DVD
Review | Alias (Season 1)
Written by: Kage
Alan
Yet one more damn show that I ignored when it
first came on because I was too stubborn to add something to my
viewing list. I did become a huge fan of it during Season 2 and
haven’t missed an episode since, so I was pleased as could be when
this first season found its way onto DVD. Not only did I miss some
major background elements, but some interesting plot points that were
furthered in season two. It all makes a lot more sense to me now,
only that still doesn’t mean it explains everything yet to come.
Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner, “Daredevil”) leads
a life nobody would ever believe and if she told anyone, they’d end up
dead within a day or so. Intrigued? Well, it goes like this. Syd was
a mild-mannered college student when she was approached by who she
thought was the C.I.A. In reality, it’s an organization called SD-6 and
they are actually the enemy Syd believes she’s fighting against. When
she comes clean to her fiancé about being a spy for the United States
Government, SD-6 assassinates him. Oops. It’s a bad move because Syd
then discovers that her estranged father, Jack (Victor Garber, “Legally
Blonde”), not only works for SD-6 too, but that they aren’t legitimately
CIA.
What’s a spy with a grudge supposed to do?
Naturally, Sydney marches into the office of the real C.I.A. and spills
everything she knows about SD-6. She’s assigned a handler, Michael
Vaughn (Michael Vartan, “It Had To Be You”), a method of communicating
her missions to him and a way to receive instructions for her
counter-missions. Meanwhile, her boss at SD-6, Arvin Sloane (Ron
Rifkin, “Dragonfly”), continues to pursue an unknown agenda involving
artifacts from a long dead prophet named Rimbaldi. Much of this season
revolves around a prophesy that Rimbaldi foresaw that may just involve
Sydney herself.
“Alias” features a wonderful cast, many of who I
haven’t listed in this review. Suffice to say that they round the show
out and allow the writers to balance out the spy sections with the
character’s personal lives. This is what really makes the show
successful because it’s not just about kicking ass and it’s not just
drama. There are some very humorous moments to be found here and that
helps break up the tension. If there’s anything about this show that’s
not a mystery, it’s why it became a hit with audiences.
Buena Vista has delivered a pretty incredible
looking Widescreen transfer of “Alias (Season 1)”. There’s a minimum of
grain and the audio tends to really kick! Yes, take that as a
compliment. Now, as for extras, we have several here. First up are
some audio commentaries; “Truth Be Told” (J.J. Abrams & Jennifer
Garner”), “So It Begins” (Michael Bonvillain, Sarah Caplan and Ken
Olin), “Q&A” (John Eisendrath, Alex Kurtzman-Counter and Roberto Orci)
and “Almost Thirty Years” (featuring the full cast). Some are better
than others, but all give some pretty decent insight into the show.
Beyond that, we have a 19-minute “Alias Pilot Production Diary”
featuring behind-the-scenes footage along with interviews, 10 ½ minutes
of “Inside Stunts”, 6 deleted scenes from first season episodes (10min),
a 2 ¾ minute “Gag Reel”, 5 TV spots, an “Alias Video Game Preview”, a
DVD-ROM Script Scanner and a sneak peek at the upcoming DVD set of
Season 2.
There are more twists and turns in this show than I
can recall in any other. Well, maybe “Twin Peaks”, but that didn’t have
anything near the amount of action in this series. “Alias” has heart,
the characters can get hurt (and often do), there’s tension, there’s a
payoff and there’s one hell of a cliffhanger in the final episode.
While not a typical word critics use, this show ROCKS! Please keep up
the good work, Buena Vista, and I look forward to seeing what surprises
you have in store for the Season 2 box set.
Film Rating:
A-
DVD Special Features: A-
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