Topic: Dark Angel Marathon

[addicted2dvd]

From producer James Cameron (Titanic, Aliens, Terminator 2: Judgment Day) comes a new face of the future: Max, a sexy, genetically engineered woman on the run from her military creators, Max is determined to remain free even as she searches for the others of her kind. Set in a bleak near future where an electromagnetic pulse has plunged the country into economic and political collapse, Dark Angel captivated television audiences and garnered awards for hot, young star Jessica Alba.

1. Pilot
Max is a beautiful, unique girl -- she should be, she was designed that way. Engineered in a secret government lab twenty years ago, Max and her genetically enhanced siblings were created to be the perfect soldiers... until they escaped. Now, ten years later, against the backdrop of a post-apocalyptic Seattle, Max is on a quest to reclaim her past by finding her fellow escapees. But she's not the only one looking...

My Thoughts:
A really good start to a great show. This series made me a huge fan of the always lovely Jessica Alba!  There is nothing I like more then a strong woman.... a woman who can take care of herself... a woman that takes no crap from anyone... and that is Jessica Alba in this series... she really kicks ass and takes names later in this show!  As soon as I told a friend of mine that I just started a Dark Angel marathon today... the first thing she said to me was.... You better have a nice stack of bibs ready! 

In this episode Max (Alba) is trying her best to stay under the radar as she don't want to be discovered. That is until she meets Logan (Weatherly)... who shows her the meaning of helping people. Still a bit on the weary side... she does what is right... at the same time drawing attention to her location.

2. Heat
Max is lured further into Logan's realm when he promises her more information about her past. He tells her about the woman who picked her up roadside as a child - a woman named Hannah. Max heads out to find Hannah, and ultimately gets more clues about her biological mother.

My Thoughts:
I love this episode! Since Max's DNA was mixed with some cat DNA (for agility) she has a problem that every so often... like cats... she goes into heat. Being sexually charged to the point of barely being able to control herself... she needs to get past being in heat at the same time finding the woman that saved her the night of her escape from Manticore.... taking her one step closer to finding her brothers and sisters that escaped as well that night. At this point she is still a bit leary of doing good and helping people in fear that she will be found... but she is quicker to do the right thing then she was in the first episode.

3. Flushed
Max's seizures increase. Low on her medication after her friends mistakenly flush it down the toilet, Max breaks into a drug clinic. She is caught and ends up in jail and more openly a target for Lydecker.

My Thoughts:
This was a really good episode. Max... while trying to help herself finds a young girl that needs help... and she takes it on her own to give her the help she needs... so at this point you see that doing good is coming much easier by this episode. It's not that she was so much against helping people... more so she was trying not to get involved and staying under the radar so to speak. What with her being wanted by the military group that created her and her brothers and sisters.

[addicted2dvd]

Season 1: Disc 2

4. C.R.E.A.M.
Logan is approached by a woman asking to find her missing father. The father happens to be Logan's mentor/hero of his youth. Logan thought the man was dead, but learns that he is alive and not at all the noble person Logan thought him to be.

My Thoughts:
This is a good episode... though nothing really special about it. Nothing really sticks out and makes me want to talk about it.

5. 411 on the DL
Max gets called to a secret meeting after seeing a personal ad containing her bar code tattoo number. She leans that Vogelsang claims to know about the remaining children from Manticore. He insists on a large sum of money for the information.

My Thoughts:
Like the one before it... good episode... but nothing special here in my opinion.

6. Prodigy
Max attends conference about genetic engineering. She sees Lydecker at the conference, but he doesn't recognize her. Before she can slip away unseen, the conference attendees are taken hostage by a group of anti-genetic engineering terrorists.

My Thoughts:
This one I enjoyed quite a bit... had a touch of a Die Hard feel to it. This episode once again shows just how much Max cares about people... even though she tries not to show it.

7. Cold Comfort
Zack reappears and tells Max Lydecker has captured Brin, one of their Manticore sisters, and plans to do her harm. Max decides they must kidnap Lydecker and force him to reveal Brin's whereabouts. When Max and Zack discover that Lydecker was not behind Brin's disappearance, they have no choice but to team up with Lydecker to find their lost sister.

My Thoughts
This one was another really good episode.Max and Zack actually try to trust and work with Lydecker... to help save their sister. Things get difficult... to say the least... And now Lydecker knows what both Max and Zack look like. Whioch of course will make things much harder on them.

[addicted2dvd]

Season 1: Disc 3

8. Blah Blah Woof Woof
Lydecker gets the local police to post "Wanted" posters of Max throughout the city, charging her with Vogelsang's murder. Zack returns to beg Max to leave town.

My Thoughts:
This was a really good episode... I enjoyed it a lot. The very next episode.... and Lydecker already causing problems by knowing what Max looks like. This one is slightly less on the action (Although still plenty)... but that don't slow down the entertainment at all. Max also finds out that Logan is in trouble... and has to have an operation or he could be paralyzed from the neck down.

9. Out
Tired of Logan's "all business" approach to their relationship, Max refuses to help with his latest case involving a medical supply smuggler. But when Logan gets double-crossed by his target, Max goes undercover as "Eyes Only" to rescue him from a certain death.

My Thoughts:
And yet another really good episode. Max wants to have a romantic evening with Logan... but he messes up... and she is pissed. Not a girl you want mad at you!  But when push comes to shove... she is of course there for him. And he learns his lesson.

10. Red
Max is sent by Logan to rescue a man in the witness protection program. Turns out the man is Bruno Anselmo, and she has just saved him from certain death.

My Thoughts:
And yet another really good episode... She has to protect someone that she truly hates. A thug that tried to kill her in one of the first (if not the first) episodes. He is turning states evidence... that is if Max don't kill him before court date gets here.

[addicted2dvd]

Season 1: Disc 4

Art Attack
Normal is kidnapped by a gang of art thieves and the Jam Pony folks realize they have been tricked into transporting stolen paintings.

My Thoughts:
This episode... this one I would say is more of a fun episode then anything else.  Max goes out of her element to go to a wedding with Logan... plus if that isn't enough... she has to save Normal when he accidentally switches the contents of 2 packages. Since Max has to temporarily leave the wedding to save Normal... we get to see her in action... while wearing a fancy evening dress.

Rising
The "transgenic" Reds catch up with Max when her lost pager reveals her whereabouts to them. The Reds are former death row convicts seeking to combine their technology with Max's genetic material.

My Thoughts:
Another episode I liked a lot... Max has a showdown with the "Reds" in this episode.... and risks her life with one of the implants.

The Kidz are Aiight
Re-captured by Lydecker after his helicopter crash, Zack is tortured in an effort to get him to reveal the whereabouts of the other X5 escapees.

My Thoughts:
This one was a really good episode... I enjoyed it a lot! When Zach is tricked into revealing where some of the other escapees are... he and Max has to do some quick thinking. We also get to meet another of Max's sisters in this episode.

Female Trouble
Max discovers Logan is dealing with a back-alley medical clinic doctor who has agreed to perform experimental therapies to keep him out of his wheelchair, who Max realizes is also a former Manticore scientist.

My Thoughts:
This is another good episode... and shows just how much Max hates Manticore... as well as how far she will go for any of her brothers or sisters... whether they escaped with her or not.

[addicted2dvd]

Season 1: Disc 5

15. Haven
Max accompanies Logan to a once-thriving community, now devastated after the pulse, to meet with the town's retired sheriff (his Eyes Only) contact. The locals are hostile toward Max and Logan, believing them to be hold-overs from the pre-pulse days. While Logan is meeting with his contact, Max starts to feel ill and having seizures. She befriends a local teen who Max comes to realize is alienated from the rest of the town.

My Thoughts:
This one I found to be really interesting... even though of course there was some... the action was not as plentiful as it usually is in this series... but the story was really good.

16. Shorties in Love
When Diamond, an old girlfriend of Original Cindy's mysteriously reappears to rekindle their relationship, Max finds her anonymity dangerously comprised by a stranger with a deadly secret.

My Thoughts:
Not a great episode.. but a decent one. Had a few good scenes... but nothing really special about it. I really didn't care for the character of Diamond at all... and I know at least for me... it is hard to get into a show when you just can't seem to care about the characters... this normally only applies to the main cast of characters.. but Diamond is such a big part of this episode it applied to her as well this time.

17. Pollo Loco
Logan is tipped off by a friend at the morgue to a murder victim with a bar code tattoo on his neck. He tells Max who then investigates. Max reads the bar code to be that of fellow X5 escapee, Ben. However, the murder victim is not Ben.

My Thoughts:
Now this... in my opinion this is an awesome episode. In this episode we meet one of Max's brothers (played by Jensen Ackles - Dean on Supernatural). And let me tell you... This episode literally had me glued to the screen during the whole episode.

18. I and I am a Camera
Investigating a string of murders of recently paroled convicts, Max and Logan meet a "Fisher King"-like super hero who at first appears harmless and slightly crazy, but ultimately has a profound effect on both their personal lives.

My Thoughts:
This is a pretty cool episode. I wouldn't say one of the best episodes.. but decent. It is one of those episodes.. that even though may not be great... it has a big impact on the show a little later down the line.

[addicted2dvd]

Oh! I am so pissed!!!
I went to put in disc 6 to find out that it will not play! It is nothing that cleaning or a repair kit can fix (I tried)... so it looks like I will have to replace the whole set just for the last 3 episodes of the season. 

Looks like that is the end of my Dark Angel marathon... At this point I don't feel up to skipping to season 2.   

[addicted2dvd]

OMG!!!... This is Amazing!...
A while back ago I was reading on another forum... talking about DVDs that stopped working.... and I remember that I read on one of them that putting the disc in boiling water would sometimes make it play again... well I figured... the DVD don't work now... so what can it hurt to try it.

All I can say is wow! very cool! It worked!!!

I am right now watching the final disc of the first season. It seems to load a little on the slow side... but so far (beginning of first ep)it is playing just as good as it ever did!

[RossRoy]

I am right now watching the final disc of the first season. It seems to load a little on the slow side... but so far (beginning of first ep)it is playing just as good as it ever did!

Glad to hear that! It would've been a bummer to not have your thoughts on S2.

On a side note, I used to have a subscription to the Xbox magazine and they gave out a DVD with each issue. I often had to boil them to make them readable in my Xbox again.

[addicted2dvd]

It's weird... but I am thrilled! 

[addicted2dvd]

Season 1: Disc 6

19. Hit a Sista Back
When fellow X5 escapee Tinga returns to town to save the family she left behind, Max, with the help of Zack, once again places herself in danger to battle Manticore, Lydecker, newly turned X5 Bryn, and an increasingly power-hungry Madame X.

My Thoughts:
This was a really good episode.. yes... it is another episode that brings a couple of her brothers and sisters back. I always liked those episodes when she gets to work with her siblings. To me... they have been some of the best episodes of the series.

20. Meow
Max starts to feel the stress of being controlled by her genetic urges when she goes into her bi-annual feline DNA sexual urges. She jumps one of the first available guys she sees. After a hot, random sexual encounter, she becomes more distraught over her situation. She finally realizes she's in love with Logan.

My Thoughts:
Now this one... being a straight male... I must say I love this episode!  Lets face it... Jessica Alba is just HOT! And I tell you... I love the looks on her face when she is playing that she is in heat. They need more episodes like these! This episode also does a good job leading into the season finale... so don't think it is just an episode of Jessica Alba being hot.. that is a big part of it.. but far from all of it!

21. And Jesus Brought a Casserole
Lydecker joins the X5’s in a plan to blow up Manticore.

My Thoughts:
This was a great episode... Max and some of her brothers and sisters going up against Manticore... the only way they could end the season in my opinion. It has been a good 3 or 4 years since I saw this series... so I have to admit.... I forgot how this season ended! Now I am even more excited about starting the season 2 set!  Though I do think I will take a short break and do another movie marathon first.

[Achim]

OMG!!!... This is Amazing!...
A while back ago I was reading on another forum... talking about DVDs that stopped working.... and I remember that I read on one of them that putting the disc in boiling water would sometimes make it play again... well I figured... the DVD don't work now... so what can it hurt to try it.

All I can say is wow! very cool! It worked!!!

Glad to hear it worked for you! I tried it once and ended up with a coaster. How did you do it, exactly.

I had a similar experience today: half way through Casino (great film) the player stuttered. Tried with my Apple, it stuttered too. Tried with the PC (streamlining the video through the Apple) and it worked. Now I am not sure if I should replace the disc or not

[addicted2dvd]

How I did it was bring the water to a boil... then take the pot of water off the burner... then I put the disc in... readable side down. Then I left it in the water for about a minute. Then I took it out of the water.... and dried it with a lint free soft cloth.  When I popped it in... it was a little slow to load.... but it played perfectly all through all 3 episodes once it did load.

[Achim]

Thanks Pete. Next time I have serious trouble I will try that. Like you said, if the disc is ready for garbage disposal otherwise, can't go wrong trying to boil it...

[Kathy]

  I wonder why that works...but I'm glad it did! 

[Touti]

I wonder why that works...but I'm glad it did! 

Most of the time when a DVD no longer works it's because the plastic has somekind of damage that prevents the optical light from properly focusing on the actual metal coat within, where your movie is.

By putting the DVD in hot water you (sorta) repolish the plastic which makes it possible again for the light to focus on the spot your player is trying to read.