Tim Minear

DVD Review: Wonderfalls : The Complete Viewer Collection

Over the past five years, Fox Broadcasting has had a reputation developing innovative and original series. Unfortunately, the “powers that be” at Fox have a tendency of running their new shows directly against the other networks’ heavy hitters, or bouncing them from one timeslot to another so that the show can never develop a following. Then after only a handful of episodes, the show is cancelled for lack of performances. It happened with “Firefly,” “Undeclared,” “Arrested Development” (okay that show got two seasons), “John Doe,” and it happened to an incredible little one-hour drama-edy show called: “Wonderfalls.”

Before I get going on this laugh inducing delight of a show, I need to admit that I never watched “Wonderfalls” while it was on television for the reasons mentioned above. With the quick release of “Firefly” on DVD, I figured that there would be a better than average chance that the show would find its way to DVD quickly.

The Show

Jaye Tyler (Caroline Dhavernas) is a member of the disaffected twenty-something generation, who has chosen to forsake her ivy-league education and upper-middleclass lifestyle to live in a trailer park. She’s content, if not happy, spending her days working as a sales clerk in a Niagara Falls souvenir shop, and her nights with her best friend Mahandra (Tracie Thoms) at the local watering-hole flirting with the new bartender (Tyron Leitso). Jaye’s straightforward underachiever lifestyle takes a change for the weird when inanimate objects begin talking to her. Each episode begins with one of the creatures’ cryptic messages setting into motion a bizarre chain of events that will inevitably change Jaye’s life, and the lives of everyone around her.

The Episodes

Please note the actual episode descriptions were provided by 20th Century Fox.

Wax Lion

Jaye thinks she’s going insane after a defective wax lion and a brass monkey begin telling her to do things - and she actually finds herself doing them!

Episode Rating/Thoughts: 5 Stars. This episode was absolutely hysterical. The banter in the dialogue is a joy to experience its on par with the best writing of Aaron Sorkin (The American President, West Wing: Season 1) and Joss Whedon (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, FireFly).

Pink Flamingos

Too many voices telling her what to do results in Jaye backing the family car over her father, then causing a high school classmate’s husband to have a car accident.

Episode Rating/Thoughts: 4 Stars. Once again the writing and delivery do not disappoint. There is a great moment in this episode when we progress through the husband’s entire life through a series of photographs that I found to be very touching for a character destined never to be seen again.

Karma Chameleon

It’s like Single White Female all over again when the young girl who Jaye helps get back on her feet slowly begins to assume Jaye’s identity.

Episode Rating/Thoughts: 5 Stars. This episode features one of the most hilarious confrontations in television history, making reverence to just about every major serial killer movie in the past two decades. My wife and I were laughing so hard, that we had to rewind the DVD and watch the scene again, as to appreciate all of the dialogue.

Wound-Up Penguin

Jaye becomes the subject of an exorcism after she tries to help a nun rediscover her faith by sharing her own experience with the talking inanimate objects.

Episode Rating/Thoughts: 4 Stars. Wound-Up Penguin was a bit slow in the second act, but was successful at fleshing out the characters of Jaye and Eric (Tyron Leitso, the cute bartender) and hinting at the possibility of some real romance between the series leads.

Crime Dog

Jaye gets into trouble at the Canadian border after a ceramic cow creamer on her parents’ kitchen table tells her to help their illegal Canadian housekeeper.

Episode Rating/Thoughts: 4 stars. This episode delved deeper into Jaye’s relationship with her family, specifically her love/hate relationship with her sister Sharon. Although the writing wasn’t as sharp as in previous episodes, I still rate it 4 stars for a moment of cinematic brilliance of a scene dealing with the Canadian border.

Muffin Buffalo

Jaye can’t stand it that every time she does what the voices tell her to do, the results make her out as a hero or a wonderful person.

Episode Rating/Thoughts: 3 Stars. Eddie Kaye Thomas (American Pie) shows up on this episode as “Fat Pat”, a recluse living in Jaye’s trailer park. Although a good episode, it just didn’t live up to the brilliance of the first handful of episodes.

Barrel Bear

If Jaye is awed to meet the first woman who survived the plunge over Niagara Falls, she’s shocked when another woman says she’s the one who really went over.

Episode Rating/Thoughts: 2 Stars. This episode just didn’t measure up to the previous episodes in the series, suffering from the mid-season slump that most television series suffer.

Lovesick Ass

Jaye finds parallels between her relationship with Eric and that of a Russian mail order bride, whose prospective husband is a thirteen-year-old boy.

Episode Rating/Thoughts: 4 Stars. I use to work for a boss, who always talked about ordering a bride from Russia. This episode made me smile, and enjoy a trip down memory lane. The story moves along at a good clip, and there is a hysterical seen involving Jaye’s sister and the mail order bride. And although the episode touches upon some very serious subject matters, the episodes overall tone remained light hearted.

Safety Canary

/When a Lovesick Ass doll tells Jaye to “save the lovebirds,” it could mean Sharon (Katie Finneran) and Beth (Kari Matchett), the two macaws at the zoo, or Eric and his estranged wife, Heidi (Jewel Staite). /

Episode Rating/Thoughts: 3 Stars. This episode primarily focuses fleshing out the romantic relationships of Jaye and her three siblings. Overall, not a bad episode, the writing was smart and funny; however, I just wasn’t able to get into the plot of this episode.

Lying Pig

While Eric’s wife tries to win him back, Jaye’s father innocently allows his wife to go out to dinner with a handsome doctor.

Episode Rating/Thoughts: 3 Stars. Not much to say about this episode, it just furthers the triangle created by Jaye, Eric, and Eric’s wife.

Cocktail Bunny

When a cocktail bunny tells Jaye to “save him from her” and the brass monkey says “she’s going to kill him,” Jaye becomes convinced Heidi is planning to murder Eric.

Episode Rating/Thoughts: 5 Stars. Misunderstanding is the name of the game for this episode, as Jaye totally misinterprets the clues given to her leading to some outrageously funny moments. I laughed hard, and I laughed often in one of the final episodes of the series. It is worth noting that the creators of the show are beginning to wrap up lose storylines of series throughout this episode.

Totem Mole

An American Indian Woman on the Satsuma Reservation is convinced that Jaye has come there in order to “silence the voices” forever.

Episode Rating/Thoughts: 4 Stars. The episode, although not the strongest in the series, deals with Jaye coming to terms with the role of the inanimate friends in her life. All the humor in this episode is derived by an ongoing rivalry between Sharon (Jaye’s sister) and the Satsuma’s legal council.

Caged Bird

A bank robber takes the store workers at “Wonderfalls” hostage just as Jaye and Eric are supposed to meet to say their final good-byes.

Episode Rating/Thoughts: 5 Stars. This episode handled the conclusion of the series by masterfully blending humor and drama, resulting in a fulfilling conclusion.

The DVD

Video

I was a little disappointed in the video transfer of “Wonderfalls,” there is quite of bit of grain in the outdoor shots of the video. Furthermore, the quality of video sometimes changes in scenes involving multiple cameras during dialogue scene. One character will be crystal clear on screen, but when the scene cuts to another character the image quality is much poorer. There is also evidence of edge enhancement, and some noticeable artifacting on disc three. The whole video transfer process seems a bit rushed on this collection. However, I’m willing to cut the collection a little slack for two reason. First, this is a DVD collection of a series that was canceled after only four episodes, so I can’t really expect the studio to put a lot of effort into the DVD set. And second, the overall quality in writing and acting in this series is so engaging that you’re almost unaware of the video itself.

Also, each episode is presented in anamorphic widescreen, not that it does very much for a series shot for regular TV.

Sound

Viewers have the option of Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound which was sounded lovely, but really does nothing for the series. The dialogue through the show was clear and sharp, a welcome change from several DVDs I’ve viewed in recent history.

Special Features

I was surprised at the number of special features added to this DVD Collection. It’s obvious that whoever put this collection together had a lot of love for the series, and took their time assembling interesting material for this ill fated series.

Disk 1 offers a genuinely interesting documentary titled; “Greetings from ‘Wonderfalls’” that intertwines cast and crew interviews with audition tapes. Viewing this 25 minute feature I was once again impressed by the amount of love and thought that went into this series. It was also nice hearing about some of the ideas the creators where hopping to work into a story arc they had loosely planned out over three or four season. Disk two offers a five minute visual effects featurette, that wasn’t much to right home about, and should have been included in the “Greetings from ‘Wonderfalls’” documentary.

There are six commentary tracks spread across this three disc collection featuring series creators; Brian Fuller and Todd Holland along with series stars; Katie Finneran and Carolina Dhavernas. Listening to these commentaries, I realized something important, stars should never be allowed onto commentary tracks. Finneran and Dhavernas didn’t say very much during the six hours of commentary, and really faded into the background. DVD producers need to understand that most people who listen to commentary tracks, do so to gain a better understand of the creative process behind the series. That being said, a Brian Fuller and Todd Holland contribution to the commentary tracks where interesting and engaging. A must listen too for anyone who like to better understand the creative motivations behind “Wonderfalls.”

The recipient of the “what were they thinking” award goes to a music video included in this collection. I wasn’t honestly able to watch it all the way through, the production value was terrible and totally soiled something that was meant to be light hearted and funny.

Time for a small confession, when I picked up the box for “Wonderfalls” I had no idea what the series was about, it was so short lived on Fox that it never crossed my path. In truth, the only reason I gave “Wonderfalls” a second look at the store was the cover art, which struck me as funny. Who wouldn’t be curious about a DVD with an attractive girl on the cover looking through a view master? The view master theme continues through the collection from the DVDs themselves, decorated to look like view master cartridges, to a cute view master transition between scenes.

Final Thoughts

“Wonderfalls” is an insanely funny television show that isn’t for everyone. If you liked “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”, “Ally McBeal”, or “Dead Like Me” then this series is for you. Each episode is surprisingly strong and walks the fine line between comedy and drama.