Review of Dark Angel Season 2 (Box Set)

Introduction

Dark Angel was a TV series brought to us by James Cameron. Although I`m afraid that I will never forgive Cameron for Titanic and his silly anti-anamorphic stance for DVDs (although he is supposed to have changed his mind now), he`s still the man who brought us Aliens, True Lies, The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day. For that we should be thankful. Here`s how Dark Angel goes.

The heroine of the piece is Max, a genetically enhanced human who`s been specially trained by a secret organisation at Manticore. However, she and others escaped from their "training base" and went to live out in the real world with their enhanced powers. The first season of the show told the story of how they tried to evade capture and how Max meets Logan, a kind of cyber hippy anarchist type. At the end of the season Max is finally recaptured, and held prisoner in Manticore. This brings us nicely round to the second season presented here. These are the episodes:-

Designate This

Max tries to escape from Manticore, enlisting the help of some fellow prisoners. Could breaking out of a high security research facility really be as easy as chiselling away the mortar around the bricks in your cell?

Bag `Em

Manticore sends out a signal which tells all those who got away to regroup at a rendez-vous point. However, instead of a nice cup of soup, only hot lead awaits them. We learn more about Max`s secret.

Proof of Purchase

Max and Logan look for Joshua, who helped Max escape from Manticore. Joshua is hunting for his creator, whilst Logan offers money for a cure to a virus that`s keeping him apart from Max.

Radar Love

Max and Logan investigate some odd deaths related to Manticore escapees.

Boo

A Hallowe`en special of sorts, as the Manticore escapees can mix with normal people without detection on Hallowe`en night. It just so happens that something that is mixing with the normal people has a nasty surprise waiting. However, this episode resorts to a nasty cop out ending, which was rather annoying.

Two

Joshua is acting strangely again, and is linked to some unusual killings. Can Max unravel the mystery?

Some Assembly Required

Max finds out that Zack is alive and improved, with some side effects. She launches a rescue attempt leaving Logan open to attack.

Gill Girl

The Gill Girl of the title (another escapee) gets caught out at sea. Can Max rescue her, whilst also juggling babysitting duties (no, really!)

Medium Is The Message

Mr White has a son, who is kidnapped. Max tries to rescue him. Mr White decides to kidnap Max. Will she discover his true identity?

Brainiac

Another transgenic is implicated in an attack on a militant group, but in a twist he tries to help out and find out who set them up.

The Berrisford Agenda

Alec is hanuted by a past mission, and Max tries to help him reassemble the things that happened.

Borrowed Time

Another escapee from Manticore is terrorising the outside world. Can Max & Logan find it, and can they finally find a cure for Logan?

Harbour Lights

Max gets shot and ends up in a normal hospital. Can she escape before the authorities discover her secret, or before someone else tracks her down?

Love In Vein

A vampire tale with a twist, as a Manticore escapee tries to build an army. Can Max stop them?

Fuhgeddaboudit

Some hypnotism is involved - what better way of getting a genetically enhanced being to reveal their true identity? Alec falls in with another bad crowd, who have a distinct mob feel to them.

Exposure

Another kidnapping, another mission for Max. This time a small town cult are involved, and they have some weirdness planned.

Hello, Goodbye

White has blabbed to the media, putting the transgenics at risk. Max wants to keep away from Logan and Alec`s twin has committed a murder.

Dawg Day Afternoon

White blabs again, and Max must reverse her decision about Logan after Joshua gets himself in a spot of bother.

She Ain`t Heavy

Another evil twin story, as Max`s clone arrives on the scene. Can Max stop her before it`s too late?

Love Among The Runes

Max targets White, with unexpected consequences, whilst the Terminal City residents vow to resist those hunting them down.

Freak Nation

Max finally comes clean and confesses her secrets to the world in a slightly extended episode. This turned out to be the final episode of the show, and creator James Cameron gracefully deigned to direct it. It was to be his last act, as Fox cancelled the show.

Video

A rather good 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer as you would expect from a very recent US TV show. Fox can usually be relied on to come up with the goods when presenting their TV shows on DVD, and they do so again. Everything is nice and clean and clear and crisp.

The look of "post-pulse" Seattle has been carried well by the designers, and once more we have Vancouver doing a good job of doubling up for a US city. The only good double that they couldn`t find was for Seattle`s famous Space Needle, so that`s all done with CGI. They also created a CGI Max to carry out some of Jessica Alba`s more difficult moves.

Audio

A DD2.0 surround soundtrack which is pretty much the norm for Fox TV shows on DVD. Some have been remixed to DD5.1 (and Dark Angel is the type of show that might have benefited) whilst others have been left with a simpler surround soundtrack.

The surround soundtrack that we get here is just fine, and it works well with the atmosphere of the show. It`s largely coming from the front speakers, with just a little surround action. Dialogue is always clean and crisp.

Interesting how the music of the future sounds just like the music of today - who`d have thought that Gorillaz would still be popular in post-pulse Seattle for example?

Features

Oh dear. Given Fox`s pretty good track record with TV series on DVD (I`m thinking The X Files, The Simpsons, Futurama), this set is rather thin on the ground when it comes to extras. A 6 minute featurette featuring creators James Cameron and Charles Eglee and various designers tells us the story of how "post-pulse" Seattle was created. It`s good but far too short.

There`s also a 1 minute trailer for the Dark Angel computer game.

Conclusion

An interesting and entertaining sci fi series. Prior to watching the episodes in this box set I`d never managed to get around to catching the show on TV, either on Sky One or on five. And now I`ve watched it and enjoyed it, and I find that Fox have cancelled it. The reasons for cancellation depend on who you talk to, but many stories say that it was cancelled because Fox wouldn`t fund 2 futuristic sci fi series, and wanted to concentrate on the new project from the highly over-rated (in my opinion Buffy fans) Joss Whedon. This new project was the "sci fi western" Firefly. And what happened to that? Fox cancelled it after just half a season of episodes!

It`s a shame that Dark Angel got cancelled. I quite liked the way that this season of the show panned out, and there are some very good episodes contained within this box set. It had the feel of a show that was just warming up and getting ready to move on to bigger and better things in the third season. If we draw a parallel with The X Files, some of the best episodes came in seasons 3, 4 and 5 (and things trundled downhill somewhat after that).

Technically the box set is fine with good picture and sound. A shame that the extras were massively lacking, and that brings me on to the price. You get just over 13 hours of TV sci-fi for £60 (or around £45 online). It works out cheaper than The X Files, but it doesn`t quite feel like the same value for money due to the lack of extras.

It seems that the old problem of dollar->pound pricing is here. The second season isn`t out in region 1, but the first season is, and it only costs $60 (and it has selected commentaries, but only a full frame transfer). So it seems the dollar price was just changed into a pound price to come up with the price tag for this set. If it had been a little lower then you might have got some more casual viewers buying it. As it stands, the price will probably only attract fans of the show.