MacGuyver: The Complete First Season

MacGuyver was an action hero who practiced non-violent methods and fought with his mind instead of his hands or weapons. No, seriously. As the back of the DVD box says, "MacGuyver was a show about the dangerous life of an every day hero who was part Boy Scout, part genius." Called upon by his buddy Pete each week to save the day, Angus MacGuyver (yes, Angus was his first name) always found himself in sticky situations but managed to dig his way out of trouble with measly tools and his big, juicy brain. And that was the allure for viewers when they first turned on the show in 1985. Starring Richard Dean Anderson, the question each week would be: what danger would MacGuyver get into and what neat concoction or trick would he use to save the day? In the pilot episode, MacGuyver and a lady friend find themselves in the company of a tank leaking sulphuric acid. Luckily for them, MacGuyver finds some chocolate bars, which he uses to seal up the leak. You see, mixed with sulphuric acid, chocolate creates a fine sealant, something genius Boy Scouts all know. And that's the magic that runs through season one's 22 episodes. In "Slow Death," he crafts a lie detector out of an alarm clock and a blood pressure pump; in "To Be A Man," he pours water into the crack of a massive bolder and sprays a fire extinguisher to freeze the water, so he can then break it off and drop it on the enemy's car; and in "Countdown," he neutralises an acid-triggered bomb with a substance made from a mix of milk and oven cleaner, distributed through an icing gun. Wow. In a nutshell, MacGuyver is completely far-fetched escapism mixed with poor drama and bad acting. There are some good messages preached that could have made him the ideal role model for kids. The only thing that stopped him from reaching that status was the fact that his ideas were completely ludicrous and shaped out of bullshit. Unfortunately, MacGuyver didn't cook up any extras for this DVD, so this collection is only for serious fans of the '80s show. (Paramount)