I've always thought that the most entertaining part of any superhero movie is the beginning, when the new hero has just discovered or received his powers. Watching the protagonist figure out how to use his newfound abilities, and seeing him try to reconcile his new superhero status with ordinary life, is always more fun than his exploits after it's all under control; the journey is more interesting than the destination. With that in mind, it's easy to see the charm in The Greatest American Hero, whose entire premise is based on that process of discovery. You see, high-school teacher Ralph Hinkley (William Katt) has been given a powerful suit that grants him superhero powers, with the injunction to use it for the benefit of mankind... but he lost the instruction book before he could figure out how to use it properly. Oops!

While Season 1 of The Greatest American Hero obviously gave us Ralph at the very beginning of his journey of discovery, as Season 2 opens we find that he's still far from proficient with the suit. Flying is still an iffy proposition at best, and while he's got the hang of seeing distant events (if he can find the right object to trigger the connection), using super-strength, and being protected from things like bullets, he's still in the process of learning through trial and error. Despite not always knowing exactly what he's doing, Ralph is still determined to use the suit to do good deeds and fight crime.

The Greatest American Hero stands up surprisingly well to the test of time; while there's no denying it has a cheesy feel to it, it's coupled with a charm that makes "cheesy" more like "nostalgic retro style." It helps that The Greatest American Hero had a sense of humor about itself to begin with; Ralph and all the other characters acknowledge that he looks utterly ridiculous in "the suit" (which Ralph's partner Bill Maxwell refers to as "pajamas" on occasion) and it's frequently used for humorous effect. The overall result is that while The Greatest American Hero is very clearly set in the early 1980s, it manages not to feel dated. Well, with one exception... I really wish they hadn't relied so much on stock footage for Ralph's flying scenes! Other than that, though, even the special effects simply look "retro" rather than cheesy.

The general premise of the series is great, but of course what really matters is how well the individual episodes are handled. I'd say that the general trend is for them to be light-weight fun, with the occasional rather lame one tossed in. The season starts out with "The Two-Hundred-Mile-an-Hour Fastball," in which Ralph gets to live a childhood dream by going undercover as a member of a major league baseball team. I'm sure this episode would be even more fun if you're a big baseball fan, but even if not, it's entertaining to see this fun combination of two completely typical childhood fantasies: to be a superhero, and to be a sports star. Ralph gets to be both! "Operation Spoil Sport" follows a more serious storyline with very entertaining results, as Ralph and Bill have to avert worldwide devastation with the barest of clues to put them on the right track. The third episode, "Don't Mess Around with Jim," seems to be somewhat of a fan favorite, but I found it be horribly written; the premise is certainly interesting, but it's full of endless conversations (with terrible dialogue, to boot) that feel like they're just puffing up a too-short script.

After the early episodes, the show settles down into a mix that includes various types of adventures for Ralph, from saving the world on a grand scale ("Plague" ), to helping Bill solve cases for the FBI ("Just Another Three-Ring Circus"), to misadventures on a more personal scale ("Dreams"). Some of the stories in the mix are a bit far-out, like the window to the fourth dimension in "The Beast in the Black" (which manages to be entertaining anyway, even if off-the-wall), dealing with voodoo plots ("A Chicken in Every Plot"), or searching for sea monsters ("The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea"). Some are better than others, but overall the show delivers a fairly consistent package of light, fluffy, fun entertainment.

Fans of the show will probably be disappointed to find that some of the songs from the original broadcasts have been replaced in the DVD versions of the episodes. Personally, I didn't find it to be a problem; I'd only seen a few episodes (and it was many years ago), so I didn't notice the differences at all. Given that The Greatest American Hero is probably not one of the most popular shows of all time, I'd say it's a good thing we're getting it on DVD at all; I'd certainly rather have it on DVD with some songs replaced, than not have it released at all. After all, the one song that really matters – the main theme – is there in all its catchy glory. Long-time fans of the show obviously may feel differently, but I certainly wouldn't let the replacement of the music get in the way of enjoying this show on DVD.

The DVD

I really like the packaging for The Greatest American Hero: Season 2. It's a six-DVD set, packaged in three slim-pack cases inside a glossy, stylish paperboard slipcase. The whole thing is about the same thickness as a double-wide keepcase, but with six DVDs! I'd love to see more season sets packaged like this. All 22 of the show's second-season episodes are included here.

Video

Anchor Bay has done a pretty decent job with the transfer here. While outdoor shots tend to be a bit grainy, and the frequently recycled footage of Ralph flying looks pretty terrible, the overall appearance of the episodes is quite clean and presentable. Colors look bright and natural, and contrast is generally handled competently as well. The show appears in its original aspect ratio of 1.33:1.

Audio

The Dolby 2.0 soundtrack gets the job done in a reasonable manner. For the most part, the track is clean and natural-sounding, though sometimes a bit flat. On occasion, the music in the background is too loud, so that it muffles the dialogue a bit; other than that, though, it sounds fine.

Extras

The sixth disc should prove to be a fan-pleaser, as its "Interviews" section gives us a total of 84 minutes of quite interesting interview footage. We hear from series creator and writer Stephen J. Cannell, as well as the creator of the theme music, Mike Post. This is all solid, informative material.

There's also a Japanese dubbed version of "The Two-Hundred-Mile-an-Hour Fastball" included on the sixth disc, I suppose for curiosity's sake; I think it's rather odd that the entire episode was repeated on Disc 6 rather than just having the original episode on Disc 1 have an alternate soundtrack, but that's the way it's presented here.

A photo gallery also appears, along with the notice that Stephen J. Cannell's script for "The Two-Hundred-Mile-an-Hour Fastball" is included as DVD-ROM content.

Final thoughts

The Greatest American Hero is a surprisingly entertaining show whose quirky charm has stood up to the passing of several decades. It's certainly in the category of "fluffy fun," but then, who says everything has to be serious and dramatically powerful? It's worth watching both for those who were big fans of it in its original run, and for viewers who may be seeing it for the first time. Recommended.