The Secret World of Alex Mack – The Complete First
Season (DVD-Video)
Picture:
C Sound: C Extras: D Episodes: C+
A
Nickelodeon classic has finally come to DVD in the form of The Secret World of Alex Mack: The Complete
First Season; and just so you skeptics out there know the rumors are false
this is the COMPLETE First Season. The
series that centers on a 13 year old girl named Alex Mack (Larissa Oleynik) who
after her first day of school got caught in the middle of a horrible chemical
spill and now has superhuman powers. Now
where as most people would get cancer or their face burnt off, Alex can now
turn into liquid form, move objects with her mind, turn into a magnet, and
create force fields; now if she could only get over her teenage angst. While she tries to cope with and hide her new
powers, only known to one friend and her sister, the company that spilled the
liquid chemicals on poor Ms. Mack chase her down to experiment on her and cover
their cans.
Overall,
the series is a Nickelodeon classic to this reviewer. Whereas many old Nickelodeon series are still
locked up in a vault somewhere, for some indescribable reason (Rocko’s Modern Life anyone?), this one
managed to escape into our DVD collections.
The idea behind the series is fun and innovative with a slight superhero
element involved, yet manages to maintain a family friendly atmosphere; this is
not something easy to accomplish. The
series has aged well and still holds a place in this reviewer’s gooey silver
heart.
The
technical features of this 2 Disc, 13 episode set are pure bad. The picture is presented in a grainy, fuzzy, color
skewed, almost blurry 1.33 X 1 Full Screen that itself at times seems to wide
for full for the screen. RHI did not
seem to clean up the episodes at all and merely released less than adequate
analog transfers. The sound is messy in
its Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo format often sounding muffled and distant. Whereas the technical features definitely
need work, the extras are even worse due to the fact that THERE ARE NONE! The fact that there are no extras is just sad
because it took a long time for this fan favorite series to hit shelves and who
knows when and if a second season will even be available (just like Clarissa Explains it All and Pete and Pete). The studio also chose to promote Jessica
Alba’s little involvement in the series all over the cover art in an attempt to
sell more one would assume (hope it works), but in reality it is just odd
because Jessica Alba in no way played a vital role in the series. The true star of the series is Larisa Oleynik
who is beautiful and a great actress. In
the end, this release needs some work.
This
would be a fan pickup only. The series
is classic to anyone born around 1982-1989, being a huge Nickelodeon success
and being from a time when Nickelodeon wasn’t recycled trash. Overall, fans should have no problem jumping
right back into that puddle of goo known as The Secret World of Alex Mack.
- Michael P Dougherty II
