Product Description

Gemini Award Winner for Best Dramatic Series. Featuring 26 Episodes. Due South is a lightning-paced action/comedy in which a quintessential, polite, by-the-book Canadian Mountie from the frozen North is teamed up with a wise-cracking Armani-clad Chicago cop with a flexible sense of morality. Brought together in the Windy City by a mysterious murder which has personal ramifications for both men, these unlikely buddies must find a common ground amidst overwhelming differences.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #24279 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-11-11
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Color, DVD, NTSC, Original recording remastered
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 4
• Running time: 1108 minutes

Customer Reviews

Four for the season, but three for the DVDs
There are two camps in the DS fandom: those who fangirl the "real" Ray from the first two seasons (played by David Marciano) and those who adore Ray Kowalski (Callum Keith Rennie) from the last season. This DVD set is the last, third season (as seen in the US, instead of broken into two seasons as it was in other countries) and depending on which camp you fall into, you'll either love it or hate it.

The DVDs themselves are only of average quality, not really what you'd expect from a professional DVD release. More like something that you'd find on VHS. There aren't any good features, either, and CKR is nowhere to be found on the box. But on the other hand, the entire third season is here. No having to buy a whole other box set just to get the last few eps.

As for the show itself, it definitely took a different turn in the last season. I thought it started taking itself less seriously in most eps (there were exceptions for character development) and with Paul Gross at the helm as both actor and producer, it took more chances. Supernatural story lines (not out of the realm of believability, considering that the ghost of Fraser's dead father has been hanging around since the first season), Fraser becoming a bit more "superhero-like" in his abilities (which I saw as tongue-in-cheek, not bad writing), and most definitely a nod to fans of slash with major subtext between Fraser and Kowalski. (Something that pleased CKR fans, but made "real" ray fans do Linda Blair _Exorcist_ impressions; major split in the fandom.)


Paul Gross put more fun in the third season and yes, the writing could get wacky, as could the acting, but they were all having fun and if you look at it from that angle, you get a good laugh out of it. The finale is probably one of the best parts (aside from the two-part "Mountie on the Bounty"). It took that wackiness to a new level with the "resolutions" of the characters (the actors got to decide how they wanted their characters to end up), and best of all (depending on your view point), Fraser and Kowalski actually do ride off into the sunset together. In a dog sled. With Stan Rogers' "Northwest Passage" playing in the background.

Sweet? Funny? Just plain bad? It's all a matter of opinion, but whichever you choose, it's not dull. Due South never failed to be exciting and surprising, and the third season was a good example.

Don't Disparage the Canadian Release
True, the US sets are cheaper than the Canada sets (though if you buy the canada sets from Amazon.ca, they're LOTS cheaper than buying them as imports from Amazon.com). True, the Canadian sets have difficult packaging (DVD overlay and spindles that require a lot of pressure before you can pop out the disk without risk of damage). True the first two Canadian season sets use the dreaded "flipper" (2-sided) disks. True what we saw in the US as a third season of 22 (missing four episodes, by the way) was produced and broadcast in Canada as two seasons of 13 each -- and the third and fourth DVD sets are released separately too. (Does the US "third season" set have all 26?) And most ironic truth of all: if I'd known that by waiting, I'd have gotten all three sets cheaper from an American distributor, I'd've taken that route too.

However -- the Canadian sets feature pristine transfers. (I've read that the US sets use videotape as the masters; I'm not sure where this info comes from, but it doesn't make sense that the masters would be any different than what the Alliance sets drew upon, since they license the material.) The Canadian sets feature disks running at the highest speed. (The American disks are single sided because they jam twice the normal amount of eps. per side, and run at a slower speed. That, it seems to me, would account for VHS-like resolution.) The Canadian sets, for whatever it's worth, do feature accurate packaging (the right cast members listed and featured in illustrations). And finally --

-- small thing though it may be --

-- the Caniadian Final (4th) Season set does have a small but utterly delightful extra. Paul Gross does a running commentary for both parts of CALL OF THE WILD. I can live without most commentary tracks I hear, but this is one you'll return to. It's witty, wryly funny and thoughtfully observed.

I won't tell you not to save the dough on the American release, I empathize ... I'll only tell you, the Canadian sets have more vibrant sound and video. And in the end, it's what's ON the DVD that matters the most ... isn't it?

Season three, *all* of it
Ignore what the cover looks like, this is season three with CKR as Ray (Kowalski). And it's season three the way those of us in the US saw it, as one big season, not broken up into two seasons.

Once again, don't go looking for anything in the way of features; it's just the episodes and the quality could be better. But for the money and for the chance to finally have the season the way you saw it instead of having to buy two seperate sets, it's well worth getting.