The Dresden Files (www.the-usher.com)

Birds of a feather
A young boy wants to hire Harry because he believes that monsters are after him and his mom. Harry doesn't want to take the kid's money, but he also knows from his own experience that a child's monsters are often all too real.

The Boone Identity
A grieving father asks Harry to help put his daughter's spirit to rest. This should be easy. All Dresden has to do is track down the killer and make sure that justice has been done. There's only one catch: the killer died only hours after the murder.

Hair of the Dog
A series of ritualistic murders starts to look a lot like werewolves so Harry, of course, gets dragged in. Thing is, it looks like the lycanthropes aren't the killers... they're the victims.

Rules of Engagement
A beautiful young woman asks Harry to help her recover some stolen money. Before long, Dresden discovers a connection between this case and a dark, supernatural evil, and that his lovely client has been hiding something.

Bad Blood
After a failed hit on her life, Bianca, Chicago's most powerful vampire, calls upon Harry Dresden. In debt to her for saving his life years before, he agrees to help her find the mastermind behind the plan to take her down.

Soul Beneficiary
An otherwise healthy man experiencing premonitions of his own demise seeks Harry's help but ends up croaking right in his office. As the dark circumstances surrounding his death are revealed, Harry finds himself in the crosshairs of a dangerous magic-user; meanwhile, the crime that got Bob condemned to living in his own skull for all eternity finally comes to light.

Walls
Harry investigates the death of a college student which leads him to a most unusual ring of thieves. A group of students is using magic to commit a series of impossible thefts, and Harry must stop them quickly. Not only because what they are doing is wrong, but also because the magic will eventually kill them all.

Storm Front
When the police hire Harry for help with investigating two particularly grisly and "weird" deaths, he finds himself the target of a user-of-the-Black fuelled by tremendous hatred. Even worse, as Harry is the only non-Council wizard in Chicago powerful enough to have committed the crime, he immediately becomes the number one suspect for Ancient Mai and Morgan. Now, Harry must find the real culprit and clear his name...or face some "old school" justice.

The Other Dick
When Chicago PI Jim Brennan is murdered by supernatural means, Harry must team up with Brennan's assistant to find the murderer.

What About Bob?
Things seem to be going well between Harry and his new flame until she walks out on him... and takes Bob's skull. Now Dresden must find Bob and rescue him from the clutches of an old enemy. But will Bob want to be rescued?

Things That Go Bump
Morgan and Ancient Mai must come to Harry for protection and shelter from powerful enemies of Mai's. They make it to the relative safety of Dresden's place, but suddenly find that they are all trapped by a powerful spell. Now Harry must work with them to find a way out before the spell turns deadly.

Second City
Dresden and Murphy must work together to solve the mystery of a former gang member who drowns on dry land, miles from the nearest lake. Meanwhile, Murphy's father is in town, and he doesn't have a very high opinion of his daughter's freelance consultant.

There have been supernatural detectives aplenty in the history of television but can Harry Dresden be any different?

Based loosely on the books by Jim Butcher, 'The Dresden Files' is another supernatural detective series following the success of programmes like 'Angel', 'Charmed' and 'Supernatural' but this time our protagonist is a wizard. Cast out because of using black magic, Harry Dresden now works as a private detective, investigating the strange cases that have no scientific answer and have baffled the police force. Liaising with the Chicago Police Department and working with Lt. Connie Murphy, Harry tries to keep the supernatural world from infringing on the human world but he can't stop everything.

'The Dresden Files' had a lot to do to make itself standout from what had come before. For a show that revolved around magic, wizards, witches and everything supernatural, it struggled to decide whether it wanted to be a dark or a light-hearted look at this mysterious world. The use of magic was also reduced to a minimum. While it would never have the budget of a Harry Potter movie, the lack of many magic effects meant that the show didn't push the genre as far it could go. Unfortunately the show was cancelled after one season of twelve episodes but this doesn't mean that there isn't anything to enjoy here.

The main reason for giving the show a chance is the performances from the three main characters. Leading the line is Paul Blackthorne as Harry Dresden. Charismatic, charming and very easy to root for, British actor Blackthorne plays the character with great gusto, making Harry a good protagonist and one that you instantly like. Valerie Cruz has good chemistry with Paul Blackthorne as the pair goes down the usual will they or won't they route that seems to grace any series that has a man and woman paired together. As Lt. Connie Murphy of the Chicago PD, she works with Harry to solve the more unusual cases but she hasn't been exposed to Harry's world and thinks he just has good detecting skills not supernatural powers. Stealing the show however is the performance of Terrance Mann as Harry's confidant and conscience Bob. The fact that he is actually a ghost entrapped in his own skull means that the veteran actor of stage and screen can really have fun with the character, having most of the best lines and is the main emphasis of some the best episodes of the show.

With a decent concept and the novels to build from 'The Dresden Files' had a lot of promise but unfortunately it didn't get to chance prove it. All of the twelve episodes are well written and acted, making them well worth checking out however. It might not be completely magic but it will cast a slight spell over you.

PICTURE & SOUND

Presented in Anamorphic Widescreen 16x9 with Dolby Digital 5.1, the series looks great.

BONUS FEATURES

Audio Commentaries
View the episodes 'Rules of Engagement' and 'Things that go bump' with a commentary track by director Michael Grossman, actor Paul Blackthorne and producer Robert Hewitt Wolfe. Each track reveals behind the scenes secrets and an insight into how an hour of fantasy television is made. The trio also talk about adapting the novels and the importance of character and story over magic. These are decent commentaries that fans will enjoy.

Deleted Scenes
View deleted or extended scenes from the episodes from 'Rules of Engagement' and 'Hair of the Dog' but unfortunately they are not accompanied by a commentary track or introduction to explain why they were removed.

Inside the Dresden Files (18.12 mins)
Executive producer/writer Robert Hewitt Wolfe, executive producer David Simkins, director Michael Grossman, writer Curtis Kheel, director of photography Alwyn Kumst, visual effects supervisor Darren Cramford, costume designer Joanne Hansen and stars Paul Blackthorne, Valerie Cruz and Terrance Mann take you behind the scenes of the making of 'The Dresden Files'. The group talk about adapting the books for the small screen, the character of Harry Dresden, addressing issues through magic and fantasy and how they went about relating to the audience. They also talk about the evolution of the Bob and Murphy characters and the use of visual effects in the show. This is a good featurette that fans will enjoy.

Trailers
Previews of 'The Lost Room', 'Employee of the Month' and 'The Lives of Others'

OVERALL

The DVD treatment for 'The Dresden Files' should please fans of the series. The commentaries are good but it is a shame that more episodes don't have them. The featurette is good however and the deleted scenes are worth watching, making this a DVD packages that fans should enjoy.

DVD

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