Surface: The Complete Series DVD Credits:

Region: 1

Surface: The Complete Series DVD Release Date: 14th August 2006

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Surface: The Complete Series DVD Review:

This year saw two extremely similar alien invasion shows fail to draw in enough viewers to make it another season. Both of these shows dealt with the interesting idea that aliens would come from the water, which actually makes a great deal of sense considering the fact that the earth is mostly made up of water. While Invasion dealt with higher intelligence, Surface has a more primal feel to it, using creatures instead. Instead of a planned alien attack, this is simply a creature feature. At times this can make the show creepier, somewhat like a classic horror movie, but there are also some predictable elements to it as well. Much of the show plays out like a film, but with a very slow crawl towards anything exciting.

The pilot of Surface jumps right in with a number of sudden encounters with the underwater creatures, and the survivors of these encounters will be our focus for the rest of the show. An oceanographer (Lake Bell) is attacked in her extremely large submarine, a fisher watches his brother pulled under the sea, and a teenage boy finds an egg which hatches into a small version of the sea creature. What makes the show interesting is seeing these characters cross paths as they all try to figure the mystery out. We know that if they all could share information, they would know a great deal more. The problem is that the audience knows far more collectively than any of these characters, so the suspense is minimal for much of the show.

There are fifteen episodes in the entire season, and they are all fit onto a four disc set. The packaging for Surface is nice and sturdy in a compact box, and the artwork looks great as well, but unfortunately none of that matters if the material inside isn’t at the same level of quality. The show isn’t exactly boring, but the moments of suspense are few and far between, not to mention the occasional digital effects fiasco. One of the season’s worst moments is the volcano eruption out of Old Faithful, an obvious CGI creation that pulls away all suspense with believability. If there was more left to the imagination, much of the show would seem more frightening. The exception is Nimrod, a small pet creature, which looks like a cross between an iguana and a dragon, with the ability to attract electricity. The relationship between this unidentified creature and the young boy trying to raise him to be good is one of the solid storylines in the show, mostly because of the expressive special effects used on the little guy’s movement.

The DVD has a few deleted scenes, but the show already seems to run far too long, and these scenes aren’t necessary. The only other special feature is a short featurette with behind the scenes footage on the making of the show. There are cast interviews and some insight to the special effects used in the show. Despite the claims that the show has Spielbergian qualities to it, Surface feels forced and stiff more often than at all magical or suspenseful.

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Surface: The Complete Series DVD review written by: Ryan Izay