The formula for “Walker Texas Ranger” was fairly simple which is why it was so successful; include one nasty villain, some kick-ass martial arts and a conclusion where the bad guy gets his butt kicked. Mix well and then chill to perfection. “Walker Texas Ranger” had a brief first season before being renewed for its second full season. The first season is represented by the first three episodes on this set and the remaining 24 episodes come from season two. Because the show was a late season replacement in Spring 1993 the show came back for its second season that fall of 1993. The set contains the 27 episodes broadcast on CBS from that time frame.

Image & Sound:

Presented in its full screen glory “Walker” looks surprisingly good with compression artifacts occurring only during darker sequences and scenes where fists are flying at the speed of sound. The image is occasionally soft which isn’t a surprise given the age of the show or the fact that these are the original 35 millimeter prints that were transferred to video for its initial airing. Some of the episodes look better than others suggesting that either the original 35 millimeter print wasn’t available or used for all of these or that the compression was less than expert in a couple of cases but this is an exception rather than the rule. Walker’s fists of fury have probably never looked this good on home video bef ore. The audio is presented in the stereo soundtrack used when the show first appeared on TV in 1993. The dialogue occasionally sounded flat but other than that the audio is fine. One complaint--there are no English subtitles for those hard of hearing folks. ---

Final Words: