DVD Review: The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air: The Complete Fifth Season

On May 11, Warner Brothers Entertainment released the three-disk DVD set of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air: The Complete Fifth Season. Already being the proud owner of the DVD sets for the show's first four seasons. I was really looking forward to owning this one as well.

The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air ran for six seasons between 1990 to 1996. It starred Will Smith as a street-smart high school student from a tough West Philadelphia neighborhood who was shipped off to live with his rich West Coast family in their Bel-Air mansion: aunt Vivian (Daphne Maxwell Reid), uncle Phil (James Avery) and three cousins, Hilary (Karyn Parsons), Carlton (Alfonso Ribeiro), and Ashley (Tatyana Ali). We never quite find out the specifics of why Will was sent to California, although the show's now classic theme songs tell us the transfer happened after a "couple of guys who were up to no good started making trouble in the neighborhood." 

The main source of tension in the show comes from the differences between their lifestyles. In this season, the Banks and Will clash with regard to the way he and his cousin Carlton (who are the same age) are planning for their future. The clash is enhanced by Will's determination to marry his girlfriend Lisa at an age his family considers way too young. On top of that, the Banks' butler, Geoffrey (Joseph Marcell), always has a way of further stirring the pot with well timed one-liners.

The show's fifth season is the one many consider to be the point at which it jumped the shark; between little Nicky suddenly growing a couple of years in the span of a couple of months, the show sometimes awkwardly tackling much more serious topics (such as Will being shot), and Will marrying Lisa, the show had come a long way from its simple season one plot lines. I don't agree with these critics; after all, the show just grew with its characters. It was only for so long Will could carry on with his antics. However I do admit that I still miss the original Vivian Banks (sorry, Daphne Maxwell-Reid) and that the whole Nicky plotline was a little too much.

Article Author: Sahar

The author of The Spirit Within Club, Sahar was born the first of three siblings and the first of eight cousins. Thrust in the role of head of the brood at a very early age, she honed her imagination by creating stories and plotlines the eight of them could play to all summer long. …

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