Chuck: The Complete Second Season Review

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(More customer reviews)In its superb second season, NBC's "Chuck" offers a more fully developed and unique blend of comedy, action, and romance. Chuck Bartkowski continues his double life: slacker computer nerd at an LA big box electronics store by day and inept government agent by night, thanks to the secret government database called the Intersect emplanted in his brain. Beautiful CIA agent Sarah Walker is Chuck's handler and bodyguard, with a cover as his girlfriend. Hardnosed NSA assassin Major John Casey teams with Walker to track Chuck's safety 24 hours a day and to pursue the bad guys the Intersect enables Chuck to identify.
This second season advances several themes over the course of the year. The impromptu team of Walker, Casey, and Bartkowski get increasingly difficult assignments to stop various villains and foil their nefarious plots, in which the untrained Chuck begins to demonstrate, often hilariously, the potential to muddle through as an agent.
A second theme is the approaching wedding of Chuck's sister Ellie and her fiance "Captain Awesome." Chuck has rashly promised Ellie to track down their missing father for the wedding, a promise that will have a dramatic impact on the last episodes of the season.
A third theme is the rogue organization FULCRUM's pursuit of the Intersect. Chuck is in weekly danger of having his cover blown and either being kidnapped by FULCRUM or being sequestered for his own safety by the government in an underground bunker away from family and friends.
The fourth and perhaps most important theme is the slowly blossoming romance between Chuck and Sarah, as their affection for each other begins to strain Sarah's professionalism and Chuck's willingness to live under a cover story.
Chuck's best buddy Morgan and the slacker crew at the BuyMore continue to offer comic relief, whether avoiding work, staging insane stockroom competitions, or trying to hijack "Awesome's" bachelor party. Special guests during the season include Sarah's professional con-man father, the suitably awesome parents of Ellie's fiance, and Chuck's ex-college roommate and girlfriend, neither of whom are what they seem.
"Chuck: The Complete Second Season" on DVD is very highly recommended to fans of the series. This reviewer hopes "Chuck" gets renewed for a third season.


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This season, Chuck is in luck. Intersect II is ready for espionage service. And that means the old Intersect (Chuck) can go back to his old life. But if Chuck goes, he's gone: Casey has orders to off him. In the series called "TV's funniest comedy" by EW.com, Chuck survives to unravel mysteries of the past, become a hero in the present, and – in a stunner of a season finale – chop-and-drop himself into an even more perilous future!

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Quantum Leap - The Complete Third Season (1989) Review

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(More customer reviews)"Quantum Leap" hit its stride during the third season. The show had dramatic episodes just as powerful as season three but this was the most consistent season for this classic TV series. During the third season Sam leaps into a KISS type rock star (complete with dramatic make up and with Scott Bakula doing his own singing!); into himself at 16 where he must change an event in his own past; Sam also leaps into a Navy Seal in Vietnam serving under his older brother where Sam faces a unique dilemma. Is Sam there to save the life of his older brother (who is fated to die the next day), insure the success of the mission or for some other mysterious reason? The series at its best managed to convey the best elements of drama: Sam never knows why he's there and what he has to correct which leads to many emotionally powerful and genuine feeling moments during the third season. What brought the best episodes home were the performances by the series two mainstay performers the marvelous Scott Bakula ("Enterprise") and acerbic Dean Stockwell as Al who appears only as a hologram and must guide Sam with information from the future.
If Sam Beckett had been able to truly leap back through time during his life time he would have been able to foresee the licensing agreement issues that prevent his TV series from having the original music in it and prevented it from being replaced. Some of the original music survives but it depends on how instrumental it was to the episode. By the way, Bakula's nice performance of "Imagine" is intact for "The Leap Home Part I".
Aside from an occasionally grainy or soft episode, "Quantum Leap" looks exceptional here. While there are still analog flaws in the form of occasional dirt and irregularities in the prints used, the colors are bright, image quality sharp and vivid (with the exception of those episodes using stock footage). The 2.0 stereo soundtrack also sounds quite crisp and vivid. Dialogue is, for the most part, very clear and the music comes across with nice presence.
I was hoping that Sam would figure out how to hide some extras from the past for Universal to find when transferring this to DVD. We get an episode guide on disc three that lists which episodes are on which discs (which might be an extra if it served any useful purpose such as having trivia about each episode). We get an onscreen synopsis for each episode before playing the episode and a synopsis on the back of each slimline DVD holder. The big difference here is the redesigned packaging. Gone are the accordion holders which threatened to scratch the dual layered, dual sided discs for each season. Instead, we get individual slimline holders for each disc along with a synopsis on the back of the holder giving a brief description of each episode (much like the DVD version included as well). Missing, however, are some of the promo photos that adorned the accordion style holders. I miss them. It's a pity that Universal chose not to adorn the inside of the paper sleeves in each slim line holder with photos for the inside. It does appear that these are the uncut original episodes as they aired on NBC.
This is an area where Universal continues to lag behind just about every studio. Would it have hurt Universal to provide commentary by Scott Bakula (particularly since he recently filmed a cameo for the new "Quantum Leap" TV show), Dean Stockwell (he appears in the new show as a regular) or even creator Bellisario? "The Leap Home" parts 1 and 2 would have been a perfect set for commentary tracks.
"Quantum Leap" continues to look nice in its DVD transfer but it seems that Universal is rushing out "product" which really does a disservice to the fans. This particularly set was designed to coincide with the release of "Enterprise" on DVD and the last two episodes of "Enterprise" airing on UPN. Synergy can be everything but it can also add up to nothing particularly when "product" is rushed out to meet a predestined release date or tie in. Universal, please do it right for the last two sets of the series. This fine series and its fans deserve better.

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Item Name: Quantum Leap - The Complete Third Season; Studio:Universal Studios

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Star Trek Fan Collective - Captain's Log (2001) Review

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(More customer reviews)I was eagerly looking forward to this collection for months! The episodes chosen are all excellent episodes and, for the most part, exemplify the Captain in question (though Patrick Stewart admits on his introduction that he chose "In Theory", a Data episode, because it was his directorial debut).
With Deep Space Nine being my personal favorite of the series, which has often been only minimally-represented by previous Fan Collectives, it was gratifying to see three of my favorite episodes from this excellent series chosen, including the 2-for-1 series finale.
My only complaint, as with the previous four Fan Collectives, was the limited number of episodes. Granted the Q set was as complete as it could be (save for the vague possible connection with "The Squire of Gothos") and there were only a few later Voyager Borg-episodes that might have fit with the Borg set. Still, the Klingon and Time Travel sets could easily have been twice as large (and I would have been willing to pay twice as much if they were) and so could the Captain's Log set.
Still, this set not only features great episodes but finally has some featurettes in addition to them, though I did miss the witty and enjoyable text commentaries of the prior sets.
If you're a Star Trek fan strapped for cash, or a newcomer looking for a relatively inexpensive way to get to know these fine series, I would highly recommend the Star Trek Fan Collective: Captain's Log.
If any higher-ups in charge of such things somehow wanders here, by all means keep these sets coming! We still need Volumes 2 of the Klingon and Time Travel sets, the Vulcan set, the Romulan set, the Ferengi set, the Prime Directive set, the Mirror Universe set...

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The fans and captains have spoken! Not only have Star Trek fans voted online for their all-time favorite captain episodes from all five Star Trek series, but each show’s legendary leader Captain Kirk, Patrick Stewart, Avery Brooks, Kate Mulgrew, and Scott Bakula has carefully chosen their favorite episode, which resulted in Star Trek: Fan Collective Captain’s Log.

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What Girls Learn (2001) Review

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(More customer reviews)This movie is cliche and tedious--with a storyline and dialogue reminiscent or an after-school special. Scott Bakula and Elizabeth Perkins are always good, and their performances salvage a rather unconvincing film.
The major flaw in this movie is the central focus on the daughter, Tilden. I suppose the intention was for us to empathize first with her difficulties getting used to a stepfather--and later--with her mother's breast cancer. But this homely little girl is mean, nasty and hostile from start to finish to almost everyone. There are many "teen angst" movies, but they somehow find a way to make the character likeable--or help the audience identify with her plight. With this film you spend two hours waiting for "what girls learn" to include someone teaching this girl to stop being such a selfish, self-centered brat. I am sure this was not the intent of the director of this film, but this little girl's sour look and bad behavior kept me from buying into this story--or caring about her situation.

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WHAT GIRLS LEARN - DVD Movie

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Quantum Leap - The Complete Fifth Season (1989) Review

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(More customer reviews)Almost every TV show overstays its welcome and jumps the shark. "Quantum Leap" didn't and that's a rarity. The final season looks very good in its presentation on DVD and, while I haven't ploughed through every episode yet it appears that the music hasn't been replaced in the ones I've watched. There's also no notification about the music being replaced (as on the third and fourth season the second doesn't count because Universal hoodwinked everyone on that one). We also get an actual extra in this set--the blue prints for two sets in the show. You can actually zoom in on separate sections to view them.
This episode features a number of classic ones including the one where Sam encounters the "Evil Leaper" in a terrific two part episode. Also, Sam becomes "the King" (Elvis) just before he breaks through to the big time and in the most fascinating of the episodes written by Donald Bellasario Sam becomes Lee Harvey Oswald (played by character actor Willie Garson best known for "Sex and the City"). Sam and Al struggle to find out why he's leaping in and out of Oswald throughout the time leading up to the assassination of Kennedy. Here's where a great extra could have been included by Universal as Bellasario actually knew Oswald and served in the military with him (an actor plays Bellasario recreating their first meeting).
Now for a bit of bad news--we get the series once again on dual sided discs. Unlike some previous sets from Universal I haven't had a problem with these so far so maybe they've finally figured out how to make the darn things properly. Luckily these aren't packaged facing each other (like many of the Fox dual sided discs) but in individual slimline cases.
Unlike many fans of the series I disliked the resolution in the final episode of the fifth season and had hoped for something less open ended. It would have allowed a terrific TV movie to tie things up but unfortunately it never happened. I'm not going to say anything else for those who haven't seen the final episode. Some great guest stars during the fifth season--Neil Patrick Harris, Brooke Shields (even though I think she's a horrible actress normally she does a solid job here), Dr. Ruth, Terry Farrell, John Hillard, Michael Boatman, Stephen Root and a young Jennifer Aniston in one episode.
The show goes out in style with some of the best episodes of the series.

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QUANTUM LEAP:COMPLETE FIFTH SEASON - DVD Movie

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Quantum Leap: The Complete Fourth Season (1989) Review

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(More customer reviews)Episode Synopsis:
The Leap Back
Play Ball
Hurricane
Justice
Permanent Wave
Raped
The Wrong Stuff
Dreams
A Single Drop of Rain
Unchained
The Play's the Thing
Running For Honor
Temptation Eyes
The Last Gunfighter
A Song for the Soul
Ghost Ship
Roberto!
It's A Wonderful Leap
Moments to Live
The Curse of Ptah-Hotep
Stand Up
A Leap For Lisa
Particularly good episodes are :
1. The Leap Back
2. Raped
3. It's a Wonderful Leap
4. The Curse of Ptah-Hotep
5. A Leap For Lisa
All episodes are good, the 5 I have listed, are probably the best of the season.
*** A lot of people have mentioned the music contained in the US version of these DVDs. They are right when they say the music in the UK version is unedited. I never noticed this until I bought the UK version of Season 2. The last episode - M.I.A. comes complete with the uncut "Georgia On My Mind". My point is, that if you can wait for the UK DVDs to be released, then do so - They are much more authentic and well worth the wait for die-hard fans.


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Take a trip through time with the daring Dr. Sam Beckett (Scott Bakula) and his hilarious hologram guide, Al (Dean Stockwell), in all 22 extraordinary, groundbreaking episodes of Quantum Leap: The Complete Fourth Season. It’s adventure like you’ve never seen, with each amazing episode from this eight-time Emmy-nominated season now digitally remastered for incredible picture quality. Journey back as Sam and Al survive a hurricane, trail a murderer, make a monkey out of themselves and even switch roles! With each "leap" into another identity, Sam hopes to find some insight into the jump that will finally take him home. And now, fans can spend more time with Sam and Al with an exclusive bonus episode from the Fifth Season. You won’t want to miss a minute of the adventure!

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