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[SIZE= 22px]MacGyver: The TV Movies[/SIZE]
Lost Treasure of Atlantis/Trail to Doomsday
Directed by Michael Vejar, Charles Correll
Studio: Paramount
Year: 1994
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Running Time: 185 minutes
Rating: NR
Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo English
Subtitles: CC
MSRP: $ 19.99
Release Date: June 15, 2010
Review Date: June 15, 2010
The Films
3/5
In decades past, television series that ended their runs as weekly programs often came back to viewers via made-for-TV films. Perry Mason did it, and so did Dallas, Murder, She Wrote, and others. (Nowadays, they sometimes go the feature film route as witness the Sex and the City films and the upcoming plans to make a new film of ’24.’ They’re even still talking about a possible Veronica Mars film, but that one seems less likely with each passing day.) After the seven season run of MacGyver, the producers along with star Richard Dean Anderson embarked on two made-for-television movies. Filmed in England and both shown in 1994, Lost Treasure of Atlantis and Trail to Doomsday found our intrepid, ingenious hero in two vastly different scenarios with different directors and writers assigned to each one. In fact, the only thing the two had in common was Richard Dean Anderson reprising his iconic role two years after the end of the series. Though neither film was superb, each had its own pleasures, and the London setting for the second and part of the first gave the movies a different mood and pace than the television series had.
Lost Treasure of Atlantis is the better of the two films. It’s a kind of Indiana Jones adventure in which MacGyver and a favorite archaeology professor of his (Brian Blessed) go looking for the Temple of the Ages, an underground sanctuary which is alleged to house the treasure of Atlantis. It’s a long, circuitous route to that treasure with Indy, sorry, MacGyver battling a host of adversaries who want the treasure for their own nefarious purposes. As with most MacGyver tales, the daring, clever adventurer uses his wits rather than his fists or weapons to get himself and his friends out of various traps and deadly perils that he constantly finds himself facing. In fact, at two different times, he’s got only seconds to find a way out of a predicament insuring certain death closing in on him from all sides. Anderson recreates his famous character without losing a step, and Brian Blessed, always a pleasure to have around any film, makes his supporting absent minded professor role lots of fun.
If MacGyver played a slight variation of Indiana Jones in Lost Treasure of Atlantis, he’s more James Bond in Trail to Doomsday, a somewhat disappointing thriller involving a potential nuclear device set to go off somewhere in London. MacGyver (Richard Dean Anderson) is there for the birthday party of an old friend, Paul Moran (Nicholas Farrell), whose life he once saved. During the party, Paul is killed by terrorists and his daughter, Elise (Lena Headey) also seems to have been killed. In his determined way, MacGyver sets out to avenge his friend's murder. He's backed by Paul's brother (Peter Egan), who's a billionaire industrialist, and ex-KGB agent Natalia (Beatie Edney) reluctantly lends a hand as well though MacGyver as usual wants to work alone. As he slowly discovers the reasons for his friend’s murder, he becomes a constant target of masked henchmen who try all manner of ways to dispose of the indestructible hero: shooting, poison gas, rats, explosions, and that inevitable nuclear bomb which is eventually armed to go off in two minutes. If one has watched many mysteries or procedurals, the trio of climactic revelations won’t come as any big surprise (I was on to the trick almost from the beginning). There are also far fewer examples of the MacGyver ingenuity on display in this outing. John Considine’s script is the culprit with weak villains and a padded scenario which might have made a decent hour episode but plays lumberingly at 92 minutes.
Video Quality
3.5/5
The TV-movies are framed at the then-standard aspect ratio of 1.33:1. Sharpness is usually above average on both films though there are certainly shots in both that are soft or ill-focused. The images are mostly clean though the watchful viewer will notice stray dust specks from time to time. Color is at acceptable levels of saturation though greens sometimes seem a bit too bright. More irritating are the interlacing artifacts which are obvious in both films, and there’s some minor moiré to be glimpsed in Lost Treasure of Atlantis. Black levels are satisfactory but are not of optimum depth. Each of the films has been divided into 8 chapters.
Audio Quality
3.5/5
The Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo audio track won’t bowl you over with any great range of highs and lows, but the dialogue has been recorded well, and it is comfortably presented in the center channel. Music by Ken Harrison manages to sound rather impressive in both of the features. The explosions don’t have much heft, and some of the voices seem unnaturally treble in timbre. It’s very typical sounding for an audio track of the period, more than acceptable but not outstanding.
Special Features
0/5
There are no bonus features at all, not even promotional ads for other CBS/Paramount television box sets.
In Conclusion
3/5 (not an average)
It’s nice to finally have studio-approved copies of the two made-for-TV MacGyver films, and fans will be certain to snap this disc up (both films are on the same disc). Richard Dean Anderson recreates his iconic character for these films, and it’s always a pleasure to see him in one of his most famous roles.
Matt Hough
Charlotte, NC
[SIZE= 22px]MacGyver: The TV Movies[/SIZE]
Lost Treasure of Atlantis/Trail to Doomsday
Directed by Michael Vejar, Charles Correll
Studio: Paramount
Year: 1994
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Running Time: 185 minutes
Rating: NR
Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo English
Subtitles: CC
MSRP: $ 19.99
Release Date: June 15, 2010
Review Date: June 15, 2010
The Films
3/5
In decades past, television series that ended their runs as weekly programs often came back to viewers via made-for-TV films. Perry Mason did it, and so did Dallas, Murder, She Wrote, and others. (Nowadays, they sometimes go the feature film route as witness the Sex and the City films and the upcoming plans to make a new film of ’24.’ They’re even still talking about a possible Veronica Mars film, but that one seems less likely with each passing day.) After the seven season run of MacGyver, the producers along with star Richard Dean Anderson embarked on two made-for-television movies. Filmed in England and both shown in 1994, Lost Treasure of Atlantis and Trail to Doomsday found our intrepid, ingenious hero in two vastly different scenarios with different directors and writers assigned to each one. In fact, the only thing the two had in common was Richard Dean Anderson reprising his iconic role two years after the end of the series. Though neither film was superb, each had its own pleasures, and the London setting for the second and part of the first gave the movies a different mood and pace than the television series had.
Lost Treasure of Atlantis is the better of the two films. It’s a kind of Indiana Jones adventure in which MacGyver and a favorite archaeology professor of his (Brian Blessed) go looking for the Temple of the Ages, an underground sanctuary which is alleged to house the treasure of Atlantis. It’s a long, circuitous route to that treasure with Indy, sorry, MacGyver battling a host of adversaries who want the treasure for their own nefarious purposes. As with most MacGyver tales, the daring, clever adventurer uses his wits rather than his fists or weapons to get himself and his friends out of various traps and deadly perils that he constantly finds himself facing. In fact, at two different times, he’s got only seconds to find a way out of a predicament insuring certain death closing in on him from all sides. Anderson recreates his famous character without losing a step, and Brian Blessed, always a pleasure to have around any film, makes his supporting absent minded professor role lots of fun.
If MacGyver played a slight variation of Indiana Jones in Lost Treasure of Atlantis, he’s more James Bond in Trail to Doomsday, a somewhat disappointing thriller involving a potential nuclear device set to go off somewhere in London. MacGyver (Richard Dean Anderson) is there for the birthday party of an old friend, Paul Moran (Nicholas Farrell), whose life he once saved. During the party, Paul is killed by terrorists and his daughter, Elise (Lena Headey) also seems to have been killed. In his determined way, MacGyver sets out to avenge his friend's murder. He's backed by Paul's brother (Peter Egan), who's a billionaire industrialist, and ex-KGB agent Natalia (Beatie Edney) reluctantly lends a hand as well though MacGyver as usual wants to work alone. As he slowly discovers the reasons for his friend’s murder, he becomes a constant target of masked henchmen who try all manner of ways to dispose of the indestructible hero: shooting, poison gas, rats, explosions, and that inevitable nuclear bomb which is eventually armed to go off in two minutes. If one has watched many mysteries or procedurals, the trio of climactic revelations won’t come as any big surprise (I was on to the trick almost from the beginning). There are also far fewer examples of the MacGyver ingenuity on display in this outing. John Considine’s script is the culprit with weak villains and a padded scenario which might have made a decent hour episode but plays lumberingly at 92 minutes.
Video Quality
3.5/5
The TV-movies are framed at the then-standard aspect ratio of 1.33:1. Sharpness is usually above average on both films though there are certainly shots in both that are soft or ill-focused. The images are mostly clean though the watchful viewer will notice stray dust specks from time to time. Color is at acceptable levels of saturation though greens sometimes seem a bit too bright. More irritating are the interlacing artifacts which are obvious in both films, and there’s some minor moiré to be glimpsed in Lost Treasure of Atlantis. Black levels are satisfactory but are not of optimum depth. Each of the films has been divided into 8 chapters.
Audio Quality
3.5/5
The Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo audio track won’t bowl you over with any great range of highs and lows, but the dialogue has been recorded well, and it is comfortably presented in the center channel. Music by Ken Harrison manages to sound rather impressive in both of the features. The explosions don’t have much heft, and some of the voices seem unnaturally treble in timbre. It’s very typical sounding for an audio track of the period, more than acceptable but not outstanding.
Special Features
0/5
There are no bonus features at all, not even promotional ads for other CBS/Paramount television box sets.
In Conclusion
3/5 (not an average)
It’s nice to finally have studio-approved copies of the two made-for-TV MacGyver films, and fans will be certain to snap this disc up (both films are on the same disc). Richard Dean Anderson recreates his iconic character for these films, and it’s always a pleasure to see him in one of his most famous roles.
Matt Hough
Charlotte, NC
