Get ready for good, old-fashioned adventure. Richard Dean Anderson stars as Angus MacGyver - the legendary secret agent whose wits are his most trustworthy weapon. MacGyver is a one-manned unarmed force who can find his way out of any danger using everyday items he's picked up along the way. The third season of MacGyver finds him doing what he does best - confronting dangerous foes, overcoming unbelievable odds, and rescuing innocent victims. It's all in a day's adventure for MacGyver.

CRITIQUE

The writers of MacGyver decided to take the main character into a different direction for its third season. Limited in action are the obligatory bad guys he has to thwart from countries like Syria or Russia, the Communist type baddies, and gone from the stories is his enemy Murdoc, who was an interesting antagonist, and semi-colleague Parker. On the other hand, the two-part Lost Love season opener introduces a new character, Nikki Carpenter (Elyssa Davalos), who returns in several episodes throughout the season, including episodes Fire and Ice (Mac and Nikki team to bring a diamond thief with diplomatic immunity to justice), GX-1 (both go undercover as a married couple to locate a downed experimental plane which the Soviets are also looking for), and Blow Out (a terrorist working with a bomb expert wants Nikki dead and Mac has to figure out why), which works out well.

It’s also fun to watch Jack Dalton, one of Mac’s good pals, make several appearances this season including the opener (the story revolves around a priceless Chinese dragon that the Soviets attempt to steal and Mac enlists Jack’s help to get it back), Jack in the Box (Mac and Jack are arrested in the deep South and forced to dig for lost millions in a prison camp), The Odd Triple (the guys pilot a woman to France with priceless jewels but are arrested for theft when they land), and three others. Episodes like The Widowmaker (Mac is confronted by an old nemesis who wants revenge) and Hell Week (a student who loses a physics competition that Mac is set to judge barricades himself with a bomb in the lab) are fun, but there are also several weak ones such as Ghost Ship (Mac finds a ship with its crew missing) and Thin Ice (Mac helps out his old hockey coach), while The Spoilers and Mask of the Wolf are not too appealing either.

THE VIDEO

Paramount presents MacGyver in 1.33:1 fullscreen format. The video looks pretty dated with lots of grain, specks, fuzziness, etc. I wasn't looking for a crisp transfer here (though colors look pretty much alright) but at least a little cleaning up. Adding insult to injury, no subtitles are available for this release.

THE AUDIO

Paramount presents MacGyver in English Dolby Digital Mono. Dialogue is easy to understand most of the time, while the music and sound effects come across good enough depending on your set up. The front speakers do a nice job but overall the audio sounds dated and faint in a lot of spaces. The theme song sounds pretty sweet, though! Like it always has.

THE EXTRAS

Nothing substantial, unless you want to count the six and a half minutes of previews.

FINAL THOUGHT

The third season of MacGyver has several good episodes, but the majority of the storytelling lacks the punch from the previous season. Fans should rent it for nostalgic reasons; others can skip it and won’t miss anything.