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Alias - The Complete First Season

Alias - The Complete First Season

List Price: $69.99
Your Price: $52.49
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: BUY IT TODAY
Review: Alias is the best show on the air! The DVD set is wonderful. It is great not having any commercials and you can watch as many as episodes as you want at one time. There are so many behind the scenes to watch. This is a must own for any Alias fan!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Deadly Truth: The First Season of One of TV's Greatest Shows
Review: Sydney Bristow (Jennifer Garner) is a grad student by, well, day and as well as night. She is an operative for a super-secret black ops division of the CIA called SD-6. Or is she? She was sworn to secrecy about the agency, but when she told her new fiancé about SD-6, he was killed by SD-6 security officers. Sydney then learned two things; the first is that her father, Jack Bristow (Victor Garber) is a senior officer of SD-6, and that she is not part of the CIA. SD-6 is part of a group called the Alliance of 12, which is an enemy of the United States. There are SD cells across the globe, and their goal is to destroy the U.S. and its allies and become ever more powerful. So Syd goes to Langley to join the real CIA and become a double agent inside SD-6. Finally, she realizes that Jack is another CIA double who has infiltrated SD-6. And that's all in the pilot episode. As the season goes on, Sydney reports her missions to her CIA handler, Michael Vaughn (Michael Vartan), who gives her counter-missions. Many of these missions pit Sydney against the K-Directorate, a modern version of the KGB. However, things begin to get complicated when a man named Milo Rambaldi, a sixteenth century prophet, comes into the picture. Rambaldi has unfinished work, and he left artifacts all over the world so that someone in the future would. Soon, a new organization emerges, led by the mysterious The Man, whose identity could mean trouble for Sydney, Jack, and Vaughn.
This is an amazing show with twists and turns that rival those of 24, which I believe to be the greatest show in history. The stories are great, the acting is, for the most part, superb, and the cliffhangers definitely fulfill their purpose. If you like 24 or Buffy, you will love Alias.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Cliff Hanger of a Series
Review: First, a personal note. I HATE commercial TV. I resent mindless adverising interrupting a good story, so 90% of what I watch is movies on DVD. So my younger son kept telling me how great this series was, and I kept telling him, "Yeah, Yeah, yeah!", when I realized that for my very intelligent son to be high on a program, it HAD to be good.

Then he tells me that season one is on DVD, and I see a "win-win" situation. And it is!!

All of the praise that other reviewers pile on this series is justified. EVERYTHING, from script quality to acting to special effects is just first rate. Even the price is good, considering that it contains 6 DVDs, each with 4 separate episodes.

So I recommed it without reservations, except that season two is even better ...

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: An excellent show, with one crippling flaw...
Review: I'm sure a lot of people are surprised that I'm not giving this DVD and show five stars. Don't get me wrong, I love "Alias". The acting is great, the show is really well-shot, the action is heart pounding and there is a twist in every episode. I was extremely excited to buy this DVD. But then I figured something out. Let me clarify.

For starters, let me just say that the packaging of this box set is really great. The carboard box holds three snap cases (like what a normal DVD comes in) each with two discs in it. I prefer this format to the fold out format used in other box sets (like "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Friends"). The menu is easy to use. The picture quality is outstanding. The only thing I disliked about the DVD itself is the fact that each episode begins with the background information about Sydney and the "Previously on Alias" section. I got really sick of both of these.

Now, for the reason I took away a star. It has to do with "Alias" as a show. I've already told you that I really love this show. We all like how the plot is continuous and important twists are revealed in every episode. But that's sort of a problem. The episodes are so laced into the overall series arc (backstory, missions, Sydney as a double agent) that no single episode is better than any other. They're all good, but none are excellent. No individual episode is a classic. My three favorite shows- "Buffy", "Angel", and "Friends"- all have individual episodes that you can go back and watch as a stand alone. "Alias" doesn't have this. After you watch the whole season, you won't be going back and saying "I'm in the mood to watch ENTER A SPECIFIC EPISODE HERE". You sort of have to watch the whole season to keep up the effect of the action in each episode. They are completely reliant on each other.

Still, this is a great show and you should buy it, by all means. I just wanted to voice my opinion.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Fantastic series
Review: I decided to pick this series up on DVD on a whim, never having viewed the show on TV. Wow, was it good! Jennifer Garner is simply amazing as Sydney Bristow, a double agent/college student who is stuck in a life she might not want but has to continue for the good of those around her. The episodes are well-planned and there's usually a cliff-hanger type of deal into the next show, meaning this is the perfect type of show to watch on DVD, just like 24. I'm almost glad I missed it during its original run, because the series is so good, I couldn't wait to watch the next episode.

If you think you might like this set, get it! It's awesome.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Wild Ride
Review: **WARNING**
Do not start watching this series if you do not have plenty of time on your hands! Having never watched Alias on TV we were unprepared for the wild ride. Started watching the first episode Christmas night and didn't call it quits until 6AM. This is a fast paced, drama-action-Sci-Fi with enough of each to keep all your friends entertained. It's not thought provoking, or intellectually stimulating - it's all fast action thrill ride. I gave it five stars because it delivers entertainment, the DVD layout is excellent (easy to understand)and the soundtrack amazing. We stopped mid way through the first season and made a run to the local giant electronics store to purchase a surround sound system! The music is great, as are the sound effects - this will put your entertainment system to the test.

If you have a weekend to burn, this is a great way to do it! Pop some popcorn, turn up the volume and get ready for a heady thrill ride.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Seriously addictive TV...
Review: I became a fan of Alias when a friend at work turned it on during a break to watch the first episode of this season. After the show I was hooked. Alias takes all of the best elements of the spy/action genre and turns them into an appealing brew. Exotic locales, over-the-top action and costumes, hair-raising torture, cool gadgets and a nail biting cliff-hanger at the end of just about every episode insure your waiting with baited breath until the next episode.

For neophyte fans like myself, the season 1 DVD set is invaluable to knowing the entire story of Sydney's adventures up until this season (many of the current episodes contain hints at events from earlier episodes).

There are some notable flaws to the show mixed in with the great moments. Michael Vartan seems to always look like a whipped puppy, the "Snowman" sub-plot seemed to be something the writers tacked on so Jennifer Garner could have sex with someone and Ms. Garner cries way too much for a trained spy. But these are relatively minor complaints given the fact that the show itself strikes an almost perfect balance between action, drama and humor... and of course those dang cliff hangers that keep you longing for more. If you watch Alias now, there is a serious chance that you may become an addicted couch potato. You've been warned.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Brain Candy - Pleasant in Small Doses
Review: Take the look/sound/tempo of "Run, Lola, Run" and apply it liberally to a James Bond -esque story. Add lots of eye candy. Add a bazillion plot twists that, after a while, don't make any sense at all and which exist only to give the sense of plot progression. Viola! You've got Alias!!!

Jennifer Garner dresses up in outrageous costumes and does a lot of kick-boxing and running. It's fun, but after a while the sheer repetition of the whole thing begins to wear you down. And, too, there's no sense of anything really happening, after a while. Compare this with "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer," for example. Each season of Buffy has an overall plot arc that moves the whole thing forward. Stuff actually happens. Characters evolve.

If you're looking for something pleasantly vapid with lots of action, you could do worse than getting this series. Jennifer Garner is absolutely gorgeous and does a fine job throughout. But take it in small doses, is my advice. Otherwise, you might quickly get bored with the formulaic nature of the program.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Cannot stop watching!!!
Review: Sure, I am already a fan of Alias, so this review is a bit biased. I bought the season one DVD of Alias for my husband for Christmas and he hasn't been able to watch it. I have been transfixed. The commentary is by far very fun. If you're a fan and want to pick up little tidbits, turn it on. For instance, the writers acknowledge that they never really revealed who was telling Will all the info about SD-6, but do have a backstory planned for a later season. Oooh. I cannot wait. The gag reel is too much fun. I wish it was longer than the four minutes it plays. Seeing the actors laughing, tripping, etc is just really fun.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Good potential, but wasted
Review: The show is certainly exciting, but there are so many inconsistencies in it (plot, characters, etc), so many mistakes, etc. that it really spoils the enjoyment. Some of the plots only work because they assume total stupidity on the parts of people (that otherwise are supposed to be smart) that watching becomes frustrating and annoying. The series would have worked much better if someone had taken the trouble of doing some reality-testing on it (nothing too complex, but would a security-conscious company keep its security codes the same for more than 8 years?!) - such things keep happening. Good raw material, but wasted because of a lack of attention to detail. There are many far better shows available.


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