Rating: 
Summary: Second season turned out to be a major disappointment
Review: My husband and I enjoyed Dark Angel Season One so much that it seemed unbelievable that the second season could be so bad. The sexual tension between Max and Logan dissipated in the second season, since Logan leaves his wheelchair and has to deal with a genetically engineered virus. Agent White as a villian to replace Lydecker (who never was proved dead, mind you) didn't have the same menacing presence. The Jam Pony side plots disappeared, and were replaced with ridiculous mutants instead of your more believable mutants. Even the gag real from season 2 wasn't as entertaining as season one.
Rating: 
Summary: "Max and Logan--that's the plan."
Review: I just recently watched the final episode of the 2nd season of Dark Angel, and I couldn't help wondering why it was cancelled. In watching the last few episodes, you can really see how the pace of the story is picking up. I admit that the creepy breeding cult seemed to be a diversion from the heart of the story, but at the same time, I think it was necessary to explain why Max was created. I also admit that some of the episodes were a bit diversionary and didn't really add much to the heart of where the story should have been going (not more than 3 or 4, I'd say), but as a whole, it was a great season. From reading the three novels, it's clear that in the third season, it might have taken maybe two episodes to rid us of the breeding cult and Ames White (although I personally thought Martin Cummins was quite good, though really, nobody beats Lydecker, who also would have returned, if they'd given the show a third season, I suspect). But it's so unfair. Lesser shows have been on the air, and yes, on Fox, for far longer. Why must the good ones die young?? If only they would give them one more chance. No one will hear my plea, I suppose. But at least, we can bask in the brilliance of this show again and again and remember the brief life of Dark Angel.
Rating: 
Summary: We miss you, Max!
Review: Like most people, I missed most of the original episodes of Dark Angel when it was on the air. This six-DVD set is a great value if you were a fan of the series, and Dark Angel's one of my guilty pleasures. As TV sci-fi goes, this isn't half-bad. Sure, it isn't the most original of premises, but most sci-fi nowadays is recycled. In Dark Angel's favor, most of the leads are attractive, have an excellent rapport, and are capable of delivering necessary comic relief without coming across as campy. If Jessica Alba (Max)had better management, she could have had the world at her feet following the premature cancellation of this series, and Michael Weatherly deserves a lot of credit for consistently underplaying his role as Logan, the do-gooding hacker/pirate broadcaster of Seattle. Most of the episodes are very easy to watch for these reasons. However, this is basically a live-action comic book, and the scripts vary wildly in quality. Some provide great action and characterization, and some are just stupid. Lead villain Ames White came across as a cipher- obsessed one minute, buffoonish the next, partly due to the lack of care shown to the scripts. As the season progressed, Dark Angel mutated into a cross between the X-men and the X-files (both are also Fox productions, naturally)and lost its identity. Although the budgets were quite high, they weren't high enough to present plausible effects makeup. That's a problem when you have a series featuring mutants as characters. I honestly don't see how Season Three could have undone some of the sillier aspects of Season Two (such as the snake cult, and the freak nation) so perhaps it's best that we said goodbye to Max and Logan when we did, instead of watching the series suffer. We'll always have these DVDs to enjoy, and we can wish the cast (especially Alba and Weatherly) the best of luck in their future endeavors.
Rating:
Summary: Good Show!
Review: Just finished watching the second season of "Dark Angel"; purchased both seasons on Amazon. I had never seen it when it aired, so it was nice to view it all without commercials & continuously. I really enjoyed both seasons, but I feel that the first season was better; in the second season they went off on some rather bizaare tangents. Unfortunately they lost, for the most part, the character of Lydecker, who was a multi-dimensional character with many as yet unexplored aspects. He was unfortunately replaced with a comic villain, White. There were times when I wondered how the other actors kept a straight face playing opposite him; this seemed somewhat out of place to the tone of the program in general.
While I understand that it is necessary to keep the love interests apart(in true soap opera tradition), I felt that the virus keeping apart Logan & Max was bogus; it seemed too obviously to be a plot device & didn't come from a true place but the worst, in my opinion, was the breeding cult episodes, which recalled every bad cliche about Satan worshippers that you ever saw in any 1970's "Movie of the Week". (Hey, just because they're devil-worshippers doesn't mean they're freaks!) Beyond that this is a great show; very enjoyable & watchable; it's unfortunate that it was cancelled, and I agree with other comments that it would be nice to see how this all came out, maybe in a follow-up movie.
Rating:
Summary: Mostly watchable, but often confused and slow.
Review: The first season of Dark Angel created a colorful and unusual world, establishing itself as an exceptional, memorable TV creation. Season 2, unfortunately, seems to draw from a multitude of pre-existing sources and the mix is not all that harmonious.FIrst of all, I am really not fond of the use of mythology in this season. The first season, like most of the James Cameron oeuvre, draws its strength from the scientific feasibility of its sci-fi/fantasy elements. But Season 2 throws in dog-faced mutants, mermaids, scale-bodied monsters, and most grievously, a snake cult spewing arcane language. What is this, Buffy the Vampire Slayer? The new tone is entirely incongruous with the world of Dark Angel. The cast suffers tons of massive losses. This despite the addition of the wonderful Jensen Ackles, who provides much-needed spark as irresponsible, smart-mouthed X5 Alec, a much better, more complex character than Ackles' Season 1 character Ben. Ashley Scott is also fine as Logan's alternative love interest Asha, a hot-blooded activist without much gift for tactics. But they can't make up for the loss of Alimi Ballard (boo), John Savage (big boo), the diminished role of indispensable Valarie Rae Miller, and the disappearance of every
old X5 that was in Season 1. Where are Syl and Krit? Jase? How about the oft-mentioned but absent Jondy? And what about the entire Jam Pony staff, which used to supply a hefty portion of the comic relief in Season 1 but is neatly swept to the side in this Season? The creators of Dark Angel appear to be deliberately changing the setting of the show, which is an admirable attempt, but the loss of so many grounding elements sent the show into a tailspin. Their neglect of the Jam Pony element is especially grievous, as it robbed Jessica Alba the chance to play Max's crucial everyday living. Fortunately Alba had grown substantially as an actress and while her performance in Season 1 had some weak spots, they are all but remedied in Season 2. The same can't be said for much of the supporting cast, headed by the very bad Martin Cummins, playing Special Agent Ames White. I know the show creators wanted a highly vicious villain, but Cummins seems more preoccupied with pursing his lips and squinting his eyes than acting, copying all of John Savage's outward mannerisms without any of the mystique. Where Savage was all subtext and emotional undercurrents, Cummins is nothing but a pair of black eyebrows and some creases on the face. A horrible opponent indeed for Max. The character of "Joshua", the dog-faced mutant, doesn't come alive until the season is nearly over, with the introduction of blind love interest Annie Fisher. Joshua's character is a flatline for most of this season, like an imitation of Booga (Tank Girl), but not nearly as funny. The biggest problem with this season is that the storylines are scattered and confusing. Many shows seem to have an overlong first act and a middle that drags along without much narrative thrust. Where I sat through Season 1 almost straight through, I started yawning about five episodes into Season 2 and was tempted more than once to switch off an episode halfway to cop some Zs. Not nearly as good as Season 1. A shame, for the major weaknesses here are probably what killed a promising TV series. Just when James Cameron himself was stepping in to deliver a slam-bang final episode that set up a whole new story direction. Now the storyline will hang in midair.
Rating:
Summary: DA FANS...Read my review!
Review: I missed most of Dark Angel season two when it originally aired so I was really glad they made it available on dvd. I really don't like 99.9% of TV Shows out there but I gotta admit, Dark Angel was such a good show that it sucked me in and I became a really big fan of the show. I looked forward to watching every single show. The show has really great characters (Logan Cale - really cool character, Original Cindy - funny & sexy, Alec, Joshua, Normal, Asha, and the extemely beautiful Jessica Alba as Max). What I didn't like about season two is how the first half of the season put too much emphasis on trying to be funny. In particular, "Gill Girl" and "Fugghedabboutit" were pretty lame episodes, but "Boo" (the Halloween episode) is definitely the stupidest episode. Don't take this the wrong way. I still LOVE the show and recommend that you buy the dvd if you are also a fan. Most of the second half of the season is fantastic, taking on
a much more darker and serious tone. In particular, I liked "The Berrisford Agenda", "HarborLights"(really good), "DawgDayAfternoon" (I couldn't believe the ending!! Very dark!), and the final episode, "Freak Nation." ***Regarding the final episode, "Freak Nation": First of all, it is a fantastic and thrilling episode. Anyone who had followed Dark Angel will really love the final episode which pits Max & Co. against all those against the "freaks." The final episode does leave many questions unanswered because the writers were expecting to resolve many of the issues during Season 3, which never happened because the people at FOX are morons. But, if you listen to the commentary track on the dvd that accompanies the final episode, many of the most important questions ARE answered by the writers regarding what would have happened in Season 3. They explain everything about the mythology, the weird cult, Sandeman, Manticore, and how Max will save the world. IF YOU HAVE THE DVD, MAKE SURE TO CHECK THAT OUT! I thought the bonus features of the dvd could have been much better, especially since there's no season three. There are 3 "behind-the-scenes" specials. The first one,"Max Resurrected," is good. The next one, "Making the Manticore Monsters," is just okay. The third one, "Manticore on the Loose," is just a lame montage of video clips of the different manticore freaks. This was really stupid and I think it was just put on there to make it seem like the dvd has so much "extra stuff!" The blooper real was also very weak...not very funny at all. Like I said, I'm not really into TV shows but Dark Angel was the bomb! I would love it if FOX or anyone else would make a DarkAngel movie to finish off the series but I seriously doubt that will happen. I plan to check out the DarkAngel novels which are supposed to continue where the show left off. Yes, the show IS that good and it's a shame that such a great show was cancelled by the dummies at FOX when there is so much crap on TV. Buy it!
Rating:
Summary: Don't believe the hype stands well with season 1
Review: This is a last season (only 2 seasons) of a show that should have lasted longer..This season at the time got a bad wrap all the way around..I was kinda weary of buying this coz of all the bad wrap..But the 1st season was so great and so groundbreaking that i FINALLY gave in a week ago and bought this..And after i have watched everything on it i proclaim unto all of you the bad wrap around this season 2 of Dark Angel is not justified..This is a season that some episodes may even be better then the 1st season..And all other episodes are equal or close to the greatness of the first season..Its exciting and action packed as the first season..It holds your interest from start to finish..As every episode ties together very well to keep you into the storyline..One thing that gave this season 2 a bad wrap is that the show was a victim of 9/11..Coz it was said it had to somewhat sugar coat the show coz of aftermath of 9/11..9/11 was truly a tragedic day in our Country..And this show has such subject matter as our cast battling against terrorists as well as in one episode "Radar Love" terrorists run by our own government plotting to spread a deadly virus by bioterrorism..This aired at the same time of the Anthrax scare..The first episode premired just 17 days (Sept 28 2001) after the horror of 9/11..Dark Angel Season 2 alongside with the first after 9/11 episode of Saturday Night Live it was just what our Country needed..If this is taming down one has to think what they originally had planned blown our minds away at the thought..This season gave us esxape..Just think without this season we would still be in a threat of tamer shows..If we can't take make believe stories how could we have ever faced the horrors of reality..This season if you asked me performed a great service to our Country..God Bless America... This dvd also features some cool behind the scenes featurettes..But the Blooper reel is not as well put together as the first season's was..This blooper reel is badly put together and very hard to follow..Therefore making it not funny at all..But that is the only downside to this remarkable dvd set..It is packaged well with a sexy cover of our Dark Angel "Max" played by the Magically Beautiful Jessica Alba..The packaging beats the packaging of the first one..I always felt the first one could have been packaged better..
I also have to note this season has a great new character addition..That is of the Manicore Mutant known as "Joshua"..He is half dog half man..And harks back to great sci fi characters of the past..The actor that plays him is very talented and that makeup you would never even recognize him..His character is kind and shows the fact not to judge people on their looks..The ol don't judge a book by its cover..A true lesson for our day and age..A lesson to be learned by all races all genders and all religions..Joshua as well as other mutants kinda adds a X-Men feel to this season..This season is very much like the X-Men..It is like Dark Angel Meets The X-Men..Joshua has a feel of "Nightcrawler" vibe from X2..(Xmen Reunited)..There are also some elements to Buffy and Xfiles in this season as well..Another fine addition to the show is the character of "Alec"..He is named Alec by Max coz he is a total "smart~alec"..And that he is..He is a wise ass wise cracking character that you really don't know whether can trust him or not..And what comes from it is a powerful character mostly when he is teamed up with Alba..
There is between them a chemistry great timing of one liners insults and that sort of thing..
Highlights in Season 2 Dark Angel are the first episode "Designate This" in which the cliffhanger that ended off the first season is concluded..In matter of fact all that is on disc 1 is highlights..Other ones are "BOO" an Halloween episode that harks to the loony comedy of "Buffy" and the movie "Army of Darkness"..Its silly and fun the ending will suprise you too..Halloween fun.."TWO" which is where Joshua is accused of some very grosume murders..But he is innocent of course..But who did it?? Have to watch to see.."Some assembly required" is a reunion of Max and someone *not saying who so not to ruin the suprise*..This episode contains a gang of cyber punks called "steelheads"..Their leader is a combination of Spike from Buffy & Johnny Rotton of the Sex Pistols and Pinhead of the HeLLraiser movies..They are english wise cracking punks and result is fun villians.."Gill Girl" this one may be the best episode of the season features a hot Mermaid girl and her Merman lover..The ending is magically mystically beautifully filmed.."Brainiac" is an episode that is very memorable with a very good performance by a heavy actor that makes a good addition to the show..Watch for the FUNNY scene where he is on a motorcycle with Max (Alba) i think i speak for every man that i can't blame him..The ending will really hit the viewer hard "Berrisford Agenda" that episode has also the same kind of ending as the previous..And concerns Alec's past love as he is being haunted by her memory..You see a different side of Alec that is not shown very much..The actress that plays his past love is stunningly beautiful and a very talented actress shines in this guest star apperance.."Harbor Lights" Max gets shot trying to protect a little boy..And in the hospital she is held prisoner by the government for the virus that was implanted in her by Manticore to keep Her and Logan apart is detected..Can they get Max out of there before they discover who and what she is?? "Love In Vein" is more like an episode of Buffy then Dark Angel..As Max battles a gang of Vampire Wanna Be's..Headed by a Manicore Vampire making his gang of followers drink from his genitically enhanced blood..The way that he makes them drink of his blood is done in a complete original way never seen of any vampire on film / tv before..A brilliant idea of the writters to come up with that one Bonus Points.."Fuhgeddaboudit" (pronouced "forget about it") is one of the best episodes here..Featuring an actress (don't know her name but she puts me in mind of Christina Ricci) who is by far one of the sexiest guest star apperances i have seen in recent years..
She will totally blow you away..She is also a Manticore Creation that has the power to make people forget things..Another one that has an X-Men feeling to it..Personally one look into her eyes would have power on me and forgetting isn't one of them..Don't miss this episode and this magical performance by this mystery actress.."Hello,Goodbye" in which i can subtitle as "Love Sucks"..It involves Joshua befriending and falling for a blind girl..As well as something coming to a head in the relationship of Max and Logan..A song comes to mind for this episode the song is ~If You Love Someone Set Them Free~ By Sting..These highlights mentioned covers the first 5 discs in the set..I won't write about any on the 6th *final* disc..Coz want to be sure not to give ending away..All i will say in that realm is that there should be more to the story..Maybe Fox will give them a chance to do a movie or something to finish it up..A finish that this show the stars and the fans all deserve...
And i must stress don't watch this season til you have seen the first season..Coz if this is viewed first you will be totally lost..Mostly with the cliffhanger that ended off the first season it is continued in true cliffhanger climax form in the first episode of this season 2 of Dark Angel..
I can't write this without exspressing the greatness and beauty of Jessica Alba..She is truly beautiful and very talented actress and again in this season she shines through and through every step of the way..And there is no girl on tv and/or movies today that can wear leather as well as tight blue jeans like she can..HOT HOT HOT!!!!!!
So when it comes to this season don't believe the hype..Watch it and i am sure you will agree that this season stands well side by side with first season at times beating it.. You also get in this season delivery of wild & funny one liners..Though not as heavy with it then the first season..But Alba is a great one liner..One liners harken to that one would hear on BuFFy..It would have been great to see Alba's Max team up with the scoobies on BuFFy..There are a few low points but are few & almost un-noticeable..Give it a chance you will be more then satisfied..What a show and What a star Jessica Alba as we say "Don't call Jessica Alba ~Pocahontas~ Call Her "Pocahottie"..
Rating:
Summary: Execellent Series, Poor DVD Release - No WS
Review: I was so excited to hear Dark Angel was coming to DVD, that I preordered the first season as soon as I heard. When the second season came up for preorder, I hesitated because it didn't mention what aspect ratio it was in. I figured the region 1 release would follow the other regions and be widescreen (16:9), so I preordered it. Just got it today and was very dissappointed to find it is in full frame format. I am contiplating returning it because of this. I already have WS rips from other regions and just can see keeping this box set with its inferior transfer. By the way, both season 1 and season 2 were filmed and aired in widescreen (assuming you could receive HDTV). I wasn't too upset over S1 being in FS because all regions had FS. I think I might order S2 from Japan or the UK to get the widescreen version. --- If you want WS, don't buy the R1 version ---
Rating: 
Summary: Cameron and TV did not mix
Review: In a way, this series was the last show that proved that even big budget movie makers can not conquer the often upside down world that is network television. What made this series fail as it did were two things. One was Cameron's effort to use cgi effects and cgi sets for the actors to react to things that were not there and they often have this confused look of just what they were reacting too, and two was the cast just did not work well at all. Alba did not play a convinceing character, and you were never sure who should be rooting for or not. Between the bad casting the mis-use of CGI effects, it's no wonder this show went bye bye.
Rating:
Summary: Goes out with a bang
Review: I own this, and here's why I think you should get it if you haven't made up your mind and you liked this show at all. First of all great setting and a cast that have excellent chemistry with each other, especially our leads Jessica and Michael. A setting in an economically depressed future, due to terrorism (doesn't sound that far fetched now does it?) If you love fantasy with characters that are human enough to relate to it has tons of that. Don't want to leave out one of my favorite parts, the hot Alec (Jensen Ackles from Days of our Lives), he really had a great part this year. With these dvds you get a blooper reel that shows the cast, especially Jessica, was always cutting up on the set, a really fun group of people. Also important, be sure to check out the commentary for the finale episode, they tell you everything they had planned to do in season 3. It sounded awesome, too bad it never was to be! It gives you insight into the whole season though. I missed alot of episodes the first time they aired so this was a great buy.
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