When I last left Ralph Hinkley, his girlfriend (soon-to-be wife) Pam Davidson and Bill Maxwell after the first season, Ralph was still struggling to learn how to use the suit that the "little green guys" bestowed upon him, while balancing his career as a high school teacher of assorted riff raff and his side work as Maxwell's "assistant".  

We open the third season with Ralph fretting over his high school reunion while helping out an old friend who's a famous quarterback being forced to throw a game. In "30 Seconds Over Little Tokyo", Ralph deals with his high school tenure review as he and Bill take on a ninjas[?] in an effort to keep a powerful weapon (the creation of which is explained in the set's booklet) out of guest star Mako's hands. During "Divorce Venusian Style", Ralph is wounded while taking on neo-Nazis[!] forcing the "little green guys" to reappear, heal Ralph aboard their spaceship and give him a new instruction book for the suit - which he promptly (and quite ridiculously) loses at the end of the episode. 

In addition to the ninja and neo-Nazi episodes, there's also an episode called "Wizards And Warlocks" (featuring a cameo by Bob Saget) that had my head spinning with all the D&D lingo being thrown around (and I used to play D&D myself!). Andre the Giant makes an appearance in "Heaven In Your Genes", which sees Bill kidnapped by an evil scientist who wants to experiment on him and the final episode on disc 4, "Vanity, Says the Preacher", was written by Robert Clup and is one of four episodes in the third season that weren't broadcast initially. 

The third season of the Greatest American Hero is 13 episodes long and Anchor Bay has spread them across 4 single-sided discs:

Disc 1

• the Price Is Right

• 30 Seconds Over Little Tokyo

• Divorce Venusian Style

• Live At Eleven

Disc 2

• the Resurrection Of Carlini

• Wizards And Warlocks

• Heaven Is In Your Genes

Disc 3

• This Is the One the Suit Was Meant For

• the Newlywed Game

• Desperado

Disc 4

• Space Ranger

• It's Only Rock 'N Roll

• Vanity, Says the Preacher

Video: The Greatest American Hero is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1. The picture was sharp and clear with a slightly muted color palette. Ralph's special effects were still cheesy, but they did show the slightest of improvements. Nevertheless, it was a pretty good presentation for its age.

Audio: Like the first season, The Greatest American Hero's third season features a cleaner Dolby Surround 2.0 track. Unlike that set, the audio actually had some life to it and didn't sound as flat. I know there were music rights issues with the first two sets, but I didn't notice any obvious changes as I did during the first season.

Packaging: A foil slipcase houses two double disc slimcases. There's also a four page booklet that contains an essay by Richard Coyle, the designer of the fabled Instruction Book amongst other props featured on the show.

Extras: Umm....well....pressing a spot on the DVD case will let you hear a line from Joey Scarbury's theme song. That's about it.

Conclusion: As I stated in my review for the season one, I was a fan of this show from the beginning. However, it really seemed to stumble during the third season. The chemistry between Connie, Robert and William is still there and stronger than ever, but the writing was uneven. It was great to see what the inside of the spaceship looked like, and it would've been great if Ralph actually had the instruction book for the suit for more than 20 minutes, but overall i'd have to say I was disappointed by this season. Two episodes on disc 3, "This Is the One the Suit Was Meant For" and "the Newlywed Game", were the lone standouts as far as storytelling was concerned. The majority of the time, it seemed as if the writers (two of the thirteen episodes were written by Stephen J. Cannell) had a dartboard in their offices which they'd use to shape the elements of whatever episode they were working on at the time. Thanks to this scattered writing, i'd have a hard time recommending this set if you weren't a fan or a completest who already owned the first two seasons. I am very grateful to Anchor Bay and Cannell Productions for putting this show on DVD (and so quickly, too!), but i'd have to recommend that casual viewers unfamiliar with the show Rent It.