Customer Reviews

La Femme Nikita: The Complete First Season

5 star:		(171)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I was a fan of the French film (if you haven't seen it yet you should!) so when the USA network began promoting a series I was there for the first episode.

All I can say is that I was blown away from episode one. The fact that this was a television series on a cable network, working on a next-to-nothing budget never really made a difference because the cast and the amazing writing kept you on the edge of your seat. It was an unforgettable five-season ride for the viewers.

Many times I wonder if a network like Fox ("24") or ABC ("Alias") had run the series would LFN have gotten the attention and awards it deserved?

Now with the release of season one on DVD everyone who missed it will be able to see why LFN was too good to last.

BUY THIS DVD PACKAGE - you will not regret the purchase!!

Erotic. Thrilling. Suspencful and exhilirating should be the opening tag lines to this hugely anticipated and much awaited box set from the cult hit series on from the USA network, La Femme Nikita. Fresh faces from actors like Peta Wilson, Roy DuPuis, and Matthew Ferguson are pitted against veteran actors like Eugene Robert Glazer and Alberta Watson, which adds to the series unique flavor. Where other series get lost in the same repetative formula, La Femme Nikita kept it simple, adding new plot twists and character developments continously, which gave the series its vitality and eventually longitivity! The show was a psychological chiller and action packed thriller that kept its cult fan base tuned in every Sunday night like faithful addicts. The cover design and layout of the DVD set itself actually look the like the mission profile templates in the show, which is cool. It also lists which episodes are on each disk, with a disc by disc breakdown of extra footage and commentaries (which by the way, are awesome), so the viewer can view the episodes however they choose. Lots of extras and a low price are the icing on the cake for this long anticipated box set for a series that helped define the USA networks noteriety.

La Femme Fantastique!
This series is unique, and well worth owning on DVD. Unlike the banal witty dialog in all of today's action series...this one was quite different and pleasing. Finely emotionally nuanced so that communication takes place by a glance or a turn of the head. Astonishing use of silence, and mood, and music. This series is the antidote for all other series where everything is conveyed via dialog and nothing by character development. An organization dedicated to public good, but using evil techniques. Are its principals evil themselves or simply amoral? Characters have everything money can buy, but freedom or individual destiny. Nikita herself flourishes at Section, and is redeemed from a meaningless life on the streets..but is this redemption worth it? Does she lose herself or find herself? The moral contradictions alone are spellbinding. I recommend following director Joel Surnow's work ("24") for similar production values. Pray they continue and offer Season 2,3,4 on DVD....

Nominated for 18 Gemini Awards (which honor the English language achievements of Canadian television), La Femme Nikita established itself as a stalwart on the USA Network in the late-1990s. Based on the 1990 motion picture of the same name, La Femme Nikita changed its cast, but not its edgy characters and exciting underworld setting. A forerunner to the successful hit series Alias, the show features all the intrigue of its successor coupled with the fast-paced action of 24. An hour-long action/adventure drama series, La Femme Nikita premiered on the first day of 1997 and quickly built a loyal fan base that followed the series for five stellar seasons before its premature cancellation in Spring 2001...

La Femme Nikita follows the life of Nikita (Peta Wilson), a woman wrongfully convicted of a brutal murder. Sentenced to life in prison, a top-secret government agency known only as Section One sets its sights on the woman it believes to be a ruthless killer. Faking Nikita's suicide, they usher her out of prison to train and program her into a willing and obedient assassin. But the conspirators at Section One didn't bank on Nikita's innocence. Now, they're stuck with a bloodthirsty felon who's not as bloodthirsty as they thought. Nevertheless, Nikita (now code-named 'Josephine') must carry out the orders of her superiors or else face her own death at the hands of an organization intent on keeping its secrets from the outside world. La Femme Nikita boasts an excellent cast to compliment Nikita's numerous adventures, among them are Michael Samuelle (Roy Dupuis), Davenport (Lawrence Bayne), Seymour Birkoff (Matthew Ferguson), Walter (Don Francks), and Paul "Operations" Wolfe (Eugene Robert Glazer). Together, they create an intriguing atmosphere of mysterious identities, ruthless assassins, and government conspiracies that is certain to entertain even the most discriminating of viewers...

The La Femme Nikita (Season 1) DVD features a number of exciting episodes including the series premiere "Nikita" in which Nikita, a lone girl living on the streets, is wrongfully convicted of a murder she did not commit. When the government fakes her prison cell suicide, Nikita awakes in the care of Section One, a super secret government entity with the goal of turning Nikita into an anti-terrorist assassin. But Nikita, who is innocent, initially resists the brainwashing techniques before finally submitting to the organization in order to stay alive... Other notable episodes from Season 1 include "Gray" in which a hacker compromises the employee database of Section One, and "Noise" in which Birkoff's fear of dying while on a mission threatens to end his career with Section One...

Below is a list of episodes included on the La Femme Nikita (Season 1) DVD:

Episode 1 (Nikita)
Episode 2 (Friend)
Episode 3 (Simone)
Episode 4 (Charity)
Episode 5 (Mother)
Episode 6 (Love)
Episode 7 (Treason)
Episode 8 (Escape)
Episode 9 (Gray)
Episode 10 (Choice)
Episode 11 (Rescue)
Episode 12 (Innocent)
Episode 13 (Recruit)
Episode 14 (Gambit)
Episode 15 (Obsessed)
Episode 16 (Noise)
Episode 17 (War)
Episode 18 (Missing)
Episode 19 (Voices)
Episode 20 (Brainwash)
Episode 21 (Verdict)
Episode 22 (Mercy)

The DVD Report

Can you say FINALLY? The network have released on dvd one of the best shows that television had to offer. I began watching the show very late in the game, but luckily they ran it late every week night for from the beginning where I was able to catch it from act one scene one. When I watched all 5 seasons and the network began to run it again, they stopped showing it in between seasons where I started taping the show for my collection. The chemistry between Michael and Nikita were so intense you felt like you were drugged into seeing what was going to happen next. Every single episode was great, Season Five didn't end the way it should have, but having being rushed to complete it, is probably the reason. BUT, if you want to watch a show that has action, emotion, very little comedy and just a great overall 96 hours of stay on your couch till it is all done show, this is the one to watch...Believe, me, you will fall in love with every character at Section one whether you want to or not...You will see the bad and good side of each of them and that makes you realize they are human after all...

Before you buy this, go check the 1 & 2 star reviews. There aren't any (as of 11/15/03) with 170 reviews. The four "3-star" reviews basically lament that this isn't Luc Besson's soulless movie Nikita. There are five(5) 4-star reviews, and 161 out of 170 reviews give FIVE stars. How many Amazon products do you think have those stats?

There is a reason.

This is the most intelligent spy-adventure series ever done, TV or movies. It does not play dumb at *any* time. Watch Alias after this, and you will wonder what you ever saw in Jennifer Garner. And I loved Alias Season One.

BUT ... THIS ... STUNS!!!

The most remarkable thing is that all of Nikita was done before 9/11. When you see what's going on, this will become more and more remarkable.

One small problem: The studio can't seem to get out seasons 2, 3, 4 and the short 5th season. What dummys!!! They'll probably whine when the bootlegs show up, too.

Finally!!!! I will have my DVD's! But I want all of LFN!!

La Femme Nikita is the only television show that ever seeped into my soul. I'm not a big television watcher. I just don't have the time. Perhaps it was the time slot? It started slowly, with an occasional Sunday evening viewing on USA Network. Without realizing, I was starting to look forward to the second airing late at night on Sunday. I then discovered reruns during the week and was addicted. For those of us honest enough to admit that we like violence, intrigue, mental cruelty and danger mixed in with a hopelessly romantic, angst ridden, sexually charged storyline, LFN is perfection.

I won't even get into how ahead of its time it was. You can read the other reviews.

Although it is now gone, it is certainly not forgotten! (I don't get Oxygen) All around the world there are many of us who, much to the concern of our loved ones, obsess with all things Michael Samuelle (Roy Dupuis ~ a la vie!) and Nikita (Peta Wilson ~ starring in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen with Sean Connery this July). Search the World Wide Web for LFN fan fiction. There is enough of it out there to keep you busy reading for at least a year or longer!

The release of Season One on DVD's is an answer to our prays (and email!).
If La Femme Nikita holds a special place in your heart, I beg you to purchase Season One. We need it to be successful if there are to be DVD's for seasons two, three, four and five!

"La Femme Nikita" is probably one of the best American TV series ever made. The creators (also did "24") took their inspiration from the brilliant French film "Nikita" but added a twist -- in the TV series, Nikita is not a cold-blooded murderer. This fact leads to the seminal conflict in the series -- the moment Section One believes that she is innocent of the crime that put her in prison, they will kill her, so to stay alive, she must become a killer. The TV series also trumps the movie in another aspect -- it emphasizes how totally and completely alone Nikita is by making outside relationships impossible and by constantly twisting Michael's love for her into nothing more than a Section mission. Finally, analogies have been made between Nikita's relationship with Section and grind of the corporate world, an interesting spin on the world of anti-terrorism organizations.

The sets are sexy and stylish -- Section One is a sort of futuristic police department driven solely by technology (as Joel Surnow says in the Special Features, you will never see a piece of paper in Section). The performances are outstanding (both the chemistry between Nikita and Michael and the animosity between Nikita and Operations are electric), the music is edgy (Holly Cole singing "Jersey Girl" is an example) and the resulting series is fantastic.

Created at a time when women action heroes in TV were unheard of, "La Femme Nikita" broke barriers in conception, production and execution and still manages to make "Alias" look like summer camp. Buy this DVD and you will not be disappointed.

Each show begins with stunning Nikita's (Peta Wilson) raspy, mild Aussie accent: "I was falsely accused of a hideous crime and sentenced to life in prison. One night, I was taken from my cell to a place called, Section One, the most covert anti-terrorist organization on the planet. Their ends are just but their means are ruthless and if I don't play by their rules, I DIE."
This 1st season is addicting, unstoppably intense, bullets fly, plots twist in a ways that leave you giddy, jaws dropped, & completely in LOVE with the ultra perfect cast and sincerely unpredictable and intense storylines. It's very realistic, intelligent, moving, tragic, tearjerking, heroic, and unmistakably unique. (Four more seasons bravely followed!) It's a smoldering show with it's own personality- there's very little comedy but rightfully so, in my opinion. It's not like Buffy or Alias or anything else.

Supermodel-like blond haired and blue eyed, Nikita, is a street kid in her 20's tossed out by her mom and recruited into The Section b/c "a woman with her looks who can kill in cold blood" is a quite an asset. The problem is- the Section is a place where the good guys are just as carnal or far worse than than the terrorists they fight. The only thing that keeps operatives alive is their willingness is to kill, obey, and abandon emotion. Most live in constant "fear" of being canceled.
Nikita, however, is truly a diamond in the rough. Her warmth, innocence & beauty are just so obvious & raw; her noble sense of justice is nearly unbreakable so you fall in love with her immediately. From the very 1st ep, she begins illuminating the dark and monstrous Section where compassion and sentimentality are considered liabilites that will get you tortured and killed by the tough, mature, raven-haired Madeline (Alberta Watson)& her goons or her partner - the cunning godlike man in charge- Operations. Upon their first encounter, Madeline forces Nikita to look in the mirror and explains, "See your beauty? You can learn to shoot. You can learn to fight. But there is no weapon more powerful than your feminity." Nikita is naturally defiant from the beginning so you're constantly cheering her on at the edge of your seat.

A soft spoken but gorgeous high leveled operative, Michael, (Roy Dupuis) who outwardly lacks emotion but possesses the most fantastically expressive eyes I've ever seen, is ordered to mentor/train Nikita but the two form a connection that both melts and breaks your heart many times over and leaves you guessing and craving more. Of the 21 eps of this season, my top 5 favorite were:
"NIKITA" - pilot. Nikita enters Section after the world thinks she's dead- suicide in prison. She must comply or be canceled.
"VOICES" - Nikita beats a scumbag who tries to abduct her. She later finds out he's wanted by police for a string of heinous crimes & the detective on the case is in relenteless pursuit of finding "that woman" to testify. But knowing the truth about her would mean his cancellation (death).
"WAR" - The Directory is stolen by powerful terrorists, Red Cell, & so operatives are being identified and targeted forcing Section to relocate. Michael & Nikita are sent in to get a counterpart but are captured & brutually tortured for info. This one is a emotional rollercoaster.
"BRAINWASH" - Nikita tests a device that stimulates tramatic memories and is thought to be used for brainwashing. She becomes curiously endangered physically and emotionally.
"Mercy" - Nikita refuses to carry out an order that goes against her nature; after a chit-chat with Madeline, Nikita seriously contemplates the worth of her life. "A fake obituary claimed I died in prison. In the end, that statement is true," she writes. Michael recieves knowledge of her fate and is sworn to secrecy and ordered to do the unthinkable.

PLEASE, PLEASE consider releasing the other seasons (at least season 2) SOON! LFN on DVD is the best thing since sliced bread. I am a huge fan and was introduced to the show on USA network in the middle of season 3. Since the final 8 episodes, cancellation of its syndication on USA and I believe OXYGEN as well, I am left only with these DVDs. I would suggest this series to anyone who enjoys watching "smart television", meaning, if you like your tv with a little intellect and intrigue. Please offer season 2 soon, there is only so much of season one I can watch over and over again! :)