DAPs Magic Disney News – by PJ Campbell
Everyone’s favorite freelance spy, Michael Westen, is back and better than ever in season five of the popular USA show. But this time, things are different. Westen is welcomed back to the CIA, only to find himself framed for murder. Michael and his team must fight to clear his name, but not all is as it seems. This is also the Michael finally comes face to face with the man who burned him, which is something we’ve all been waiting for. ‘Burn Notice’ stars Jeffery Donovan (‘Hitch’, ‘Changeling) as Michael Westen, Bruce Campbell (‘The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.’, ‘The Evil Dead’ Trilogy) as the alcohol loving side kick Sam Axe, and Gabrielle Anwar (‘Law and Order: SVU’, ‘The Librarian: Return to King Soloman’s Mines’) as Michael’s trigger happy flame Fiona.
Picture and Sound
‘Burn Notice’ comes to DVD courtesy of 20th Century Fox, and it looks nothing short of excellent. This is one show I’ve always gone out of my way to pick up, and Fox has always done a great job on the transfers sound. Presented in its original widescreen aspect ratio, the Miami set series has never looked better on DVD. Colors pop and are vibrant, skin tones look natural, and watching it on a blu-ray player, the upscaled version even adds a nice bit of extra detail to top it off. I always find that ‘Burn Notice’ is one of the nicest looking shows on TV, with some incredibly great action set pieces every episode. I know that previously Fox has released Season 2 and the Sam Axe prequel film on blu-ray, and I’d love to see the rest of the series get the high def treatment as well. If the DVDs look this good, I can only imagine how the whole series would look in high definition.
The sound is also quite good, featuring a 5.1 Dolby digital track that really makes the action scenes come to life. It really puts you in the middle of the action, and sometimes it’ll even make you feel it, if your bass is loud enough. It’s a very solid audio mix, and one of the best ones on any TV show DVD set I’ve heard to date. Outside of the action scenes, the dialogue is crisp and clear, making it very easy to hear. There’s not really anything negative I can say about this audio mix.
Special Features:
Fox has given us quite a few nice little special features in this set. The most important one, at least for me, was the extended episode of ‘Army of One’, which is one of the most pivotal episodes of not only the season, but the series. The set also features a handful of deleted scenes from through the season, a featurette on the villains of the series, bloopers, and a commentary on the season finale ‘Fail Safe’. It’s a nice set of extras, and it’s become pretty standard fare across the season sets. The addition of the ‘Army of One’ extended episode. It’s easily one of my favorite episodes, and the extended episode is definitely fun to watch. The special features definitely make this set that much better, and make it that much easier to recommend.
Overall Recommendation:
If you’re a fan of ‘Burn Notice’, you’ve probably already made up your mind and were looking to pick up the set, so I don’t have to convince you. But for the casual viewer, I would definitely recommend the fifth season of the series, but I would say you should definitely watch the previous seasons first, because there is some payoff to earlier storylines that play out better if you’ve seen the series up until this point. I’d also say that for fans of Bruce Campbell, the show is an easy recommendation. Campbell steals every scene he’s in, and Sam Axe proves to be one of the best supporting characters on any show. I definitely enjoy ‘Burn Notice’, and always have. Season five is one of my favorite seasons to date, and this DVD set is no slouch. It comes with an easy recommendation from me, and it’ll be a nice edition to your collection.
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