HIGHLANDER - The RAVEN
THE COMPLETE SERIES

 
ANCHOR BAY ENTERTAINMENT PRESENTS

Release Date: June 14th 2005

MSRP Price: $89.98 
Amazon Price: $62.99
Costco Price: ??? - Likely Will Not Carry. 
Sam's Club: Likely Will Not Carry.

DETAILS: 
* Region 1 
* 9 Discs - 22 episodes w/bonus cdrom disc.
* Widescreen - Letterbox format
* English (Dolby Digital 5.1)
* Subtitles: English, French, Spanish 
* Studio: Anchor Bay Entertainment & Davis-Anderson Merchandising Corp. 
* Unrated 
* Format: Color w/closed caption

Anchor Bay Website 
Highlander Mailing List

Highlander the Raven from Scifi2k.com 

Highlander, The Raven Complete Series Rating: "A"
Video: A
Audio: A
Content: A
Extras: A
overall: A

STARS: Elizabeth Gracen, Paul Johansson and Patricia Gage

When Anchor Bay and Davis-Panzer Merchandising Corp. team-up on a DVD Boxed Set fans get the maximum allowable by DVD. These suckers are packed with material, have outstanding use of images and information. Even with the new dual-layer dvds on the market these were done with the single sided units and excellent cover labels. 

The Raven I dig more than the Highlander series by far. See Elizabeth Gracen every episode made it even better. The producers brought in a bunch of female leads during the Highlander series to find their girl but none of them had the charisma of Gracen, who was already part of the show. It was only natural for her to move into the series. If the writers and advertisers had done a better job the series would have moved beyond just the first season. But, as fans we are forced to take what we can get.  

In 1998 syndication was a big thing for the sci-fi genre. Highlander, the Raven aired back to back with another unique series "The Crow: Stairway to Heaven". It made for an interesting two-hour block of kick as television.  Highlander, the Raven was scene in 70 countries internationally in 48 languages. Final filming on the series was moved totally to Paris and produced by Guamont Television & Fireworks Media Inc. who has since gone out of business. 

Since 1998 the impressively beautiful Elizabeth Gracen has not appeared as a regular in a series since 1999 when Raven left the airwaves.  She has done many episodic television appearances in the series "The Flash", "Charmed", "Time Trax", "Renegade", "Murder She Wrote" and "Queen of Swords". 

Now if we can just get "Tales of the Gold Monkey" on a DVD boxed set... 

PACKAGING 
Anchor Bay used the box insert with the fold out case that uses some excellent images mixing quite nicely with the text. The did go with the one dvd stacked on top of the second style so you must remove the top to get to the second disc. A pain, but acceptable. When you remove the disc you see the episode title and chapters. Let's just say it's great looking. 

VIDEO: 
The masters are only from 1998 and they look grand. The blacks are dark, the colors are energetic and bright. Debris is minimal and hey, it's in freakin' letterbox format. Funny thing though, I saw this in syndication first run and it didn't look this good. The video is exceptional. 

AUDIO: 
It sounds great in Dolby Digital 5.1. It doesn't teeter on actually using the complete 5.1 range but the voices and soundtrack kick some butt sound wise while running in a laps with the rear channels. It just wasn't created for that as a television show in 1998. 

BONUS FEATURES: 
Anchor Bay continues to offer the goodies to fans. 

• Audio Commentary 

• Cast & Crew Bios 

• Photo Gallery 

• Blooper Reel 

CD ROM

• All 22 Scripts 

• Actor, Director, & Writer Bios

• Production Notes & Shooting Schedules.

• Trivia 

SUMMARY: 
While the set was available on VHS, the DVD release is so much better. I am amazed at the quality of the video as with syndication you just never know the quality you're going to get. 

Highlander, the Raven is a top notch production, with some decent writing, quality acting and top notch television special effects thrown in just for the fun of it.  Television on DVD doesn't get much better than this. If you're looking for something new to watch this might be what the doctor ordered. It's widely unknown, and visually above average. I am excited to have the review copy for my collection. 

The pricing is a bit stiff at $89.98. but you can pick it up at Amazon for about $63. Wall-Mart just might have the set in the same price range. It's still a bit expensive but it's a set you won't be disappointed with. 

What's on the Discs? 

Disc# 1            

Reborn 
Disclosure 
Bloodlines 

Interview Featurette

Disc# 2

Immunity
So Shall Ye Reap
Birthright 

Interview Featurette 

Disc# 3

Crime & Punishment 
The Unknown Soldier 
Cloak & Dagger 

Interview Featurette

Disc# 4

Passion Play 
The Devil You Know (audio commentary available)
A Matter of Time 

Interview Featurette 

Disc# 5

The French Connection 
The Rogue 
Inferno 

Interview Featurette 

Disc# 6 

The Frame (audio/video commentary available) 
Love & Death 
Thick As Thieves 

Interview Featurette 

Disc# 7 

The Manipulator 
The Ex-Files 
War & Peace 

Interview Featurette 

Disc# 8 

Dead On Arrival (with audio/video commentary) 
Interview Featurette 
Bloopers 

Disc# 9 - CD Rom 

• All 22 Scripts 

• Bios 

• Trivia 

• Production Notes 

• Storyboards 

Highlander, The Raven Rating: "A"

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