emma going on their first date and it turning out to be a catastrophe. In the sub-plot we have Jimmy and Spinner making Mrs. Kwan’s night class into a living hell ultimately ending in egging her car and her breaking down and crying. This is where Mrs. Kwan takes her leave of absence, before returning three episodes later. The first of three bloopers has Jimmy messing up the same line twice in a row, he just can’t say I’ll end up in a hair net too, it’s pretty funny. The last two bloopers are really funny, they have both involve the bird poop hitting Emma, the first time there is way too much and in the second one it gets all over her hair and face. Both scenes are hilarious it looks like the crew had way too much fun with the bird poop special effect. On the deleted scenes side we have Sean in the bathroom practicing how he is going to ask Emma out, the scene is rather amusing and most likely a time cut. The second has Emma coming to Toby asking weather Sean was asking her out or not, Toby crushing on Emma says he was just making conversation and asks her out himself. It’s a nice scene and continues the Toby/Emma crush storyline but it runs pretty long and most likely also was trimmed for time. The third is an extended scene of Paige telling Emma to use the direct approach; it also appears to be a little time cut as well. In the final deleted scene of the episode Toby once again asks Emma to do something that night, but she answers actually Sean and I ARE going out. This is another scene that furthers the scene from earlier, I actually appreciate both of them for the continuity, but they are related scenes and I’m guessing were both cut due to time.
Episode 112: Wannabe
The N actually did edit this episode, very minor but they cut one line Paige saying to Manny, "FYI your attitude sucks." I’m guessing it was cut for the word sucks as Degrassi was still quite new and The N was also just testing the waters with this edgy show on a Teen Network. The main plot is an Emma protest episode with a twist. Emma is protesting Paige’s new Spirit Squad do to sexism. The twist is Manny, Emma’s best friend, is joining. Spinner, JT, Toby, and Liberty think they have one a million dollars in contest until they found out JT has the wrong card. In the bloopers we have two, the first of which has Emma flubbing her lines saying “The guys won’t be wearing tight skirts and mini… sweaters or something.” The other has JT flubbing his lines saying “that’s our farnal offer.” Both are pretty funny bloopers. On the deleted scenes side we have one where JT, Toby, Liberty, and Spinner talking about what they are going to buy with their prize winnings. It’s quite a long scene and while adding realism to the plot it doesn’t push the plot forward any and is a longer scene; I’m guessing it was a time cut as most are.
Episode 113: Cabaret
This episode remained untarnished on The N, and was about the school cabaret theater. In the main plot Paige muscles her way into Terri and Ashley’s band and makes a bunch of changes Ashley doesn’t like. Ashley leaves the band but in the end the changes work and they reunite. In the sub-plot Toby is doing an interpretive dance with Emma and Manny, but just to score points with Emma, who is now dating Sean. This episode marks the first appearance of Ashley, Paige, and Terri’s band PMS, which would later add Hazel, and after that, replace Terri with Ellie and become Hell Hath No Fury. One blooper from this episode and it has Liberty messing her lines up while taping her video announcement. No deleted scenes for this episode.
Episode 114: Under Pressure
This episode has one of the most awkward edits that The N made. For some reason The N decided to edit out a piece where Sean and Emma are goofing around and Sean says Emma is just like Liberty. It’s really unknown why The N felt the need to edit this. For those who haven’t seen it the plot revolves around finals coming up and everyone is really stressed out to pass them. Sean and Emma are getting really close in their relationship, but when a stressed out Sean can’t handle Jimmy’s teasing about him being held back anymore he gets in a fight with him, when Emma tries to stop him he pushes her down and Emma ends up breaking up with him. In the other plot Spinner tries to get out of the returning Mrs. Kwan’s test by getting himself sick. In the bloopers for this episode we get tracker messing his line up and dropping something, the scene is really quick and hard to follow. In the deleted scenes side we have two the first being Manny and Emma “girl talking” about Sean and Manny being very excited for her. It was obviously a time cut as it really didn’t move the plot forward much. The second deleted scene has more shots of Jimmy and Sean fighting it’s kinda unclear whether this is a deleted scene or a blooper or maybe both but it’s in the deleted scenes section.
Episode 115: Jagged Little Pill
The N had a few edits in this episode first there is suggestion that the Aspirin Sean is giving Toby and JT is a vitamin pill, second there was a line that said “chew it slower it’ll give you a better high” that was cut. And lastly The N, in an attempt to make it seem there were stronger consequences for Ashley’s drug use, added an audio track at the end of Ashley and Toby’s parents coming home. The edits are nothing major it just seemed The N wanted to steer clear of controversy and make this episode have a strong meaning. If you haven’t seen the episode it is about Ashley, wanting to seem less uptight to everyone, including Jimmy, so she secretly takes ecstasy to loosen up and have fun. In the subplot we have a main plot crossover where JT and Toby wanting girl advice ask Sean to hang out with them, when Sean gets there he finds JT has brought ecstasy, Sean wanting to avoid trouble switches the pill with Aspirin and gives it to Ashley to dispose of; Ashley of course takes it instead. This episode had the most extra features out of all the episodes and also some of the most interesting deleted scenes, but I’ll get to those later. First of all the bloopers; the first is a funny scene where JT is cleaning out his locker and there is a ton of stuff in it that just goes all over the floor. The second blooper involves Paige improvising her lines it would seem when she asks “did that fetus just wink at me” referring to JT. It’s pretty funny to see Ashley breaking character after Paige says the line. In the third deleted scene we have Sean continuously breaking character while trying to shoot the same scene over and over. He is laughing about something but what it is exactly is unclear. It’s pretty amusing because he just can’t stop laughing. Another blooper has JT trying to do his “ecstasy” induced freak out; it’s quite funny to watch him try to act like he thinks he is high. In the last blooper Ashley says the work insperience instead of experience. It’s pretty funny because she quickly breaks character when she realizes her mistake and asks to start over. Now onto the deleted scenes; there are actually six in this episode. The first is just an extended scene of the beginning of the episode and was just repeating a lot of the stuff established later so was just a big cut for time. The next two scenes are related; the first is about JT explaining to Toby that he was supposed to get ‘lucky” at his house when he finds out no girls are allowed. So in the next scene he logically goes to the next best thing, “Who’s Ashley inviting?” there is also more mention of Toby liking Emma in this scene which is what leads to JT saying they should invite Sean. These scenes helped the plot in my opinion as they were expanding on JT’s motives for that night. It’s sad they had to be cut but it was obviously a time issue. The next deleted scene is of JT showing the cards Toby and he are playing with have naked women on them, it’s a funny scene but again it’s pointless to the plot so it was obviously taken out. The final two deleted scenes of the DVD are the most interesting because they actually cut a whole surprise plot thread out of the episode. In the first, JT wandering around the house “high” sees Liberty in the kitchen and after a brief conversation he kisses her, than she kisses him back. This leads into the next deleted scene where we have Toby walking downstairs and JT and Liberty dancing out of the kitchen. JT tells Toby “E is worth its weight in gold, you’ll never guess what happened” with his arm around Liberty. Toby responds with a resounding “ewww” and walks off. At the end JT kisses Liberty again. It’s interesting to think the JT and Liberty relationship may have been a bit different had they actually hooked up in the first season. Alas the scenes were cut, and it makes you wonder if the writers were originally intending for a totally different storyline altogether and decided against it or what. Either way the scenes themselves are some of the most interesting things on the DVD.
Well in closing; I highly recommend this DVD set to any fan of Degrassi if not just for the episodes, but all the extras as well. As we reported before Season 2 will be out on June 21st of this year and I intend to do a review on them as well.
The above article was published by dTNGHO, please credit if cited or used
author contact info: lordlitwicki@msn.com
