Beauty and the Beast - The Final Season
Starring: Linda HamiltonStudio: Paramount
MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Format: Box set, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Running Time: 543 minutes
DVD Release: February 5th 2008
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User Reviews
Third's the charm - Rating: 4/5
I must say I am surprised to read some of the reviews here. I was not aware of any debate surrounding this third and last season of the show, and I find it somehow odd that it came as a disappointment for many fans, when to me it's clearly superior to the previous two seasons by leaps and bounds.
The show turned into quite a different animal (no pun intended), discarding much of its bland, mushy romanticism for a much more real romantic, epic feel and a sense of mythology. Stephen McHattie great turn as Vincent's archnemesis served the story well and gave it a strong, compelling focus that it was sorely lacking. Even Linda Hamilton's much lamented departure was an invigorating shakedown that managed to make matters fresh and, what's more, relevant.
If you only watch one season of this show, this is definitely the one to pick.
Third Season -- the best of them! - Rating: 5/5
The third season is not to be reviled, instead it should be savored as a true and little-seen treasure. There is no joy without sorrow and the relationship between Vincent and Katherine, which flourished during the first two seasons, is what sustains Vincent in his time of sorrow. Indeed, Katherine's love is what sustains Joe as well as Elliot throughout their confrontation with Gabriel and allows Elliot to make the ultimate sacrifice. Season 3 is taunt, very well paced and probably the best written season of the entire series. Love does not last forever, but it is the memory of love that sustains us. Ron Perlman rocks in this season!
Third Season of B&B-Magical in its own way - Rating: 5/5
I am an all-season fan of Beauty and the Beast, meaning I love all three seasons--but as a fanzine writer, I wrote primarily "fourth season", or what I thought had happened after third season. The third season of Beauty and the Beast offers some of the most dramatic and well-written television that has ever aired. The acting was superb. Once you begin watching, you will be riveted.
Jo Anderson as Diana is lovely, brave and poignant...desperately in love, before she ever meets him, with a man who may never love her. Ron Perlman as Vincent is even more incredible than he was in the first two seasons. They compliment once another beautifully.
Does third season get a bad rap? Yes. But see for yourself and watch it.
Looking at Beauty and the Beast as a whole story is, to my mind, essential to come to appreciate the vast range of emotion and depth of perception the series portrays.
To watch this show over twenty years later is to fall backwards in time and re-experience the magic. Watch the show all the way through...again. And if you've never seen it, don't miss it this time!
Rhonda Collins
Positive Perspective on Beauty and the Beast Season Three - Rating: 5/5
The 1980s television series, "Beauty and the Beast," is a moving love story, which as a widow, is very close to my heart. The 3rd Season DVDs are just as beautifully digitally remastered as the 1st and 2nd seasons were. Masterful acting by the 2 main stars of the series, Ron Perlman, who plays Vincent (The Beast), and Linda Hamilton, who plays Catherine Chandler (Beauty), continues in the 3rd and last chapter of this poignant series. This season of the series portrays the heartbreaking grief suffered by Vincent, the Beast who lives in caves and tunnels under the streets of New York City, when the love of his life, Catherine Chandler, an investigative lawyer working in the District Attorney's office, is kidnapped and murdered by an human monster. It beautifully portrays how love is an eternal journey. Now, please don't despair over the demise of the television series, because the story is not quite over!
It was interesting that eBay invited me to write a review for the television series "Beauty and the Beast" several months ago, because I began writing the book which is the sequel to this series in early July of 2007. At the time of the editing of this review of Season 3 for Amazon, at the beginning of February 2008, I am now working on the 10th chapter of 11. I hope to have the book completed and published by the summer of 2008. It will be appearing under my pen name, Laurel Cain Haws, and my editor is Dr. Thayle K. Anderson, a recently retired English professor from Murray State University. He is my trusted friend, and a colleague of my beloved late husband, Dr. Gary L. Haws, who was my "Vincent."
My book has a very specific target audience, those who loved this series starring Ron Perlman and Linda Hamilton and hated its premature demise with its tragic ending. Apparently, an untimely strike by the Writer's Guild was a major contributing factor in ending the series too early. My book fixes that. It doesn't change the ending. It begins where the series ends and changes the outcome, so it has an happy ending and perhaps a new beginning for more stories about these beloved characters.
If that idea appeals to you, it is essential that you watch all 3 seasons before reading my book. Even if you saw them when they 1st aired 20 years ago, you really need to review and watch them again in order to fully understand and appreciate my book. I never get tired of watching them, and I hope that you will enjoy seeing these characters come back to life with a new story line.
The questions from the series that my novel answers are:
1. Is Catherine Chandler (Beauty) really dead?
2. Where did Vincent (the Beast) really come from?
3. Can there be an happy ending to a modern day fairy tale that starts out, "Once Upon a Time in the City of New York?"
Buy all 3 seasons of "Beauty and the Beast" and enjoy watching them. Then watch for my book to appear on your bookstore shelf in the summer of 2008. The timeline and characters are very precious to me, and I am being very careful with them. I hope that you will enjoy reading my book as much as I am enjoying writing it. Karen L. Haws (eBay ID kandycain1587)
Still plenty of good stuff here - Rating: 4/5
Note: This review contains SPOILERS.
This is an issue that has divided Beauty & The Beast fans for almost twenty years, and reading the reviews here, I can see a lot of people are still bitter. While the show certainly suffered the loss of Linda Hamilton, I personally found there was still plenty to enjoy in this abbreviated season.
For one thing, the season-long story arc served the show quite well. The second season's cliffhanger ending left a lot for the writers to explore. So much fuss was made way back in 1989 about the show being "retooled" to attract more male viewers. And I'll admit, there's probably a sizable portion of the potential male viewing audience that is attracted to the increased action and violence. But was the show really THAT different? We still have Ron Perlman and all the others giving it their all (and it was quite an emotional and yes, violent arc for Vincent). The late, talented Edward Albert got moved into a series regular slot. And I can't think of another series villain as vile as Stephen McHattie's Gabriel. And for you action fans, there's Lance Henriksen's appearance as the vicious assassin, Snow.
Even amid all the death and sorrow, there are moments of beauty. "Walk Slowly," the follow-up to the 2-hour season premiere, is one of the best-written episodes of the entire series. Jo Anderson is no Linda Hamilton, but she evidences real concern and determination to help Vincent. And the return of Rolley (from season two's "Chamber Music") evokes sympathy, as well as reminds us that there was always more to this fictional universe than just Vincent and Catherine.
To the uninitiated who may not have seen this season: It's really not as bad as many people would have you believe. If you accept that Linda Hamilton only appears in 2 episodes, maybe that will lessen your potential disappointment. And if you've followed the story this far, it just makes sense to see it through to the end. No, it's NOT as good as the first two years. But it's still a great show, and I hope you will give it a chance.
The only other concern I have, as others have pointed out, is that the asking price for a shortened (12 episodes) season is the same as for a full season. But as any true fan will tell you, it's something of a minor miracle that we're finally getting season 3 on home video in ANY format. I'm grateful for that, and I have no hesitation in shelling out the $$ to complete my set.
