The Good

An interesting xerox of another galaxy far, far away…

The Bad

Overall, I think this show is kind of cheesy.

In Jason of Star Command: The Complete Series sees Jason (Craig Litter) as renegade soldier who helps fight forces in space that are trying to take over the universe. He is aided in his efforts by Commander Canarvin (James Doohan) and Commander Stone (John Russell). In addition to this he has the alien Samantha (Tamara Dobson) and people like E.J. Parsafoot (Charles Dell). There are others who help him fight the Dragos as well as the occupants of the Dragonship, but It’s a battle for the stars and no matter what Jason is going to fight to preserve them for everyone.

There are two seasons of this show in this three disc set that comprises 28 episodes. They have Jason and his team traveling to the ends of the universe fighting the good fight, and trying to preserve justice wherever it may be lacking. There are episodes dealing with time travel (“Marooned In Time”), battles of epic proportions (“Return of the Creature”) and even more amazing encounters (“Battle for Freedom”). While this show is certainly a Star Wars clone, I can appreciate how they tried to innovate with the structure. Making Jason a much lighter version of Han Solo (they even dressed him similarly), and having this show push the limits of what could be done with models, certainly explains why it resonated so much with the fans.

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Features

Jason of Star Command Documentary

For some reason I thought that this might be longer than an hour but it wasn’t. We get to hear from select cast and crew members as they talk about making this show, their characters and doing specific scenes. There was a lot of attention paid to the effects that Jason of Star Command employed. While by today’s standards these things look quite dated, at the time this was all they had so they did the best they could. Nobody on here really says anything about this show that is that enlightening, but I would definitely check this out if you are a fan (which, if you’re purchasing or renting this set, you probably are).

Photo and Art Galleries

These galleries are broken up into the following four sections:

  • Extensive Promotional Photo Gallery

  • Extensive Behind the Scenes Photo Gallery

  • Extensive Gallery of Cast & Crew Reunion Photos and Spaceship Photos

  • Art Gallery Style Guide for Proposed Jason of Star Command Animated Series

It was the last section, Art Gallery Style Guide for proposed Jason of Star Command Animated Series that grabbed me the most. In fact, I think they could have had a much longer run with this show had it been in the animated realm. The drawings seemed to offer them a freedom that live action, at that time, just couldn’t provide. The other galleries were interesting but there really isn’t anything in them that you haven’t already seen if you own one of these collector sets.

DVD-Rom Features

Rare Footage

I am sure that this piece of footage is going to excite the fans. It is a demo reel for the effects on this show. As I have already mentioned, the effects for their time were pretty impressive. The use of miniatures juxtaposed with live action certain seems solidly done. Yet, when one considers how far the Digital Effects industry has taken things since this show, I don’t know how impressed this reel will make people now. I guess it’s a perspective thing?

Video

Full Screen. These shows don’t seem like they were cleaned up that much. The colors for all the shows also seem worn. I guess with this release edging up to the 30 year mark, maybe we can make some concessions? Also, compared to other TV on DVD releases from that time I guess Jason of Star Command probably rates lower on the importance scale. So what does all this mean? Well, these shows looked better than they probably would have on VHS now, however, early VHS releases might ultimately have looked better than these more current DVDs.

Audio

The audio on this show was only so-so. Once I turned things up to a nice level (which was a bit more than halfway), things played alright. Nothing about the audio here jumped out at me and I think it’s pretty easy to tell that this show was done on a budget. The audio for this release pretty much just backs up the images on screen. Nothing about this show’s sound seemed like they were trying to reinvent the wheel at all. I know that one can’t always expect that, but with a “futuristic,” sci-fi release one might have hoped they would have at least tried.

Package

The front cover of the Jason of Star Command slipcase tries to slick up this release, however the pictures and designs they have put around things scream, “1970s!” The back of the cover gives us a full shot of Jason doing his best Han Solo imitation. There is a description of this show, a credits list, and a Special Features list below that. All three discs are stored in two slim cases which contain more art work from the show and listings of where the episodes are on each disc. There is also a pamphlet which list out all the episodes, it provides descriptions and it also lists out where the features are.

Final Word

I must admit that it took awhile for this show to grab me. In fact part of the reason why this review is up so late is because there was something about the packaging that sort of scared me away. However, I soldiered on and as I watched this show I found myself caring about the characters. I cared when the Space Academy got attacked by the Dragonship (Episode #1 “Attack of the Dragonship”). I worried about Jason when he stowed away with some garbage in order to get aboard the Dragonship (Episode #15 - “The Trojan Horse”). Lastly, my heart sank when Jason and Samantha tried to help Professor Van Diemen’s daughter and then later found out that Queen Medusa was back in league with the Dragos (Episode #26 - Little Girl Lost").

To say that I am a fan of this show might be overstating things a little too much. I respect what they were trying to here, and I think that for the most part the creators of Jason of Star Command: The Complete Series got things right. There were at least a few scenes in some episodes that I could have done without (take the Pirate in Episode #7, “Marooned In Time”), but this being a subjective review I am sure there are people that will love that this set is now available to them in its entirety.

Jason of Star Command was released .