dragonfire88's Full Review: Greatest American Hero - Season 1
I have fond memories of many television shows that I watched growing up. I'll still watch those shows when I get the chance, though many of my old favorites haven't been on any station I get for years. I've started to pick some of those shows up on DVD. I loved The Greatest American Hero when it aired and I still remember the words to the theme song. Yes, I'm a geek. I picked up The Greatest American Hero - Season 1 when I found the seasons on sale.
Teacher Ralph Hinkley still believes that he can make a difference in the lives of his students. He has the school trouble makers who have very little interest in school, but Ralph keeps trying to get through to them. He takes them on a field trip into the desert and on the way home, the school van breaks down. While walking for help, Ralph is almost run down by FBI agent Bill Maxwell. They are trying to figure out what is wrong with Bill's car when they notice strange lights in the sky. The aliens have a special suit that will only work on Ralph. They want him and Bill to work together to basically save the world.
The supersuit comes with instructions and gives Ralph the powers of a superhero. Unfortunately, Ralph manages to lose the instructions, so he has no clue what he is doing. He continues to have issues with flying even once he sort of figures out how to do it. He and Bill start to work together fighting crime while Ralph also deals with his teaching job, his relationship with his girlfriend Pam Davidson, and issues with his ex-wife.
The first episode of The Greatest American Hero takes the time to introduce Ralph before he gets the supersuit. That shows his dedication and how determined he is to help the students that the rest of the teachers have written off. Bill is briefly shown as well, though not as much about him is shared at that point. The rest of the first episode focuses on Ralph and Bill finding a way to work together. Ralph starts to figure out how to use the suit, though flying gives him a lot of problems and he really has no clue what else the suit will allow him to do. A subplot for the episode, as well as a few others in the first season, deals with Ralph's ex-wife and the custody suit they are involved in.
The suit and Ralph's new abilities play a part in every episode of the first season of The Greatest American Hero. Ralph uses the suit to deal with a different situation in each episode. The episodes can mostly stand alone, though a few things will make more sense if they are watched in order. The criminals that Bill and Ralph end up dealing with are mostly local criminals, though they also deal with Russians during one episode. Ralph uses the suit to help his students in a few episodes as well. My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys is the most powerful episode of the season. It has Ralph trying to adjust to being a hero while Bill has to face that his hero has become a criminal. The special effects used for Ralph's abilities while wearing the suit do look a little corny, but they aren't that bad considering when the show was made. The picture quality is good overall, though the quality isn't as good for a few scenes every so often.
I don't really consider The Greatest American Hero to be a comedy even though there is a lot of humor in the episodes. Much of the humor in the first season comes from Ralph trying to figure out what he can do with the supersuit. Those lost instructions would have really come in handy and saved him many crash landings. While wearing the suit Ralph is very strong, bulletproof, can run fast, turn invisible, and fly. He sort of figures out how to fly, but he is very unstable in the air and it look like he is flying while drunk. He always crashes instead of landing gracefully or even just on his feet. He has hit walls and trees, landed in the garbage, and just crashed into the ground. His attempts at flying and landing are really funny. He has trouble with going invisible, usually becoming visible again at the worst possible time. Ralph usually wears the supersuit under his clothes, but getting his normal clothes off when he needs to use the suit causes him problems all the time. He even says at one time that it was much easier for Superman. People who see Ralph in the suit tend to react with laughter since the suit is a bit silly looking. It is referred to as long underwear and jammies throughout the season. Ralph even acknowledges that the suit is silly looking a few times. In addition to the humor, there are many serious moments throughout the episodes as well.
The fact that Ralph is basically a single father only comes up a few times during the first season of The Greatest American Hero. His son Kevin is just in a few of the episodes and not mentioned in the others. It does sort of seem like a decision was made to phase Kevin out. The custody battle came up two times, during the first episode and again in one other episode. It was introduced and then really didn't go anywhere. Ralph and Pam have been dating for a while, but not that much of their relationship is shown. They spend some time together, usually connected to something Ralph is doing with the suit. It is made clear that they care for each other, but that is about it.
Ralph is a dedicated teacher trying to make a difference to the trouble maker students he is in charge of. He is a kind, caring man who takes the responsibility of the suit seriously. He does struggle with being some type of hero. He manages to balance his life fairly well. His last name changed from Hinkley to Hanley briefly. That was odd at first, but then I read that it was done because of the attempt on President Regan's life. I really like William Katt in the part. Ralph's son Kevin is only around in a few scenes and really not much is shared about him. He seems like a nice kid.
Bill is more jaded and very different from Ralph. Bill tends to go by the book and he clashes with Ralph and even other agents at times. Bill is a good contrast to Ralph and their growing friendship is believable. Robert Culp is good in the part.
Pam is Ralph's girlfriend and also his lawyer in the custody case. Pam is intelligent and somewhat independent though she still ends up in a more traditional female role at times. That is probably to be expected given when the show was made. She tries to help Ralph and Bill with what they are doing, though she is frequently told to wait somewhere safe. Bill doesn't seem to see her as an equal and he does make some cracks that aren't that nice. Connie Sellecca handled the part well.
Ralph teaches the students deemed the trouble makers by the school. During the first episode, the class is referred to as the special education class which was a little weird since that was the class for students with disabilities when I was in school. None of the students were really that bad, they did make more effort after Ralph was working with them. Vince seemed to be the leader of the class. He tends to act like a tough guy most of the time. Michael Pare was fine in the part. Most of the other students are just sort of there without standing out that much. Rhonda receives a little more attention.
Main Cast
Robert Culp - Bill Maxwell William Katt - Ralph Hinkley Connie Sellecca - Pam Davidson
DVD Information
The Greatest American Hero - Season 1 has the eight episodes from the first season on three discs. The set also includes The Greatest American Heroine, a pilot for a spinoff that never aired on the network. I believe this episode has aired after the last episode of the series in syndication. It does give some closure to Ralph.
The main menu screen on each disc lists the episodes on the disc and gives the option to play all of them or select the episodes individually. If the episodes are selected one by one, another screen loads up that has the scene selection for the episode. The bonus features consist of new interviews with Stephen J. Cannell and the cast of the show. I was thrilled when I discovered that the theme song plays on the main menu and I just left it there to play through a few times before I started watching the episodes. I did that for all three discs. Yes, I'm that much of a geek.
Episode List
Pilot The Hit Car Here's Looking at You, Kid Saturday Night on Sunset Boulevard Reseda Rose My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys Fire Man The Best Desk Scenario The Greatest American Heroine
The Greatest American Hero is a fun, entertaining show that has held up well in my opinion. The premise for the show is a little silly, but it works really well. The Greatest American Hero - Season 1 is a great DVD set for fans. The other two seasons of the show are also available on DVD. I've read that there are plans to make a big screen movie based on the show, though I don't know when it would be released.
With the title The Greatest American Hero setting the bar, its easy to fall short; even when your theme song, the catchy "Believe It or Not," sung by ...More at Barnes and Noble
William Katt stars as mild-mannered high school teacher Ralph Hinkley whose close encounter with aliens leaves him with a super-power suit that only h...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.