Disclaimer: Das Review ist in englisch, weil es eigentlich für amazon.uk geschrieben ist. Da American Dad eh am besten in englisch zu genießen und Vol. 4 in deutsch noch nich erhältlich ist, sehe ich kein Problem darin, hier das englische Review zu posten.
American Dad Vol. 4
The Vol. 3 DVD Set was the worst yet, mainly because Stan Smith had turn out to be the most despicable human being ever to star in a cartoon. When he wasn't abandoning his family to prove a point he abducted babies to prevent them from having to live with homosexuals. So it wasn't without a certain amount of sceptic that I picked up Vol. 4. Thankfully Vol. 4 shares none of the problems of Vol. 3, despite the fact that Vol. 4 once again contains episodes from two different seasons. The main reason why Vol. 4 is such a success is that the makers finally realized who the real star of the show is. There are a lot of episodes starring Roger and no matter how much screen time that little mean alien has, it is never enough. Seth McFarlane may have created the funniest cartoon character ever, even beating Stewie Griffin by a landslide. Let's take a look at the different episodes.
Tearjerker:
A James Bond parody where the American Dad cast is recast as typical Bondcharacters with Roger starring as the titular Tearjerker and his evil plot of creating the saddest movie ever. A brilliant story, playing to all the strengths of the characters in a different approach. Roger single-handedly makes the episode work.
Oedipal Panties:
We get to learn about Stans relationship with his mom which a somewhat predictable yet still funny plot twist. Stans once again does bad however his intentions are noble in this one. A good episode, not the best but good.
Widowmaker:
This episode focuses once again on Stan and Francine and deals with the age-old theme of spouses sharing. It is nice to see that sometimes Francine can be wrong and Stan can be right. Funny plot twist.
Red October Sky:
Steve for a change being the main character in this one along with Stan and one of his old rivals. Also great to see Toshi in action since he's is among the funniest side-characters. Stan has to deal with an old rival from his past while fighting for his sons love all the while preaching the benefits of capitalism.
Office Spaceman:
This is Roger at his best. There is absolutely nothing he won't do as long he thinks he gets something out of it, no matter how stupid it might sound to the thinking man. Here Roger takes the position of Nr. 1 alien hunter for the CIA, which should have you cracking up at the thought alone. Nothing short of epic.
Stanny Slickers II: The Legend of Ollie's Gold:
Not terrible, but worn out. Stan going for fame before realising his family is the most important. It's funnier than it sounds, but that age-old theme always bores a little.
Spring Break Up:
A great mix of storylines. While Roger tries to host the best spring-break ever Stan finds himself a spring-break buddy while Francine neglects him. Francine then gets helpful marriage advise from her Asian ma-ma whereas Steve tries to lose his virginity to Carmen Selectra... and almost succeeds. Stan acting a little more insecure than usual which is a bit out of character but for the overall plot, it works.
1600 Candles:
Steve is hitting puberty. Stan and Francine try everything at their disposal (which is nothing less than the CIA research department) to avoid having to face another one of their kids outbursts during puberty. Roger develops a hatred towards Steve as everyone seems to forget about his 1600. birthday over Steve's problems. Episode highlight: Francine trying to bribe the scientists at the CIA.
The one that got away:
With most of the family being busy playing Simon Says this episode belongs to Roger. And once again he does not disappoint. One of Roger's many personas develops a life of his own and Roger must face his greatest nemesis yet: Himself. Twenty minutes of brilliance.
One little word:
Oh yeah, in case you forget, Stan is CIA Agent and this episode acknowledges that fact, dealing with Stans relationship with his boss Avery Bullock (Patrick Stewart) and also... sigh... once again Stans marriage which is being put to the test when Bullock makes Stan his Nr. 1, a full-time job. Highlight: Stan and Bullock hitting the clubs. Maybe the best episode not featuring Roger.
Choosey wives choose Smith:
Stan getting insecure over Francine's ex-fiancé and plots a scheme to make sure Francine really loves him. Yes, that theme again, but thankfully Roger gets a lot of screen time to pick up the slack.
Escape from pearl bailey:
Dealing with Steve and only Steve this one is about typical 80's highschool-sitcom problems and about as much entertaining... which is mildly at best. They play with all the clichés you can think of but sadly that's all there ever is. A collection of clichés.
Pulling double booty:
The first and only episode about Stan and the difficult relationship with his daughter Hayley. To protect his daughter Stan decides to pick out her boyfriend but he finds himself in a tough spot when Hayley hooks up with his CIA body double. This one shows that not only is Rachel McFarlane is also a great voice actress but she along with her character Hayley can actually carry an entire episode and be unbelievably funny. Her song in this episode is priceless and one of the best moments on the DVD set.
The most adequate Christmas ever:
Sigh... more like the most adequate episode ever. This one is about and only about Stan learning a lesson and the lesson being the importance of his family. Seriously, why don't you give up? He's not gonna learn it. Not for long anyway. A couple of mild jokes can be found here but nothing will make you pause the DVD for a short breather. Very weak ending of an otherwise good collection of episodes.
Among the more negative sides are also the special features which include audio commentary, a couple featurettes as well as a comic con table read. The latter being the most disappointing. They only read the first act of Pulling double booty and then pretty much show the rest of the episode as a slideshow and finally the coloured version. What be the point of this, says I. I want to watch the actors read out the lines and witness the audiences reaction. Otherwise I could just watch the episode on the same DVD. Also, Pulling double booty is an episode with a lot of action, that has to be described in a very uninteresting, almost bored way so maybe the episode wasn't a good choice to begin with. Then again, it would have been awesome to watch the beautiful Rachel McFarlane go apeshit in front of the microphone. No such luck. Also, is Mike Barker retarded or something? If he isn't why did he act like it at the table read?
Commentary isn't all that great, neither funny nor informative. Basically it is just listening to bunch of people watching an episode of American Dad, occasionally patting themselves on the back.
Still, while the set lacks in the features department, it's the episodes that count and in this regard, the set delivers in spades. After the abysmal Vol. 3, Vol. 4 is not only a return to form but actually the best American Dad to date. Almost every episode is worth watching, so I can recommend this one without hesitating. Hopefully they can keep this pace up and I'll be first in line for Vol. 5.
American Dad Vol. 4
The Vol. 3 DVD Set was the worst yet, mainly because Stan Smith had turn out to be the most despicable human being ever to star in a cartoon. When he wasn't abandoning his family to prove a point he abducted babies to prevent them from having to live with homosexuals. So it wasn't without a certain amount of sceptic that I picked up Vol. 4. Thankfully Vol. 4 shares none of the problems of Vol. 3, despite the fact that Vol. 4 once again contains episodes from two different seasons. The main reason why Vol. 4 is such a success is that the makers finally realized who the real star of the show is. There are a lot of episodes starring Roger and no matter how much screen time that little mean alien has, it is never enough. Seth McFarlane may have created the funniest cartoon character ever, even beating Stewie Griffin by a landslide. Let's take a look at the different episodes.
Tearjerker:
A James Bond parody where the American Dad cast is recast as typical Bondcharacters with Roger starring as the titular Tearjerker and his evil plot of creating the saddest movie ever. A brilliant story, playing to all the strengths of the characters in a different approach. Roger single-handedly makes the episode work.
Oedipal Panties:
We get to learn about Stans relationship with his mom which a somewhat predictable yet still funny plot twist. Stans once again does bad however his intentions are noble in this one. A good episode, not the best but good.
Widowmaker:
This episode focuses once again on Stan and Francine and deals with the age-old theme of spouses sharing. It is nice to see that sometimes Francine can be wrong and Stan can be right. Funny plot twist.
Red October Sky:
Steve for a change being the main character in this one along with Stan and one of his old rivals. Also great to see Toshi in action since he's is among the funniest side-characters. Stan has to deal with an old rival from his past while fighting for his sons love all the while preaching the benefits of capitalism.
Office Spaceman:
This is Roger at his best. There is absolutely nothing he won't do as long he thinks he gets something out of it, no matter how stupid it might sound to the thinking man. Here Roger takes the position of Nr. 1 alien hunter for the CIA, which should have you cracking up at the thought alone. Nothing short of epic.
Stanny Slickers II: The Legend of Ollie's Gold:
Not terrible, but worn out. Stan going for fame before realising his family is the most important. It's funnier than it sounds, but that age-old theme always bores a little.
Spring Break Up:
A great mix of storylines. While Roger tries to host the best spring-break ever Stan finds himself a spring-break buddy while Francine neglects him. Francine then gets helpful marriage advise from her Asian ma-ma whereas Steve tries to lose his virginity to Carmen Selectra... and almost succeeds. Stan acting a little more insecure than usual which is a bit out of character but for the overall plot, it works.
1600 Candles:
Steve is hitting puberty. Stan and Francine try everything at their disposal (which is nothing less than the CIA research department) to avoid having to face another one of their kids outbursts during puberty. Roger develops a hatred towards Steve as everyone seems to forget about his 1600. birthday over Steve's problems. Episode highlight: Francine trying to bribe the scientists at the CIA.
The one that got away:
With most of the family being busy playing Simon Says this episode belongs to Roger. And once again he does not disappoint. One of Roger's many personas develops a life of his own and Roger must face his greatest nemesis yet: Himself. Twenty minutes of brilliance.
One little word:
Oh yeah, in case you forget, Stan is CIA Agent and this episode acknowledges that fact, dealing with Stans relationship with his boss Avery Bullock (Patrick Stewart) and also... sigh... once again Stans marriage which is being put to the test when Bullock makes Stan his Nr. 1, a full-time job. Highlight: Stan and Bullock hitting the clubs. Maybe the best episode not featuring Roger.
Choosey wives choose Smith:
Stan getting insecure over Francine's ex-fiancé and plots a scheme to make sure Francine really loves him. Yes, that theme again, but thankfully Roger gets a lot of screen time to pick up the slack.
Escape from pearl bailey:
Dealing with Steve and only Steve this one is about typical 80's highschool-sitcom problems and about as much entertaining... which is mildly at best. They play with all the clichés you can think of but sadly that's all there ever is. A collection of clichés.
Pulling double booty:
The first and only episode about Stan and the difficult relationship with his daughter Hayley. To protect his daughter Stan decides to pick out her boyfriend but he finds himself in a tough spot when Hayley hooks up with his CIA body double. This one shows that not only is Rachel McFarlane is also a great voice actress but she along with her character Hayley can actually carry an entire episode and be unbelievably funny. Her song in this episode is priceless and one of the best moments on the DVD set.
The most adequate Christmas ever:
Sigh... more like the most adequate episode ever. This one is about and only about Stan learning a lesson and the lesson being the importance of his family. Seriously, why don't you give up? He's not gonna learn it. Not for long anyway. A couple of mild jokes can be found here but nothing will make you pause the DVD for a short breather. Very weak ending of an otherwise good collection of episodes.
Among the more negative sides are also the special features which include audio commentary, a couple featurettes as well as a comic con table read. The latter being the most disappointing. They only read the first act of Pulling double booty and then pretty much show the rest of the episode as a slideshow and finally the coloured version. What be the point of this, says I. I want to watch the actors read out the lines and witness the audiences reaction. Otherwise I could just watch the episode on the same DVD. Also, Pulling double booty is an episode with a lot of action, that has to be described in a very uninteresting, almost bored way so maybe the episode wasn't a good choice to begin with. Then again, it would have been awesome to watch the beautiful Rachel McFarlane go apeshit in front of the microphone. No such luck. Also, is Mike Barker retarded or something? If he isn't why did he act like it at the table read?
Commentary isn't all that great, neither funny nor informative. Basically it is just listening to bunch of people watching an episode of American Dad, occasionally patting themselves on the back.
Still, while the set lacks in the features department, it's the episodes that count and in this regard, the set delivers in spades. After the abysmal Vol. 3, Vol. 4 is not only a return to form but actually the best American Dad to date. Almost every episode is worth watching, so I can recommend this one without hesitating. Hopefully they can keep this pace up and I'll be first in line for Vol. 5.
