Future Man: Season 3 (Blu-ray) (2019)

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General		Extras
Category	Sci-fi Comedy	None
Rating
Year Of Production	2019
Running Time	247:06
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Jonathan Watson Alexander Buono
Studio Distributor	ViaVision	Starring	Josh Hutcherson Eliza Coupe Derek Wilson Seth Rogen Kimberly Hebert Gregory
Case	Standard Blu-ray
RPI	?	Music	Halli Cauthery

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	Unknown	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080p
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     In the first season of Future Man Josh Futturman (Josh Hutcherson), a slacker video game addict, is recruited by two freedom fighters from the future, Tiger (Eliza Coupe) and Wolf (Derek Wilson), to go back in time to stop the catastrophic destruction of the human race, an unintended consequence of the discovery by a scientist of a cure for herpes. At the end of Season One it looked as if they were successful; but no. In Season Two, 150 years into the future in 2162, the team had, once again, to use time travel to change the past to protect the future. But it seems that the time travelling of Tiger and Wolf resulted in them having different lives in different time lines, personalities of which their future selves have no recollection. Clearly, time travel throws up a myriad of unexpected complications and the end of Season Two finds our heroes deep, deep into the future in 3491 where they are convicted for their time ravelling crimes and sentenced to participate in the top rating TV reality show,The Diecathlon.

     Season Three picks up the story there. The Diecathlon, produced and directed by Susan (Seth Rogen), is a bit like The Running Man, Battle Royale and a future Gladiator all in one and Wolf and Tiger, of course, are hugely successful and become ratings celebrities while Josh is comic relief and is badly injured each night. However, Josh retains his memories of each day whereas Tiger and Wolf’s memory is wiped so they think each night’s fight is their first. Josh, with the help of a mystery voice in his head (who says he is certainly not God) contrives their escape into the past where they bounce around 1371 France, 820 Japan, 1915 Russia and 1625 Quebec, all the time being sought from 3491 by Mathers (Kimberly Hebert Gregory) who looks for anomalies and anachronisms in timelines, such as the invention of sliced bread in France 700 years too early, and despatches killers after our time travelling heroes. Along the way Wolf indulges his culinary and entrepreneurial interests, Tiger hones her killing skills and Josh has an existential crisis and gets mixed up with an alternate Osama Bin Laden (Fajer Kaisi), who was very friendly with an alternate Josh in another time line. Then Susan turns up in 1625 Quebec to offer Josh, Tiger and Wolf a deal and safety in a place called Haven.

     Josh, Wolf and Tiger arrive in Haven via a time warp incident in Iowa on New Year’s Eve 2000. Haven is an off the time grid idyllic paradise where time stands still and Josh, to his astonishment, is welcomed by Abe Lincoln, James Dean, Marilyn Munroe, Buddy Holly, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jesus and others who hail him as their saviour, their Future Man. Haven is timeless and perfect but it saps the memory of past lives; Josh settles in as a saviour, Wolf struggles with not being the main man while Tiger communicates with a goat and finds balance. But all the time a worm hole, a rip in time, is growing in the universe that will suck all time lines into itself,and destroy life forever on Earth. It is this rip in time that made time travel possible, but it also makes the apocalypse inevitable. Can Josh, Wolf and Tiger retain their memories in time to close the portal before the end of all time and by doing so halt time travel forever?

     This season of Future Man is less about time-travel to change the past to save humanity and more a (relatively) straightforward story with a hunt through time without the mind-numbing time travel paradoxes or alternative Tiger and Wolf personalities of the earlier seasons although, being Future Man, of course there are twists. Future Man remains, however, crude, irreverent, irreligious and juvenile and frequently very funny, although there are less pop culture references until at least the Haven episodes when they come thick and fast. Until then there are outlandish justifications for actions nd “profound” dialogue such as “I am a salmon swimming against the tide of my own self-doubt” all delivered deadpan and with an absolutely straight face.

     The previous seasons of Future Man are grounded by the character of Josh Futturman, the everyman / slacker / reluctant hero played by Josh Hutcherson with just the right combination of naivety, confusion and determination, and he remains very good. However, Season Three gives free reign and far more character development to Eliza Coupe’s Tiger and Derek Wilson’s Wolf; both have an epiphany, of sorts, and their arcs are frequently very funny with Coupe and Wilson, over the top as usual, having a ball. And, as each episode lasts less than 30 minutes, there is seldom time to think about anything anyway.

     Future Man: Season 3 (the final season) consisted of only 8 episodes which aired in the US earlier this year; all 8 episodes are presented here on two Blu-rays.

Video

     Future Man: Season 3 is presented in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, in 1080p using the MPEG 4 AVC code; so unlike the Blu-ray of Season 2 this release is in the correct aspect ratio.

     Future Man uses a number of different environments, each with their own colour scheme. The far future is dark, all chrome and glass, the forested Quebec is muted with dark greens and browns, Haven is bright with a red and yellow sky and grass that is more yellow than green. In all the environments detail is strong except where frames are deliberately distorted. Flesh tones are mostly natural, excluding Tiger’s very dark skin tones, brightness and contrast consistent, shadow detail very good and blacks solid.

     I noticed no marks or artefacts.

     There are no subtitles.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     Audio is English Dolby Digital 5.1, so no lossless audio.

     Dialogue is clear. This is not really an action heavy series as such with the surrounds mostly providing music and some ambient sounds, such as birds in Haven, impacts during fight scenes. The sub-woofer added some depth to the fights and the music.

     The score by Halli Cauthery is a highlight, fitting the mood of the visuals. It can sound epic, playful or sentimental as needed.

     I did not notice any lip synchronization issues.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

     There are no extras. Episodes can be selected individually from the menu or there is a play all option.

     Amazon.com does not list any Blu-ray or DVD of Future Man: Season 3. This is what there is.

     Future Man in this, its third and final season, remains irreverent, juvenile and very funny, but this season, for a time travel show, is more straightforward without the mind-numbing time travel paradoxes of the previous two seasons. However, time travel continues to throw up a myriad of unexpected complications for those who wish to save the world and fans will not be disappointed.

     The video and audio are fine. There are no extras.

     Future Man: Season 3 was supplied for review by ViaVision Entertainment. Check out their Facebook page for the latest releases, giveaways, deals and more.

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