SeasonOneJust as Fox's21 Jump Streetinjected the cop drama with a dose of hip,Beverly Hills 90210infused the primetime soap with  youthful energy. Like Aaron Spelling'sDynasty, most characters don't lack for disposable income, except for middle-class twins Brandon  (Jason Priestley) and Brenda Walsh (Shannen Doherty,Heathers). Created by Darren Star (Melrose Place),  the class-conscious concept scored an instant hit. In the two-part Tim  Hunter-directed pilot, the teens have just arrived from Minneapolis.  "Nobody knows me," Brenda tells Brandon on their first day at West  Beverly High. "I can be anyone I want." The two soon befriend Steve (Ian  Ziering), Kelly (Jennie Garth), Donna (Spelling's daughter, Tori),  David (Brian Austin Green), and commuter student Andrea (Gabriel  Carteris). Then there's Dylan (Luke Perry), who debuts in the second  episode ("The Green Room"). A poetry-reading surfer with a shady past,  he's the James Dean of the piece, and Brenda falls hard for his bad-boy  charms. Guests include Debbie Gibson ("East Side Story") and Matthew  Perry ("April is the Cruelest Month"), while recurring characters  include understanding parents Cindy (Carol Potter) and Jim Walsh (James  Eckhouse) and Peach Pit manager Nat (Joe E. Tata).Beverly Hills, 90210ran for 10 years. Though it would move away from issue-oriented  episodes in the seasons to come--in the first, it takes on shoplifting,  cheating, and date rape--without it, there would be noO.C., no Veronica Mars, etc. Just like the 1980s films of John Hughes (The Breakfast Club),  it set the standard to which all others must be compared. As nice as it  is to have the show on DVD, it should be noted that not all musical  selections made the cut, i.e. "Music has been changed for this home  entertainment version." Otherwise, this guilty pleasure remains as  pleasurable as ever.--Kathleen C. FennessySeasonTwoFrom a pregnancy scare and a psycho girlfriend to a cameo by Color Me Badd,Beverly Hills 90210's  sophomore year demonstrates why this was "the greatest TV show in  history with a zip code in its title." That's what comedians John Aboud  and Michael Colton (Best Week Ever) call it in a very entertaining bonus feature that affectionately roasts90210from its so-the-drama melodramatics to its stuck-in-the-'90s fashion  sense (high-waisted jeans, buttoned-up shirts, and whatever the heck you  call the outrageous wardrobe worn by Brian Austin Green's David). This  is the season that catapulted90210from Most Likely to Succeed  to BSOF (Best Show on Fox). Certainly, it was must-see viewing for teens  who anxiously tuned in each week to vicariously chart the serial  adventures of siblings Brenda (Shannon Doherty) and older brother  Brandon (Jason Priestley), recent transplants from Minnesota to glitzy  Beverly Hills. Season 2, one of the best in this series' decade-long  run, is one for the time capsule, with episodes and story arcs that loom  large in the90210phenomenon, among them:  Brenda's  tempestuous, on-and-off-again relationship with soulful bad boy Dylan  (Luke Perry in his instantly iconic role), causing rifts between her and  her increasingly disapproving parents; new girl Emily Valentine  (Christine Elise) going allFatal Attractionon Brandon (no rabbits are boiled but a homecoming float is in jeopardy); Kelly (Jennie Garthhooking up withMelrose Place-bound Jake (Grant Show), and Donna (Tori Spelling) in her mermaid Halloween costume.Degrassi Jr. Highhas nothing on90210when it comes to issues-oriented episodes. Not four minutes into the  season opener, Brenda announces she is five days "late." "I love Dylan,  and I thought I knew what we were doing" she tells BFFs Kelly and Donna,  "but I'm beginning to get the feeling that it wasn't worth it." Other  episodes address abstinence, child abuse, the physically challenged,  sexual orientation, racism, rape, and steroids. A heartbreaking story  arc concerns David shunning his former best friend, Scott, who returns  from an Oklahoma vacation all urban cowboy, making him even more of an  outcast with the popular kids. "Cool it with the guns," David cautions,  foreshadowing tragic events to come in the episode "The Next 50 Years."  Throwing something of a wet blanket on precious memories of the show is  the substitution of generic songs for90210's originally killer  soundtracks of alternative and classic rock and golden oldies. One would  think that the Peach Pit has the lamest jukebox on Earth.--Donald LiebensonSeason ThreeThings continue to plug along at a rapid and highly dramatic pace in  season three for the privileged teens of Aaron Spelling's 90's TV   classicBeverly Hills 90210.   This season the gang tackles  eating disorders, gambling addiction, birth, death, incest, infidelity,  car accidents, racism, homelessness, and one whopper of a love triangle,  along with, of course, the standard high school fare of college  applications, SAT scores, and graduation anxiety.90210continues to revolve around Minnesota transplants Brandon (Jason  Preistley) and Brenda Walsh (Shannon Doherty), though with every season  the twins’ Midwestern roots seem to matter a little less.  The summer  before senior year begins with Brenda and boyfriend Dylan McKay (Luke  Perry) still deeply in love, much to the chagrin of Brenda's  disapproving parents.  To force a little distance, they send Brenda to  Paris for the summer with Donna (Tori Spelling),  herself the subject of  an enjoyable and incredibly absurd French modeling subplot—while  halfway around the world Dylan and Kelly Taylor (Jennie Garth) discover a  growing mutual attraction and begin an illicit summer fling.  But it’s  clear the love triangle between Dylan and best friends Brenda and Kelly  remains the heart of the show.  Taking a break from all the drama, there  are some  entertaining subplots this year, many of them involving   surprising guest stars (before they were stars), including Peter Krause (Six Feet Under), David Arquette (Scream), and Dean Cain (Lois & Clark).As in the first two seasons released on DVD, the lack of the original  early 90's music is a major disappointment, but the entertainment value  doesn't suffer for it. The highlight of the special features is the  return of VH-1'sBest Week Ever'sJohn Aboud and Michael Colton.  The two comedians' hilarious lampooning of season three in "Everything You Need to Know AboutBeverly Hills 90210 - Season Three"  gently mocks some of the more outlandish dream sequences, Brenda's  horrible french accent, and of course, the ridiculousness of many of  these highly entertaining but entirely silly plot-lines.Beverly Hills 90210 - Season Threeis addictive as ever and incredibly fun to watch - a time capsule,  over-the-top soap opera and teen drama trailblazer all rolled into one.--Kira CannySeason FourWelcome to the first post-high school season ofBeverly Hills 90210.   While maintaining essentially the same formula in season four that's  driven the previous seasons, things definitely grow up and heat up now  that the gang has started college. They're all attending school together  (of course), the fictional California University. Andrea decides  against Yale and Brenda makes her way back to Beverly Hills quickly  after a disastrous attempt at returning "home" to Minnesota. While  Brenda's return and Andrea's decision to stay in Beverly Hills seems not  only inevitable, but essential, it's interesting to note that season  four is the final year featuring all original cast members. It's also  the year the tone of the show most abruptly changes,  making way for the  much more grown up and sexier seasons to come. For these  twentysomethings playing teenagers, the shift from high school to  college allows them to relax a bit into their characters and really show  off their acting chops (all except Shannon Doherty, whose seething  anger is simmering just barely below the surface of her performances;  her tension with the cast and producers at this time was widely  documented). As in the years before, issues rule the storylines here and  while we've got some repeat offenders (infidelity, date rape, racism,  drug use), there's also plenty of fresh material that these actors  clearly have fun with (anti-Semitism, pregnancy, campus scandals, and  newly discovered siblings). Minor complaints: the lack of original music  continues to be an annoyance; it seems this year that the generic  studio tracks have gotten even worse. Also missing are the funny guys  from VH-1'sBest Week Everdoing the "Everything You Need to Know AboutBeverly Hills 90210: Season Four". The segment still exists, but with much less entertaining hosts. Otherwise, Season Four continues to deliver the goods any90210fan could want--drama, drama, drama--and it's only just getting started. ---Kira CannySeason FiveThe most popular zip code of the '90s changes dramatically in the fifth  season, the halfway point of the show's 10-year run. With the departure  of one of the primary characters--Brenda Walsh (Shannon  Doherty)--multiple new faces arrive (and stick around) onBeverly Hills 90210for the first time. The most well-known and well-remembered is Tiffani  Thiessen as bad girl Valerie Malone, an old family friend of the  Walshes, who arrives in Beverly Hills seeking refuge after her father's  suicide. Valerie almost immediately becomes the love interest of both  Steve (Ian Ziering) and Dylan (Luke Perry) and displays a penchant for  smoking pot in the Walsh's house and shooting pool in comically seedy  pool halls in the middle of the day. The two other new romantic  storylines feature Kathleen Robertson as Clare Arnold, first seen as  Brandon Walsh (Jason Priestley)'s stalker and eventually as David  Silver's (Brian Austin Green) rebound girl after he breaks up with Tori  Spelling's Donna (who's holding onto her virginity until marriage); and  Jamie "How Do You Talk to an Angel?" Walters as working-class Ray Pruit, the new boyfriend of Donna.Season five firmly establishes the new90210soap-opera formula and shifts from message-driven plotlines to  character-based action. Perry definitely has some of the finest moments  this season as we find him completely broke and fallenveryfar  off the wagon. From alcohol to cocaine to heroin to rehab, Dylan hits  bottom with a car crash and we're forced to endure one of the most  ridiculous (but accidently hilarious) episodes inBeverly Hills 90210history: "The Dreams of Dylan McKay." The other characters don't have  nearly as dramatic storylines this season, but there's still plenty of  action. Brandon and Kelly (Jennie Garth) are figuring out how to be in a  relationship while he's constantly fighting bureaucracy and special  interests in campus politics. Donna is falling in love with Ray, but  finding out a bit too late that he's not quite who she thought he was.  Things get a lot more ridiculous, amusing and fun this season and90210remains as compulsively watchable as ever.---Kira CannySeason Ten"Some things never change," states woe-is-me bad boy Dylan ("Special  Guest Star" Luke Perry) near the end of the series finale. And we  wouldn't have it any other way. After a tumultuous decade, the buff and  beautiful characters ofBeverly Hills 90210may be dealing with  more "adult stuff," but their lives are still buffeted by infidelities,  betrayals, make-ups, and breakups. It is, though, nice to see that after  10 years a little self-awareness finally starts to dawn. "Doesn't it  seem," Kelly (Jennie Garth) asks Steve (Ian Ziering), "like we've been  living in a Stephen King novel when you're afraid to turn the page  because you're afraid something horrible is going to happen to somebody  in the group?" Steve responds without a trace of irony (one of this  ever-earnest series' endearing graces), "Maybe there's someone out there  who's been devising this unbelievably horrific plan for us to go  through." Whoever was doing all that devising was working overtime this  final season: Dylan goes back to college, David becomes something of a  shock jock, Christina Aguilera performs at the Peach Pit After Dark,  Steve wrestles with commitment issues before proposing to a pregnant  Janet (Lindsay Price), drug dealers kidnap Noah (Vincent Young), Kelly  is engaged to Matt (Daniel Cosgrove) but still loves Dylan, Janet  struggles with being a working mother, and Dylan discovers his father is  still alive. And won't David and Donna ever get together? Spoiler  alert: Yes they will in the tear-jerking wedding finale that brings back  old90210vets Gabrielle Carteris, a chipper Tiffani-Amber  Thiessen, and, via videotape, Jason Priestley. Shannen Doherty remains  the show's Voldemort, She Who Must Not be Named. In a film clip of the  original gang glimpsed in "The Final Goodbye," a series retrospective  originally broadcast in 2000 that is this set's lone extra feature, her  face is blurred. This final season may not rank with this series' best,  but to quote Dylan, this is not a one-time offer. For long-time fans  looking for closure, this is a must-own set that invites repeat viewing.--Donald Liebenson