Scott Kimball
Screenwriter
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MacGyver: The Complete Fourth Season
Studio: Paramount
Year: 1988 - 1989
Rated: NR
Length: 15 hours, 16 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audio: Dolby Digital English 2.0
Closed Captioned
Special Features: None
Suggested Retail Price: $36.99 USD
Release Date: December 6, 2005
I’m not a serious Macgyver fan. I like the show, but never seemed to find the time to watch it during its run in the 80’s. I’ve enjoyed the episodes on DVD - and look forward to finding time to visit the seasons in their totality as time allows. I screened three episodes at random for this review.
Season four brings in some added continuity, with the reappearance of characters from previous seasons. The lovely Penny Parker (Teri Hatcher) returns for a couple of episodes. Jack Dalton makes a handful of appearances. And the nefarious Murdoc makes a return engagement.
Macgyver: The Complete Fourth Season brings you all 19 episodes from season four. The episodes are as follows:
Disc 1: The Secret of Parker House, Blood Brothers, The Outsiders, On a Wing and a Prayer
Disc 2: Collision Course, The Survivors, Deadly Dreams, Ma Dalton
Disc 3: Cleo Rocks, Fraternity of Thieves, The Battle of Tommy Giordano, The Challenge
Disc 4: Runners, Gold Rush, The Invisible Killer, Brainwashed
Disc 5: Easy Target, Renegade, Unfinished Business
The Transfers
It’s no surprise, unfortunately, that the video quality leaves much to be desired on the fourth season of Macgyver on DVD. It’s a familiar story with this series. Paramount could have used Macgyver’s help to fix up this set. That’s been the case with the previous releases, and it stands with season four.
While the source material seems to have improved somewhat since season one (season four is comparable to seasons two and three), the picture still has some problems.
Contrast is much the same as last season, with decent black levels. Colors are consistent across the episodes that I viewed for the review, exhibiting acceptable values and saturation.
Mosquito noise, aliasing and moire effects can still be seen in this season, from time to time. These visible artifacts are noticeable and disappointing. There isn’t much change from the last couple of seasons.
Season four continues in stereo - and the show takes pretty good advantage of the two channel source. The score is opened up nicely in the stereo mix, and there are occasional positional references and panning effects in the sound effects as well. Dialog is always intelligible over the music and effects. Frequency response is pretty good, offering up a fair amount of bass when needed.
Special Features
There are no special features.
Final Thoughts
Same old thing in terms of transfer quality - passable but far from ideal for a series of this age. The show itself has improved by season four, with more even performances and updated plots. Good show, fair transfer.
Studio: Paramount
Year: 1988 - 1989
Rated: NR
Length: 15 hours, 16 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Audio: Dolby Digital English 2.0
Closed Captioned
Special Features: None
Suggested Retail Price: $36.99 USD
Release Date: December 6, 2005
I’m not a serious Macgyver fan. I like the show, but never seemed to find the time to watch it during its run in the 80’s. I’ve enjoyed the episodes on DVD - and look forward to finding time to visit the seasons in their totality as time allows. I screened three episodes at random for this review.
Season four brings in some added continuity, with the reappearance of characters from previous seasons. The lovely Penny Parker (Teri Hatcher) returns for a couple of episodes. Jack Dalton makes a handful of appearances. And the nefarious Murdoc makes a return engagement.
Macgyver: The Complete Fourth Season brings you all 19 episodes from season four. The episodes are as follows:
Disc 1: The Secret of Parker House, Blood Brothers, The Outsiders, On a Wing and a Prayer
Disc 2: Collision Course, The Survivors, Deadly Dreams, Ma Dalton
Disc 3: Cleo Rocks, Fraternity of Thieves, The Battle of Tommy Giordano, The Challenge
Disc 4: Runners, Gold Rush, The Invisible Killer, Brainwashed
Disc 5: Easy Target, Renegade, Unfinished Business
The Transfers
It’s no surprise, unfortunately, that the video quality leaves much to be desired on the fourth season of Macgyver on DVD. It’s a familiar story with this series. Paramount could have used Macgyver’s help to fix up this set. That’s been the case with the previous releases, and it stands with season four.
While the source material seems to have improved somewhat since season one (season four is comparable to seasons two and three), the picture still has some problems.
Contrast is much the same as last season, with decent black levels. Colors are consistent across the episodes that I viewed for the review, exhibiting acceptable values and saturation.
Mosquito noise, aliasing and moire effects can still be seen in this season, from time to time. These visible artifacts are noticeable and disappointing. There isn’t much change from the last couple of seasons.
Season four continues in stereo - and the show takes pretty good advantage of the two channel source. The score is opened up nicely in the stereo mix, and there are occasional positional references and panning effects in the sound effects as well. Dialog is always intelligible over the music and effects. Frequency response is pretty good, offering up a fair amount of bass when needed.
Special Features
There are no special features.
Final Thoughts
Same old thing in terms of transfer quality - passable but far from ideal for a series of this age. The show itself has improved by season four, with more even performances and updated plots. Good show, fair transfer.