DVD Review: Eureka, Season 5 – The Final Season

Many individuals out there believe the Road to Hell is paved with the good intentions of others. It that were true, one might have every right to argue about the belief that the equally-talked about Stairway to Heaven could very well be lined with bad television network decisions. All those really good and/or promising series that received a unwarranted, swift chop of the ever-dreaded “Exec Axe” are there, embedded within the steps leading up to eternal glory to entice you with the promise that they just might be alive and well up there. Ironically enough, sources indicate that Highway to Heaven is not among those titles, but I’ve been assured by the Amazing Criswell that Eureka is.

Unlike the multitude of shows that were prematurely ejected from studio offices, Eureka had the dignity of being laid to rest in a more humane manner. The suits at Comcast, who own the SyFy Network (formerly known as the Sci-Fi Channel, before they tried to come up with a hip new name) apparently realized that the show was quite a popular favorite with viewers — and were gracious enough to allow Eureka‘s creators to wrap up the series for its finale instead of letting the show dangle over the stairs of the afterlife with the unfulfilling conclusion of an unresolved cliffhanger like classics such as Soap were tossed into the rubbish bin with.

Interestingly, Comcast said Eureka was too expensive of a series to produce, but continue to put cash forth in order to have countless crappy Made-for-Cable-TV movies to be infiltrate the airwaves like hourly busloads of bastard red-headed stepchildren arriving in Purgatory. Oh, well, c’est la vie, as they say!

So, anyway, Eureka: Season 5 – The Final Season finds the good men and women of Eureka, Oregon giving it their all one last time — beginning with the crew of the doomed starship Astraeus (which had a less-than-successful launch at the finale of Season 4.5) returning to Earth four years after the last episode. Needless to say, things have changed for them. For starters, everyone and everything they left behind has moved on without them — assuming they just sort of died or something out there in the dark scary void of vast space. And so, our heroes and heroines must first work a way to get things back to whatever constituted as normal for a town like Eureka to begin with, only to have to face the complete closure of their facility a few episodes later on.

Yes, it’s sad to see such a fun series go (heck, even the British liked it — usually they just go for our Star Trek shows and that’s about it!). Fortunately for Eureka‘s faithful viewers, the laughs and witty writing they came to adore and tune-in for over the years since the show’s first airing in 2006 are still here to enjoy, and are just as wonderful as ever.

Universal Studios Home Entertainment bring us Eureka: Season 5 – The Final Season in a three-disc set for all to enjoy in an eco-friendly package (damn hippies!). The thirteen episodes contained therein are presented in their original 1.78:1 aspect ratio with Dolby Digital 5.1 sound and English (SDH) subtitles accompanying. Special features for this line-up include the holiday episode “Do You See What I See?” from Season 4.5, a gag reel, deleted/extended scenes, audio commentary on one episode with several of the show’s producers, a couple of behind-the-scenes featurettes, and — best of all — a farewell featurette with the show’s cast.

Highly recommended.