
Another reality based series box sets from Jack Webb (Dragnet, Emergency), Adam-12 was the first TV series to more realistically portray the joys & frustrations of being a police officer in the late 1960's-early 1970's. This attention to detail made the show a catalyst for uncounted numbers of people to enter law enforcement agencies when they became adults.
First of all, each movie/series dvd is 1 hour 36 minutes actual running time.The first one, "Steel Inferno" is actually quite good. It contains LOTS of fire-figthing action and rescue scenes. The fire sequences were actually BETTER than those in Towering Inferno in my opinion! It appears they had a good budget to work with, and made the fire scenes VERY realistic. And you only have to wait 20 minutes for the major action to start.The last film,The Convention, has Roy & Johnny returning to San Francisco, and following around the same cast from the last movie. This time, the final fire is a big explosion at a chemical lab working with toxic chemicals & radioactive materials. This was the best action since the fire in "Steel Inferno".
While I agree that Survival on Charter No. 220 is pretty bad, and may be the worst Emergency in adam 12: the complete series! ever made, the other films are decent quality episodes. The Steel Inferno was jarring because the gang from Engine 51 was not there, but if you watch it knowing that is the case, it is a decent quality episode. The Seattle movie is one of the best Emergency! episodes ever and many fans put it in their Top 10. The San Francisco movies are decent, although not as strong as the Seattle movie/series complete.

All in all, SHOUT! Factory is to be given major props for just getting this great show out the door, nevermind that transfers are BRILLIANT and while the extras are a bit tepid, they are there for a rainy day when Season Three is still on the drawing board... throw in handsome artwork and a meager price tag and you have a winner. And praise be NO FLIPPER discs! No not the dolphin, the discs that Universal thrust upon so many ruined boxsets (Dragnet, Quincy, A Team..)
Excited!