The Movie:From some truly strange reason, Paramount put out the last season of Chuck Norris' popular modern day western Walker Texas Ranger before any of the earlier ones. Well, they've since seen the error of their ways and have now unleashed upon the masses the complete first and second season of the show. Keep in mind that the first season is a brief one and as such only has a few episodes to its credit (the first three, to be precise), but the second season is full length so there's plenty of bang for your buck throughout these hour long episodes.
The premise for Walker isn't all that far removed from that of any other cop/law enforcement show. Chuck Norris plays a Texas Ranger named Cordell Walker who deals with the world's problems very much like a cowboy would... a cowboy with a penchant for kicking people in the head, that is. He's a tough guy who isn't afraid to use his fists or his feet when he needs to, but he's also an honorable man who doesn't use his considerable fighting skills unless it's absolutely necessary.
The first two seasons didn't have as large a cast as later entries in the series did and this time around it's more or less just Walker and Jimmy Trivette (Clarence Gilyard Jr.) serving the public trust in these early years. Trivette was a one time Dallas Cowboy football hopeful who, due to a shoulder injury, had to leave the football world and has since joined the Texas Rangers and quickly rose up the ranks to become Walker's right hand man. When Walker isn't fighting crime, odds are pretty good he'll be making time with his sexy lady friend, a district attorney named Alex (Sheree Wilson).
The episodes contained in the first two seasons, running from April 1993 through May of 1994, are laid out as follows:
One Riot, One Ranger: In this pilot episode, Walker's partner is shot and killed during a bank robbery in Dallas. He's going to have to use everything he's got to bring the robbers to justice and stop them from committing more crimes before it's too late.
Borderline: A few years ago, Alex was responsible for successfully prosecuting a murderer and having him lock away behind bars. When he escapes from prison, the only thing on his mind is getting revenge for what she did to him. Can Walker catch the killer before he kills again?
A Shadow In The Night: Congressman Cabe is up to some shady business when his right hand man kills a Japanese mobster. To get revenge for the killing the Yakuza send some of their men to the U.S. and Walker and Trivette are assigned as the Congressman's body guards.
Bounty: A bank robber is brought in on charges and then subsequently released. Once he's free, he figures it's all good until a bounty hunter starts tailing him. To make matters worse, the Texas Rangers want a piece of this guy as well.
Storm Warning: When the Rangers find out about a drug peddling ring operating out of the state prison, Trivette goes into the big house undercover to put a stop to it. Things get out of hand when the transport Trivette is riding into jail crashes and he winds up in an escape plan with the gang of felons accompanying him.
In The Name Of God: A young lady named Amy Berigan has joined a dangerous cult and her father, Hank, wants Alex's help in getting her out of the strange group. Alex starts snooping around and joins the cult under false pretenses only to find out that once you join, you can never leave.
Crime Wave Dave: Frances and Billy seem to have a good life together despite his criminal past until one night when Billy doesn't come home. She calls Walker to see if he can help her find her husband and it's turns out that his disappearance relates to his probation officer, a strange man named Dave.
End Run: A gangster named Trigger James has been brought in to stand trial and the star witness for the prosecution, Cat, is ready to take the stand. Trivette escorts her to the court house but things get ugly along the way.
Family Matters: Mick Flanders is a no good crook who thinks of himself as above the law when his sister joins the witness protection program. Without any fear of the police he kidnaps a farm boy but soon Walker is on the case, proving once again that crime doesn't pay.
She'll Do To Ride The River With: When some animals start turning up dead under strange circumstances a veterinarian comes in to check out the scene. Soon enough, he too winds up dead and Walker and Trivette are called in to investigate. M. C. Gainey shows up in a supporting role.
Unfinished Business: Walker has his work cut out for him when a young man decides that he wants to be a Ranger and that the best way to do this is to fight crime on his own. He tries to capture some escaped cons and winds up endangering a whole lot of people in the process.
An Innocent Man: When a man pleads guilty without contesting the charges and is sentenced to death, Walker finds himself in a race against time as he knows that the defendant is being blackmailed into taking the rap for someone else.
Night Of The Gladiator: Walker and Trivette go undercover as underground fighters to figure out why an old friend's of Trivette's is acting so strangely at the request of his sister, Trivette's ex-girlfriend. Tom Atkins guest stars, and lots of people get the crap knocked out of them by Chuck.
Legend Of The Running Bear: David Little Eagle Jackson left the reservation years ago to attend medical school. Now that he's returned he finds that some of the other habitants now hate him for what he has become. When his girlfriend's father winds up dead, David finds himself in deep trouble.
Something In The Shadows (Part One): Walker and Trivette are so close to busting up a big drug smuggling operation that they can taste it but they can't quite apprehend the main brain behind it all. Meanwhile, Alex takes on a rape case and finds herself being watched.
Something In The Shadows (Part Two): Walker is closing in on the drug boss and things heat up in the court room with Alex's case as it all winds closer and closer to an appropriate ending.
On Deadly Ground: An old friend of Walker's has been kidnapped and is being held in Mexico so Walker disguises himself as a Mexican worker (no seriously, he does) to infiltrate the gang and save his old buddy.
Right Man, Wrong Time: Country and western chanteuse Merrilee Summers needs Walker's help when her ex-husband shows up and starts causing problems for her. Oddly enough, Wings Hauser guest stars.
The Prodigal Son: When a hostage situation breaks out in Dallas, Walker springs into action to stop the bad guys like he normally does. This time, however, Walker ends up putting a little kids life in some serious danger and he almost hangs up his badge because of it.
The Committee: The ways of the old west are new again when in a small Texas town the officials start enforcing their own brand of vigilante justice. Walker goes under cover to put a stop to them.
Deadly Vision: When an eight year old kid is kidnapped, Trivette finds himself at his wits end. In turn, he brings a psychic on board to help him find the kid and because of this he ends up being made fun of by all the other Rangers.
Skyjacked: Walker and Trivette find themselves in trouble when a plane that's bringing a prisoner from Ohio to Texas (where he's going to be executed) is skyjacked by the prisoner's old pals.
The Long Haul: Another old friend of Walker's gets kidnapped (this happens pretty frequently, it seems � it must suck to be Walker's friend sometimes) and so he and Trivette once more go under cover to see if they can get him back from the hoods who took him in one piece.
Rampage: The Cochran Brothers are on the lam and running around somewhere out in a remote area of Texas. Walker and Trivette are on the case but they soon find themselves in trouble and the only man who can help them is their favorite bartender, C. D.!
Deadly Reunion (Part 1): One of the most famous Texas Rangers in the history of the organization, even more famous than Walker, finds himself working alongside Walker and Trivette when his son is murdered.
Deadly Reunion (Part 2): Closing in on the killers, Walker and Trivette find out that the next victim on the killer's list is a Texas Senator and that the murderer is closing in on him faster than they thought.
Stolen Lullaby: In the season two finale, a well to do couple who, on the outside, are nothing short of perfect end up buying a baby on the black market who was kidnapped from his mother. The mother gets Walker on the case but soon the baby's life is in danger and the mother changes her mind�
Those who have been watching the show in syndication or who followed it from the get go will find a lot of familiar episodes in this collection. Before Chuck Norris sang the theme song that opened later seasons the instrumental beginnings always issued in each episode with style, alluding to the action to come. The writing and character development would get strong as the series went on but these early episodes definitely excel in the 'boot to the head' department and the pacing is fast throughout. If you're a fan of the series and want to check out where it all started, this is a fine way to do it.
The DVD Video:
Seeing as this was a television series, it shouldn't surprise anyone to see it presented fullframe, which is how it was shot. Overall, the quality of the video is pretty good. Some of the darker scenes exhibit some mild compression artifacts here and there and there is some minor edge enhancement present in a few scenes but the colors come through reasonably well and there's a nice level of detail present in the picture. While there is a certain level of softness present throughout the episodes, the video quality on this release looks as good, if not marginally better, than the episodes looked on broadcast television. Also worth stating, however, is that some episodes (Night of the Gladiator, for example) are particularly grainy to the point where the material looks a lot older than it is. This doesn't happen on every episode but a few of them are in worse shape than others in the set for some reason.
Sound:The entire season is presented in its original Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo with optional closed captioning available in English. There are no other alternate audio tracks or subtitles on this set. Dialogue is plenty clear enough and the opening theme song sounds nice and lively. The various musical cues used throughout the episodes have got sufficient punch to them, as doe the sound effects. Overall, the sound mix on this set is very solid.
Extras:There are no extra features at all on this set, unless you consider chapter selection a special feature (and for the record I don't). This was definitely a disappointment, as with the first release (which was the last season), it would have been nice to see a Chuck Norris commentary or two or maybe some sort of documentary or even a promo spot or still gallery, but nope, Paramount shows Chuck no love in the extra features department and for that they deserve a swift kick to the head.
Final Thoughts:Once again the complete lack of extra features is disheartening and some more work could have been put into cleaning up the picture quality on this set. That being said, these DVD episodes do look better than their syndicated counterparts and the audio is quite good. The content is what matters the most on this set, however, and what is here holds up well. Walker Texas Ranger: The Complete First Season comes recommended.
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