The Dresden Files – The Complete First Season
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Film: C
Feeling
that the market for such programming is far from dead, filmmakers and TV show
producers still want to have another investigative supernatural horror hit on
their hands. While The X-Files may oddly and suddenly be getting a second feature film
launch and the original Kolchak: The
Night Stalker (1974, see the review elsewhere on this site) remains the
gold standard for such shows, the imitators continue to fall and fall hard
(like that awful attempt at a Night
Stalker revival) yet the temptation is like a lethal one-night stand
Hollywood cannot resist. The Dresden Files is the latest attempt
to get some kind of audience and Lionsgate has issued its Complete First Season on DVD.
This one
is able to claim a literary source, from the writer Jim Butcher, with a
detective named Harry Dresden (Paul Blackthorne) who happens to be a real life
wizard. At least his last name is not
Potter! He uses his talents to battle
the often murderous menace in these 12 hour-long shows, though it becomes too
much like the silly “magic” live-action shows that we see too much in
syndication and are long played out.
What the show wants to do is combine Kolchak with the cult favorite The Magician with Bill Bixby, but as soon as it gets
into its digital magic nonsense and becomes too comic, it all implodes and this
is every single episode. Too bad,
because with more effort and originality, this could have worked but just does
not have the suspense or wit to succeed.
The anamorphically
enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is clean, but boring and typical of HD productions
today. Shot in Canada, it looks like X-Files lite with no effort to come up
with a new, distinct look. Detail and
depth are limited. The Dolby Digital 5.1
mix is stretching it a bit, showing that this show was not conceived as a
multi-channel show, but dialogue recording is good. The music is not anything to write home
about, though. Extras include deleted
scenes, audio commentaries on select shows and a making of featurette. Whether the show can take off in later
seasons is unlikely, but we have seen much worse (like that awful attempt at a Night Stalker revival) and fans
obsessed with anything in the genre will find it watchable. Others will not be as enthusiastic.
- Nicholas Sheffo
