Tru Calling: The Complete Series (Eight Discs) (UK)

Tru Calling is on the surface : a show about a hot woman (Eliza Dushku) who can talk to dead people and is asked to relive a day with her task being to prevent their death! - It is that, but alot more! In this particular boxset we are given 26 episodes of goodness and a wealth of solid special features. - The inticement to buy this boxset was not only the stylish look of the coverart but the sticker on the front claiming Quote:
INCLUDES SIX EPISODE NEVER BEFORE SEEN ON UK TV - it suddenly hit me that this was not the complete first season on DVD but the ENTIRE series!! i woz like YES!!! lol. (anyways not the point) So immediately i ran home (well i took the bus, but hey - RAN for dramatic effect). Screamed that i got the DVD to let everyone in the house know NOT to disturb me and went into my room! Off came the wrapping and into Tru's world I fell.

PACKAGING
Opening it the first thing that drew my attention was the size! - Of course if the box is gonna house 8 DVDs its gotta be pretty big! Its sort of like 8 cases stacked on top of each other - wasn't completely sure bout this design but at the time it didn't matter! With a nice sleeve covering the large book like DVD holder the case sits well and is very fetching on a shelve! Opening the flap of the DVD holder we are greeted with picture of the cast and a little companion book which outlines the episodes and the bonus features found on each disc - I love little novelties like this so I was very pleased to see one of these included! The disc themselves are easy enough to get in & out of their holders and each have a stylish picture of a character embedded on the front.

CONTENT
What can I say - bloody brilliant! I liked the first season although I realised the show was falling into a pattern of "dead body of the week" somehow the writing still seemed fresh and inventive to me. The season starts off strong with me find something new in every episode to keep me happy, but after what I like to refer to as the "turning point" episode 'Daddy's Girl' things seem to speed to a thundering conclusion between Tru and her new advisory culminating in a very strong, interesting finale, VERY STRONG! Overall all I was very impressed with season one but like all good shows it left me wanting more. - A particularly haunting scene is the final of the first season - Eliza and Jason bring electricity between their waring characters to the max and Full Blown Rose's cover of 'In the Air Tonight' is just magnificent in capturing the character's moods. I was left with that tingly feeling you get when you now that THIS is a TV series that's gonna be good!
So to my pleasure roll on season 2, I kid you not when I tell you that every episode out do's it's former. I had to view all these episodes more than once as there is literally so much ground being covered! The finale isn't as GLORIUS as it should have been, but with realisation of the timing of the series cancellation and the stress this must have put everyone working on the show under - it still manages to be a fitting end to Tru and yes, definitely leaves the viewer wanting more!

BEST EPISODES
Pilot, Putting out fires, Past Tense, The Longest Day, Daddy's Girl, Two Pair, DOA, Two Weddings and a funeral, In the Dark, The last good day, Enough.



PICTURE
More than standard for a Television release - nothing that could really be faulted! Main titles look amazing.

SOUND
More than acceptable also - flawless as well

EXTRAS
THIS is the aspect that I feel distinguishes DVD into a category of it's own! There are 23 deleted scenes which are fun to watch after you have seen the episode in order to gain more depth or alternative stories. Commentaries are pleasing as well as there are plenty from the actors (Dushku, Priestly, Reeves and Galifianakis) which is always delightful to hear! The Featurettes are excellent -very impressed at the amount of effort Eliza Dushku has put in in order to promote the show (She has only appeared on Buffy Season 3 spec.feats, Soul survivors and Wrong Turn that I know of), and the amount of behind the scenes content that is glimpsed and is rarely shown by a TV show. The music video is funny but a welcome addition and the easter egg of Galifianakis's audition is weird but somehow cool! Lol. Included on Disc 8 is a featurette entitled Tru Calling : Opposing Forces - I was curious about this feature and worried that it could bring the boxset down because of its badness - boy was I wrong! TUNS more of ELIZA - YEY including the other usual suspects Priestly, Reeves and Galifianakis speaking about season 2 and where their characters are heading. I was very glad to see a montage of behind the scenes clips at the end of this 6 min featurette and realised how much of a welcome addition to the boxset this was! - Also if you wait after the credits Zach Galifianakis tells an amusing joke that made me laugh!! Hehe!!

VERDICT
It is an absolute CRIME that this series was cancelled when s*** like Charmed is getting re commissioned for an EIGHTH series!! - But this DVD does the shows proud! My favourite DVD of this moment and very possibly of the year! - GO AND GET IT NOW!!!

Ross