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Eli Stone: The Complete First Season
R1 - America - Buena Vista Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Jeremiah Chin (19th October 2008). |
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The Show
 “Eli Stone” (2007) gained notoriety mostly as ‘that mid-season replacement after “Lost”’ during the writer’s strike. Sometimes I would catch the first few minutes after the new airing of “Lost,” but when you’re in the post "Lost" haze of amazement and confusion, it’s hard to really catch on to what’s happening next. What I did see though I could tell was not my style of show and after watching full episodes I realized I’m probably far outside the target demographic. The show follows ambitious corporate lawyer Eli Stone (Jonny Lee Miller) who one day begins seeing dreams of George Michael (as himself) and hearing music that isn’t there, all of which give him a unique connection the events happening around him. Eventually he discovers that his hallucinations may in fact be visions of things to come, or things to help put him on a path to becoming a better person. Eventually the visions lead him to taking up cases for good causes and pro-bono work such as helping a mother with an autistic child fight a pharmaceutical company. However after having his head examined for fear of being crazy, Eli discovers that his visions may also be caused by an apparently inoperable brain aneurism. Yet the good-hearted nature of his visions lead him to consider these images as more beneficial and prophetical rather than just medical, leading him down a winding trail of weird encounters and legal battles for more noble causes. His dramatic comedy is incredibly cutesy and cheesy, especially in the visions and musical numbers, but pushes the borders of corniness as episodes go on. Much of the show’s writing is dedicated to very routine touching moments that can almost be timed per episode for when they hit, while the comedy aims for quirky and falls fairly flat. Most of the acting follows the same form as the writing, but Miller is actually a very watchable personality and creates a tension between me and the show. I like watching Miller’s work (he was really good in “Trainspotting” (1996)) and he does a great job of pulling off a U.S. accent, but the show’s writing tries far to hard to give little tugs to the heartstrings of every episode. No particular bonds are created to the characters and there’s nothing particularly endearing for me. Overall the show aims to be more than the show that comes on after “Lost,” looking for the spot as the quirky yet adorable dramady. It hits the mark all too well and so just doesn’t catch my interest in the least, other than admiration for Miller’s accent work. It may be worth checking out for those who are really committed to very typical romantic-comedy style plotlines, in passing, but “Eli Stone” over-does so much of the cutesy drama and comedy that it’s almost difficult to watch. Here’s a listing of the episodes included on “Eli Stone: The Complete First Season” - "Faith" - "Freedom" - "Father Figure" - "Wake Me Up Before you Go-Go" - "One More Try" - "Something to Save" - "Heal the Pain" - "Praying for Time" - "I Want Your Sex" - "Heartbeat" - "Patience" - "Waiting for that Day" - "Soul Free"
Video
The show is presented in a 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen aspect ratio, and the transfer looks fairly good. The colors look good and the image is fairly clean, except for some small grain that isn’t that noticeable unless the backgrounds are abundantly white or gray. The CG however isn’t very well blended into the footage, the San Francisco skyline is superimposed out the office windows and looks really unrealistic, while some of the visions’ footage looks too cartoony.
Audio
In terms of sound, “Eli Stone” is presented in English Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound and for the most part the levels and audio come through clear. The original music fits the quirky tone of the show, while the use of the odd phantasmal George Michael or other pop song comes through cleanly in the well put together sound track. Optional subtitles in English for the Hearing Impaired, French and Spanish.
Extras
Across the 4 disc set there’s a handful of extras, including four featurettes, an extended version of the "Pilot" episode along with audio commentaries, a blooper reel and bonus trailers. Below is a closer look at these supplements. DISC ONE: This disc only includes some start-up bonus trailers for: - "Private Practice: The Complete First Season" runs for 59 seconds. - "Samantha Who: The Complete First Season" runs for 1 minute 48 seconds. - "Grey’s Anatomy: The Complete Fourth Season" runs for 39 seconds. - "Lost: The Complete Fourth Season" runs for 1 minute and 3 seconds. DISC TWO: There are no extras on this disc. DISC THREE: The first episodic audio commentary comes on Episode 9 “I Want Your Sex” featuring creators and executive producers Greg Berlanti and Marc Guggenheim, actors Jonny Lee Miller, Natasha Henstridge, Victor Garber, Sam Jaeger, writers Leila Gerstein and Wendy Mericle. The commentary track is a little crowded, but has a surprising amount of gaps considering the amount of people that were brought in for the episode. There’s some interesting points made about working with George Michael on set after basing much of the show around him, including naming nearly every episode after one of his lyrics or song titles. DISC FOUR: This disc carries the meat of the special features, first with the audio commentary on the final episode, “Soul Free.” The commentary features creators and executive producers Greg Berlanti and Marc Guggenheim, actors Jonny Lee Miller, Natasha Henstridge, Sam Jaeger, Matt Letscher, executive producer Chris Misiano and writers Andrew Kreisberg and Courntey Kemp Agboh. Another crowded commentary with less gaps and is actually more interesting with a good deal of discussion around the writer’s strike along with interesting facts about the show’s creation. There’s a fair amount of back patting considering it’s the season finale, with the word beautiful being said at least 10 times within the first third of the episode. Next is the Extended "Pilot" episode which runs for 46 minutes and 1 second. There’s optional audio commentary available with creators and executive producers Greg Berlanti and Marc Guggenheim, actors Jonny Lee Miller, Natasha Henstridge, Sam Jaeger, and director Ken Olin. Miller is much more talkative on this track, going into discussions about the creation of the show, however there are also some large pauses as well. Another nice commentary and good addition to the set, but like the other two it isn’t all that interesting for me since I wasn’t all that interested in the show. Next are the deleted scenes, 7 in all and they include: - “BFFs” runs for 1 minute and 18 seconds, Eli confronts one of his co-workers about tipping off counsel about the fact that clients are undocumented. - “Managed Truth” runs for 53 seconds, Eli and Maggie chat about court matters while Eli rushes to the elevator. - “Suing God” runs for 1 minute and 23 seconds, Eli and Frank/Dr. Chen debate about the meaning of songs, his role as a prophet and relationships. - “Morning Coffee” runs for 1 minute and 2 seconds, Maggie and Taylor bump into each other in the coffee room for some awkward conversation between Eli’s new flame and ex-fiancée. - “I Kissed Eli” runs for 53 seconds, Maggie confesses to Taylor about kissing Eli, Taylor reassures her that there’s no interested between her and Eli anymore. - “It’s not even ‘Like’” runs for 1 minute, Eli and Dr. Chen talk about another one of Eli’s visions where he’s married to Maggie. - “Abraham & Isaac” runs for 1 minute 43 seconds, Eli talks about visions of his own death with Dr. Chen and goes into some biblical discussion. The first featurette is “Turning A Prophet” The Creation of Eli Stone” which runs for 12 minutes and 14 seconds. There’s a fair amount of behind the scenes footage and interviews with creators Berlanti and Guggenheim along with other cast and crew members who discuss the heroic nature of the character. Miller talks on set about the inspiration of the character, and there’s a suprising interview with George Michael talking about the show. A nice little featurette to give a feel for the beginning of the show along with discussions of the other actors. Next is “Acting on Faith: Eli and George Michael” featurette runs for 4 minutes and 34 seconds, the cast and crew talk about meeting and working with George Michael, while Michael talks about his ability to act and his gaining confidence. Another good featurette, considering the prevalence of Michael’s music in the show. “Creating Visions: The Effects of Eli Stone” featurette runs for 5 minutes and 36 seconds. The creators, cast and crew rave about CG and the special effects team, along with a lot of shots that compare the green screen shots with the final product. An interesting look at the process of some of the shots, but overall not hugely impressive. Finally is “Inside the Firm: The Natasha Henstridge Tour” featurette which runs for 4 minutes and 59 seconds. This behind the scenes look at the set gives an interesting glimpse from the cast’s perspective on the set of the show, there’s still crew and props setup so you get a better look at how the show is overall put together, a nice look at the very large set piece interspliced with clips of the areas of the set as seen in the show. Of course the “Eli Oops!” which runs for 3 minutes and 29 seconds, is typical blooper reel fare consisting mostly of swearing and flubs and on set jokes like usual blooper reels, though there are far more farts and boogers caught on camera than usual so it’s a good variation. There are also a bunch of bonus trailers included on the disc as well: - “Wall-E” runs for 2 minutes and 23 seconds. - “Desperate Housewives: The Complete Fourth Season” runs for 37 seconds. - “Miramax Films” runs for 2 minutes and 37 seconds. - “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” runs for 2 minutes and 8 seconds. - “Brothers and Sisters: The Complete Second Season” runs for 1 minute and 18 seconds. - “Lost: The Complete Fourth Season” runs for 32 seconds. - “Eli Stone” runs for 32 seconds.
Packaging
The 4 disc set comes in a double sided Amray keep case housed in a cardboard sleeve.
Overall
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