Friends: The Complete Series [4K Ultra HD]

Cast: Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matthew Perry

Release Date: September 24, 2024

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Disc Rating: 8/10

Synopsis:

From Warner Bros. Television, FRIENDS follows the lives and loves of a close-knit group of friends living in New York City: siblings Ross (David Schwimmer) and Monica Geller (Courteney Cox), along with friends Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry), Phoebe Buffay (Lisa Kudrow), Joey Tribbiani (Matt LeBlanc) and Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston).

‘Friends’ follows six individuals and close friends living in New York City and trying to find their path in life. Join Ross, Rachel, Chandler, Joey, Monica and Phoebe as they navigate the world and try to find love, work and a meaning beyond a simple existence, while juggling all of the headaches and hurdles that life repeatedly throws at them; all with hilarious results and consequences. Now, fans can reunite with their favorite group of friends in Ultra High Definition for the first time as all 236 episodes arrive home in 4K with Dolby Vision and lossless DTS-HD MA audio in celebration of the show’s thirtieth anniversary; can we BE any more excited?

‘Friends’ was created for television by David Crane and Marta Kauffman and featured all six of its key cast members portraying each of their roles for all ten seasons. The series starred Jennifer Aniston as Rachel, Courteney Cox as Monica, Lisa Kudrow as Phoebe, Matt LeBlanc as Joey, Matthew Perry as Chandler and David Schwimmer as Ross. The series also featured plenty of memorable recurring roles as well as numerous noteworthy guest stars including everyone from Bruce Willis, Billy Crystal and Robin Williams to Julia Roberts and a whole lot more.

‘Friends’ first made its primetime broadcast debut on NBC in the fall of 1994 and ran for a total of ten seasons and 236 episodes; eventually concluding its initial run in May of 2004 before launching the show’s sole short-lived spinoff series ‘Joey’ with LeBlanc reprising his role which lasted a mere two seasons and was cancelled prior to season two’s finale and pulled from the scheduled before concluding. The series didn’t take long to obtain a sizeable audience either, only building its fan base to eventually become one of the biggest sitcoms on the air.

Even more impressive than its initial popularity is the fact that it seems to have only increased its audience and popularity in the decades since it concluded its run. Audiences flocked to the series about six friends in NYC and their chaotic, endearing and hilarious lives as well as the unbreakable bond that they share and the series still keeps the laughs coming today, with viewers (myself included) only finding more little fun tidbits and elements to love upon repeat viewings. There are undeniable elements of the series that are mildly dated, but as a whole it’s still a great deal of fun and has little trouble keeping us laughing out loud on a consistent basis regardless of how many times we’ve already seen each episode or the series as a whole.

‘Friends’ arrives home in its entirety for the first time in 4K UHD courtesy of Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment. The new release features all 236 episodes of the beloved sitcom in full Ultra High Definition with Dolby Vision that has the series looking sharper, brighter and more detailed than you’ve ever seen before. The new UHD video presentations are further complemented by 5.1 DTS-HD MA soundtracks for each episode; marking the first time that a physical release of the series has included lossless audio presentations.

In addition to the new video and audio presentations offered within, this massive collection also features numerous audio commentaries, plus two bonus Blu-ray discs that are packed with bonus content, including a couple brand new extras. Some fans of the series may not be pleased with the lack of the original broadcast presentations in their 4×3 aspect ratios or some of the color changes utilized within, yet for any fans who enjoy the widescreen versions of the episodes and simply want to own them in the best quality possible, then this 4K set of ‘Friends: The Complete Series’ should easily be a winner and is recommended, especially if you can snag a copy at the right price.

VIDEO:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of ‘Friends: The Complete Series’ features a full 2160p Ultra High Definition presentation with Dolby Vision and HDR-10, and a 1.78:1 Aspect Ratio on every episode of the series. The video presentations look great for the most part and deliver clean, sharp and richly detailed presentations from start to finish on each episode with bright, vibrant coloring throughout. It’s quite an unexpected surprise to see a sitcom available on the 4K format, and with Dolby Vision no less and many fans will be quite thrilled with the noteworthy presentations of the series here which feature tremendous detail noticeable on everything from character faces and clothing to the interiors of the famous apartments and coffee house, along with everything else along the way, all of which is nicely complemented by the Dolby Vision HDR which gives the series some extra pop and delivers more lifelike and deep coloring that stands out for this already very colorful series.

While many fans will be thrilled with what’s presented here, some diehard fans may still be disappointed by the lack of the original extended episodes and the original 4×3 broadcast ratios, in addition to some noticeable color alterations, but for those who don’t mind the widescreen versions available on streaming and syndication these UHD presentations only improve upon nearly all of it and have the show looking better than ever. Overall, these are very nice Ultra High Definition presentations that look gorgeous for the most part and should leave many fans extremely pleased.

AUDIO:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release features a 5.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on all 236 episodes of the series. These multichannel soundtracks mark the first release of the series to feature lossless audio presentations which is a definite treat and they provide largely clean, sharp and somewhat immersive audio presentations throughout. They utilize all five available channels in order to send the music, laugh track and other tidbits throughout the various speakers when appropriate, while never conflicting with or negatively affecting any dialogue or other audio elements that might be occurring simultaneously with one another. There are a few episodes (primarily in the earliest season or two) that have moments which seem almost muffled or distorted but still remain clean and audible, while the majority of episodes sound better than we’ve ever heard before. Overall, these are mostly great 5.1 DTS-HD MA soundtracks that hold up nicely and shouldn’t elicit many complaints from fans.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray release of ‘Friends: The Complete Series’ features a notable collection of bonus content including numerous audio commentary tracks for select episodes, in addition to two Blu-ray bonus discs dedicated solely to supplements. I’ve broken down the extras below.

The various 4K discs include selectable audio commentary tracks on 30 episodes of the series, including the Pilot, Finale and numerous other notable episodes in between. The release comes with a booklet included in the Blu-ray bonus case which notes each commentary, while they are listed on each disc’s menu in addition.

Bonus Blu-ray Disc 1 includes numerous Behind the Scenes Featurettes, retrospective Featurettes, fun videos and more including ‘Friends: Through the Peephole’ (running approximately 15 minutes in length), ‘How Well Do You Know Your Friends?’ (running approximately 6 minutes) and 3 ‘True Friends’ Documentaries including ‘Friends From the Start’ (approximately 28 minutes), ‘When Friends Become Family’ (29 minutes) and ‘The Legacy of Friends’ (11 minutes).

Also included on the disc are various season specific carryover extras for Seasons 1-5. Season 1 includes ‘Friends of Friends’ which features clips of guest stars from the season (8 minutes) and a ‘Season 2 Trailer’ (1 minute); Season 2 includes ‘Friends of Friends’ (11 minutes), ‘The Uncut Version of “Smelly Cat”’ (2 minutes), and ‘What’s Up With Your Friends?’ recaps for each character (8 minutes); Season 3 includes ‘Friends of Friends’ (11 minutes) and ‘What’s Up With Your Friends’ (8 minutes); Season 4 includes ‘Friends of Friends’ (8 minutes), ‘What’s Up With Your Friends’ (9 minutes) and ‘Friends Around the World’ (7 minutes); while Season 5 includes ‘Gunther Spills the Beans About Next Season’ (1 minute), ‘The One That Goes Behind the Scenes’ (42 minutes) and ‘On Location in London’ (2 minutes).

Bonus Blu-ray Disc 2 features the carryover extras for Seasons 6-10. Season 6 includes ‘Friends of Friends’ (12 minutes), a ‘Gag Reel’ (9 minutes) and ‘Gunther Spills the Beans About Next Season’ (1 minute); Season 7 includes ‘Friends of Friends’ (20 minutes) a ‘Gag Reel’ (9 minutes) ‘Gunther Spills the Beans About Next Season’ (2 minutes) and the original Super-Sized Versions of multiple episodes including ‘The One Where Rosita Dies’, ‘The One Where They All Turn 30’, ‘The One With Joey’s New Brain’ and ‘The Truth About London’; Season 8 includes ‘Friends of Friends’ (20 minutes), a ‘Gag Reel’ (8 minutes) and ‘Gunther Spills the Beans About Next Season’ (2 minutes); Season 9 includes ‘Behind the Style: The Look of Friends’ (20 minutes), a ‘Gag Reel’ (7 minutes), ‘Gunther Spills the Beans About Next Season’ (3 minutes) and ‘The Flaming Lips “Phoebe Battles the Pink Robots” Music Video’ (2 minutes); Season 10 includes ‘Friends Final Thoughts’ (25 minutes), a collection of ‘5 Gag Reels’ (41 minutes altogether), ‘Friends of Friends’ (17 minutes) and ‘Matt LeBlanc’s “Joey Joey” Music Video’ (2 minutes).

Also included on the second disc is the Original Cut of ‘The One Where Rachel Tells Ross’ (23 minutes) as well as the episode’s ‘Original Script’, along with various other fun videos, talk show guest appearances and more including ‘The One with the Never-Before-Seen Gags’ (7 minutes), ‘Friends Visit The Ellen DeGeneres Show: “What is Your Next Line?”’ (16 minutes), ‘Friends on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno’ (22 minutes) and ‘The Rembrandts Music Video’ for the show’s iconic opening theme song.

*Please note: The above images were provided by Warner Bros. and are not reflective of the actual 4K Ultra HD release or its quality. Blu-ray copies were not included in the release that could be used for screenshots therefore the above publicity stills were utilized. They are all the property of Warner Bros. Discovery and any other respective owners.

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Disc Rating: 8/10

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‘Friends: The Complete Series’ is Now Available to Own on 4K Ultra HD from Warner Bros Discovery Home Entertainment

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You can Purchase ‘Friends: The Complete Series’ on 4K UHD at Amazon HERE!

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