Macgyver: The TV Movies

I'm surprised to see these movies getting 5 star reviews. While it's nice that they're finally going to be available on DVD (outside of the complete series boxed set), I really don't think these are 5-star quality movies.

The first of the two movies, "Lost Treasure Of Atlantis" feels pretty similar to the Season 5 opener, "Legend Of The Holy Rose." In other words, it feels kind of like a poor man's version of Indiana Jones. This time, Mac and his buddies are searching for the sunken city of Atlantis. Two main problems bog this movie down-- a noticeably low budget, and Brian Blessed. I think the episode got a bit too ambitious for its budget, causing some of the special effects to be painfully bad. And as for Brian Blessed, well, his character is just incredibly loud and annoying throughout. I think he's supposed to be funny, but he fails miserably. Still, it's an fairly enjoyable adventure, and if you just consider another Mac episode (rather than a "movie") you probably won't be disappointed, but you aren't likely to be thrilled, either.

The second movie, "Trail To Doomsday" feels a lot darker, grittier and is clearly aimed at a slightly older audience than "Atlantis". Actually, truth be told, it feels more like a random movie that just happens to star Richard Dean Anderson, rather than like a true MacGyver adventure. The tone is just so different from the tone of the tv series. That's not entirely a bad thing, since I think this will appeal a bit more to an older audience, but it's still jarring. One thing that baffled me a bit about this movie, though, is why they didn't really include any MacGyer-isms. The tv show became famous because of the ingenious solutions Mac would come up with-- things that the average person would never think of doing, like stopping a nuclear reactor leak with a chocolate bar, or building a glider out of assorted junk-- but in this movie, he really doesn't do anything like that. Let's see, he uses a conveniently placed tennis racket as a wrench, and he takes his shoes off so that he can move about more quietly in his socks. Ingenious? Hardly.

The other flaw that both of these movies suffer from is simply that they really don't hold any connection to the tv series other than the fact that MacGyver is in them. There is no mention of the Phoenix Foundation, no Pete Thornton, no Jack Dalton, no Murdoc, Penny, Nikki, etc, etc, etc. Also, they're both filmed entirely in England, which makes them feel somehow disconnected from the TV show.

If you're a diehard fan of the show, you know you're going to buy this set anyway, and you'll probably get some enjoyment out of it, but just don't expect too much from it. If you're not a diehard fan, you could easily skip this.

I have been a MacGyver Fan (Or 'Mac Fan') for close to 5 or 6 years (Back when I first saw the series on the TVLand channel.) I LOVED it! I had loved things from the 1980's anyway so this was great! I thought that RICHARD DEAN ANDERSON was perfect for the role the more I watched it! So, when I found out that MacGyver Complete Season sets were hitting the stores, I was ecstatic with excitment! And so, as you can imagine, I purchased ALL the Season sets as they were gradually released between JANUARY 25th, 2005 (First Season) to OCTOBER 24th, 2006 (Final Season)! I'd known that 'MacGyver - The TV Movies' had come 2 years after the end of the regular 'MacGyver' TV Series, I think even before The Complete Final Season had been released onto DVD. I knew they both had aired in 1994, all that. So, naturally I thought since 'MacGyver - The Complete Final Season' consisted of only 14 episodes (13 for the Final Season, 1 supposed for The Sixth Season) They (Paramount) would logically include 'MacGyver - The TV Movies'! I'm sorry to say they did not. So, close to a year later , Paramount released 'MacGyver - The Complete Series' on OCTOBER 16th, 2007. That set did include The TV Movies on a brand-new bonus disc. Because of the cool, but somewhat poor packaging, the rare 'TV Movies' disc was jounced around inside, causing minor scratches. But now.... thanks to the new 'TV Movies' release on June 15th, 2010, they will be released on a Single Disc in a regular DVD 'keep case'. I've a sneaking thought that Paramount is releasing this because a 'Mac' theatrical film is in the works. I'm sorry, but I disagree with the previous person to review this....people who purchased 'The Complete Series' set just for the 'TV Movies' didn't lose. The new June 2010 release should be purchased weather you own the 'The Complete Series' set or not! Support this LONG OVERDUE single disc release by improvising a way to pick it up on June 15th, 2010!

MACGYVER RULES!!!
Monday, March 29, 2010, 4:12 p.m.

We MacGyver fans waited patiently for nearly three years for the separate dvd release of the two MacGyver tv movies from back in 1994.........the wait was well worth it ! The final Season 7 of the MacGyver tv series was released back in 2007, and the the tv movies were only available in the series boxset released sometime later.......thanks to Paramount for the separate release of the MacGyver tv movies on a single, separate dvd .....the movies are as good as the tv series episodes !