Third Rock From The Sun - Series 2 - Complete [1997] [DVD]

When a group of four extraterrestrial aliens assumed human form in order to study humanity, the results were hilarious on NBC's 1996-2001 sitcom "3rd Rock from the Sun". The unrelated traveling extraterrestrial foursome takes up residence in the fictional midwestern college town of Rutherford, Ohio. The "High Commander" (John Lithgow) takes on the identity of a father and college physics professor named Dick Solomon. The "Security Officer" (Kristen Johnston) takes on the female identity of Dick's sister Sally. The "Information Officer" (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) takes on the identity of Dick's son Tommy. The fourth alien (French Stewart) takes on the identity of Dick's brother Harry. Having never experienced life as human beings, the alien foursome quickly find that dealing with strange human feelings and senses can be very challenging. This was especially true for Sally, who, as a woman, experiences a greater array of emotions. Then, there's the human woman that inadvertently captures Dick's heart: a college professor by the name of Dr. Mary Margaret Albright (Jane Curtain). Dick falls madly in love with Mary, who for a long time has little interest in Dick's advances and thinks that Dick is a bit odd. Then there's Dick's human secretary Nina Campbell (Simbi Khali), who also thinks he's very odd. Other humans that the Solomon's frequently interact with are their eccentric landlady Mrs. Dubcek (Elmarie Wendel) and Police Officer Donald 'Don' Orville (Wayne Knight). Don becomes quite infatuated with Sally. Other humans that Dick interacts with frequently are the students in his physics classes. As regularly appearing guest actors, these include Leon (Ian Lithgow, John Lithgow's son), Bug Pollone (David DeLuise, the son of Dom DeLuise), Aubrey Pitman (Chris Hogan), Caryn (Danielle Nicolet) and Judith Draper (Ileen Getz).

The second season of "3rd Rock from the Sun" features the following 26 episodes:

1. "See Dick Run (2)". While Evil Dick hatches a plan to impregnate all women in Ohio, the original Dick remains trapped in the basement.

2. "See Dick Continue to Run, Continued (3)". After the real Dick is freed and overcomes Evil Dick, Dennis Rodman (who turns out to be an alien) escorts Evil Dick back to their home world.

3. "Hotel Dick". Aghast with how humans portray aliens in films, the Solomons attend a sci-fi convention to set the record straight. Sally gets hooked on room service.

4. "Big Angry Virgin From Outer Space". While Sally fights with Mr. Randall (John D'Aquino), Harry goes on a blind date after making a video and August (Shay Astar) tests Tommy's loyalty to her.

5. "Much Ado About Dick". Mary is afraid to let others know about her relationship with Dick, Sally wants to be a cop after meeting Don again and Tommy wants a car.

6. "Dick the Vote". Complications arise when Harry decides to run for city councilman.

7. "Fourth and Dick". While Dick learns about obsessions with football and Sally makes Nina her best friend, Tommy gets a crush on his glee club teacher.

8. "World's Greatest Dick". After Dick enrolls Tommy in a school for gifted children, Sally gets mistaken to be a drag queen.

9. "My Mother The Alien". Dick accidentally kills Mary's fish while taking care of her home.

10. "Gobble, Gobble, Dick, Dick". After Dick invites Mrs. Dubcek and her daughter Vicki (Jan Hooks) over for Thanksgiving dinner, sparks fly between Harry & Vicki.

11. "Dick Jokes". When Mary asks another professor to emcee an event she's organizing, Dick gets very jealous and tries to prove how funny he can be.

12. "Jolly Old St. Dick". For Christmas, Sally wraps presents at the mall where Harry gets a job assisting Santa while Tommy bemoans finding the perfect present for August.

13. "Proud Dick". Dick quits his university job after being denied a parking space, then works serving burgers to his former students. Harry gets amnesia and thinks aliens are taking over the world.

14. "Romeo & Juliet & Dick". Things go awry when Tommy asks Dick to direct their school production of "Romeo & Juliet".

15. "Guilty as Dick". After Dick sprains his ankle while helping Mary, he really plays it up. In the meantime, Harry moves into a tree house.

16. "Dick on One Knee". Sally accepts when a Frenchman (Jim Pirri) asks her to marry him so that he can stay in the country.

17. "Same Old Song and Dick". Dick thinks that he & Mary are getting into a rut.

18. "I Brake for Dick". Dick becomes a crazed animal rights activist after accidentally running over a chipmunk and Tommy gets into trouble with August.

19. "Dick Behaving Badly". Everyone accuses Dick being in Mary's control, but Harry offers to make him a man.

20. "Dickmalion". Dick becomes disillusioned after being accepted into high society when Mary isn't.

21. "Sensitive Dick". While Dick is forced to take sensitivity training, Don tries to teach Tommy how to drive and Harry takes Vicki to her high school reunion.

22. "Will Work For Dick". When Nina quits, Harry takes her secretarial job.

23. "Fifteen Minutes of Dick". Sally and the family learn what it means to be a celebrity after she beats up Mark Hamill (himself) in a restaurant.

24. "Dick and the Single Girl". A shy librarian (Christine Baranski) is attracted to Dick and Sally realizes that she's attracted to Don for his uniform.

25 & 26. "A Nightmare on Dick Street (1 & 2)". When Dick suffers a nightmare after asking Mary to marry him because she wants to go to Borneo for a year, the rest of the family returns home for maintenance.

Overall, I rate the second season of "3rd Rock from the Sun" with a resounding 5 out of 5 stars and highly recommend it.

When "3rd Rock From The Sun" arrived in the spring of 1996, it was like a breath of fresh air amist the plethora of Seinfeld-clone sitcoms which littered the tv landscape. Led by the wonderful John Lithgow, "3rd Rock" achieved a kind of brilliant lunacy.

While the first season had it's share of hit 'n miss episodes, the second season was solid and funnier with the cast more comfortible in their zany roles. From the opening two-parter ("See Dick Run"...you'll notice that almost ALL the episodes have "Dick" in the title) that set the tone for rest of the season through such glorious highlights as "Big Angry Virgin From Outer Space", "World's Greatest Dick" has John Lithgow go completely nuts over the football team (just wonderful) & the introduction of the great Jan Hooks in "Gobble, Gobble, Dick, Dick", this is a season not to be missed for the devoted 3rd Rock fan.

However, there are a couple of things I need to warn you about, the first concerns the season-ending two parter "A Nightmare on Dick Street" which has the wonderful 3-D scenes. The original presentation was of a single, hour long show (I know since I still have the original airing on NBC) and this two-parter is from the syndicated release, meaning that there are small sections CUT from the original show. This is rather unusual since I expect all episodes to be shown without syndicated cuts. Since I do not have other Season 2 episodes on tape, it's possible that the entire season may be the "syndicated" variety and not the way the show was originally aired.

Also, the box cover claims that there is an alternative ending to the 3-D episode...WHERE? I've gone through all the extras and have watched the episodes in their entirety and yet have not found this "alternate ending". If it does exists, it is not easy to find.

Speaking of the extras, they are fairly plentiful (especially compared to the recent "Frasier" releases). Including a new interview with John Lithgow, two wonderful sets of BLOOPERS! (which are really great), a short "behind the scenes" look at the 3-D episode, and an unnecessary "highlights" reel. Also included are a booklet with extracts from the cutsey "3rd Rock" books which convey the "alien" look at Earth culture and a set of 3-D glasses. Plus, as a completely useless bit, you can press a concealed button on the box which plays a short bit from Dick saying "nananananana...you're a winner!". Well, "3rd Rock" could be a very silly show, so I guess the button just reflects that attitude.

Given the modest price, I'm a glad I purchased this set, although I am unhappy with the way the 3-D episode (frankly, that episode is one of the highlights for ALL sitcoms of the 90's) was presented. I hope that future releases avoid using the syndicated episodes and use the original airings.

Not to repeat all the wonderful points made by other reviewers, this second season of 3rd Rock is even funnier than the first. With topflight writing, and a brilliant ensemble cast performing before a live audience, this season contains some of the highlights of the entire series. Just some of the things to look out for:

In "Much Ado About Dick", the penultimate cocktail party at the Dean's house is a veritable hoot culminating in Dick singing "Night and Day" at the piano with Sally, Tommy and Harry backing him up in full harmony;

In "Dick and the Single Girl", the great Christine Baransky sings the wonderful and sultry "You've Awakened My Passion, Dick Solomon" (and her reference to Nikolai Lobachevsky is a wry nod to Tom Lehrer and his song "Lobachevsky");

And in the wonderful two-part season finale, "Nightmare on Dick Street", the dream sequences are utterly delicious: Dick's nightmare sequence-- where his captors and he run into the expressionistic backdrop, and Jane Curtin does her wonderful Marlene Dietrich impression ("First I sing a song I wrote this morning: Falling in love again...")and Dick faces the Mother of All Jellos; Sally's is a delicious Fellini movie -- at times in Italian with subtitles-- and she later delivers the precious line, "I could never give myself to poultry..."; Tommy's is expressionistic and includes his music teacher seducing him to the strains of "Bali Hai"; and Harry's is a delightful musical comedy dance number to the Randy Newman song, "Life Has Been Good to Me"-- and he is a terrific dancer!

And the extras are great, especially the Season Two Bloopers, which are hilarious. All in all, a wonderful release! I can't wait for Season Three (which if I recall begins with Tommy, Sally and Harry returning with the Big Giant Head's niece, whom He commands to be Dick's wife-- played by Roseann Barr).