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HTF REVIEW: MacGyver: The Complete Fourth Season (1 Viewer)

Scott Kimball

Screenwriter
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May 8, 2000
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1,500
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.
 

billGR

Agent
Joined
Feb 13, 2005
Messages
38
hi everyone im suprised they didnt put a tribute to actor dana elcar in this resent macgyver dvd set. thanks bill also im sure there is little extra footage in each episode of this set. keep me posted ok. :)
 

RogerH

Supporting Actor
Joined
Oct 28, 2004
Messages
874
I finished watching the set last night. Alot of good episodes in this season. Bring on Season 5 :D
 

Pete Battista

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Sep 20, 1999
Messages
2,309
Location
Shepherdsville, KY. USA
Real Name
Pete
I am wanting to get this set... planning on collecting the whole series as I discovered this show on DVD.

That being said... I am far behind on both collecting and watching this series... I only own the first 2 seasons.. and only watched Disc 1 of season 2 so far.
 

RogerH

Supporting Actor
Joined
Oct 28, 2004
Messages
874
Well atleast you have alot of excellent episodes to discover when you get around to watching it ;)
 

Pete Battista

Senior HTF Member
Joined
Sep 20, 1999
Messages
2,309
Location
Shepherdsville, KY. USA
Real Name
Pete
lol... very true... atleast I hope it is! :D

My main problem is so many excellent shows coming out so fast!

Wait... did I really say that is a problem... I take that back... that is not a problem... my only problem is I am not a rich man to be able to afford all these awesome sets and have time to watch them too! :D
 

Vader

Supporting Actor
Joined
Mar 19, 1999
Messages
811
Real Name
Derek
I have been waiting for this series on DVD since "The X-Files" started the whole season box sets craze. Given that this is one of the most requested series on DVD in the history of TV-on-DVD, I am left wondering why series like "The Brady Bunch", "Mork & Mindy" and "Laverne & Shirley" warrent a complete digital restoration for both video and audio (somehow I cannot see them having such a rabid following), but Mac does not?!? The transfers so far have ranged from "fair" down to SLP VHS quality. I certainly hope that Paramount is not claiming they were digitally restored, because if so, the contractor that did it should be banned from further restoration work. In any case, my life is now complete now that MacGyver is on DVD (yes, I need to get a life)...:D
 

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