Sci-Fi Collection TV Series

Here are six obscure Science Fiction series that you PROBABLY missed when they aired. I know I did! I took a chance and I'm DELIGHTED that I did! These are ALL archive-quality copies; this is NOT a cheap "ripped from VHS" compilation set.First, I initially bought the set for "The Powers of Matthew Star." The stories are inconsistent, it never really finds its footing, but it does have some fun episodes for a 1980's series. The story follows teen Matthew Star who is a refugee from an alien planet, living on earth and attempting to develop his powers so that one day, he can return to his homeworld and lead it to freedom. Louis Gossett Jr adds gravitas to a series that never capitalizes on its interesting premise. Quality, sound, and picture are great for this era of material.The Immortal is the oldest series in this set (1970), and it is shot entirely on film. It looks the best of all the series because of the quality of the source material. A man must go on the run after he discovers his blood gives extended health to a wealthy elderly businessman who will do anything to hang on to life. After the initial episode, it feels like a precursor to the Incredible Hulk series (Bill Bixby, 1978), where he is always on the run, visiting new areas and new people with new troubles before he is found and forced to flee again. This series was far better than I expected.Deadly Games was QUITE the surprise. This series has quite the cast and I enjoyed it for it's cheesiness, even if the premise is far-fetched. Gus Lloyd (Jamie Calvert), a physics whiz-kid, created a video game to get over his divorce. When an accident happens with an experiment, the characters of the game cross over into the real world and wreak havoc. The series includes Cynthia Gibb (Short Circuit 2) and Christopher Lloyd (Back to the Future), with guest stars including Shirley Jones (Partridge Family), Kathy Ireland (Model, Actress), Brent Spiner (Data from Star Trek), Anthony Michael Hall, LeVar Burton, Jimmie Walker, Dwight Schultz, and more. Fun cheese that I could not stop until I watched the whole thing!And I haven't even started Special Unit 2, Super Force, and Level 9!UPDATE: Okay, so I have now watched the other series and can comment on them...Special Unit 2: Excellent, fun series that needed more episodes. Reminded me of "Men in Black," but as a TV series. Instead of dealing with aliens on earth, this series deals with "missing links," creatures like gargoyles and such that live in the shadows. Hits a fun balance of humor with elements of horror. The team of Special Unit 2 operates outside normal channels in the city of Chicago.Super Force: this series reminds me of a 90's cheap Robocop-style series that is hard to watch, especially the first 4 episodes which were cut from a 2 hour pilot. The main character is an astronaut that wears combat armor and rides a motorcycle. Once you get past the first 4 episodes, it does get a bit better. Fortunately, the episodes are only 30 minutes long, but I have little interest in this series. Reminds me of Space Rangers in production values...Level 9: don't know if I would classify this as sci-fi in any real sense of the word, because it deals with a special cyber-crimes unit of the government. Basically, a bunch of hackers protect us from other hackers. The problem with this particular series is too many regular cast members and none of them shine. The production quality is good, the series is watchable, but I find it difficult to care about ANY of the main characters.Still, I am DELIGHTED with this set! You get some very good stuff along with a couple you may or may not get around to trying to finish, but it is DEFINITELY worth the money.

Special Unit 2: A Special Unit of the Chicago Police Dept that deals with supernatural "Links". This is the reason I bought this boxed set, and it still stands up well.The Immortal: Made it about 5 or 6 episodes in and had to quit. A guy whose blood can reverse the aging process temporarily is targeted by rich old white guys and is on the run (The Fugitive, the Incredible Hulk [Bill Bixby], etc.)The Powers of Matthew Star: Alien Royal kid with paranormal powers hiding on Earth trying to fit in until his powers are fully developed. Accompanied by his guardian and friend (Louis Gossett Jr, the only saving grace in this series). I made it through Season one (watchable) and gave up a few episodes into season two and even Louis Gossett Jr couldn't save it.Superforce: I couldn't even make it through the beginning of series movie. Editing was horrible and left it making little sense. I can't comment on the series itself, I couldn't bring myself to watch it. It is a Robocop wannabee.Level 9: Early 2000's and watchable. Requires a little suspension of disbelief, but not too bad. Secret government Cyber crime investigators chasing down hackers and others using the web for crimes. Geeks with guns.Deadly Games: I thought it was going to be a total bust, despite Leonard Nimoy producing and Christopher Lloyd as the bad guy, but as it went on it kind of grew on me. Campy, cheesy, but overall not bad. Sadly it ends without an ending. High power anti-matter power experiment surges and brings characters from a video game to life. (See how bad the concept seems to start with!?). If you can make it through the first few it's not so bad.

I have been a long time fan of Special Unit 2, The Powers of Matthew Star and Level 9. Since The Immortal, Super Force and Deadly Games were packaged with the first 3, I had figured there was a chance I would like the last 3 as well. I was right on all counts even though I had been less sure about The Immortal because it first aired when I was 4 years old but I also highly enjoy it. All of the discs play very well and the recordings including the special effects all are very good especially when you consider that the newest of these shows first aired 20 years ago.

The 5 tv series were very limited in seasons but they are all very good. Experiencing the shows again brought back enjoyable memories.

TV shows can go away and not show up on cable or YouTube. I haven’t watched all of them. Special Unit 2 is really good I saw a few episodes when it was first run. Level 9 is very good but I never heard of it before. The Immortal was first rate back when it first ran. Matthew Star had interruptions in its network debut. Have to start over again. The other shows look like fun but I haven’t watched them yet.

Rate it? I just got it!However, it showed up in fine condition and I'm sure the contents will be fine too.I'm adding this to my 'videos to watch' stash.

I really like this collection of short lived series dvd pack I think it's awesome the dvd's are in the order of the picture shown on the cover and are in a cary case similar to a cd travel case and the outer case they come in is a hard protective plastic clam shell style, each show are action packed and filled with entertainment and humor.

Have watched several discs from different series so far, no issues yet . This is a great bang for the buck. It sucks I already had Super force.

I enjoyed all of these. Some more than others. Superforce was the one I least enjoyed. See other reviews for in-depth commentary. I don't want to repeat reviewers descriptions.