DISC ONE, Side A
PILOT, EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY, SLYER, CURIOUS JAROD
Side B
THE PAPER CLOCK, TO PROTECT AND SERVE
DISC TWO, Side A
A VIRUS AMONG US, NOT EVEN A MOUSE, MIRAGE, BETTER PART OF VALOR
Side B
BOMB SQUAD, PRISON STORY
DISC THREE, Side A
BAZOOKA JAROD, RANGER JAROD, JAROLDO!, UNDER THE REDS
Side B
KEYS, UNHAPPY LANDINGS
DISC FOUR, Side A
JAROD'S HONOR, BABY LOVE
Side B
DRAGON HOUSE, PARTS 1&2
ANALYSIS: THE PRETENDER was one of the last good shows on a Saturday night when NBC started a Saturday line-up consisting
of Dark Skies (which was cancelled after one season and still not on DVD), The Pretender, and Profiler (all four seasons on
DVD and even did crossovers with The Pretender). THE PRETENDER lasted four seasons (before being cancelled for the ratings
bomb known as the XFL) and two movies (creators Craig W. Van Sickle and Steven Long Mitchell hope to make a third one to bring
a conclusion to THE PRETENDER saga). The show has that special charm as Jarod (Michael T. Weiss) sought out justice to atone
for all the work that the Centre twisted over the years. Sydney (Patrick Bauchau) was the one who observed Jarod over the
years at the Centre after Jarod was taken from his parents as a young boy. Sydney became a kind of a disfunctional father
figure. Does Sydney want Jarod captured and brought back to the Centre or will he just play along with Miss Parker (Andre
Parker) who thinks getting Jarod is her ticket away from the Centre? Or will Jarod just keep giving them clues about the Centre's
past and how it connects to each of them (including the death of Catherine Parker, Miss Parker's mom)?
Many of my favorite episodes of THE PRETENDER come from seasons 2, 3, and 4. Season 1 does have great episodes like the
PILOT, MIRAGE, RANGER JAROD, UNDER THE REDS, KEYS, BABY LOVE, and the season finale DRAGON HOUSE. I can't wait to see GIGOLO
JAROD when future seasons are released to DVD. Hopefully, DVD sales will be good enough to convince FOX to make a direct-to-DVD
movie to wrap up some of the storylines left unanswered after 86 episodes and two TV movies (made for TNT).
The actors ultimately make the episodes very enjoyable. Michael T. Weiss nails the childlike innocence of Jarod while being
a little sociopath in other moments. Andrea Parker plays the emotions of miss Parker quite well while also being able to play
Catherine Parker as a seperate character. Patrick Bauchau brings class to the role of Sydney (while also being able to play
Sydney's comatose brother, Jacob) from wisdom to father figure to a guy questioning some of the work being done at the Centre.
VIDEO/AUDIO: All 21 episodes (including the double length season finale) are presented in their original 1.33:1 Full Frame
versions. Colors are rich and bright. Blacks sometimes are good while being grainy at other times. Aliasing is present at
times and so is video noise at a few moments in many of the episodes. I even paused the episodes at various times. Sometimes
you see lots of detail and other moments feature lack of good detail. It looks like the same people who did the MURDER ONE
DVDs also did this release. I wish the transfers were as great as the ones I've seen on the DVD sets for MILLENNIUM, ROSWELL,
and TRU CALLING. The video seems to be the best overall on the fourth disc.
You can hear THE PRETENDER in English 2.0 Dolby Surround, French 2.0 DD, or Spanish 2.0 DD with the option of English or
Spanish subtitles. Dialogue comes across very clear. Music is loud (perhaps louder than the TV broadcasts).
SPECIAL FEATURES:
MAKING THE PRETENDER- SEASON ONE (presented in three parts over three discs) is an OK featurette on the show's first season
with interviews from the cast (Michael T. Wiess, Jon Gries, Patrick Bauchau, and Richard Marcus) and the crew (the creators
and a couple of other people).
Part 1 (side B of Disc One)- The origins of how the show came about and got picked up, and Michael T. Wiess talks about
Jarod.
Part 2 (side B of Disc Two)- The Poop (aka Jarod's discovery of the week from ice cream to SPAM to Mr. Potato Head), Miss
Parker, and Sydney.
Part 3 (side B of Disc Three)- Broots (the normal guy who got hired by the Centre and had to deal with it, an one off character
who turned into an important recurring character), Raines, The Centre, and Family
Included on side A of Disc Four are five TV spots hyping the coming of THE PRETENDER to NBC. Too bad no episode preview
spots are included.
Two audio commentaries were recorded for the first season: the first is for the Pilot episode (with Creators Craig W. Van
Sickle and Steven Long Mitchell) and the second commentary is for DRAGON HOUSE (the season finale) with Craig W. Van Sickle,
Steven Long Mitchell, director Fred Keller, and Jon Gries. The thing that stuck out to me on the commentary for the pilot
were that the black nurse was originally a transsexual and they created an action scene through editing. The commentary for
Dragon House reveals details about the production of the season finale, the casting of the main characters, and the show's
storylines. They say the 2 hour episodes were the best for the mythology storylines. Jon Gries tries to get the creators to
reveal details about the final Pretender story, but they keep silent about that. Hopefully, future DVD sets will include commentaries
with the main cast (Michael T. Weiss, Andrea Parker, and Patrick Bauchau).
DVD PACKAGE ART/MENUS/DISC DESIGN: The package art is quite good. The flipper discs remind me of the DSLs that Jarod stole
from the Centre. The static menus do look rather bland.
FINAL ANALYSIS: Finally, fans can rejoice that FOX has finally started releasing this appealing show to DVD. THE
PRETENDER Season one set isn't bad, but I would love to see more extras (like deleted scenes) on future seasons and less aliasing
in the episodes.
this DVD Review is (c)3-16-2005 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. Send all comments to lord_pragmagtic@hotmail.com and look for additional content (and site updates) at http://www.livejournal.com/users/enterlinemedia
