The Dresden Files: Complete Season 1 [2007] [DVD]

Imagine if Harry Potter grew up to be Philip Marlowe, and you'll have a pretty good idea of what "The Dresden Files" is like.

While it starts weakly -- and is rarely faithful to Jim Butcher's novels -- "The Dresden Files" manages to whip itself into a solid supernatural-mystery series, with a pretty good cast and some genuinely twisty-turny mysteries. And, of course, a snarky ghost living inside a skull.

Harry Dresden (Paul Blackthorne) is Chicago's only wizard-for-hire, with a tragic past, a hockey-stick staff, and a companion spirit named Bob who lives in a skull (Terrence Mann). He's also perpetually in bad with the wizard council, and moderately famous among the supernatural crowds lurking around Chicago.

As the series opens, Harry is approached by a young boy who claims he's being stalked by otherworldly forces -- and his mother confirms that he's been followed by blackbirds, crows and ravens ever since he was born. Even worse, a skinned body is found in a nearby apartment -- and the malevolent skinwalker who stole the woman's dermis may be after the boy as well.

Arguably the premiere is the weakest of the series, since there's little actual detecting going on. But things perk up in the following episodes. Harry tackles a hellspawn in love, a serial killer murdering werewolves, a bodysnatching murderer, a fertility clinic with a dark secret, a bunch of young thieves using deadly magic, and an attempt to frame Bianca, the sultry vampire club-owner.

Things get even worse when Harry is trapped with a bunch of hostile wizards inside a deadly cloud, which can only have been conjured by one of them. And when Bob is stolen, Harry finds himself confronting his cruel uncle Justin -- whom Harry "self-defensed to death" five years ago.

"The Dresden Files" are only loosely based on the Jim Butcher novels -- it's not as dark or as complex, and a lot of characters are changes. But take it as its own animal, and it ends up being a very solid detective series... albeit one where the suspects and victims just happen to be vampires, devils, lycanthropes, incubi and necromancers.

The plots are genuinely mysterious and gritty, sometimes with genuinely surprising answers, and odd twists on typical urban-fantasy, like vampire junkies. The stories are kept from being too grim by Bob, who provides some witty dialogue to offset the cop-style stuff ("And you wonder why your life is an unending series of insurmountable intellectual, financial and emotional hurdles!").

If the series has a problem, it's that sometimes they overuse the handheld camera, especially in fight scenes. And the CGI ranges from decent (Bianca's vampire transformations) to somewhat hokey (dragon, werewolves), but not bad considering.

Blackthorne is just right for the role: quirky, likable, and a little bit charming. Mann makes a brilliant foil as a damned ghost, who provides hilarious, slightly pervy information for every occasion, and Conrad Coates is good as the rigid Morgan, who is just waiting for a chance to behead Harry. Unfortunately Valerie Cruz is far too dewy-eyed to make a convincing hardcore cop -- she's completely eclipsed by the hilarious Claudia Black in "Other Dick."

The first season of the "Dresden Files" has its flaws, but it's still an enjoyable, suspenseful urban fantasy series that gives a new spin to the lone-wolf detective. Definitely worth watching.

With every fantasy series these days seeming to stretch itself over an unfeasibly long story arc, it's good to see a series which returns to the old formula of largely standalone episodes. Each of the episodes is thoroughly entertaining and by the end of the season, a nice cast of characters is assembled ready for a kicking second season which may or may not happen.

I haven't read the Butcher novels, but I gather liberties are taken with them. If sanctity of the canon is something that bothers you you'll need to be aware of that. But for the rest of us, this is excellent entertainment.

This series is quite different from the Harry Dresden books by Jim Butcher, which is great as it would rather introduce spoilers to those who love reading these books. So you get a series of twelve new stories made specially for TV. The themes are the same though: Magic, Spirits, Vampires, Werewolves, Ravens, etc.. For some reason the odd character's name has been changed as well, although fortunately Harry Dresden and sidekick Bob [Robeth] keep theirs. In general there's a bit more magic weaved by Harry in this TV series, for example he escapes handcuffs by magic on TV, whereas in the books he uses the tricks his stage magician dad taught him. Harry certainly has the 'gift' in both though, and he is the only Wizard listed in the Chicago telephone directory - his real magical powers come from his mothers side.

Harry's spirit helper Bob is more 'physical' in the TV series [i.e. you & Harry can see him], which makes him less creepy than the talking skull of the books. Many of the changes are for the better, and simply fit in with the visual requirements of film [the convenience of a live actor playing long dead Warlock Bob and the opportunity for special effects]. The cast are great, the storylines and special effects are pretty good, and the flashbacks to Harry as a young boy fill in Harry's background details. You don't need to know the books to follow the TV series, it's familiar ground to Buffy and Charmed fans, but with a Sam Spade Private Eye twist. Despite the handsome & sensitive male lead, the series still appears to be girl friendly [perhaps because of the handsome & sensitive male lead]. There's plenty of ladies in key roles as well, both as cop/love interest and demons. Rated 12, it's probably aimed a bit more at a family and younger teenager audience than the likes of 15 rated 'Supernatural'.

This PAL region 2 DVD set has all 12 episodes from series one, and includes a few special features like 'the making off', deleted scenes and audio commentary & subtitles [English audio and English subtitles only]. It's colour widescreen, and the episodes run for 500 minutes [8.3 hours]. The only downside is that the SciFi Channel cancelled series two despite good ratings, and makers LionGate have now transferred to Canada, which is apparently unsuitable for production of The Dresden Files, although this never stopped the X-Files. So this excellent 2007 series is sadly the first and last. My daughter [14] loves the books and the TV series, and has even written to LionsGate and The SciFi Channel to try and get them to change their mind, but it seems unlikely that The Dresden Files will be resurrected. Unbelievable really, as 'The Dresden Files' in just one season look set to became one of the best TV programmes ever made - Bob and Harry are one incredible double act. So enjoy these twelve episodes, they're probably all you'll get. This short lived small screen version naturally hasn't got the depth of the original Harry Dresden books, so check out 'The Dresden Files' books as well, where the story continues.....