Beverly Hills 90210: The Ultimate Collection DVD review

Aug 18, 2021- Permalink

After an extensive logistical/shipping delay, I finally received my review copy of Paramount’s new DVD release, Beverly Hills 90210: The Ultimate Collection. The box set, spread over 74 discs, includes all 290 episodes of Beverly Hills 90210 as well as the 2019 six episode series BH90210, which reunited the cast except for the late Luke Perry.

Beverly Hills 90210 was a slow starter, but when Fox started airing new episodes in the summer of 1991, when the other networks were airing reruns, the show caught fire and became a huge hit with teens and young adults. At the beginning of the series, it followed Midwest teens Brandon and Brenda Walsh (Jason Priestly and Shannon Doherty) as they moved to a new city and high school in Beverly Hills, where they met fellow students Kelly (Jennie Garth), Dylan (Luke Perry), David (Brian Austin Green), Steve (Ian Ziering), Andrea (Gabrielle Carteris) and Donna (Tori Spelling). Over the seasons some cast members like Doherty and Carteris left, while the show progressed to the college and post-college years and the cast expanded to include such names as Tiffani-Amber Thiessen, Kathleen Robertson, Vincent Young, Lindsay Price, Daniel Cosgrove, Vanessa Marcil, and Hilary Swank. Over the years, the characters survived more thrills, dangers and challenges then an entire community usually does.

The BH90210 reunion series saw the cast reunite to play heightened versions of themselves as the actors try to get a reboot going while old attractions and battles simmer below the surface.

The original series is presented in its original 4:3 aspect ratio, with BH90210 presented in 16:9. The original series is obviously the softer looking of the two. This is not a remastered set and the earlier seasons of the original series aren’t as clean looking as the later seasons. Again, this isn’t a high definition Blu-ray or HDR-enhanced 4K, so don’t expect the colours to pop but it doesn’t look too bad and if you were a fan in the Nineties, you get to ogle the fashion choices made back then. BH90210 was of course shot in HD and downscaled for this release, so it does look a lot sharper and more colourful than the original series.

On the audio side, the original series has a Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo track, while BH90210 has a Dolby Digital 5.1 track that obviously makes some limited use of your surrounds. Subtitles are available in English SDH.

On the extras side, there’s the usual mix of commentaries, interview and promo segements, and bloopers that appeared on releases throughout the years.

If you’re a fan of the show and don’t want to be subject to the come-and-go licensing deals of streaming services then you’ll probably want to add Beverly Hills 90210: The Ultimate Collection to your home entertainment library.