Continuing to release complete seasons of Walker, Texas Ranger in order after releasing the very last season first (!!), Paramount gives us the fourth full season of the show in its entirety.

Seeing as little has changed from the third season to the fourth, please forgive the recycling of the summary previously used to describe the show:

The premise for Walker isn't all that far removed from that of any other cop/law enforcement show. Chuck Norris plays a Texas Ranger operating in the Dallas area named Cordell Walker who deals with the world's problems very much like a cowboy would... a cowboy with a penchant for kicking people in the head, that is. He's a tough guy who isn't afraid to use his fists or his feet when he needs to, but he's also an honorable man who doesn't use his considerable fighting skills unless it's absolutely necessary. He and his partner, Jimmy Trivette (Clarence Gilyard Jr.) cruise around town and right whatever wrongs they can. Trivette was a one-time Dallas Cowboy football hopeful who, due to a shoulder injury, had to leave the football world and has since joined the Texas Rangers. He quickly rose up the ranks to become Walker's right hand man. When Walker isn't fighting crime, odds are pretty good he'll be making time with his sexy lady friend, a district attorney named Alex (Sheree Wilson). Later seasons would introduce a few more Rangers into the mix but these earlier (and better) seasons more or less just concentrate on the adventures of Walker and Trivette.

The twenty-seven episodes contained in this complete fourth season, running from September 21 1996 through May 17, 1997, are laid out as follows:

Disc One:

Higher Power: A young boy is believed, by a Buddhist sect, to be the reincarnation of a powerful monk. Unfortunately for the kid, he's being hunted by one of the monk's enemies from his past life! Walker has to keep the kid out of danger until the would be murderer can be brought to justice.

Patriot: A group of white power neo-Nazis are not happy when their leader is put behind bars for hate crimes. To show the country they mean business they take over a TV station and hold the employees hostage. Walker has to take'em down and make things right again.

Ghost Rider: Continuing with the odd spiritual theme from the first episode, Walker finds himself having to solve a murder committed eighty years ago. Who is there to help him? Why the ghost of the late victim, of course!

Brotherhood: One by one a group of ex-convicts are being brutally murdered in the Dallas area. Walker and Trivette get on the case and find out that a group of Dallas police officers might be up to no good...

Disc Two:

Plague: The inhabitants of a Cherokee reservation are not happy about a nearby farm that is involved in some very unorthodox science experiments. Walker has to investigate and finds out that this farm is evil! And dangerous!

Redemption: Alex's strained relationship with her father is put to the test when she has to compete against him in court when he opts to defend a mobster that she and Walker have been working double time to have jailed for good.

Codename: Dragonfly: Walker takes things personally when an old acquaintance of his from Vietnam decides to steal an army chopper to use for his drug smuggling operation.

Silent Cry: A friend of Walker's is horribly distraught when his daughter finds herself the latest victim of a serial rapist. He gathers up his crew and goes undercover in the heart of Dallas' nightclub scene to catch the perp and stop him before he can strike again.

Disc Three:

Swan Song: Eight years ago a group of criminals committed a horrible bank robbery. Their getaway plane crashed in the mountains and now, Walker finds he has to track the sole survivor through the harsh elements. The catch? He's a cannibal!

Cyclone: A couple of crooks have taken a bus full of kids hostage and Walker has to get those kids back alive and bring the bad guys in or else. Making matters worse is the fact that a big nasty cyclone is approaching the area and Walker's time is quickly running out.

Lucky: A local priest is brutally murdered and the only witnesses are a strange homeless man and his dog. Walker has to find the man in the underbelly of the city in hopes that he can shed some much needed light on the crime.

The Deadliest Man Alive: The Viper is well known as the most dangerous assassin on the face of the Earth. When he shows up in Texas to carry out a hit, Walker and some Interpol agents race against time to stop him from killing an innocent man.

Disc Four:

A Ranger's Christmas: Walker is trying to get a group of orphans into the Christmas spirit so he tells them a story, which we see in flashback, about a Western version of A Christmas Carol involving a cranky Ranger and a well meaning thief.

Mayday: Walker is protecting a witness but the plane their in crashes. Miraculously they survive but they soon find out that there is a team of hitmen on the prowl meant to take the pair down.

Last Hope: A gang or nasty dope dealers attack a Ranger camp where they officers are trying to help some disenfranchised teenagers. It seems one of the teenagers ripped them off and they want their money back!

Full Contact: An up and coming kickboxer has been framed in a murder case but Walker knows he's not guilty. He heads out into the streets to prove the boys innocence and along the way manages to teach him a few new kicks.

Disc Five:

99th Ranger: An abused woman wants to join the Rangers but her ex-husband isn't going to let her and he begins threatening her. Walker figures this woman has what it takes, however, and he steps in to help her out of a potentially dangerous encounter.

Devil's Turf: A maniac is selling hazardous narcotics to local high school kids and the administration can't seem to stop it. The solution? Send Walker in undercover as a substitute teacher.

Days Past: The man who killed Walker's fiancé ten years ago has been freed from prison. What Walker doesn't know is that he's not done murdering, in fact, he's spent the last decade planning to kill Walker and his team and now he intends to do it.

Trial Of LaRue: Local crime lord Victor LaRue has finally been brought into court, much to Alex and Walker's delight. That changers very quickly, however, when LaRue's getaway plan involves holding the entire courtroom hostage.

Disc Six:

Heart Of The Dragon: A gang of violent Chinese criminals are after a valuable jade dragon that supposedly has supernatural powers and they're willing to kill anyone who tries to stop them. Walker has to protect the artifact and its owner until the gang can be shut down.

The Neighborhood: A girl is severely injured in a gang war that turns into a shoot out. She manages to survive the encounter and her story inspires Walker to swoop in on the area and get rid of the violent gangs causing so many people so many problems.

A Father's Image: Bobbie Hunt has finally finished his training and is now officially a Texas Ranger. He goes undercover to tutor the son of a crime boss in hopes of preventing him from joining his father's organization.

Disc Seven:

Sons Of Thunder (Part One): Trent Malloy's father was a good friend of Walker's, and Walker encourages the young man to join the police. What Walker doesn't know is he may have just sent the young man to his death as there's a vicious cop killer on the loose.

Sons Of Thunder (Part Two): Trent is trying to get back together with his family while the police department's hunt for the cop killer is underway. Will the police stop him before he kills Trent and Walker both?

Texas Vs. Cahill: Alex's ex-boyfriend is murdered and she's behind bars as the number one suspect in the case. Walker recruits Trivette and Alex's lawyer father to prove that she's innocent before she's knocked off by a group of inmates wanting vengeance.

Rookie: Joey Prado has just graduated from the Academy and he idolizes Walker. He wants to follow in his hero's footsteps by going undercover to break up a heroin dealing ring but soon finds that he may have bitten off more than he can chew.

The writers came up with some interesting ideas to spice things up for this fourth season. Not only are we treated to a cute Christmas episode but we get a couple of odd supernaturally themed adventures as well to kick things off. Once again we see Walker take up the cause of the Native American and we see him fight for justice with his team and with the help of Alex but a few fun twists set this batch of episodes apart from the slightly tired third season. It's all fairly hokey and a little silly at times but the show is always entertaining even when it's at its most predictable. Chuck isn't the most charismatic actor to ever hit the big time but he does have his own kind of screen presence that allows for him to carry the show.

While in many ways this fourth season is just more of the same, the formula works more often than not and its easy to take some comfort in the fact that good will always triumph over evil. The wholesome nature and obvious moralizing of the series is goofy at times but there are a few moments here that are edgier than you might expect. You can't really call the series dark or realistic but some of the criminals are remarkably sinister and as such, it's easy to cheer for Walker and his team as they do their best to thwart them. Walker: Texas Ranger isn't groundbreaking or revolutionary in any way, shape or form but it is decent entertainment through and through.