Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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177 of 184 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
High calibur!, May 29, 2007
After Buffy went off the air, and then Charmed, I despaired of finding a supernatural show with quality writing and great plots. My prayers were answered by the Scifi network with this awesome show.
I was already a fan of the book series and this show does an excellent job of adapting the stories written by Jim Butcher. Like in Charmed, magic exists but regular people don't know about it. Harry Dresden is the only Wizard P.I. in the phone book. Most think he's a crack pot, but some know he is their only hope. He works as a consultant to the police via Det. Murphy on those cases considered bizarre. Along the way there are werewolf serial killers, vampire club owners, and innocents that need to be protected.
The show doesn't overdo the special effects, rather using them less frequently but with greater impact. Which is actually in keeping with the books. Harry is faithfully recreated and played by Paul Blackstone. And then there is Bob. The portrayal of Bob is one of those rare instances where a book character has been drastically changed, but in a good way. In the books he is an incorporeal spirit residing in a skull. This is fine in the books where a reader's imagination is boosting the concept, but would not translate well to TV. Producers cleverly decided to make him a human-looking ghost with a dry wit and snappy dialog. They did it so well, Bob quickly became my favorite character!
If you like fantasy or scifi shows, get the Dresden Files. And when you can't get enough of Harry, get the books.
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104 of 109 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Conjure at your own risk!, May 22, 2007
Given the shakey start from having episodes juxtaposed in viewing order this season really took off with a bang! After watching just the first episode it intrigued me enough to want to go out and buy the whole series of books by Jim Butcher and I was not disappointed. Absolute page turners mixed with great characters, sly wit, wicked sarcasm, fantastic magic, and of course -- Bob! I really like how the TV show transformed the simple talking skull into a viewable character, played by none other than the superbly casted, Terrance Mann. And of course Paul Blackthorne as Harry Dresden was a brilliant decision. He has managed to capture Harry's self-depracating humor, sarcasm, and flair for drama and magic along with his vulnerable side and inevitable confrontation with the forces of evil. If you enjoy the books you will love the great adaptation they have done on bringing the world of the Dresden Files to life on screen. Given they showed the original pilot out of order as Episode 8 and trimmed down to 40 minutes from the original 2 hours, I can't wait to see the bonus features on this disc! A wizard detective in modern day Chicago... what else could you ask for?
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89 of 93 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
It's magic, June 24, 2007
Imagine if Harry Potter grew up to be Philip Marlowe, and you'll have a pretty good idea of what "The Dresden Files" is like.
While it starts weakly -- and is rarely faithful to Jim Butcher's novels -- "The Dresden Files" manages to whip itself into a solid supernatural-mystery series, with a pretty good cast and some genuinely twisty-turny mysteries. And, of course, a snarky ghost living inside a skull.
Harry Dresden (Paul Blackthorne) is Chicago's only wizard-for-hire, with a tragic past, a hockey-stick staff, and a companion spirit named Bob who lives in a skull (Terrence Mann). He's also perpetually in bad with the wizard council, and moderately famous among the supernatural crowds lurking around Chicago.
As the series opens, Harry is approached by a young boy who claims he's being stalked by otherworldly forces -- and his mother confirms that he's been followed by blackbirds, crows and ravens ever since he was born. Even worse, a skinned body is found in a nearby apartment -- and the malevolent skinwalker who stole the woman's dermis may be after the boy as well.
Arguably the premiere is the weakest of the series, since there's little actual detecting going on. But things perk up in the following episodes. Harry tackles a hellspawn in love, a serial killer murdering werewolves, a bodysnatching murderer, a fertility clinic with a dark secret, a bunch of young thieves using deadly magic, and an attempt to frame Bianca, the sultry vampire club-owner.
Things get even worse when Harry is trapped with a bunch of hostile wizards inside a deadly cloud, which can only have been conjured by one of them. And when Bob is stolen, Harry finds himself confronting his cruel uncle Justin -- whom Harry "self-defensed to death" five years ago.
"The Dresden Files" are only loosely based on the Jim Butcher novels -- it's not as dark or as complex, and a lot of characters are changes. But take it as its own animal, and it ends up being a very solid detective series... albeit one where the suspects and victims just happen to be vampires, devils, lycanthropes, incubi and necromancers.
The plots are genuinely mysterious and gritty, sometimes with genuinely surprising answers, and odd twists on typical urban-fantasy, like vampire junkies. The stories are kept from being too grim by Bob, who provides some witty dialogue to offset the cop-style stuff ("And you wonder why your life is an unending series of insurmountable intellectual, financial and emotional hurdles!").
If the series has a problem, it's that sometimes they overuse the handheld camera, especially in fight scenes. And the CGI ranges from decent (Bianca's vampire transformations) to somewhat hokey (dragon, werewolves), but not bad considering.
Blackthorne is just right for the role: quirky, likable, and a little bit charming. Mann makes a brilliant foil as a damned ghost, who provides hilarious, slightly pervy information for every occasion, and Conrad Coates is good as the rigid Morgan, who is just waiting for a chance to behead Harry. Unfortunately Valerie Cruz is far too dewy-eyed to make a convincing hardcore cop -- she's completely eclipsed by the hilarious Claudia Black in "Other Dick."
The first season of the "Dresden Files" has its flaws, but it's still an enjoyable, suspenseful urban fantasy series that gives a new spin to the lone-wolf detective. Definitely worth watching.
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