Northern Exposure - The Complete Sixth Season
Starring: William J. WhiteDirector: Joe Napolitano, Randall Miller, Matt Nodella
Studio: Universal Studios
MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Format: Box set, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
Running Time: 1058 minutes
DVD Release: March 6th 2007
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DVD Review
Recipient of 39 Emmy nominations and winner of the Emmy and Golden Globe Awards for Outstanding Drama Series Northern Exposure comes to an offbeat and inspirational conclusion. For this final season newcomer Dr. Phil Capra (Paul Provenza) joins Dr. Joel Fleischman (Emmy nominee Rob Morrow) Maggie (Emmy nominee Janine Turner) Chris (Emmy nominee John Corbett) and the rest of the quirky citizens of Cicely Alaska. Digitally restored for optimum picture quality this must-own five-disc set includes all 23 beloved episodes and over 30 minutes of never-before-seen deleted scenes. See the finale of this groundbreaking heartwarming adventure that's as stunning as the Northern Lights themselves!System Requirements:TRT: 1060 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 025193035127 Manufacturer No: 61030351
User Reviews
Sad. - Rating: 3/5
I did not enjoy this season. The first five, maybe, were good, but the rest were terrible. CAUTION! SPoiLER!
JOEL GOT LONG HAIR AND THE NEW DOC IS TERRIBLE!
The first half of the fifth was the best.
ADAM ROCKS!
Best Episode is in this Season - Rating: 5/5
Arguably the quirky likablility of Northern Exposure reached its pinnacle in the Horns episode, one of the last. The reversal of gender roles between Maurice and Barbara was priceless, although you did have to know who they were before and my son didn't notice any difference in Barbara. I loved seeing Maurice's machismo humbled by his own water and the words out of Shelley's mouth must be preserved for posterity. "When women do it it's a disease!" I don't know if DVD players will be around for my granddaughter's children but if they are, this one is going in my Will.
Great show!! - Rating: 5/5
I am so happy that I could finally buy the last season of Northern Exposure on dvd; I live about 10 miles from Roslyn, Washington where it was filmed. It's a favorite in this neck of the woods!! Roslyn has a "moose fest" every year; please come!!!
Sad, a Crash Landing - Rating: 2/5
Never having watched the show when it originally aired I became entirely addicted to the DVD sets, and have blissfully devoured them all. For my money Northern Exposure is the second greatest TV series in the history of the medium, second only to The Fugitive.
I avoided watching the final season due to the dreadful comments of many Amazon reviewers but I finally gave in... and I'm sorry I did.
There are many specific problems and one that's more ethereal.
First, replacing Dr. Fleischman with another doctor whose attitudes, inability to adjust and general whininess exactly mirror his predecessor was a foolish move. It's hard to imagine the creative team who gave birth to this brilliant show making this decision - it reeks of one mandated by clueless studio executives.
Second, Paul Provenza as the new doctor and whoever as his wife, under the blanket of a dead script, create characters who could put a speed freak to sleep. Dull as dishwater and at times immensely aggravating.
Third, the entire cast seems to have had the wind taken out of their sails. Many are walking through their roles. Marilyn's usual stoney simplicity which for five seasons was cleverly rendered and at time hilarious in the final season now becomes shockingly boring. Too often season six has what the others never did - BAD acting.
Fourth, the reliance on fantasy, dreams, illusions, etc. is wildly overworked. The season opener's recasting of the characters in New York is clever and it entertains. But let's drop it there, please. Watching Provenza at one point turn into a werewolf while his wife serves him dinner is beyond painful. It's not clever. It's stupid.
The harder to pin down problem is that the magic is gone. The indescribable mix of sharp writing and quirky charm that makes Northern Exposure so unique is entirely absent. One always had the feeling that the characters loved each other. There's no love in these scripts.
If you feel like I do that there was always some fairy dust sprinkled on the streets of Cicely... you'll find that every bit of that dust has blown away...
Great Series Finale - Rating: 4/5
Some call this season the worst of the lot, but these viewers are less interested in N:EX being a story of progressive growth in the characters, and more interested in the surreality of a quirky small town in contrast with a captive outsider (Joel). There is nothing wrong with this view, but there's also no questioning that this season does a great job at giving Joel the final great turnaround he needed in order to complete his "Northern Exposure." He finally allows his captors to take him whole, and becomes the one character in the series that actually manages to grow out of habit. The only really unfortunate part about season six is that the ending doesn't adequately resolve the other characters lives, it's more like a humble wrap-up if anything and it takes way too many episodes to do it in. There could have been a build-up in the last two episodes at least, but they fail to be the tear-jerkers they should have been.
Regardless, the middle of season six--the bulk of it, actually--is dynamite. It has much of the surreality as the earliest seasons, and is especially welcome after this season's spiritless introductory episodes. It was as if everyone finally got over mourning Joel's eventual departure and moved on. In my opinion, Rob Morrow moving on was the best thing he could have done for N:EX: it forced the writers to give his character the satisfaction of conclusion and ask themselves why all the other characters really exist, bringing out the best in everyone.
As a note: this season seems to suffer less from the loss of original soundtracks as some of the earlier seasons, partly due to replacement choices but even more so due to the way that N:EX actors became extremely mature in the way they played their characters to the point that it's almost eerie. If the change in soundtracks bug you to the point of anger you're not paying enough attention to the character acting. People complain about the Dr. Capra character being "bland..." he wasn't, really, but he was incredibly eclipsed by everyone else's comfort with their roles.
