Mini-DVD Review: Kyle XY - The Complete First Season (May 22)

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Mini-DVD Review: Kyle XY - The Complete First Season (May 22)

Welcome to another edition of mini-DVD reviews. This week we take a look at Buena Vista Home Entertainment's Kyle XY: The Complete First Season - Declassified. Kyle XY is the hit summer series that aired on ABC Family last summer, when a teenage boy with extraordinary abilities appears out of nowhere and later stays with a family. See my mini-DVD review of Kyle XY - Declassified: The Complete First Season:

Kyle XY: The Complete First Season - Declassified (Buena Vista, $39.99) brings all ten episodes from the first season of the highest rated original series in ABC Family Channel's history! When a boy emerges from the forest with no recollection of who he is, a kind social worker takes him into her family and everyone wants to know: who is Kyle XY? As the Trager family works to help Kyle discover his world, they must also address the truths in their own lives as they struggle to adjust to the newest member of their family. TV's most compelling new family drama comes to DVD in a 3-disc set features each thrilling first season episodes as well as bonus features that reveal more than ever about the remarkable boy named Kyle. Only on DVD can you get declassified show secrets and an exclusive alternate season pilot and extended season finale.
You will be hooked and want to watch each episode in order because it is very entertaining and interesting. So all 10 are memorable to me, but the ones that stand out are the "Pilot," "Diving In," and "End Game." Each episode runs approx. between 43-45 minutes (highest being 44:43 and lowest being 42:53). There are about 8 or 9 chapter stops per episode and the video and audio is superb, as it should be. The video is in widescreen and for those who watched it on ABC Family, will like it even more this way! Packaging has a nice outer box with Kyle showing he has no belly-button on the front cover...the back cover has tons of information and more pictures. Inside the box is the digipak case. All three discs are inside. There are three panels, the first panel holds an ad for season two coming this summer on television and a coupon for Sour Patch candy...if you watched the show, this product is featured in many episodes. The second panel holds discs one and two...overlapping each other. The third panel has the final disc. Disc art is cool, with Kyle on disc one (same art as cover), disc two has the entire family, and disc thee has another shot of Kyle. The episodes per disc are four each, but the final disc has two episodes and the extras.
The menu screen has Play All, Episode Selection, Set Up, Audio Commentary, Sneak Peeks, and Bonus Features. The first three are on each disc. Audio Commentary and Sneak Peeks are just on disc one and Bonus Features is just on disc three. The main menu has a nice piano type music playing in the background with nice clips playing, with some white confetti type thing on the clips. It looks classical. The selector is cool, when we point to an option, the wordings below the actual wording turns upside down. Auto previews playing before the menu comes on disc one (they are the same previews as in sneak peeks). Set Up has where you can choosewhich language (English or Spanish) and subtitles (English, Spanish, or French).
Moving on to the extras. Disc one has the audio commentaries. "Pilot" has commentaries from Matt Dallas (Kyle), Eric Brass (co-creator), David Himelfarb (executive producer) and Julie Plec (producer). "Diving In" has commentaries from Matt Dallas (Kyle), April Matson (Lori), and Julie Plec (producer).
Then on disc three we have the remaining extras. An alternate pilot episode that runs 41:44. It has a different voice of Kyle with the narration, different opening credits, and more. Interesting to see. Then we have the extended season finale ("End Game"). It runs 45:39, so we get over a minute or so of new material. They should have given us deleted scenes instead, I guess. Finally, we have a featurette called "Kyle XY Declassified." It runs 18:02. The first 14 minutes or so it declassifies for us what happened in the first season, via clips and narration. The final four minutes or so has cast and crew interviews about season two, which is well underway. Season 2 premieres June 11 at 8pm on ABC Family! The extras are good, but they could have been a bit better...especially since BV usually gives a whole bunch of extras on their current series.
I highly do recommend any fan to pick up this set. And if you never have watched the show, pick this set up...this is the best basic cable series EVER! I am hooked and I cannot wait to watch the second season. It has comedy, drama, action, science fiction, and everything you can imagine. It is a fun show not just for families, but everyone. So, pick-up this set and join Kyle and the Trager family try to find out who he is!
-- Reviewed by Pavan