Beauty and the Beast

Beauty and the Beast - The Complete Series

Once upon a time is now and forever: Beauty and the Beast: The Third Season of the Emmy Award-winning, fan favorite show is more captivating than ever in this 3-disc collectible set. This unique fantasy-crime drama series features the adventures and romance between Vincent, a mythic, noble man-beast and Catherine, a savvy assistant DA in New York. These two share a strong, mystical bond that enables Vincent while in his underground lair to sense whenever Catherine is in danger in the World Above. In the powerful final season, Catherine, pregnant with Vincent¹s child, becomes a victim to a murderous drug-lord who steals her baby from her after she gives birth. Drawing strength from the everlasting love and unbreakable bond he and Catherine share, Vincent relentlessly pursues her killer, determined to bring him to justice and to rescue their child.

Beauty and the Beast - The Complete First Season

"Once upon a time... in the city of New York." So begins this unique fantasy-crime series. Catherine (Emmy nominee Linda Hamilton, The Terminator) is an assistant DA who's attacked one night by strangers. When she wakes up, her face is covered in bandages. Someone named Vincent (Golden Globe winner Ron Perlman) has been taking care of her in his home beneath the subway. When she removes the dressing, she finds that he's a man-beast, but fear turns to trust when she becomes convinced he has her best interests at heart. As she states in the introduction, "We have a bond stronger than friendship or love." As the season unfolds, Vincent frequently comes to Catherine's assistance. As an empath, he knows instinctively when she's in trouble. When he needs help, Vincent turns to Father (Roy Dotrice), the doctor who raised him after he was abandoned at the hospital after he was born. His origins are unknown. Together, Catherine and Vincent are like the detectives of Remington Steele, except no one knows she's part of a team, since they're only able to meet in secret. Vincent's underground companions, however, get to know Catherine well. Just as Vincent comes to her aid as needed, she does the same for his community.

Although Beauty and the Beast has little in common with the Jean Cocteau film or Disney animated picture, the appeal is similar. Cynics may find these do-gooders sentimental, especially when Catherine utters lines like, "And although we cannot be together, we will never, ever be apart." But romantics made the CBS drama successful--at least until Hamilton left in the second year--and launched the Emmy-nominated Perlman into cult favorites like The City of Lost Children. Oscar winner Rick Baker (An American Werewolf in London) also deserves credit for his convincing make-up effects. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Beyond Beauty and The Beast

The Soundtrack

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More TV Series on DVD for the First Time

The Beauty and the Beast TV show was a fantasy series about a man-beast (Vincent) and his love for a beautiful assistant district attorney (Catherine Chandler). Vincent lived in an underground world beneath New York City where his gruesome looks were less important to his peers than were his caring and benevolent personality. Together Vincent and Catherine had many adventures both above and below ground level and their love for each other continued to grow.System Requirements:Run Time: 1066 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 097360382044 Manufacturer No: 038204

Beauty and the Beast - The Final Season

Beauty and the Beast's controversial final year plays like a one-arc epilogue. The impression comes from a change in direction and a smaller slate of episodes (12 instead of 22). While the second ended with the suggestion that Catherine (Linda Hamilton) had met her maker, two-part premiere "Though Lovers Be Lost" confirms that she's healthy--and pregnant--but Vincent (Ron Perlman) can no longer sense when she's in danger. Then Catherine takes on a case that jeopardizes her life, and Vincent arrives too late to save the day. Fans felt betrayed by the development, since the two were presented as soul mates rather than tragic lovers (Hamilton left the show because she and husband James Cameron were expecting a baby). With Paracelsus vanquished the previous year, Gabriel (A History of Violence's Steven McHattie) steps in as resident bad guy. Before he orders Catherine killed, Gabriel absconds with her son. Thereafter, the opening changes to reflect a focus on Vincent. While he teams up with Catherine's former flame, Elliot Burch (Edward Albert), to catch her killer, district attorney Joe Campbell (Jay Acovone) and detective Diana Bennett (new cast member Jo Anderson, portraying a harder-edged character) work towards the same goal. Their obstacles include Gabriel's henchman Snow (Millennium's Lance Henriksen as an icy blond) and two drug kingpins (played by Ugly Betty's Tony Plana and Medium's Miguel Sandoval).

Despite its tarnished reputation--and higher body count--Beauty and the Beast's third season averts disaster for the most part. If Vincent and Diana share a lower-wattage chemistry, they still work well together, and the rest of the cast offers good value, particularly Perlman and Roy Dotrice, who would re-team in 2008 for another adventure about a misunderstood man-beast, Guillermo Del Toro's Hellboy 2: The Golden Army. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Once upon a time is now and forever: Beauty and the Beast: The Third Season of the Emmy Award-winning fan favorite show is more captivating than ever in this 3-disc collectible set. This unique fantasy-crime drama series features the adventures and romance between Vincent a mythic noble man-beast and Catherine a savvy assistant DA in New York. These two share a strong mystical bond that enables Vincent while in his underground lair to sense whenever Catherine is in danger in the World Above. In the powerful final season Catherine pregnant with Vincent s child becomes a victim to a murderous drug-lord who steals her baby from her after she gives birth. Drawing strength from the everlasting love and unbreakable bond he and Catherine share Vincent relentlessly pursues her killer determined to bring him to justice and to rescue their child. Synopsis for Seasons 1 & 2: The Beauty and the Beast TV show was a fantasy series about a man-beast (Vincent) and his love for a beautiful assistant district attorney (Catherine Chandler). Vincent lived in an underground world beneath New York City where his gruesome looks were less important to his peers than were his caring and benevolent personality. Together Vincent and Catherine had many adventures both above and below ground level and their love for each other continued to grow.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS UPC: 097361319940 Manufacturer No: 131994

Beauty and the Beast - The Second Season

The Beauty and the Beast TV show was a fantasy series about a man-beast (Vincent) and his love for a beautiful assistant district attorney (Catherine Chandler). Vincent lived in an underground world beneath New York City where his gruesome looks were less important to his peers than were his caring and benevolent personality. Together Vincent and Catherine had many adventures both above and below ground level and their love for each other continued to grow.Runtime: 1044 minsFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/SERIES & SEQUELS Rating: NR UPC: 097360382242 Manufacturer No: 038224

Though set in the late-1980s, Beauty and the Beast plays like something from another era. There's no irony, cynicism, or hip quips to break the spell of the fantasy (though a little humor would've been nice). Catherine (Linda Hamilton) loves the beastly, if beneficent Vincent (Ron Perlman) with all her heart--and vice versa. Together, they're TV's most soft-hearted crime fighters. To the show's credit, however, they aren't infallible, and there are a few problems they're unable to solve, whether the issue is drug addiction ("Chamber Music"), infectious disease ("Ashes, Ashes" with Highlander's Adrian Paul), or murder ("The Hollow Men").

In retrospect, it's clear that Beauty and the Beast was a reaction to the "greed is good" era. Vincent and his cave-dwelling compatriots represent a more compassionate alternative to "topsider" corruption. Yet all is not harmonious below either. Seriously injured the previous year, Paracelsus (Tony Jay) becomes a Phantom of the Opera-type figure, who aims to destroy Vincent's candle-lit utopia. In addition, a less civilized group of outcasts arrives in "The Outsiders." Fortunately, Vincent has Father (Roy Dotrice), Mary (Ellen Geer), Mouse (David Greenlee), and Pascal (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Armin Shimerman) on his side.

Unfortunately, they won't be able to prevent the tragedy that occurs in "The Rest Is Silence." Suffice to say, the season finale sets the scene for a new direction (more is revealed in the third-season opener). Consequently, Beauty and the Beast was canceled the following year, but still managed to rack up 18 Emmy nominations (winning six), spawning a soundtrack, and even inspiring some Saturday Night Live spoofing--a sure sign it had struck a chord. While the first season was devoid of extras, Perlman and Hamilton introduce six key episodes on this set. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

BEAUTY & THE BEAST: COMPLETE FIRST SEASON (6PC) - BEAUTY & THE BEAST: COMPLETE FIRST SEASON (6PC)