I Spy - Season 2 (1965)

Robert Culp and Bill Cosby star as international espionage agents Kelly Robinson and Alexander Scott on highly dangerous missions in this ever-popular award-winning series. Culp poses as a world-class playboy/tennis player and Cosby goes undercover as his trainer. Together they travel the world trading quips and fighting high-level crime with cool bravado and extraordinary savoir-faire. Combining humor with action/intrigue "I Spy" was the first adventure TV series to be shot in exotic international locales establishing a new standard for television dramas.System Requirements:LENGTH: 1428 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS UPC: 014381395327 Manufacturer No: ID3953PQDVD Product Description

BOX SET # 2 VERSUS 'SEASON 2'

If you have read my review for BOX SET #1 you will know what this is about. Anyway, here's the listing of the 7 discs from my Box Set #2 purchased several years back from Image as issued in year 2000.

Disc 8
A Gift From Alexander
Bridge Of Spies
To Florence With Love PART 1
To Florence With Love Part II

Disc 9
Sophia
Rome Take Away Three
Tonia
One Of Our bombs Is Missing

Disc 10
Father Abraham
Vendetta
Child Out Of Time
The Trouble With Temple

Disc 11
A Room With A Rack
Get Thee To A Nunnery
Mainly On The Plains
Blackout

Disc 12
Little Boy Lost
Casanova From Canarsie
Night Train To Madrid
Cops And Robbers

Disc 13
Let's Kill Karlovassi
The Beautiful Children
Laya
The Dedarra Block

Disc 14
Philotime
The Honorable Assassins
Now You See Her, Now You Don't
Red Sash Of Courage

My 'box' looks identical to the box shown of Amazon other than Box Set #2 is shown where Season 2 shows. My discs are sharp and clear with excellent color. Will not be investing in these newer ones.

But I SPY is an excellent show from the 1960s, one that holds up very well even after 40 years passing.

Semper Fi. August 13, 2008

RETRO CONTINUO

As with Season 1, I SPY-SEASON 2 has wonderful settings, music, dialogue, and photography, that bring back the age of the "COLD WAR,' along with other psycho-social struggles of that era known as "THE 60s." Get it. Watch it. Enjoy it.
TONY HOROWITZ June 25, 2008

All That Is I SPY!!

GREAT NEWS ... I SPY is back again on DVD!! If you didn't pick-up the original set or have always wanted to see this great show from the 60s - now's your chance - and at a great price! I SPY was definitely the coolest and most realistic of the "spy genre" shows on 60s TV. The banter between Culp and Cosby is unsurpassed; the mixture of action/adventure/intrigue and comedy/romance/exotic locations is a joy to watch; plus the amazing music of Earle Hagen, add up to a viewing experience you won't want to miss.

For more on I SPY, be sure to check on THE "definitive" book on the series - "I Spy: A History and Episode Guide to the Groundbreaking Television Series" by Marc Cushman and Linda J. LaRosa (with a foreword by Robert Culp)
http://www.amazon.com/Spy-History-Episode-Groundbreaking-Television/dp/0786427507/

... Besides providing a complete and in-depth background and "the Story Behind the Stories," it also includes the real order in which to watch the episodes, not just the way they were broadcast. Everyone connected with I SPY who could be interviewed - was - including writers and production staff, and even censors' reports are included. A really great book for anyone interested in I SPY who wants to know the complete story. [...] June 10, 2008

Fun Series

The 82 hour-long episodes (all in color) of the spy adventure series "I Spy" ran from 1965-1968 on NBC. All 28 episodes from season two are on this DVD, there was no significant changes to the style or background from season one. The same can be said for the 26 episodes of Season Three-probably a miscalculation as things had gotten a bit repetitive by that time and the series could have benefited from a bit of a shake-up.

It was a top-notch spy series with a fair amount of same "tongue-in-cheek" self-parody found in "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." and the popular James Bond movie franchise. But don't expect the same level of gadgetry and gimmicks; "I Spy" is much more about the witty banter between its pair of spies, Kelly Robertson (Robert Culp) and Alexander Scott (Bill Cosby). Their cover as they travel the world on assorted missions is tennis, Kelly is a tennis pro and Scotty is his trainer. They work for an unnamed U.S. espionage agency.

The intelligent and witty tone of the show obviously appealed to its fans as reflected by its three year broadcast run and subsequent syndication. Much of the credit for this goes to Sheldon Leonard who incorporated the more subtle comedy elements he had experimented with when producing "Make Room for Daddy", "The Andy Griffith Show", and "The Dick Van Dyke Show".

Cosby was hardly an unknown at the time of the series premiere. He was a wildly popular stand-up comic who had appeared many times on television variety shows and sold millions of record albums featuring his semi-autobiographical comedy routines. But his Alexander Scott character is generally a pretty serious guy (he does occasionally sneak in some of his comedy routines) and Cosby's portrayal is quite believable. Prior to this no comedian (and certainly no black comedian) had stared in an action show.

Culp is not so much the dashing James Bond style hero as a contemporary version of the less macho Bret Maverick type. He is not above pleading ignorance or confusion in a crisis. Fortunately the chemistry was excellent between the two stars.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child. March 9, 2008

How can we rate this right now?

I was an early adopter of the original DVD releases. I'll get to their picture quality in a moment, but I've been a long time fan, thanks to a longer time fan some 5 years my junior (I'm 35), and double the proof that one doesn't need to be a Baby Boomer to appreciate quality stories! They're timeless and have an integrity sorely lacking in today's shows... but I digress...).

As for the existing DVD releases: The color levels were terrific, but the amount of scratches and dust marks on the film was... let's face it, they were bloody awful. The audio was reasonably well cleaned up too. For the prices at the time, they were VERY competitive for the amount of episodes on each volume. Indeed, 2 weeks ago I was re-watching "Court of the Lion" and wondering if the original DVD sales would amount to future interest... obviously, they were. I'm happy. :D But I digress; those who missed out on the original sales will be delighted at the new pricing - that redefines "VERY competitive" for the per-episode cost!

Now if these "remastered" releases take care of the scratches and flecks alone, while maintaining the terrific color restoration as seen on the original DVD releases, I'll really really really be happy. (And no doubt would look spectacular on blu-ray too and would be the incentive for me to convert to that format, hint hint hint... Not even James Bond has that power... but probably would once I get to see those titles out on blu-ray...)

Granted, I don't often double-dip, and I know naught any extras or, indeed, the quality of the restoration, but you can bet your sweet bippy I'll be pre-ordering and keeping my eye out for season 3's (hopefully imminent) release.

But why not season 3 at the same time as the previous two? Home to Judgment, Tag You're It, Suitable for Framing, Apollo, Anyplace I Hang Myself is Home, Carmelita is One of Us, A Few Miles West of Nowhere, and The Name of the Game (amongst others) are instant classics that transcend the quality of the peers this show competed against. Even "A Few Miles West of Nowhere" and "The Name of the Game", despite having a fair share of clichéd moments, still have a gravitas that works so much in their favor... unlike today, their plots weren't so worn out anyway... Again, I digress. I really hope this season is re-released as well.
February 27, 2008

More reviews at Amazon.com ...