The Good
Chuck Norris exudes toughness even when he's standing still.
The Bad
No Special Features at all.
Chuck Norris is perfectly cast in Walker Texas Ranger: The Complete Second Season. Filled with 23 episodes in this 7 disc set, Walker (Norris) and Jimmy (Clarence Gilyard, Jr.) go up against all manner of criminals in this Western inflected show. They are aided in their law efforts by C.D. Parker (Noble Willingham) and D.A. Alex Cahill (Sheree J. Wilson). The twist here is that Walker and Jimmy go out of their way not to use their weapons. They fight when they have to but most of the time they try and settle things using their brains.
The episodes in this set deal with racism, robbery, murder, drugs and everything else that constitutes the underbelly of society. Some of my favorites in this set were "Badge of Honor," "Tiger's Eye," "Mean Streets" and "Blue Movies." This show is strongly written and filled with memorable characters, lines, and fight scenes.
Features
No Extras came with this DVD.
Video
Full Screen Format. I found the episodes in this set to be uncharacteristically dark. Also, I watched this show with my glasses on and my glasses off. Sadly, there was a fuzzy quality to all these images. I don't know if these shows were overcompressed, but I had expected them to look better. These DVDs didn't come to us from some no name company. They came from Paramount and I just figured that they would look better. Who knows, maybe it's my TV?
Audio
English Stereo Surround. Latin Spanish Mono. Brazilian Portuguese Mono. Subtitled in Latin Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese. Aside from having to turn the audio a little more than halfway up, everything was in it's correct audio order. I didn't hear any glitches in the sound or anything that made the audio stand out in a negative way. Also, this is one of those shows that was created before the characters felt the need to whisper every line of dialogue like it was something precious. All in all, both the audio and video presentation were decent, but my standards might not be high enough for certain DVD collectors.
Package
An imposing figure of Cordell Walker (dressed in all black) is shown on this front cover. Behind him is a shot of the city with an orange, Texas skyline. The back portion utilizes a lighter color of orange, and it displays three pictures from the show, one of which looks like a promo still. There is a description of what Walker Texas Ranger: The Complete Second Season is about, as well as some minor system specs on the underside of this slipcase cover. There are four slim cases, all of which hold the 7 discs that make up this collection. There is the same front cover picture of Walker on each one, and on the back of the covers are episode listings, descriptions and airdates.
Final Word
I had never seen Walker Texas Ranger before the powers at MovieWeb gave me this 7 disc set to review. I had an idea of what it was about, but I never expected the writing or the characterizations to be so strong. Chuck Norris has always struck me as a guy with a good heart. He seems to have transcended his place in the martial arts universe and become a symbol for something more. Yeah, people make jokes or they have fun with the characters that he has played, but you don't have a show that runs 9 seasons if the main actors don't resonate in a special way with the public.
I was really excited to come across Walker Texas Ranger: The Complete Second Season. Sure, it's predictable and Walker and Jimmy always seem to triumph, but these guys play it straight and never become caricatures of their characters.
Walker, Texas Ranger was released .