Hunter: The Complete Series (1984 – 1991/Mill Creek DVD Set)

 

Picture: C     Sound: C    Extras: D     Episodes: C

 

 

"Works for me."

Picture it - Saturday night, 10pm, the mid 80's, you flip on NBC and you see Hunter.  No, not the Steven McQueen film of the same name, but rather Fred 'former NFL star' Dryer playing a 'Dirty Harry' type police detective named Rick Hunter, running wild on the mean, sun drenched streets of Los Angeles.  Hunter was teamed up with Dee Dee McCall, played by We Got it Made alum Stefanie Kramer. 

This 'it could only come from the 80's' cops & robbers show would end up a Saturday night mainstay for quite a while and show all of America what it takes to be a cop in LA taking down rapists, murderers, thugs, and drug dealers.  From 1984-1991, Hunter would take down all the scum in the City of Angels. 

Originally, Hunter debuted on a Friday, but it was being crushed by Dallas, the #1 show at the time, and the show's creator suggested a move to Saturdays.  And there it ended up, airing right after The Golden Girls and Empty Nest.  Needless to say, it kept me, and many others, busy since I was 10, without a car, and too young for the club scene.  What is very interesting to note is for the final season, Hunter moved to Wednesday nights and McCall left the show leaving Hunter to try out two new female partners: Darlene Fleugal during the first half and Lauren Lane in the second. Without the original chemistry between Hunter & McCall - the show was canceled in 1991 after seven seasons.

Hunter, Seasons 1-3 were released by Anchor Bay, and then us true fans waited...and waited for the remaining seasons - well, thank goodness for Mill Creek who has brought us Hunter: The Complete Series.  All 152 episodes on 28 DVDs!! 

I'll spare you an episode by episode guide, instead, let's focus on some of the stand out episodes:

Season 1: Pilot episode (two parts)
Season 2: Killer In A Halloween Mask
Season 2: The Beautiful & The Dead (two parts)
Season 3: Crime of Passion
Season 4: Not Just Another John Doe
Season 4: Murder He Wrote
Season 6: The Fifth Victim
Season 7: Deadly Encounters (two parts)

These are some of the great episodes and throughout the series there were many guest stars, watch out for people as diverse as George Clooney, Garrett Morris, Issac Hayes, Dennis Franz and Jesse Ventura!!

The menus for the series are basic; the theme song plays on the main menu as well as video clips playing on the top of the screen with the logo and gun below along with options.  As for the episodes: we get 3 chapter stops per episode - not a lot at all. 

The packaging, sad to say, is very cheap.  Whereas Anchor Bay's seasons were 2 discs per thin plastic case - this one has an outer box that contains a thick case which contains 28 black paper sleeves inside.  Not good enough protection by my standards for a 28 disc box set. 

 

Each of the discs has the episode titles listed on the disc but there are no episode guide inserts anywhere in this set.  The video & audio are decent, what one would expect from a TV show from the 80's.  The picture is in its original 1:1.33 aspect ratio. The biggest disappointment is the fact that there are no extras anywhere to be found in this set.  

Now, the biggest omission in this set, is the fact that some of the episodes have been edited down a bit and some of the episodes don't contain their original music (copyright issues?).  I did some investigating online and I learned the following: Mill Creek didn't do this to Hunter - Stephen J. Cannell Productions did.  Cuts and music omissions and substitutions were done by Cannell & friends.  This had to do with the costs involved in licensing music for DVD releases that weren't cleared up back in the day.  So, don't get mad at Mill Creek - they are presenting to you what was presented to them.  Most episodes edited down had to do with music - so in theory, you're not missing any car chases, etc.

 

In closing, Hunter: The Complete Series is technically incomplete, but due to some rights/licensing issues - this is as close as you will ever get to a 'complete' Hunter series.  If you are a fan of the show then you're gonna love this, omissions or not. If you are casual viewer, it's worth a rental.  As Hunter would say, this box set 'works for me.'

 

 

-   H.M. Vons