Extras - Extras - The Complete Series - DVD

Film: With the TV series The Office Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant have written television history. Winner of multiple awards, the series is one of the most successful and popular BBC comedies of all time. The US version starring Steve Carrell is now just as cult as the German version Stromberg. Creating a sequel to such a cult product was truly no easy task. But with Extras, Gervais and Merchant have once again demonstrated a very good knack for intelligent comedy. As with The Office comedy, Ricky Gervais has once again taken the lead role, though his Andy Millman is much more likeable than his character from The Office.

Andy Millman is an extra, but dreams of finally making it big in his acting career. But neither his useless agent (Merchant), nor his somewhat simple-minded colleague Maggie (Ashley Jenson) are much help on his way up. Small roles on big movie productions are part of Andy Millman's daily routine, and he's always trying to make important contacts on set that could get him ahead. The fact that he never puts his foot in his mouth doesn't make his way to the top any easier. And when he finally lands that much-awaited dream role on a popular sitcom, he finds that success at any cost wasn't what he'd always dreamed of after all...

What first catches the eye in Extras is the caliber of the guest stars. The first season features such illustrious guests as Ben Stiller, Kate Winslet, Patrick Stewart and Samuel L. Jackson, while the second sees Orlando Bloom, among others, do the honours, and Harry Potter performer Daniel Radcliffe provides one of the funniest moments of the entire series. And in the final Christmas special (which, unlike the episodes of seasons 1 and 2, is only available in the original English version with German subtitles), stars such as George Michael, Clive Owen and star chef Gordon Ramsey show their funny side. When Kate Winslet reveals which roles can earn her an Oscar or how to keep your relationship going with phone sex, when Daniel Radcliffe desperately tries to be a cool womanizer or Ben Stiller outed himself as an arrogant puke, it's just stunningly funny.

But ultimately it's not the high-profile guest stars that make Extras so worth watching, but the excellent interplay between the three leads and the wonderfully biting humour, which admittedly doesn't come across quite as well in the German dub as it did in the original British version. Also the development of the dramaturgy works extremely well. However, as a viewer you should be prepared that the humor of the series in the course of the second season and especially in the Christmas special is increasingly replaced by a very melancholic undertone. Watching Andy Millman sell himself out for success, becoming more and more miserable, but at the same time acting more and more arrogant towards his crew and friends, is somehow very sad - even if there are always some wonderfully funny little faux pas hidden here, which Millman regularly steps into.

Extras is a satirical look behind the scenes of film and television, a comedy peppered with self-deprecating guest appearances, which in the end reveals a depth that one would not necessarily have expected after the first episodes so. Friends of British humor of the somewhat more profound kind should definitely access this beautiful box! Absolutely worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: In the technical implementation, there is actually hardly anything to complain about. For a TV production, the visual realization can absolutely convince in terms of overall sharpness, coloring and contrasts. Here and there in darker moments there is minor blurring and minimal image noise, but overall such weak points hardly carry significant weight. The audio, unsurprisingly for a TV comedy, is less than spectacular. The dialogues are mixed rather centrally, real surround feeling comes up only very rarely. Nevertheless: for a TV series absolutely satisfactory. Good!

Extras: The DVD set has plenty of extras worth watching, all with optional subtitles. Starting things off is the bonus disc for the first season. Here there are just under 70 minutes of bonus material to discover. A highlight here is certainly the nearly 20-minute outtakes, where it is noticeable that Ricky Gervais laughs the loudest at his own bloopers. When Jude Law, who had been scheduled for an episode, dropped out at short notice, Gervais tried everything to get Leonardo DiCaprio to make a guest appearance. Another bonus featurette (approx. 10 min.) is devoted to his desperate attempts to even get his agent. Things continue on an even more unusual note when Nigel on a Wrap (approx. 8 min.) shows the jokes that editor Nigel Williams had to endure at the hands of Ricky Gervais. Whether he's being put in a onesie or having his face taped into a nasty grimace with the help of scotch tape, Williams endures the humorous ordeals with a great deal of composure while Gervais has a blast. Finally, there's a featurette on the making of the series (approx. 21 mins), as well as cut scenes of all the episodes from the first season (approx. 12 mins)

Continue on the Season 2 bonus disc, which has just under 100 minutes of extras to offer. Again, it kicks off with some amusing outtakes (approx. 9 mins), followed by more banter at Nigel Williams' expense (approx. 25 mins). In another short documentary, the cast reveal how hard it is not to constantly interrupt filming by laughing and how they have mastered The Art of Keeping It Together in return (approx. 14 mins). In addition, there is still to each episode a short featurette with background information about their creation (altogether approx. 49 min.).

Finally, the Christmas special, which is not in dubbed version, also has a few nice extras on board. It starts with a very amusing audio commentary by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, who talk in detail about the conclusion of the series and have quite a few interesting and amusing anecdotes to tell. Afterwards the two answer some questions of the viewers (approx. 15:32 min.). In addition, there is a featurette about the work of the real extras of the series (approx. 12 min.), some removed Big Brother scenes (approx. 6:42 min.), as well as outtakes (approx. 6 min.), and two trailers. Very good!

Conclusion: Extras is an amusing behind-the-scenes look at the world of film and TV from the point of view of an extra who has to give up his ideals for the big break and ends up being more miserable as a star than when he was just a minor extra. A comedy that becomes more and more melancholic towards the end, which clearly stands out from the mass of comedy series, not least due to wonderfully self-deprecating guest appearances by stars such as George Michael, Orlando Bloom, Ben Stiller, Kate Winslet, Patrick Stewart or Daniel Radcliffe. The complete box contains the two seasons in German dubbed and in the original English version, as well as the final Christmas special in the original with subtitles. In addition, there are over three hours of bonus material. Fans of British comedy series of the special kind should access here absolutely! Absolutely recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp