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(More customer reviews)Although it's now fashionable to watch a superhero struggle with his or her abilities in movies and TV, it wasn't always the case. William Katt played Ralph Hinkley an ordinary guy who is left a gift from aliens from outer space-a suit that gives its wearer the ability to fly, super strength, invisibility and much more. Suddenly, he had all these super powers but lost the owner's manual to tell him how to use it correctly. Ralph ends up flying into walls and generally having as many mishaps as a superhero could possibly have. Befriended by FBI agent Bill Maxwell (Robert Culp) Hinkley partners with him and decides to fight for good. These first eight episodes (including the two hour pilot ) made up the first season of the series. The two hour pilot soars with nice comedic touches by Katt, Connie Selleca and the perfect straight man in Culp. In fact, Culp plays it so seriously that it comes off almost as a parody of a government agent.
With an exceptionally good transfer, "The Greatest American Hero" looks almost as if it was invulnerable to the ravages of time. The transfers look very nice with solid blacks and color reproduction. Considering the show is twenty five years old, there are few of the flaws that one might expect. The image is occasionally soft but and has some minor analog imperfections (such as dust, dirt particularly during the effects shots) on the whole, Anchor Bay has done a meticulous job in transferring this series to DVD. The sound while limited by the technology of the time (it was broadcast in mono) has good presence with the dialogue very clear. Some minor background hiss crops up from time to time. Although the box says this is in stereo it sounds like mono to me.
We get a pilot for a spin off entitled "The Greatest American Heroine". While only one episode was shot, what we have is quite good and promising. Sadly, no network picked up the spin-off so, until recently, it has sat on the shelf. In the spin off Hinkley hands off the suit to a young woman and she takes up where he left off. We also get interviews with stars William Katt, Robert Culp, Connie Selleca and writer/producer/creator Stephen J. Cannell. Culp provides some interesting tidbits in his interview. For example, the reason Bill Maxwell comes across so intense and humorless is because Culp decided to play the role that way. He figured that there with others playing for laughs, presenting his character as serious would provide an anchor to reality and prevent the show from becoming too tongue-in-cheek. With over an hour of interviews, this portion of the set is extremely generous. No commentary tracks from anyone but, really, the interviews do make up for that. Hopefully in future sets we can have commentary tracks on key episodes by the actors and Cannell.
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Believe it or not, he's walking on air! William Katt is back as reluctant flying crime fighter Ralph Hinkley, who would know exactly how to use the red superpower suit given to him by aliens if he hadn't lost its instruction manual. In this season, Ralph pitches in the World Series, prevents World War III, suffers amnesia, joins the circus, battles bad bikers, voodoo vengeance, a fast-food mascot and much more, all with the help of his attorney girlfriend Pam Davidson (Connie Selleca) and FBI agent Bill Maxwell (Robert Culp). Who could it be? Believe it or not, he's THE GREATEST AMERICAN HERO!This collection features all 22 Second Season episodes with such guest stars as Markie Post, Joe Mantegna, Barbara Hale, Keenan Wynn, Dixie Carter, Don Drysdale and more, plus all-new Extras that include revealing and fun career-retrospective interviews with creator Stephen J. Cannell and music composer Mike Post.
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