Emergency! The Complete Series Blu Ray Review (Universal)

Emergency is a 1972 television series created / co-written / by Harold Jack Bloom (Project U.F.O., Hec Ramesy, Foreign Intrigue, Dante, G.E. True, You Only Live Twice, and Emergency +4) and Robert A. Cinader (Boots and Saddles, Chase, Adam-12, The New Adam-12, Emergency +4, Sierra, and Union Pacific). It was directed by Georg Fenady (Knight Rider), Christian I. Nyby II (Perry Mason franchise), Dennis Donnelly (The A-Team), Christian Nyby (Adam-12), Joseph Pevney (Star Trek), Lawrence Dobkin (The Waltons), and 16 others. It was produced by Gino Grimaldi (Knight Rider, Shanghai 1920, Of Mice and Men, The Immigrants, A Promise Kept: The Oksana Baiul Story, and The Two-Five). It’s a spin-off to 1973’s Emergency +4 and it’s in the same universe as Adam-12. Hit the streets with Squad 51 with skilled paramedics Roy DeSoto (played by: Kevin Tighe from Road House, Eight Men Out, K-9, City of Hope, School Ties, and Another 48 Hrs) and John Gage (played by: Randolph Mantooth from Loving) respond to the most desperate calls in the City of Angels. The risk taking fireman crew that includes Marco Lopez (played by: Marco Lopez from MacGyver and Perdita Durango), Mike Stoker (played by: real life firefighter Mike Stoker), Chet Kelly (played by: Tim Donnelly from The Toolbox Murders and Project U.F.O.), and Captain Hank Stanley (played by: Michael Norell from Police Story). They all clash or come together when it comes to some of the worst situations possible. A heroic medical team that includes Nurse Dixie McCall (played by: Julie London from I Spy, Adam-12, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour) with doctors Kelly Brackett (played by: Robert Fuller from Wagon Train and Laramie) and Joe Early (played by: Bobby Troup from M*A*S*H and Adam-12) await them at Rampart Hospital, where life-and-death decisions are always a part of a day’s work for these dedicated medical teams!!!! Emergency was something completely different when it came to television. It took the audience inside some of these difficult jobs. There’s plenty of medical ones before but Emergency actually includes firefighters and EMTs that wasn’t really done at all until this. I was a big fan of Third Watch in the 90’s and clearly this was a major influence for it because it did the exact same thing. It’s more common now, Grey’s Anatomy and Station 19 did it all the time for crossovers but it wasn’t the actual show concept like this. It takes a little bit to actually develop but it’s worth the patience. The leads which includes Kevin Tighe, Randolph Mantooth, Julie London, Robert Fuller, and Bobby Troup were all excellent with their characters during all the chaos that they had to deal with. The main firefighters which includes Marco Lopez, Mike Stoker, Tim Donnelly, and Michael Norell were always around also. It made for a very interesting mix and combination when it came to all these different personalities. The supporting cast plus cameos included John Travolta (Pulp Fiction), Nick Nolte (48 Hrs franchise), Mark Harmon (NCIS), Ron Pinkard (Adam-12), Harold Frizzell (Knight Rider), Vince Howard (Murder, She Wrote), William Bryant (The Fall Guy), Sid Haig (House of 1000 Corpses), Art Balinger (Adam-12), Kathleen Quinlan (Breakdown), Lillian Lehman (L.A. Law), Anne Schedeen (ALF), Wings Hauser (Vice Squad), Erik Estrada (CHIPs), John Ashton (Beverly Hills Cop franchise), Richard Kiel (Moonraker), Scott Glenn (The Silence of the Lambs), William Katt (Carrie), Dick Warlock (Halloween franchise), Adam West (Batman), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Airplane!), Melissa Gilbert (Little House on the Prairie), Paul L. Smith (Pieces), Kim Richards (Assault on Precinct 13), Pamela Susan Shoop (Halloween II), John Carradine (The Howling), Philip Baker Hall (Magnolia), Jamie Farr (M*A*S*H), and Billy Jayne (Cujo). Emergency has some of the best action scenes during the 70’s TV. It had top notch stunts for all of this. It has some underrated comedy thrown in thet adds to it’s variety. It really did amazing on NBC during Saturday nights during it’s original run. I love seeing EMTs getting some attention and focus for Emergency. They were barely mentioned or basically just used as an extra before something like this really opened up the profession for the small screen. It let you inside the fire station, paramedic ride, or in the hospital after something happened. Emergency was way ahead of it’s time, it’s crazy because most people these days know nothing about it. It felt so real and natural, it has some real solid interactions. It’s a very entertaining, fun, and it’s great to revisit it after all these years. Hopefully, this brand new blu ray set will give it a bigger audience and it’s influence it’s all over the place these days. RECOMMENDED!!!! Let’s discuss this high definition presentation and special features from Universal Pictures! These 1080p (1.33:1) transfers on all 130 episodes look very sharp compared to their original versions for broadcast or previous home video releases. Not sure when it was done because there’s no real technical information but it’s definitely a newer restoration. This is a massive improvement when it comes to the visuals. It has English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 Mono tracks on every episode for 7 seasons for this 28 disc set. Emergency is action packed and it sounds like it in every possible way. All of the dialogue is very clean, the chaos is elevated, and the music has a killer boost to it. It has English SDH subtitles. The only extra is the crossover episode “Lost and Found” from Season 5 of Adam-12 directed by Dennis Donnelly (The Guilt). I really appreciate that as a fan because nothing is worse than missing an important episode that connects to something from the show. It’s available everywhere right now including MovieZyng.com, CHECK IT OUT!!!!