Friends: Series 4 and 5 (1997)

Strangely, Warner have decided to launch seasons four and five first, and I assume season six will be in amongst the other seasons somewhere along the line. Unfortunately, in choosing season four they have started with what I consider to be the weakest of all the seasons, however this is made up with the far, far better fifth season.

Season four basically has Ross and Rachel still arguing at 'being on a break' with the pair getting extremely jealous of each others new relationships, and we are ultimately left with the season cliff hanger of Ross and Emily's wedding. Season five concentrates on Chandler and Monica's secret, and inevitably public relationship, along with the Phoebe having triplets (they hardly ever get mentioned in subsequent episodes!)

The film appears to have been transferred straight from the NTSC and is not really the best quality DVD you'll see, but it is sharp enough to see Jennifer Aniston in all her glory. It is also only recorded in Dolby Surround (although, even though it's set in New York, there's not many gun battles called for here!)

The box covers are a real let down as they are very unimaginative and the season five covers look extremely amateurish. To be honest, the extras are also poor. OK, we can enjoy the London episodes making of, and the Rembrants catchy theme tune, but on each of the discs?

If you already own the videos then it is really hard to recommend you buying these DVD's as it will turn out to be a very expensive venture. Indeed, I already own all of the video box-sets, but to keep my collection complete I will continue to buy the videos as and when they are released.

In reality the DVD's look an attractive proposition with 8 episodes per disc, but with three discs per season, and at an expensive £25 a throw, and especially since you can presently buy two videos for £10, this must only be for the die hard Friends fan. The £25 per disc also seems to fly in the face of Warner's present pricing policy of £15.99. Are the wage demands of the cast now so high that we are having to pay a £5 premium?