Official Synopsis:
Soap takes viewers into the homes of not one but two of the most dysfunctional families ever -- the wealthy Tates and the blue-collar Campbells. Their lives are larger than life and with some of the craziest cast of characters ever: sarcastic butlers, a World War II hero who’s still thinks he’s living in the 1940s and a husband who once thought he could make himself invisible. Secrets, scandals and bizarre mishaps abound as the two class-divided families try to co-exist.
  
Our Take:
Soap: The Complete Series is one of two “Complete Series” sets that Sony has just released, and it’s a pretty impressive affair. Packaged in their space-saver box, the set delivers 90 episodes of Soap-y goodness on 12 discs, all in a case about an inch-and-a-half thick. So instead of four cumbersome box sets on your shelf, with this set you can have the entirety of the show in one spot in about the same amount of space just one of the seasons would have previously taken up. As I’ve stated before, I’m pleased to see Sony making space/cost innovations like this.

Of course, the fact that the set is for a really terrific show doesn’t hurt any, either. Soap was a bit before my time, and while it’s clearly a little bit dated you can’t deny what a fun show it is and how groundbreaking it was for its time. Not only did it launch Billy Crystal, Robert Guillaume, Katherine Helmond, and Richard Mulligan to varying levels of fame, the show broke taboos (the first openly gay character on TV is a major watershed) that paved the way for the Will & Grace’s and The L Word’s of today.

Unfortunately, Sony has decided not to include any new features with their complete series sets, but that’s kind of a bonus for fans of the show who previously bought the individual season releases. They don’t have to shell out a whole ‘nother chunk of change to get extras they weren’t treated to the first time around.

Soap: The Complete Series doesn’t reinvent the DVD or anything, but it’s a nice innovation for TV-on-DVD that I hope to see more of in the future. For those of you who didn’t pick up Soap the first time around, now there’s really no excuse not to.

Overall Picture:
Movie: B+
DVD set: B

- Mike Spring

Editor