Review of Net, The: The Complete First Series

Introduction

Identity theft is the fashionable crime of the moment. We are all told to jealously guard our private details, be careful where we e-shop, shred all those bills and statements, get bio-metricated before it is too late. ID Cards, passports, iris scanners, DNA fingerprinting, make sure that you are who you think you are, lest the police knock on your door accusing you of being a pygmy arms merchant from deepest Peru (unless you`re actually a pygmy arms merchant from Peru, in which case you`ll have to worry about being accused of working in McDonalds in Lakeside, Thurrock). It`s all a far cry from where we were barely ten years ago, when identity theft was the sort of thing that only took place in cheesy tech thrillers, thrillers like The Net starring Sandra Bullock, made in 1995, where a lowly, but wholesomely cute, computer nerd found her identity erased and was forced to go on the run. I`ve never actually seen the film in its entirety, I have to be in the right frame of mind before I can tolerate wholesomely cute, but it obviously made enough of an impact to spin off a television series of the same name. Made in 1998, The Net lasted a total of 22 episodes, all of which are presented here on 6 discs.

Angela Bennett is a freelance software analyst, brilliant of course, but completely unprepared for the turn her life takes when she receives a mysterious e-mail, linking her to an enigmatic faceless figure named Sorcerer. Soon, her identity has been erased, and replaced by that of a wanted murderer named Liz Marx. She`s on the run from a shadowy group called the Praetorians, who are intent on world domination. She`s alone, fighting to get her identity back and defeat their pernicious plans. Well, not exactly all alone, as Sorcerer`s faceless voice is on the other end of a modem offering moral support.

Episodes presented over 6 dual layer discs comprise, Deleted, North by Northwestern, Transplant, Y2K Total System Failure, Death Of An Angel, Bulls And Bears, Kill The Buddha, Fireball, Jump Vector, Go Like You Know, Harvest, Diamond`s Aren`t Forever, Pandora`s Box, Sample, Lucy`s Life, Pay The Line, Lunatic Fringe, In Dreams, Zero, Last Man Standing, Chem Lab and Eye-see-you.com

Video

I hope you have your HD ready sets all raring to go, as this will be right up your alley. Well, not exactly, as The Net was made in the waning days of the 20th Century, just as American TV was just getting to the good way of doing things. This is one of those series that doesn`t take advantage of higher definition video, or an anamorphic format, and its 4:3 regular transfer, soft resolution and grainy picture is typical of television ten years older.

Audio

You get a choice of DD 2.0 English as well as DD 2.0 Surround French and Spanish, with plenty of subtitle choices. The dialogue is clear, as is the rhythmic wailing that passes for a theme tune. It didn`t light up my auditory canals, but it gets the job done.

Features

A cursory handful of trailers on disc 6 barely warrant mention. Actually this will be a good place to whinge. The presentation of these episodes leaves a lot to be desired, making it apparent that we have approached that phase in the DVD lifecycle where just getting a series out there is more important than giving something to the fans. There are no commentaries, no interviews and no featurettes. All that you get are the episodes, presented against uninspiring static menu screens.

It`s obvious that there has been little care put into the presentation, as they aren`t even in the right order. Episode 4: Y2K Total System Failure was the 18th episode to be broadcast. It goes beyond allowances for differences in production and broadcast order, and makes no sense that early in the series.

Then there is the copy protection. At least I hope it`s the copy protection, as the only other alternative would be some horrendously authored discs. Trying to play the episodes on my PC would result in a freeze before every episode, requiring a nudge with the frame-advance to start playing. In my player, there would be a 4 second pause prior to each episode while it chugged away, doing something technical no doubt. The episode would pause, the player display would flash on and off three or four times and then the show would begin. You would think that playing a Sony disc in a Sony player would be smooth and quick, but evidently not.

Conclusion

It`s the Fugitive! I`m sure you are familiar with the story, dead wife, one-armed man, Dr Richard Kimble framed for the murder. Poor David Janssen spent countless years fleeing from justice, every week he would wander into a new life where he would wind up making a difference, but he would never be able to put down any roots, and would have to move on for the next episode. It`s a more common format than you may think. There is always tension and drama from the over reaching story (it needn`t necessarily require a flight for justice, as long as there is a reason for the main characters to keep moving), the regular cast can be kept economically small, and the variety of stories can vary greatly from week to week. It`s a case of having your cake and eating it, and the format crops up again and again in television. The Fugitive is the best known, and ran the longest, but shows like The Incredible Hulk, Quantum Leap, Highway To Heaven and even The Littlest Hobo all followed a similar set-up.

The Net is closer than most to The Fugitive, Angela Bennett is accused of a crime that she didn`t commit and is forced to flee for her life. She has to keep moving, and she works against her accusers to clear her name and regain her life. Each week, she ends up in a new town, in a new situation, and winds up helping someone in need, all the while avoiding the wrong arm of the law. At the end of every episode, she shoulders her rucksack, and wanders off down a long lonely road, to the strains of a melancholy piano. Or was that the Hulk? Regardless, the show needs a hook that will separate it from its predecessors, and here it is computers. She is a computer wizard, and in our techno-age, the war she wages against the Praetorians is one that is fought online. The Praetorians themselves are a secret society bent on world domination (Why can`t secret societies be bent on clandestine flower arrangement?) and they accomplish their aims by manipulating society through, you`ve guessed it, computers. Only Angela, and her mysterious benefactor Sorcerer stand in their way.

Incidentally, this is Hollywood hacking, so our heroes all have tans, twenty-twenty vision and healthy demeanours. They do not have pale skin, dark rings under their thickly goggled eyes, coffee sweat or an arse that has taken on the shape of their chair. This is also Hollywood computer tech, where computer users rarely use a mouse, a space bar, or the return key, Googling someone`s name instantly gives you their bank details, hacking a system takes about five minutes, computers can do anything that a script requires, things sound technical if you throw enough jargon at them, and because you don`t want to pay the licensing fees, you have to use an imaginary OS that is the most hideous thing since Spectrum colour clash. That isn`t to say there isn`t any product placement. This is a world where the only laptop is a VAIO.

The show starts off strongly enough, with a nice pilot episode laced with paranoia. Angela`s world is turned upside down when she receives an e-mail from a mysterious figure known as Sorcerer (voiced by Tim Curry), and she comes to the attention of the Praetorians. Coming at the hind end of the nineties, The Net is steeped in the same conspiracy theory fervour that lay at the heart of shows like the X-Files, and the shadowy clandestine group seeking to take over the world owes much to that earlier series. The Praetorians see this brave new world of computers as the key to owning people`s lives, and the ease with which they rewrite Angela`s identity is an example of that. There is also a history set up for the Praetorians, as Angela learns of a meeting a decade previously at Copper Canyon, one which her absent father played a significant part in. So now, she has to defeat the Praetorians, reclaim her life, and uncover the conspiracy while finding her father too.

Unfortunately, the strong premise is let down by the execution, the tone of the show is tongue in cheek, with the Praetorians menace a little too pantomime for the show`s good. The main villain Trelawney twirls his metaphorical moustache with impunity in any scene he appears in, and the arch criminals seem intent on relatively petty crimes that always seem to bring them into conflict with Angela. They should be using their massive resources to manipulate governments, the stock exchange, build secret bases in volcanoes. Instead we get episodes where they try to rig a lottery, dump ecological waste, make money off a new music CD, get rich off a webcam star. Million dollar crimes it may be true, but it all feels petty for a group intent on taking over the world. The show loses steam about eight episodes in, as the sense of paranoia and urgency that accompanied Angela`s flight vanishes. The over arching story becomes less of a priority and the individual stories take precedence. This also comes with Angela learning Sorcerer`s identity, and the dynamic of the show changes with the revelation of his true character. The show becomes cuter and any sense of peril for the characters is lost.

However, if you were considering buying this series, and were concerned that it would fail to tell its story, being prematurely cancelled, then you can rest at ease that the final episodes wind up the story adequately, and few loose ends of significance are left over. I did feel that the ending was a little rushed, and even premature, but it becomes obvious with the last three episodes that the producers were trying to salvage something from the show and the characters. The final episodes are in effect a complete switch of genre, with the main characters now playing roles in a mystery cop show, more akin to the X-Files than The Fugitive. It is an interesting direction to take the show, and the promise was there for something with a bit more longevity. Unfortunately, the cop genre was and still is a crowded one, with many better shows out there, and the end of this series is no great loss.

The Net started strongly, but quickly lost focus and was let down by some clichéd writing. It has the kind of story that is best taken with a pinch of salt, and it`s best if you leave your brain at the door. Come to this series with low expectations however, and it`s enjoyable for the lightweight piece of fun that it is. I have a hard time recalling any highpoints of the show, but I do have a lingering sense of well being, of having been entertained and relaxed. Sometimes a bit of mindless nonsense is just what the doctor ordered.

The presentation of this 22 episode collection is lacklustre, with the episodes presented on a strictly barebones set of discs, and to paraphrase Eric Morecambe, you can play all the right episodes, but not necessarily in the right order.