Kyle XY - The Complete First Season - Declassified
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Matt DallasBrand: Buena Vista Home Video
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language)
Format: Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 437 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2007-05-22
Audience Rating: G (General Audience)
Studio: Buena Vista Home Entertainment / Touchstone
Product features:
- When a boy emerges from the forest with no recollection of who he is, a kind social worker takes him into her family and everyone wants to know: who is Kyle XY? As the Trager family works to help Kyle discover his world, they must also address the truths in their own lives as they struggle to adjust to the newest member of their family. "XY marks the hot spot" as TV's most compelling n
Movie Reviews of Kyle XY - The Complete First Season - Declassified
Movie Review: If you combined the story of Kaspar Hauser with DARK ANGEL you'd get this
Summary: 5 Stars
Warning! Spoilers ahead!
Kaspar Hauser was a sixteen year old boy who appeared out of nowhere in early 19th century Nuremberg, Germany, barely able to walk or use his hands and with virtually no ability to speak. There are startling similarities between Kaspar and Kyle, who likewise is roughly sixteen and initially has limited control of his body and no ability to speak. Unlike Kaspar Hauser, Kyle proves to have an extraordinary capacity to learn, quickly mastering both his body and huge bodies of human knowledge. And also unlike Kaspar, who never learned the secret of his origins (because he was assassinated some speculate that he may have been the offspring of a royal house--why would people go through a great deal of trouble to kill a mere peasant?), Kyle eventually learns the secret of who he is and where he came from. At that point, as viewers of the first season will be aware, the story starts to veer over more towards DARK ANGEL, both in the sense that like Max Guevera Kyle was made rather than born. That is not really much of a spoiler. One of the first things we learn about Kyle is that he does not possess a belly button, leading to the rather obvious conclusion that he was never born as humans normally are. Other parallels to DARK ANGEL will emerge in Season Two, but the most obvious resemblance between the two shows, apart from a similarity in origins, is that both series are set in Seattle but filmed in Vancouver.
The series begins with Kyle, covered with strange goo, waking up naked in the woods. After he walks in a completely natural state into the nearby city and is placed in a juvenile detention center, the police contact a psychologist, Nicole Trager, to solicit her help in assessing Kyle. Sensing that the juvenile center is not really appropriate for him she takes him to her home in order to serve as a temporary foster situation. There he gets to know the other Tragers, including Nicole's husband Stephen and their two children Lori and Josh. Much of Season One consists not only of Kyle learning to function in society but in establishing a home with the Tragers. This continues a now-established tradition of focusing in series on what has come to be known as "chosen families." It has appeared in series after series in the past decade or so. Many have commented in regard to Admiral Adama's relationship to the various women in his command on his various "daughters." But perhaps no series ever stated the theme so explicitly as BUFFY in the episode "Family," in which Tara's father, brother, and cousin come to force her to return with them to their home. When Buffy makes it known that she would not allow them to take Tara the father asks who they were to stand in the way of them, her blood kin. "We're family," she replies. The ongoing theme through a number of shows is that the families we chose to be a part of are sometimes more important than mere blood ties.
In terms of action, not a lot happens in Season One. Most of the focus is on Kyle learning about himself, about the world, and exploring relationships with others. Besides the Tragers, he nurses a crush on Amanda, the girl who lives just down the street from the Tragers, and Declan, Lori's bad boy boyfriend, who gradually throughout the season becomes both less bad and an increasingly important friend to Kyle. We also get to see an ever-expanding number of oddities about Kyle. For instance, his ability to master any physical activity in a matter of minutes, or his propensity for sleeping in a bathtub (we find out why in Season Two), or his off the chart mathematical ability, or his ability to read any book in seconds. And through it all, we are conscious of a mysterious individual whom we see kill one person and suspect has killed another. We eventually learn his name is Foss and that precisely who he is demands a more complex answer than we assumed. Foss is, by the way, played by Nicholas Lea, best known for his role as Alex Krycek on THE X-FILES.
Although the show has many strong positives, without the marvelous work of Matt Dallas in the title role the show simply wouldn't work. Dallas manages to imbue Kyle with both a sense of wonder and a feeling of often being lost and at sea. It is a part that would be easy to mess up, but luckily he strikes the right balance between odd and being brilliant.
I have to confess a special love for shows made in Vancouver. More and more in recent years Hollywood has chosen to film series in Vancouver. Partly the reason is that it is cheaper to shoot there, partly it is because there is a different kind of terrain there than in Los Angeles, and partly it is because an enormous number of actors have moved there to support the ever growing television industry there. But although there are a lot of fine actors there, sometimes it feels as if there is just one large theater troupe, and they merely shift from one series to another as needed. For instance, taking just two examples from KYLE XY, Amanda's mother is played by Teryl Rothery. She played a nurse in a memorable episode of THE X-FILES from the years it was filmed in Vancouver, as well as a real estate agent both in SMALLVILLE and in DEAD LIKE ME (I have to say, the house the Tragers live in feels like it has to be in the same neighborhood as the house George's family lived in on that show), and many other series such as DA VINCI'S INQUEST, COLD CASE, and THE CHRIS ISAAK SHOW. And she is certainly best known for having played Dr. Janet Fraiser for many seasons on STARGATE SG-1. Eileen Pedde, who plays the professor Kyle, Lori, and Declan meet when he goes to the University of Washington, has a recurring role in BATTLESTAR GALACTICA as a marine sergeant, but has appeared on a host of other Vancouver series, including SMALLVILLE, THE DEAD ZONE, STARGATE SG-1, DARK ANGEL, THE X-FILES, and MILLENNIUM. If you watch SMALLVILLE, DARK ANGEL, THE L WORD, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, SUPERNATURAL, the STARGATE series, HOUSE, DEAD LIKE ME, THE 4400 and all the other Vancouver shows, you will see the same performers crop up with vastly more frequency than in those filmed in Hollywood.
I highly recommend this series. It tells a compelling story of a highly likable and sympathetic main character with finely scripted and executed stories. The show may at times feel a bit familiar. Certainly parts of the story bear similarities to any of a dozen or so shows of the past, but still they manage to blend all the elements together in a truly wonderful way.
Summary of Kyle XY - The Complete First Season - Declassified
When a boy emerges from the forest with no recollection of who he is, a kind social worker takes him into her family and everyone wants to know: who is Kyle XY? As the Trager family works to help Kyle discover his world, they must also address the truths in their own lives as they struggle to adjust to the newest member of their family. "XY marks the hot spot" as TV's most compelling new family drama comes to DVD on KYLE XY: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON ? DECLASSIFIED. This 3-disc set features each thrilling Season One episode as well as bonus features that reveal more than ever about the remarkable boy named Kyle. Only on DVD can you get declassified show secrets and an exclusive alternate season finale.Equal parts Roswell and The O.C., Kyle XY starts off as a sci-fi mystery, veers off into a teenage soap opera and ends its 10-episode first season with a compelling cliffhanger. The series, which debuted in 2006 on the ABC Family channel, begins with a teenager wandering in the woods just outside of Seattle. When the authorities find him, he is naked, unable to communicate, and devoid of a belly button. He is taken to a juvenile detention center where a psychologist bonds with him and takes him home to live with her wary husband and children. (Never mind that most women wouldn't bring possibly dangerous young men home with them.) As played by Matt Dallas, Kyle (as she names him) is a gentle soul who wouldn't hurt a fly. He's also an idiot savant when it comes to learning. Within a few hours, he memorizes the encyclopedia and learns how to speak perfect English. He's just as quick to learn athletic skills. He's not as fast when it comes time to pick up on social nuances, and he has no concept of private time. As the fish-out-of-water character, Kyle is charming in his naiveté. Though Dallas is a tad too hunky to pass for a 16-year-old boy, he gives the character a warm heart. Where the series fails is in its attempt to be everything to everyone. There's a subplot with a mysterious man who may know more about Kyle than he should that falls flat. There are also teen angst storylines involving the family's daughter that would've fit in better in an episode of Beverly Hills, 90210 than here. While uneven, Kyle XY shows promise with a cliffhanger ending that will be realized in the second season. --Jae-Ha Kim
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