'Alias' series on Netflix streaming in HD (finally)

[jefferiestubes8]

I watched the initial broadcast run of Alias and dropped off in the 3rd season and also caught a few episodes in season 4.
Now I own the first 3 seasons on DVD. I heard the 4th season was awful and the 5th season is good if not great.

This week I noticed Netflix added Alias to the Instant streaming list and it is in HD. If anyone has been wanting to watch this and just doesn't want to watch it on DVDs on a large screen here it is.
Yesterday I watched most of the season 5 1st episode "Prophet Five" . It looked very digitally sharpened for some of the action stuff. I think it was more of an in-camera 90 degree shutter angle stuff like on Saving Private Ryan. I thoroughly enjoyed the music by Michael Giacchino.

Is anyone doing a rewatch on Netflix? How many of you dropped off after season 2 or 3 and missed the rest?

related threads:
Watching Alias...

Alias...is the show any good?

Finally catching up with "Alias"

Alias: What the hell happened between seasons 3 and 4?

 

[Starbreaker]

Thanks for the info. I need to finish the series!

 

[Jax]

Never caught it the 1st time around so would love to watch it but I bet UK Netflix will have to wait AGES to get it.

 

[Brikar99]

I might give season 5 another go, but this show fell way, way off after season two.

 

[Gary Mitchell]

I enjoyed the show the whole way through.

 

[Warp Coil]

I've got all five seasons on DVD. Seasons 1-2 were amazing. Season 3 was still overall enjoyable, but then it really stumbled in season 4. The show tried to get back on track in season 5, and while it was an improvement, there was just no way the show was going to redeem itself. It's an entertaining show, for sure, but the plots just become so convoluted and the mythology becomes a mess.

 

[CorporalClegg]

Continuing the theme: 1 and 2 were outstanding, 3 was okay, 4 was terrible, the change in 5 was interesting and a slight improvement but still not that great. And the ending was just stupid.

But at least season 4 had zombies.

 

[ryan123450]

Wow! I had been planning on watching Alias again after I finished rewatching Lost. I was sad to realize it wasn't on Instant Watch and I was going to have to watch it on disk. I watched the first disk just last week. This is an amazing and timely development for me!

 

[Brikar99]

Wow! I had been planning on watching Alias again after I finished rewatching Lost. I was sad to realize it wasn't on Instant Watch and I was going to have to watch it on disk. I watched the first disk just last week. This is an amazing and timely development for me!

I love when that happens.

 

[Jimi_James]

I had no idea it was finally on Netflix. I know what I'll be doing this weekend though.

Like others have said, season one and two were amazing and then the show quickly went off the rails when Abrams left.

 

[jefferiestubes8]

the show quickly went off the rails when Abrams left.

Yes when i watched the season opener for the 5th season this week I expected maybe JJ Abrahams would have directed it.
he did not.

when i made this thread I looked at a listing of episodes for the series and directors and JJ didn't direct any episodes in the 5th season. Oh well I thought maybe for sweeps or the finale...
2 years though is a long time on a 22 episode/season series with the schedules for creatives on a series.

I'm glad it is in HD. They won't be releasing this on Blu-ray so I'm glad to see it this way.
I have always loved the pilot. This was one of the early shows to be in 5.1 surround sound on DVD.

 

[Warp Coil]

the show quickly went off the rails when Abrams left.

Yes when i watched the season opener for the 5th season this week I expected maybe JJ Abrahams would have directed it.
he did not.

when i made this thread I looked at a listing of episodes for the series and directors and JJ didn't direct any episodes in the 5th season. Oh well I thought maybe for sweeps or the finale...

I get the impression that JJ Abrams isn't someone who is in it for the long haul. He'll create or develop a series, remain involved for a little while, and then walks away and leaves a series in someone else's hands. He did it with "Lost" and he did it with "Alias". His name is still in the credits every week but he's not actively involved with the series.

 

[Jimi_James]

I think that by the third season, Abrams had already left the show to begin development of Lost.

 

[Brit Babe]

I think that by the third season, Abrams had already left the show to begin development of Lost.

He was also developing MI:3, if I remember correctly.

Season 4 suffered from lack of direction and ABC shuffling around the episodes which consequently made some things make little chronological sense. I always watch season 4 in production order makes it a little more bearable.

 

[jbohn]

I found that season4 started strange, didn't feel like the Alias we knew, mainly because of the "reset"... new location, new setup etc. and the stories were not obviously connected. But as the season progressed their were some story threads that begun to emerge, like the mysterious person that Jack and Sloan are looking for, or the "other" Mr. Sloane, Nadia's backstory, Jack's illness etc. and then the 3 part finale was fantastic.

 

[JD]

I'm really happy to see Alias is finally on Netflix. I followed the entire series run from the pilot to the finale, but I haven't seen it since. I've been wanting to watch it again for years and now I finally can. I'll probably start it after I finish either TWD or Primeval.

 

[Brikar99]

I found that season4 started strange, didn't feel like the Alias we knew, mainly because of the "reset"... new location, new setup etc. and the stories were not obviously connected. But as the season progressed their were some story threads that begun to emerge, like the mysterious person that Jack and Sloan are looking for, or the "other" Mr. Sloane, Nadia's backstory, Jack's illness etc. and then the 3 part finale was fantastic.

I thought one of the problems with the show was that each time it rebooted itself, it stayed essentially the same. That season four rolled around and the CIA actually had a division run by Sloane was painfully, idiotically absurd. And far too many episodes started to use the "we need to grab this piece of technology and sabotage it/place a tracker on it" plot.

 

[Enterprise is Great]

I liked season 4 a lot better in the second half when it went back to serialized storytelling. ABC mandated that the season be mostly standalone at least in the first half which made it just not feel like Alias at all.

 

[jbohn]

Exactly. I seem to remember reading somewhere that the writers said they had no idea what they were doing for the first half of the season.