Alan Spencer, creator of Sledge Hammer!, is evidence that young minds are impressionable. After watching Dirty Harry on the big screen he thought it would be funny to combine the seriousness of the Dirty Harry character with the destructive "talents" of Maxwell Smart (Get Smart). The result is Sledge Hammer!, a police satire featuring over-the-top violence and destruction. A 16 year old Spencer shopped the script around Hollywood, resulting in comments like, "One must seriously wonder about the state of mind of this writer," and "the work of someone with serious mental problems." Eight years later Spencer was approached by HBO and hired to turn his screenplay into a half hour comedy. The result shocked the HBO executives, and they turned down the show. ABC, being last in the ratings, was willing to take a risk with the series, and ended up picking it up. The language had to be toned down for network TV, but the violence was left intact. David Rasche was cast as Sledge, which was perfect since Spencer had written the part for him after reading reviews of a play he was in years before. Anne-Marie Martin, as Detective Dori Doreau, served as a Ying to Hammer's Yang. She provided the audience with someone they could relate to... someone who was sane. Hammer often stressed out his boss, Captain Trunk (Harrison Page), causing the Captain to yell and scream, often resulting in migraines. The show lasted for 2 seasons, before being killed in the ratings by a little show called The Cosby Show.
The show gained a cult following, and now it'll get even bigger with the release of this set from Anchor Bay Entertainment. The set features all 22 episodes from season 1, along with a ton of special features. The best feature; the lack of the laugh track! The set is packaged in an attractive case with a booklet tucked inside.
Although I've never seen Sledge before, I've been excited about this DVD release for a while. Everyone that has seen the show loves it, and they'll recommend it to others, so when I started receiving emails like, "Thanks for the Sledge news! I love that show!" it piqued my interest. It also helps out a set when the creator of the show is as accessible as Alan Spencer is. Just drop by the Sledge message board and you'll find posts from Alan talking about the set and how excited he is that it's being released. How could I not get caught up in the excitement? I was happy to find that the set lived up to the hype, and now I can recommend it to others.
Video
I found the video for this release very hard to grade. There are some episodes that look wonderful and should have scored an 8, but there are others that are poorer quality and should have scored a 6. Then there are the rest which sit somewhere between 6 and 8; it's a little number I like to call 7. The pilot concerned me a little because it was a bit soft, contained what appeared to be edge-enhancement, and looked a bit rough. The episodes after that looked better; a bit sharper, no edge-enhancement, and a nicer-looking picture, but it still contained some noise. I think my biggest complaint would be the noise in the image, and the lack of a chapter placed after the opening of the show (the episodes don't contain chapters). The opening credits are interesting, but I'd prefer an easy way to skip over them. Thankfully the discs contain a "play all" feature so you can get a hefty dose of Hammer in one sitting.
Audio
The English stereo track for this release is fairly plain, yet decent quality. There's a slight hiss to the soundtrack, but it isn't too noticeable. The voices sound slightly flat, lacking the depth of a current production. I also found the audio slightly quiet, forcing me to turn up my receiver louder than usual. The set isn't captioned or subtitled, leaving the hearing impaired out-of-luck for this release.
These episodes have been altered - the laugh track has been removed! I wondered what the show would be like with the laugh track intact, and got my answer while watching the featurettes. It's much, much nicer having the episodes without the laugh track!
Commentary with Alan Spencer
Alan Spencer comments on the show, and everything else. He takes shots at other shows, himself, and anything else that pops into his head. His commentary tracks are almost as entertaining as the episodes themselves. Listen to these tracks and try to hear Alan takes breaths - he doesn't do it very often! Get the man a glass of water. The final episode proves to be the most interesting track of them all. There are commentary tracks for: "Under the Gun," "Witless," "All Shook Up" and "The Spa Who Loved Me." I had two small issues with the commentary tracks; when I selected "play all" on the first disc the commentary for "Witless" played, and when I tried to play the commentary for the pilot by going through the menu it didn't work (I pressed the "audio" button on my remote to turn it on).
Sledge Hammer - Go Ahead, Make Me Laugh! (31:43)
A great featurette! Alan Spencer and the cast talk about the show, from its first inception at HBO, getting picked up by ABC, the characters, and a ton of other stuff. There are also clips that include the laugh-track, and they sound horrible! Alan Spencer (creator), David Rasche (Sledge Hammer), Anne-Marie Martin (Dori Doreau) and Harrison Page (Captain Trunk) were interviewed for this featurette.
Pilot - Unaired Version (30:21)
This is the unaired, longer pilot, featuring a different theme and an introduction from Alan Spencer.
Electronic Press Kit (5:45)
Alan Spencer and David Rasche comment on the show in this 1986 press kit. Alan Spencer provides an introduction to the piece.
TV Spots (2:20)
There are 5 TV spots for the show.
TV Bumper (0:08)
A bumper that would air before the TV commercials.
Alan Spencer's Message to Critics (1:54)
Alan Spencer pleas for viewers in this message sent to critics via audio tape (remember those?).
Still & Memorabilia Gallery (88 images)
88 images, including photos of the cast, memorabilia, advertisements, storyboards, and more.
Scripts
Put disc 4 in your DVD player and you'll find ABC and HBO scripts for the pilot.
Booklet
The booklet comes in an internal affairs file folder and contains a nice history of the show, and Sledge's list of appointments. My only complain is that the packaging doesn't contain a flap to hold this, so it's loose.
Thank You (2 screens)
Thanks to people that made this release possible.
Summary
I must say that I'm very impressed with this set. Obvious care and attention were given to it, and the result is outstanding. In fact, I think this could be the nicest TV set Anchor Bay has released. Entertaining commentary tracks, no laugh track, a good featurette with cast interviews, the unaired pilot, TV spots, photos, scripts and an attractive booklet... I wonder if they can keep this up for season 2.
If you want to laugh, but you hate the standard network sitcom then you'll want to take a look at Sledge Hammer!: Season 1. "Trust me, I know what I'm doing." (you knew I had to put that in the review somewhere).
