Cancelled in its prime, 6 Jul 2005

By	Ms. C. J. Owens "boscough" - See all my reviews

The first season set up the dynamics of the relationships with Tru having witnessed her mothers death as a child, being detached from her father who has remarried and is closer to his new children than his old, her sister is an career woman with a coke habit and her brother has a gambling habit and is constantly in trouble and mixing with the wrong crowd. We also get to see Tru struggle to come to terms with her gift but eventually receive the assistance of Harrison her brother and Davis her boss (who has excellent comedic timing and plays his role perfectly), whom she confides in.

The main theme of the show however is whether Tru's ability is the right course of action. If people are fated to die, then should she go back in time to save them? What are the consequences for the future caused by someone destined to die living? And this is where the series really picks up towards the end of season one.

We are introduced to Jack, who without giving away too much of the plot, is effectively Tru's opposite. She goes back in time to save lives, but he goes back to keep events from changing and ensure that destiny is fulfilled as it was meant to be. There on we are treated to many plot twists and far more exciting episodes as Tru has not only the challenge of saving the deceased, but also someone trying to stop her.

So why only 4 stars for this series? Well in part due to the abrupt cancellation of the series six epsiodes into season two. For me it had really hit its stride and when watching the dvd you really are left stranded and full of frustration at not knowing what the intention was with these chararcters and the over riding plot. I was actually starting to question whether Tru was in fact doing the right thing.

The DVD was well packaged, but it could have had some form of feature by its creator to give the fans some sort of insight as to where they would have gone with the series - some form of satisfying closure, which is what it is missing.

The special features were also lacking, some good commentries and a few deleted scences, however I do accept that with a cancelled series we can only be offered limted extras and should be grateful that we received the DVD issue at all.

I would recommend this series, it really does hook you in by the mid to end of seaon one and the writing, particularly on the relationships of the core characters, for me was excellent.

If you are a fan of Buffy, Angel, Alias, Charmed or even Quantam Leap - then this series is for you.

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Tru-ly great value entertainment., 8 Aug 2005

The show reminds me a lot of Quantum Leap. Each new episode brings new characters that Tru must engage with in order to, effectively, save the day. The introduction of Tru's nemesis (and opposite) towards the end of the First Season cemented this feeling. However, Tru Calling is by no means a Quantum Leap clone. The show is as much about Tru and her life as it is about the people she must save.

A word of warning: The last two discs of this set contain the second season, which was cancelled after only six episodes. These six episodes are, in my opinion, some of the best in the entire series. However, be prepared to be very disappointed by the lack of closure that the last episode of Season Two brings. So many loose ends are left untied. It's not quite as frustrating as the last episode of Twin Peaks, but it's nearly there.

This DVD set is brilliant value for money. 8 discs for half the price I paid for most of my (6 disc) Buffy box sets when they were released! The special features are entertaning. The deleted scenes don't really add anything new (do they ever?!?) but are fun to watch. Similarly the 4 documentaries (3 about Season one and 1 about Season Two) are fairly standard, but also highly watchable. You also get a music video of the show's theme tune and audio commentaries. All this for less than £30!

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