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Title:
Surface: The Complete Series
Region:
One
Genre:
Sci-fi Drama Mystery
Stars:
Lake Bell, Jay R. Ferguson, Carter Jenkins, Ian Anthony Dale, Eddie Hassell,
Shishir Kurup, and Rade Serbedzija
Created
By: Jonas Pate and Josh Pate
Executive
Producers: Jonas Pate and Josh Pate
Feature
length: 10 hours and 31 minutes
Extras:
Deleted Scenes SCI-FI Effects Featurette
Languages:
English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Subtitles:
English Subtitles For The Deaf And Hearing Impaired
Packaging:
Four-Disc Digipack Gatefold Within A Glossy Slipcase
Sound:
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Year
of: Television Broadcast: 2005-2006/DVD Release: 2006
Home
Video Distributor: Universal Studios Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: Not Rated
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
In
the wake of the success of LOST on ABC as well as the re-imagined Battlestar
Galactica on SCI FI Channel, the three major networks attempted to launch
more serialized genre dramas. ABC had a new Night Stalker TV series and
moved ALIAS to a different night so it could air Invasion
following LOST. CBS had Threshold on Friday nights and NBC had Surface
on Monday nights. Hoping to garner the same loyal audience that turned a cult
show like The X-Files on Fox into a mainstream success, ABC and CBS had
their dark genre dramas on a Friday night, but timing is everything when it
comes to television and film. The X-Files premiered at a time when genre
sci-fi on TV was in a renaissance in part because sociologically speaking,
interest in the paranormal increases toward the end of a century and in this
case it was the end of the millennium. The X-Files also sparingly used
the growing interest in CGI to forward the storytelling instead of just
providing eye candy. More than ten years later with so many TV shows having
explored the paranormal to a great degree, shows like Threshold and Night
Stalker simply didn’t capture the imagination of a large enough audience
in an era where there are more choices between home video, the Internet, and
cable and satellite television than existed a decade before. Invasion
probably suffered because the show had a lengthy hiatus between episodes and
there was a general feeling of de’-ja vu over the program’s initial premise,
which seemed at times like an odd mixture of Invasion Of The Body Snatchers
with elements from American Gothic, which shared Shawn Cassidy as a
series creator. This how it seemed in the beginning and not necessarily what it
turned out to be.
Finally
there was Surface, which of the four shows mentioned above was my
personal favorite. I thought it was a show produced by Steven Spielberg when I
first saw it, but ultimately the show’s writers, creators, director, and
producers Jonas Pate and Josh Pate were great fans that like many of us grew up
on a diet of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg films and inspired productions.
The premise had three very different individuals coming into contact with a new
amphibious species with strange powers in different ways that ultimately lead to
a mystery behind the origin of the species and the consequences their existence
will incur upon the world. There were interesting plot twists and suspense that
lead to a terrific cliffhanger that felt like the end of a first act of an epic.
Unfortunately, despite reruns on SCI FI as well as NBC Universal HD to support
the show, I think Surface got written off quickly by casual viewers and
of all the programs I have mentioned, it is the one I would like the most to see
resolved in either a limited series or a set of TV movies as was the case with Alien
Nation. The one good thing that exists among the competition of today’s
programs is the fact that DVD can resurrect a TV show in a new form as has been
seen with shows like Firefly and Farscape.
All
fifteen episodes are presented in their original (1.78:1) widescreen aspect
ratios enhanced for 16 by 9 televisions and while depending upon one’s HD
reception through cable, satellite or over the airwaves, they may not look quite
as striking as the high definition broadcasts, I think many will actually find
the DVDs not only look better than the standard letterboxed broadcasts, but in
addition when upconverted using Toshiba’s HD DVD player for example, the shows
look better than they did in some HD broadcasts and there are no onscreen
interruptions or commercials to break one’s concentration either. The average length of each episode is between 41 and 42
minutes each and all feature a well-mixed English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
Soundtrack along with optional English Subtitles for the Deaf and Hearing
Impaired encoded onto the four discs as options for each episode. Letterboxed
deleted scenes for episodes two (2:46), three (4:52), five (3:38), six (1:19),
nine (3:25), and fourteen (9:54) are included, but unfortunately none of them
really shed much new light on the mystery behind the creatures themselves though
there are a few nice character moments presented. There is also a featurette
regarding the show that features a few EPK cast interview clips as well as a
look at the effects used for the show, some of which are quite amazing (8:38)
because the technology of CGI has become so sophisticated that objects that look
like they were really there seem indistinguishable from what might have been on
set at the time of production. It is interesting to note that Surface was
originally intended by Jonas and Josh Pate to be a feature film. Considering we
may never get to see a final resolution to the mysteries the series contained, I
now kind of wish they made it as a movie or a self contained miniseries instead.
A
reel of trailers for Universal Studios Home Entertainment’s Battlestar
Galactica Season 2.5, Seaquest DSV: Season One, Las Vegas: Season 3, and a
teaser for the third season premiere of Battlestar Galactica on SCI FI
appear before the main menu on disc one and there are more trailers for
Universal TV on DVD titles that can be accessed individually or viewed using a
“Play All” feature (8:30) that includes Miami Vice, Monk, Law And Order,
The Incredible Hulk, Columbo, Murder She Wrote, Northern Exposure, and
Quantum Leap. The menus are standard interactive still frames that are easy
to navigate with music from the series playing in the background. The episodes
on each disc can be viewed individually or in succession. The discs come housed
within a glossy digipack gatefold and cardboard slipcover.
Surface:
The Complete Series
is available on DVD-Video now at retailers on and offline courtesy of Universal
Studios Home Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2006 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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