Without embarrassment, I can tell you that I am an unabashed Chuck Norris fan. I went to the theatre to see all of his original movies, and after seeing him play the hero so often was even shocked to learn that he played a ‘bad guy’ in “Slaughter in San Francisco” and “Bruce Lee’s “Enter the Dragon.” (Now these facts are common knowledge, but I was still really young at the time. One of the most exciting times in my young life was having the opportunity to be an extra in a Chuck Norris film that was being shot in El Paso, Texas. The film was “Lone Wolf McQuade” and I spent several days on the set. During that time I had a chance to meet Chuck, L.Q. Jones, R.G. Armstrong, David Carradine, Robert Beltran and Barbara Carrera. I also had the opportunity to hang out with Chuck’s stunt double, Dar Benjamin over the course of a weekend and had my first ever helicopter ride. It was a great time!!

So when I heard that Chuck was coming to Dallas to shoot a new TV series I was totally psyched. I thought about auditioning, but family life just kept me too busy to I passed. But I made sure to watch the series, “Walker, Texas Ranger” whenever time allowed. I didn’t see it as much as I would have liked, but liked what I saw. The series was a little on the sappy side at times, but I still really enjoyed seeing Chuck kick the butts of bad guys. The series had to have something going for it because it lasted a total of nine seasons, which was a surprise to a lot of people. The man had found his audience.

The series focused on Cordell Walker, a Texas Ranger with an Old West sensibility when it came to justice. He was partnered up with Jimmy Trivette (Clarence Gilyard Jr.), who was originally out of his element as he had grown up in the slums of Baltimore. The two became a strong team however, and even better friends. Cordell’s sometime girlfriend Alex Cahill (Sheree Wilson) also happened to be the Assistant District Attorney and usually frowned on his methods. During the first 8 seasons, the series also starred the great Noble Willingham as Cordell’s good friend C.D. Parker.

Paramount is releasing “Walker, Texas Ranger” on DVD this week, but is doing something rather strange. Instead of releasing the first season, as is the case with most ‘TV on DVD’ sets, they are starting with the 9th (and final) season). I’m not really sure what the reasoning is for this, other than the idea that they want to see if it will be a popular enough set to warrant releasing the rest of the series. By starting with the final season, fans will at least get the series finale even if nothing else is ever released.

This new DVD set is a three disc affair which includes all 23 episodes of the final season. Not having seen a lot of the episodes from previous seasons, I can’t really say if these offer up the best of the series, but there are a number of great episodes to be found here. The season finale, ‘The Final Show’Down” is without a doubt as good as they get.

My only disappointment with the set is the complete lack of extra features. Paramount has been releasing a lot of different series without any extra features, and while I can’t fault them for trying to keep the costs down for consumers, there are a lot of fans that would love at least a little interview or something. Hopefully, there will not only be more releases of this fun action series, but perhaps they’ll throw us a couple of extra features to boot. (Get it? To ‘Boot’… It’s a western style series… to ‘boot’… oh never mind…)

Episodes:
Home of the Brave
Deadly Situation
White Buffalo
The Avenging Angel
The Winds of Change
Lazarus
Turning Point
Retributions
Child of Hope
Faith
Golden Boy
Desperate Measures
Division Street
Saturday Night
Justice For All
6 Hours
Medieval Crimes
Legends
Unsafe Speed
Without a Sound
Blood Diamonds
Reel Rangers
The Final Show/Down

Starring: Chuck Norris, Clarence Gilyard, Jr., Sheree Wilson,
Extras: None
Specifications: Full Screen, Dolby Digital Stereo
Studio: Paramount
Release Date: 6/14/2005
Region 1
MPAA Rating: NR
Website

We'll give Walker Texas Ranger: The Final Season a B.