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Sergeant Preston of The Yukon: The Complete First Season
Critics' Choice // Unrated // May 16, 2006
List Price: $49.95 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
"Well, King, this case is closed."
In 1938, executives at Detroit's WXYZ were looking for a new radio program to repeat the successes of their action series "The Lone Ranger" and "The Green Hornet" - only this time, they wanted a dog as the star. George W. Trendle, who created both of those shows, delivered "Challenge of the Yukon," which followed the adventures of Sergeant William Preston, a Mountie serving the titular outpost territory in the gold rush of the 1890s. At his side: the trusty Yukon King, a most noble husky who served the Crown as the lead sled dog, but reported to duty in the summer, too.
The series would run until 1955 - landing a network run beginning in 1947, changing its name to "Sergeant Preston of the Yukon" in late 1951, and surviving several cast switches (three different actors would voice Preston over the years). Beginning in 1955, the series (under the new title) transferred over to television, where it ran for three seasons. Veteran actor Dick Simmons (credited here as Richard Simmons) was cast in the leading role, while an Alaskan malamute, not a husky, was cast as King.
Plots for the TV series tended to repeat themselves - Preston and King spent most of their time nabbing gold thieves/smugglers, clearing the name of a wrongly accused citizen, and/or tracking down some wrongdoer across the harsh Yukon lands. That's about it, really, unless you want to count the occasional appearance of an awkwardly stereotyped native. (One episode in particular, involving a chief's fear of "white man's medicine," is pretty off-putting.)
Simmons' portrayal of Preston was a fairly one-note affair, due not to poor performance but an over-simplicity of the scripts, which demanded zero growth on the part of the character. Preston is a square-jawed good guy who's friendly to the good guys and rough with the bad ones, and as such Simmons borders on corniness. It's a likeable corniness, but it's corniness nonetheless, one you really start to notice when catching multiple episodes in a row.
Which is the series' downside: watching the series' first season in one long go leads to monotony. These are good shows, well written, serviceably acted, and filled with enough action pieces to get by; but the simplicity and redundancy of the storylines leave this series best watched in small doses. One at a time, this stuff can be rather enjoyable and even a bit relaxing. When clumped together for marathon viewing, all the similarities start blaring at you.
The DVD
Critics' Choice, a television division of the Sony-owned Classic Media, has collected all 33 half-hour episodes of the series' first season into one box set (the five discs are packed in five rather flimsy slimline cases, which are housed in a rather flimsy cardboard sleeve). Yup, this show comes from the days when television seasons ran a whole lot longer, which is good for the collector - more bang for your buck - but a bit much for the exhausted reviewer who must trudge through fourteen-ish hours of very familiar material.
Each disc features only one menu page, which lists that disc's episodes. There is no "play all" feature, and at the end of each episode, you return to the main menu with the cursor selecting the top-listed episode. (Episodes are broken down into chapters, however, so that's a plus if you need to do some skipping ahead.)
I should note that the menus on these discs were a tad slow in responding; both when moving up and down in selecting episodes and when hitting "select" (or "play"), my player seemed to be at least a second behind my clicking around.
The episodes included in this set are:
Disc One: "Vindication of Yukon," "Rebellion in the North," "Trouble At Hogback," "Incident At Gordon Landing," "Bad Medicine," "Hidden Gold," "Last Mail From Last Chance," and "The Assassins."
Disc Two: "Golden Gift," "Cry Wolf," "Girl From Vancouver," "Treasure of Fifteen Mile Creek," "The Boy Nobody Wanted," "The Mad Wolf of Lost Canyon," and "One Bean Too Many."
Disc Three: "Crime At Wounded Moose," "Dog Race," "Phantom of Phoenixville," "Trapped," "Justice At Goneaway Creek," and "Skagway Secret."
Disc Four: "Relief Train," "Totem Treasure," "One Good Turn," "The Cache," "Cinderella of the Yukon," and "Go Fever."
Disc Five: "Fancy Dan," "The Coward," "Father of the Crime," "Remember the Maine," "Love and Honor," and "All Is Not Gold."
Video
"Sergeant Preston" was one of those early series where the producers had the rare foresight to film in color instead of black-and-white, a decision that leaves us with some very attractive images of the Canadian Rockies (even if they're often just a set). The show was filmed with very bright color schemes in mind, and as such, it really pops.
The bad news, however, is that many of the film prints are in iffy condition. Most of the episodes reveal a hefty amount of specks and debris, and a few show major print damage in the form of (very brief) film tears. The result is a solid digital transfer of less-than-solid source material. Considering the show's age and status, the problems are forgivable, and as internet reports indicate that previous VHS releases have been rather atrocious, this seems to be quite a favorable (if still far from perfect) step up.
Audio
The only problems with the mono soundtrack come at the end of each episode, in which the closing theme seems to be cranked up a little louder than it should be. This is likely a problem with the source recording itself, however. Everything else - dialogue, music, etc. - comes off just fine, clean and clear with no noticeable hiss at all. No subtitles are offered.
Extras
None.
Final Thoughts
While I'll recommend this as a purchase to diehard fans of the show, to everyone else I'll simply say Rent It - and only at one disc at a time. "Sergeant Preston" is pleasant enough in small doses, with a frontier feel that will appeal to fans of classic TV westerns. But beware: too much Yukon King in one sitting will leave you with plenty of déjà vu, RCMP-style.
In 1938, executives at Detroit's WXYZ were looking for a new radio program to repeat the successes of their action series "The Lone Ranger" and "The Green Hornet" - only this time, they wanted a dog as the star. George W. Trendle, who created both of those shows, delivered "Challenge of the Yukon," which followed the adventures of Sergeant William Preston, a Mountie serving the titular outpost territory in the gold rush of the 1890s. At his side: the trusty Yukon King, a most noble husky who served the Crown as the lead sled dog, but reported to duty in the summer, too.
The series would run until 1955 - landing a network run beginning in 1947, changing its name to "Sergeant Preston of the Yukon" in late 1951, and surviving several cast switches (three different actors would voice Preston over the years). Beginning in 1955, the series (under the new title) transferred over to television, where it ran for three seasons. Veteran actor Dick Simmons (credited here as Richard Simmons) was cast in the leading role, while an Alaskan malamute, not a husky, was cast as King.
Plots for the TV series tended to repeat themselves - Preston and King spent most of their time nabbing gold thieves/smugglers, clearing the name of a wrongly accused citizen, and/or tracking down some wrongdoer across the harsh Yukon lands. That's about it, really, unless you want to count the occasional appearance of an awkwardly stereotyped native. (One episode in particular, involving a chief's fear of "white man's medicine," is pretty off-putting.)
Simmons' portrayal of Preston was a fairly one-note affair, due not to poor performance but an over-simplicity of the scripts, which demanded zero growth on the part of the character. Preston is a square-jawed good guy who's friendly to the good guys and rough with the bad ones, and as such Simmons borders on corniness. It's a likeable corniness, but it's corniness nonetheless, one you really start to notice when catching multiple episodes in a row.
Which is the series' downside: watching the series' first season in one long go leads to monotony. These are good shows, well written, serviceably acted, and filled with enough action pieces to get by; but the simplicity and redundancy of the storylines leave this series best watched in small doses. One at a time, this stuff can be rather enjoyable and even a bit relaxing. When clumped together for marathon viewing, all the similarities start blaring at you.
The DVD
Critics' Choice, a television division of the Sony-owned Classic Media, has collected all 33 half-hour episodes of the series' first season into one box set (the five discs are packed in five rather flimsy slimline cases, which are housed in a rather flimsy cardboard sleeve). Yup, this show comes from the days when television seasons ran a whole lot longer, which is good for the collector - more bang for your buck - but a bit much for the exhausted reviewer who must trudge through fourteen-ish hours of very familiar material.
Each disc features only one menu page, which lists that disc's episodes. There is no "play all" feature, and at the end of each episode, you return to the main menu with the cursor selecting the top-listed episode. (Episodes are broken down into chapters, however, so that's a plus if you need to do some skipping ahead.)
I should note that the menus on these discs were a tad slow in responding; both when moving up and down in selecting episodes and when hitting "select" (or "play"), my player seemed to be at least a second behind my clicking around.
The episodes included in this set are:
Disc One: "Vindication of Yukon," "Rebellion in the North," "Trouble At Hogback," "Incident At Gordon Landing," "Bad Medicine," "Hidden Gold," "Last Mail From Last Chance," and "The Assassins."
Disc Two: "Golden Gift," "Cry Wolf," "Girl From Vancouver," "Treasure of Fifteen Mile Creek," "The Boy Nobody Wanted," "The Mad Wolf of Lost Canyon," and "One Bean Too Many."
Disc Three: "Crime At Wounded Moose," "Dog Race," "Phantom of Phoenixville," "Trapped," "Justice At Goneaway Creek," and "Skagway Secret."
Disc Four: "Relief Train," "Totem Treasure," "One Good Turn," "The Cache," "Cinderella of the Yukon," and "Go Fever."
Disc Five: "Fancy Dan," "The Coward," "Father of the Crime," "Remember the Maine," "Love and Honor," and "All Is Not Gold."
Video
"Sergeant Preston" was one of those early series where the producers had the rare foresight to film in color instead of black-and-white, a decision that leaves us with some very attractive images of the Canadian Rockies (even if they're often just a set). The show was filmed with very bright color schemes in mind, and as such, it really pops.
The bad news, however, is that many of the film prints are in iffy condition. Most of the episodes reveal a hefty amount of specks and debris, and a few show major print damage in the form of (very brief) film tears. The result is a solid digital transfer of less-than-solid source material. Considering the show's age and status, the problems are forgivable, and as internet reports indicate that previous VHS releases have been rather atrocious, this seems to be quite a favorable (if still far from perfect) step up.
Audio
The only problems with the mono soundtrack come at the end of each episode, in which the closing theme seems to be cranked up a little louder than it should be. This is likely a problem with the source recording itself, however. Everything else - dialogue, music, etc. - comes off just fine, clean and clear with no noticeable hiss at all. No subtitles are offered.
Extras
None.
Final Thoughts
While I'll recommend this as a purchase to diehard fans of the show, to everyone else I'll simply say Rent It - and only at one disc at a time. "Sergeant Preston" is pleasant enough in small doses, with a frontier feel that will appeal to fans of classic TV westerns. But beware: too much Yukon King in one sitting will leave you with plenty of déjà vu, RCMP-style.
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