When a young mother is killed in a mysterious house fire, the lives of her two young sons will never be the same again. Convinced that the fire was brought about by supernatural causes, their father becomes obsessed with finding out what caused his wife’s death. As the two boys grow apart, one of them chooses to pursue an academic career, whilst his brother follows in his father’s footsteps to hunt all things supernatural. But twenty years later, when the boys’ father disappears on a “hunting” trip, the brothers are reunited as they follow the clues leading to their father’s whereabouts. What starts as a temporary reunion, becomes a permanent road trip when tragedy reminds the boys exactly what it is that they’re up against.
Alternative horror / action series seem uncomfortable in UK television schedules. Buffy The Vampire Slayer seemed to find something of a niche on BBC2, whilst The X Files seemed to shift from BBC2 to BBC1 and back in to the depths of BBC2. Millennium tested the late night ITV1 schedules for the competition, but with limited success, and now the latest in a long line, Supernatural, has barely even made it into the depths of ITV2’s rather limited scheduling. More often than not, it is in the DVD / video market that these series find a cult following and so, with the first series still airing on terrestrial television, the first DVD set of the American show has been released to try and find a new audience.
Retailing somewhere between £20 and £25, the first part of season one is certainly good value for money. With eleven, forty-five minute episodes, and a total running time of some eight hours or more, your cost per minute is pretty fantastic. The presentation is tops, too. The episodes are arranged across three discs, each of which sits in its own mini plastic case (kind of like a normal one, but skinnier) with the three of them slipped into a glossy cardboard case. I for one am sick of folding, “gatefold” sleeves, which get battered and worn after little more than one or two viewings and in which the discs so easily get mixed up. So far then, it’s so good.
The special features are extremely disappointing. There are none. The picture is presented in wide screen, the crisp Dolby Digital sound means that every shriek and bang has maximum effect and there are subtitles for the hard of hearing. But that’s about all. For a series inspired by the incredibly far-reaching world of the unknown, it seems so disappointing that the creators couldn’t come up with something additional to reward loyal fans / newcomers alike. There are no commentaries from any of the writers or creative team members. There is no background to any of the stories and no featurettes or documentaries exploring some of the myths and legends introduced throughout the series. So now, it’s not so good. The only thing left to consider is the quality of the programme itself.
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