What was the movie event of the summer? Did it feature a comic-book superhero, a digitally assisted chimp, maids or Danny McBride? Nope. If you’re a nine year old girl, the must-see blockbuster wasn’t even in the movie theater. As I learned one Saturday evening, the sensation struck when iCarly merged with Victorious for a 70 minute mind-blowing extravaganza. At least it was mind-blowing for a nine year old girl who warned me that fingers will be lost if any attempts were made to touch the remote control. Over seven million people tuned into “iParty with Victorious” on Nickelodeon. If you convert that into Saturday night ticket sales, that’s over $100 million. The mega-episode is the headliner of iCarly: The Complete 3rd Season.
The season starts with “iGot a Hot Room.” This is a fine excuse to upgrade the set. Carly’s brother Spencer (Jerry Trainor) sets her bedroom on fire. He repays her with the greatest bedroom a teen girl would ever want. This seems like a bad story since it might inspire other teen girls to make their rooms more flammable in hopes of redecoration. “iGet Pranky” makes Spencer into the family clown who can’t stop pulling practical jokes. That’s one of his better career moves. “iDo” invites a guy onto the show to ask his girlfriend to marry him. All goes well until the wedding when the bride wants Spencer. Really? I would have been more believing if she wanted to hook up with Sam (Jennette McCurdy). But this is Nickelodeon and not Showtime. Speaking of Showtime, L Word actress Jane Lynch plays the title character in “iSam’s Mom.” Turns out she’s not mother of the year material as she returns to meet her offspring. Jane doesn’t have to resort to her character from Glee. Strange to think that Jane is now the female Gary Cole.
“iSell Penny Tees” touches upon the evils of child labor laws. Why can’t 4th-graders hold full time jobs? “iPity the Nevel” brings back Nevel. He needs Carly and her show to restore his reputation. Turns out he’s become an internet sensation by attacking a little girl in the grocery store. Carly (Miranda Cosgrove) and Sam give an internship to hunk of man candy in “iHire an Idiot.” “iStart a Fan War” is a double length episode. Carly and the gang go to WebiCon for a panel. They get sucked into the land of hardcore geeks. The big highlight is Spencer battling it out with Jack Black.
“iParty with Victorious” brings together both of Dan Schneider’s hit series in a crossover movie event. He ties them together by having Carly and Tori (Victoria Justice) dating the same guy. Carly can’t believe what she sees on the internet so she goes down to Los Angeles to confront her boyfriend and Tori. The major confrontation takes place during party at Kenan Thompson’s Hollywood mansion. He must have made serious bank off the Fat Albert movie to get such an estate. What’s rather strange is how nonchalant he is about a bunch of high schoolers partying in his house. Isn’t he frightened of being the next Roman Polanski? The whole production ends with a giant singalong. Kenan doesn’t end up on TMZ for having hundreds of hundreds of underaged girls in his mansion. This is the second big time these two have tangled since Victoria played the titled MMA champ in “iFight Shelby Marx.” There’s no catfight this time. But it was good enough to make a nine year-old girl swear there was no way a movie at the theater could top this.
The video is 1.33:1 full frame. “iParty with Victorious” is letterboxed for 1.78:1, but not anamorphic. The transfer quality is fine since this is such a recent show. The audio is Dolby Digital Stereo. You get to hear Carly and Sam get excited on either speaker. The episodes are Closed Captioned.
Looking at extras, this set comes with three short featurettes.
Carly’s Hot New Room Tour (1:23) Sam gives a quick tour of the details in he space including the Gummy Bear chandlier.
Meet Sam’s Mom (2:14) lets Jane Lynch (Glee) bond with her TV daughter. There is mother-daughter ass biting. She swears she wants to return.
Archenemies (1:42) focuses on Jack Black’s guest starring stint.
iCarly: The Complete 3rd Season displays how the series has become a sensation with the huge crossover movie and two big time guest stars. Who doesn’t want to tune in to see Jack Black go medieval on a cast member.
Paramount Home Entertainment presents iCarly: The Complete 3rd Season. Starring: Miranda Cosgrove, Jennaette McCurdy, Nathan Kress and Jerry Trainor. Contents: 10 Episodes on 2 DVDs. Released on DVD: August 30, 2011. Available at Amazon.com.
