Mork and Mindy”, the second series to spinoff from Producer Garry Marshall’s “Happy Days” has arrived in an impressive season one DVD set from Paramount.
The series introduced Academy Award Winner Robin Williams as the zany and lovable Alien Mork from the planet Ork. Mork has been sent by his leader Orson, to study the Earth and report back his findings. Mork travels to Earth via a flying egg and lands in Boulder Colorado where he meets up with an attractive student named Mindy (Pam Dawber). Mork soon confesses his true identity to Mindy who is fascinated by the idea of being from another world and invites Mork to stay with her while he is on Earth. Naturally this does cause some issues especially with Mindy’s conservative father (Conrad Janice), who is not going to be happy with the idea of a man living with his daughter.
Mork also has issues as things that we take for granted are completely alien to him and he has to learn not to do things like sit on his head or drink with his finger if he is going to fit in. The 24 episodes of the first season establish the relationship between Mork and Mindy as well as the side players in the series. Many of the storylines center around simple misunderstandings as Mork attempts to make sense of a culture that is so different from his own and starts to experience emotions that have long vanished from his society.
Aside from the great chemistry between Williams and Dawber, the set has some great guest appearances such as Morgan Fairchild, Penny Marshall, Henry Winkler, and David Letterman. The real star of the show is of course Williams whose frantic manner and array of voices and characters were revolutionary at the time and made him a star overnight after years of working comedy clubs.
The sound and picture of the series as are the episodes as there is not a bad episode in the bunch. I had watched the show when it first aired, and now that I am older, I not only still enjoy the show, but I see what a true classic it was and how it was a show that did not always get enough credit for what it brought to the air. It is truly one of the funniest shows in the history of television and one of the few comedies that can be enjoyed by family members of all ages.
The only issue I had with the collection and I am sure it will be resolved in future, was the lack of any bonus materials such as interviews, behind the scenes and so on as only the episodes were contained on the disk, that being said, season one is a great look back at a classic series with many great volumes to come.
4.5 stars out of 5
