Fury - The Complete Series 1 [DVD]

For those of us who long for the DVD Collector's Series of "Fury" (the story of a horse and the boy who loved him), this set will have to do for now.

All four episodes in this set are from the earliest shows of the series and the good news is that the pilot episode is up first (the other episodes are 'the Stranger who claims to be Joey's real Father', 'the rabid dog bite' episode and 'the white mare and Joey's jealousy').

The artwork is true to the series with the familiar shot of Bobby Diamond posing with "Fury" (from a later season of the show) and this is a sweet little collectible.

Unfortunately, this set appears to be an old video of an old film transferred to DVD. Fortunately, for fans of the show, the quality is not unlike the television quality a child sitting down to watch reruns of "Fury" in the 1960's would have seen.

I saw "Fury" reruns in the late 1960's and the early 1970's on KTVI-TV, Channel 2, in St. Louis, Missouri at 7:15 a.m. weekdays where it ran for many years after "The Lone Ranger" at 6:45 a.m.

This series originally ran five seasons on NBC (1955-60) and was so hugely popular it ran another six years in reruns on NBC followed by years of syndicated reruns before it disappeared along with most other black-and-white rerun series during American television's strange 1970's obsession with all-color programming.

Bobby Diamond grounded the show with his infectious love for "Fury" and was an apparently gracious actor who worked well with potential show rival kid characters "Pee Wee" and later "Packy" who no doubt came in as the series progressed to give very young viewers someone to relate to as "Joey" aged into adolescence.

The cast was uniformly excellent and the writing fun and always enjoyable.

The episode "The Tornado" (not on this set) is downright exciting and the same is true of many of the series highlights.

Unlike many TV shows for kids, "Fury" always seemed to avoid the traps of oddball camp, excessive sentiment, cartoon violence and, most important, avoided boring stories throughout the run.

"Fury" extolled masculine pursuits and male role models.

"Fury" himself was certainly symbolic of Joey's inner healthy pride and strength as both "Fury" and Joey made a journey from lost orphans to positions of strength and happiness.

With the coming of DVD series collections, we can hope that "Fury" will one day be available on an extensive collection on DVD (it will no doubt be a great hit).

The series grew up and developed through the run and if anyone could see all of the episodes in succession, "Fury" would be assured legions of new fans.

"Fury" could and should be remembered as one of the best and brightest American Television shows ever produced for children (and adults).

First of all, "hats off" to Alpha Video for bringing this series to DVD. For most of us "baby boomers" who fondly remember "Fury", this is like finding buried treasure. I can only hope that the rest of the episodes will eventually be released. The video transfer is good, considering this series will mark it's 50th anniversary in October (2005). There is a video "glitch" in the second episode and some lines in the fourth episode, but this could be an age factor, however it's acceptable. Veteran actor, Denver Pyle ("Dukes Of Hazzard"), appears in the second episode. In the fourth episode, Ken Osmond, (two years before he made Eddie Haskell a household name), makes one of his first appearances in front of the camera. For the price and memories..it's a winner!..and you won't have to go through the trauma of looking at an old TV test pattern before it comes on,... like some of us did so long ago on Saturday mornings.

To all fans of Fury. The complete show of Fury (almost 120 shows) is avaible in Germany amazon.de. You have the choice between a set or 5 boxes. The audio sound is german and english. All you need is a regional code free multi dvd player. Enjoy.