Roots - The Complete Collection (Roots / Roots - The Next Generations) [DVD]

Excellent series.

Did not like small print on DVD

I watched it when it came out and thought it would be good for my teenage grandson to see.

"Roots - The Complete Collection" (10 disc DVD set) contains the mini-series "Roots" from 1977 ("30th Anniversary Edition" version on three 2-sided discs), the mini-series "Roots: The Next Generations" from 1979 (on four discs, three of which are 2-sided), the television movie "Roots: The Gift" (on a single-sided disc), and "Roots: The Legacy", a collection of old and new archival material/documentaries spread across two single-sided discs. The content is excellent, and there are plenty of other reviews on this site which go into depth regarding the material.However, my one star rating for this "item" is based primarily on two things. First, this item constitutes a shameful forced double-dip manipulation on the part of the DVD producer with respect to customers who previously purchased either the "Roots" 25th Anniversary DVD set released January 2002, or the "Roots" 30th Anniversary DVD set released May 2007 (five months before this "Complete Collection"), and who now must in effect repurchase "Roots" for roughly $40 in order to purchase "Roots: The Gift" on DVD, which is in release only as part of this set, which doesn't include any DVD extras, and which easily could have been released as a stand-alone item for $10-$15. Second, the packaging is horrendous. Instead of packaging this set in a manner which would make shelf storage convenient and which would protect the discs from damage (think of the typical DVD "collection" box set - e.g. "The Matrix Collection", or any TV series season set), the collection comes in a huge "cigar box"-style case, with the DVDs wedged into tight "slots" in one of three long, flat cardboard folders in the box, much as if the DVDs were coins in a coin collection folder. Getting the DVDs in and out of these slots without scuffing them is difficult at best. Further, the set I received had four discs dislodged prior to opening, and these dislodged discs were scratched on both sides as badly as old rental store discs, while almost all of the other discs which were not dislodged from their slots had lesser degrees of scratch damage on one or both sides. Disc 1, Side 2 froze at the 41:30 mark, likely due to scratch damage.The bottom line is, unless you absolutely must own "Roots: The Gift", this collection should be avoided like the plague. It is largely a waste of money and space. Purchase "Roots" and "Roots: The Next Generations" separately instead. Most of the archival material from "Roots: The Legacy" is included on the 30th Anniversary Edition of "Roots".Edit: One thing I forgot to add way back when I originally reviewed this set is that "Roots: The Gift" for this set has been cropped to fill a 16:9 (1.78:1) television screen. Since "Roots: The Gift" originally aired on TV in 1988, this was years before anything on U.S. television aired in anything other than the standard 4:3 (1.33:1) screen aspect ratio. Widescreen televisions are perfectly capable of showing those old TV shows and old movies in the 4:3 format. "Roots" (1977) and "Roots: The Next Generations" (1979) are both on DVD in their original 4:3 screen aspect ratios. Maybe the DVD producers wanted to make "Roots: The Gift" look more like "a movie". If so, this was misguided. "Roots: The Gift" was made for television and shot for television. For the most part, I didn't notice any glaring framing issues on the DVD with the cropping from the top and bottom of the original image. However, that's usually not the case with this practice. And the viewer is not seeing the complete image as it was originally intended to be seen. It's also completely unnecessary.

I'm very fortunate to have seen this when it first premiered way back in 1977. I have always believed that life is better when you remember the past so it can't happen again. This was an extremely well made mini series and I hope it will live on forever. Excellent series, excellent cast, emotionally draining and uplifting all at ounce.

So here goes:I won't really delve into the content as this has been covered elsewhere on this forum and on the reviews of the previous releases. Only thing I can say about ROOTS is that even 40 years after it first aired, it is still very powerful; even more so when compared to the recently released and inferior History channel remake.The picture quality is fantastic; color accuracy is spot-on; image is super sharp; the aspect ratio is correct at 4:3 and the source material is clean (don't know if it was restored). Another thing people have not so far mentioned is that the episodes are presented as they originally aired. The version that has been available on home video ever since ABC reran the show in the fall of 1978 has been the 6 episode "syndicated version". Those six episodes were each two hours long.This BD release includes all 8 episodes as originally broadcast: Eps 1and 2 are each 2hrs long; eps 3,4,5 are each 1hr; ep 6 is 2 hrs; ep7 is 1hr and the finale ep 8 is two hrs. It's nice to have all the original intros and end credit sequences as they were seen 40 years ago.Most of the extra material has been ported from previous DVD releases. Among the new ones is "The Cast Looks Back" which is very short and pretty thin, but good to have, nonetheless. Roots: The American Story Continues" is again thin and includes testimony of some notables (Sharpton, Whoopi Goldberg, Debbie Allen te al.) on how it affected them when the program first aired and on why the show is still important today especially in regards to recent events.Unfortunately, the audio commentary by the cast and crew that was available in the previous DVD release is missing here. I am puzzled as to why it was not included as I found it to be one of the most fascinating and informative part of the extra features. For that reason alone I will be keeping my DVD version.

Enjoyed the full series

Excelente material, muy bien realizado.

Great boxset as it comes with a booklet with photos

Great stories

If you are wondering whether it is worth spending your money and over 1300 minutes of your time on something made over 30 years ago and which has been awarded the dubious label 'a landmark in television', then fear not-for once the hype is justified. The reason Roots is so special lies in the fact that it has an utterly compelling story to tell and it manages to tell it without ever having any sections where the action flags or where you lose concentration. The acting has real conviction and the series achieves that rare alchemy of having real human interest meshed with actual events so that you have a personal view of history as it was lived and experienced by 7 generations of the Haley family. Along the way you will be introduced to many of the big issues of the African American heritage from the unspeakable wickedness of slavery to the equally evil system of discrimination known as 'Jim Crow' up to the tumultuous Civil Rights struggles of the 1960's. This is not however documentary history, but a families' struggle for survival and a better life and it makes for truly inspiring and moving viewing. I first saw Roots as a child of 11 and could remember some of its scenes over 30 years later-they angered me then as they anger me now. The worst mistake we could make watching this splendid series is to think the evils it portrays are ancient history. They are with us still-remember Nelson Mandela had 13 more years to serve when Roots was made. One of the supreme bargains of the DVD catalogue with good vision and sound for the period.

Having watched the original TV series decades ago I was looking forward to a nice glass of wine while watching it again. However to me the series now looks ham acted and slow. Sorry.