MacGyver: The Complete Fourth Season
Starring: Richard Dean Anderson, , Dana Elcar, John Anderson, Teri Hatcher, Bruce McGill, Michael Des Barres, Elyssa Davalos, Nikki Carpenter
Directed by: Assorted

MacGyver: The Complete Fourth Season Reviewed by Paul Heath

So, MacGyver Series 4 makes it's way to the home video/ dvd market. I'm not all that familiar with this series, as I think it ran all too briefly, and very late at night over here in the UK. I think I maybe caught a couple of episodes when it aired originally, but I would have been quite young, maybe eleven or twelve at the time.

This popular TV show kicked off all the way back in 1985, with Richard Dean Anderson in the title role. The show is very much typical of every other series of that particular day like, let's say THE A-TEAM. MacGyver is a member of the mysterious Phoenix Foundation, a kinda secret service style agency, set up to fight badass threats to MacGyver's country, and in some episodes, personal friends. What's different about MACGYVER, to all the other formulaic shows of that day, is that the main man McG doesn't use special powers, or guns to overcome his adversaries, but unique science based weapons or tactics. It's all really cool stuff really, and a show which you can easily catch on to. Even I got into it, just by sitting down and watching the first episode of this, the fourth series.

When I sit down and watch a TV show, particularly this way, on DVD, I want to be so hooked that I can't possibly watch just the one episode at a time. I want a series to hook me from the word go and make me want to watch another. After al, isn't that the idea of these kinda shows? Hook the viewer and want them to tune it for the next one. I like the way TV shows like say, QUANTUM LEAP left you with a cliffhanger at the end, and boy, didn't it make you come back for more the following week. With MACGYVER, there isn't really that kind of hook, there isn't really a continuing story and it isn't engaging enough for the viewer to sit down and watch a bunch of episodes in a row, but there is something about it. Over a couple of nights, I found myself going to bed, and throwing on another episode, lying there and thoroughly enjoying what I was watching. It's just really, really easy material to get into.

I guess I was expecting a very similar kind of show to other popular eighties TV shows that would have been on the networks at that time, but I was actually pleasantly surprised.

So what are the bad points? Well, the acting is a little ropey in places, some sets are a bit dodgy, it all looks a bit on the low budget side, and some of the teleplays are corny as hell, but if you look past all of this and get into the cheesyness, it's actually all quite good fun.

You'll also see some familiar faces pop up from time to time over the five discs too. For example, the desperate housewife herself, Teri Hatcher supports in the first episode in the series, as MacGyver's old friend Penny. This particular episode is a little weird to say the least, and it almost put me off from watching the rest, but stay with it and it all turns out kinda cool in the end. Excellent escape plan from McG too. It actually got me looking forward to all of the dodgy scientific stuff that he had planned for the rest of the series too. I think these things are called 'MacGyverisms', and to be honest, it's what made the experience all the more enjoyable. Also, you'll catch the likes of Jason Preistley (you remember him from Beverly Hills 90210), and even Bruce McGill, who plays a pilot in one of the early episodes in the series.

As for the look of the DVD, well, it all looks a little dated now (after all, it is twenty or so years old), and the transfer is a little grainy in place. The episodes are presented in a 1.33:1 format (full screen), the same format as they were screened on TV.

The sound is reasonable, but a little limited with just the front two channels used. Again, it wasn't all that punchy, but considering its original outlet, it wasn't all that bad. The only language option available is English.

Onto the extras. Well, this will be short as there aren't any, save a couple of previews for other releases by Paramount Home Entertainment.

The episodes included on the release are, The Secret of Parker House, Blood Brothers, The Outsiders, On a Wing and a Prayer,, Collision Course, The Survivors, Deadly Dreams, Ma Dalton, Cleo Rocks, Fraternity of Thieves, The Battle of Tommy Giordano, The Challenge, Runners, Gold Rush, The Invisible Killer, Brainwashed, Easy Target, Renegade and Unfinished Business. All are playable separately over the space of five discs.

So to sum it up, MACGYVER is a must for fans of the series, although many of them will no doubt be screaming for extras. For those not all that familiar with the show, just give it a chance, particularly if you're a fan of eighties TV shows in general. This is one of the better ones.

GRADE: B-

Paul Heath