As Time Goes By - Complete Original Series (DVD, 2005, 11-Disc Set)

Please be very careful in buying this series online. There are a lot of cheap, bad copies out there that may or may not be factory authorized high quality BBC sets. I can only tell of the two different versions of these sets that I have owned. I bought a used factory original release set of this series four years ago on eBay which was stolen from my home about a year ago. This was a complete set packaged in a large, single sleeve case, with seven individual hard cases in the series set. The picture and sound quality was very good. Unfortunately there's no subtitles but we did find closed captions for the hearing impaired. Unless you are English, you will want to turn on the Closed Captions. You will really miss a lot of the unusual dialogue without them.

The show is as comfortable to get into as pair of favorite slippers and pajamas on a cold winters night. I really love watching this series & so missed having it on my shelf so much that I purchased a second copy on eBay. This supposedly new set came in a large sleeve as well but it held two large fold out sleeves instead of the individual hard sleeves. I suspected this was not an authorized legitimate copy of the show before even playing it when I noticed the disks were not in the proper order in the sleeves. The numbering of the disks did not match the description for the sleeves and when I tried to place them in their proper order, one disk that should have been in the first folder ended up being in the second holder. The artwork on the cases and sleeve seemed sub standard compared to my old set as well. When I played the first disk it became apparent that this was not a high quality recording. The picture was markedly inferior, grainy and appeared to be very low quality. When the picture started skipping and stalling I knew it was a bootleg copy. Fortunately I had loaned season 3 to a friend at work and could compare the two copies. When I popped my original copy in the player the difference was shocking. I immediately contacted the bad seller & returned his set for a full refund. I also filed a complaint with eBay but see that the knock offs are still available. So buyers should beware of cheap super bad sets and avoid buying a bad copy of a really great show.

Lionel and Jean are two ill fated star crossed lovers who got lost in the chaos of being separated by a war & a single lost letter. Both felt slighted & went their separate ways, living different lives with only a memory of the brief affair that haunted their lives. The unlikely events that pull them slowly back together, 38 years later, are an enchanting adventure laced with humor & a charming love story that's usually reserved only for the young. Both of these reluctant lovers are quirky and filled with delightful traits that lead to hours of humor & funny stories. Getting to know this family is so unlike most movie productions that even the most absurd situations become believable and wonderfully entertaining. I read that even the queen would not be disturbed while watching her favorite show. I have found that even my own children will wander in and sit down while I'm watching this show. Its great entertainment and fun to go back and watch again and again. A rare quality in today's world. The series stands head & shoulders above most of what is coming out on TV these days. So put on your favorite slippers & pajamas, grab a cup of hot chocolate & just sit back & enjoy a few laughs, with the family or alone with Li & Jean.

As Time Goes By is my all time favorite tv series. Judi Dench is fantastic, and I love the gentle understated comedy and wonderful acting. The series is about young lovers who were separated many years earlier because of an undelivered letter from the soldier to his sweetheart. Each thought the other didn't want to continue the relationship. They lived separate lives, with Jean marrying and having a daughter, now in her thirties, then being widowed. Lionel and Jean meet unexpectedly as mature adults, and the series is about this re-connection. I loved the series on PBS and missed it a lot when it was no longer shown. I wanted to buy the discs, but couldn't justify to myself spending the full price. When I saw this previously owned set for sale on ebay, I had to have it. It was half the price of a new set, and the only difference is that the cardboard box shows a little wear. I couldn't be happier with my purchase. Now I can visit Lionel, Jean and all the others any time I want.

The entire series, start to finish, is comedy at its finest. As Time Goes By displays excellent acting and writing, which (when combined) produce just the right humor. Dame Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer have superb chemistry. This complete series box set also includes fun special features. It's wonderful to not have to wait for PBS to air the weekly episodes, though it's nice they still do.

As Time Goes By is gentle, funny, witty, and charming, which ordinarily would be damning a show with faint praise indeed, but it is entertaining and involving in a way that few American sitcoms can approach. The performances are uniformly superb in a cast led by Dame Judi Dench and Geoffrey Palmer, with support from Moira Brooker as Dench's daughter Judith, Jenny Funnell as Sandy, and the underrated Philip Bretherton as the ultimate yuppie, Alistair Deacon. In addition, there are regular appearances by Frank Middlemass as Palmer's father, Moyra Fraser and Paul Chapman, hilarious as Dench's in-laws, and Janet Henfrey as Middlemass's eccentric housekeeper.

All right, the Brits playing Americans have goofy accents, among other flaws in the series ... wait, I think that might be the only flaw in the series, and it's pretty forgivable. For my money, there is a continuum of sitcoms, and the extremes, As Time Goes By and John Cleese's Fawlty Towers, represent polar opposites, but both are worthy of nomination among the greatest series in the genre. There are not a lot of episodes of As Time Goes By, but every one of them is choice.

We have watched this series on PBS for quite some time but that is not the same as being able to put it into the DVD player any day, for as long as you want. This appealed to us because like the characters, we too were reunited after a 33 year separation and have now been happily married for long enough to know that it is worth waiting for the RIGHT person, but it has to be the RIGHT time. GOD is good and HE has blessed us, but we can certainly relate to the stuggles that Lionel and Jean go thru...Life is what you make it and LOVE is always the best in your golden years, eh? Humor makes every day a little better and we can't wait to rewatch every episode again......The British comedy gives you a chance to admire their whit but in the same sence, realize that people are the same all over the world - just different names and faces!