Friday The 13th – The Series: The First Season

If you come to this DVD set in the hopes of discovering something to do with Jason or even his machete wielding momma, you will be very disappointed. There is no Camp Crystal Lake, and no one’s wearing a hockey mask. The fact is that this series, syndicated from Canada, had absolutely nothing to do with the film franchise. They have no characters in common. They have no connection to the stories in the film franchise. Basically the name is the only thing they share.

It all starts with antique dealer Uncle Lewis. He made a deal with the devil to help His Evilness to distribute cursed and evil objects through his store. Objects included Jack The Ripper’s scalpel. Finally Satan comes to collect Uncle Lewis and his tattered soul, leaving his niece Micki (Robey) to clean up the mess. She and cousin Ryan (Le May) have the unenviable task of tracking down these items and sealing them safely away so they can do no more harm. They were often assisted in their task by Jack (Wiggins) who knew something of the occult. The series ran from 1987 to 1990 and never made more than a ripple in the ratings.

Video

Each episode of Friday The 13^th  is presented in its original broadcast full frame format. There’s not a lot of good that can be made of this presentation. The picture often looks like a dub with excessive grain and wear. Black levels are pretty weak, and that’s not good when the series is more often than not shot at night. Even if you’re a fan of the show, you’ve got to be disappointed that no effort was made to provide any restoration of the prints.

Audio

The Dolby Digital Mono track is basically serviceable. You can hear the dialog, and that’s pretty much all there is anyway. Some of the music contains elements of distortion, and it’s all very mid heavy.

Special Features

Sales Presentation: This 10 minute feature was a presentation put together to get stations and perhaps advertisers to go with the series. It is more like a large trailer and sums up the first couple of episodes.

Final Thoughts

I remember when this show first turned up on a local Tampa station. Like many folks I was sucked into the name scam and watched an episode. I wasn’t impressed then. I’m not impressed now. There are a few okay stories, and the idea is clever enough, but the two leads are absolutely horrid actors. It wasn’t alone in its attempt to cash in on the slasher trend. There was also a Nightmare On Elm Street series, but at least that had Freddy as a host. “There are some who think horror is a kid’s game…It ain’t.”