The Alaskans: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.0
Overall		4.0

The Alaskans: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie Review

Northwestern Exposure.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III September 13, 2024

Produced mere months after its titular territory became the 49th U.S state, WB Television's The Alaskans was a short-lived but unique series best remembered as being the first regular American TV gig for British actor Roger Moore, who would of course go on to portray James Bond seven times on the big screen during the next few decades. Uniquely tied to the phenomenally popular Western series Maverick and even airing during the same ABC Sunday night block, The Alaskans also inherited a few proposed scripts from that series due to a Writers Guild of America strike during its one-season lifespan. Though certainly not a bulletproof endeavor, this well-cast snowbound comedy/drama nonetheless held its own as a unique slice of classic American television before the public's shifting state-centered interest -- leading to executive producer William T. Orr's follow-up series, Hawaii Eye -- left poor Alaska out in the cold.

Taking advantage of America's short-lived infatuation with an exotic new landscape, this hour-long black-and-white series (more on that later) follows Silky Harris (Moore) and Reno McKee (Jeff York); these two shrewd adventurers have set up shop in late 19th-century Skagway, Alaska, a small but busy port town that doubles as the quickest route to the Yukon during that region's infamous Gold Rush. Silky and Reno -- along with a lovely third party, saloon operator Rocky Shaw (Dorothy Provine) -- plan to make their money the good old-fashioned way, though: swindling travelers by any means necessary. Their justification, of course, is that they're only duping suckers trying to get rich quick, and the series' generally light touch thus keeps their antics from feeling as mean-spirited as the setup suggests.

The Alaskans is anything but serialized, with mostly minimal series-spanning character development and largely self-contained stories that ultimately don't make it necessary "marathon viewing" material. It's light tone and quasi-exotic locales -- mostly studio backlots and other sets with the bare minimum of obvious on-location footage -- nonetheless create something that obviously stood out in the Western-dominated 1950s television landscape, even if it's painfully obvious that The Alaskans still feels like that genre just basically traded in spurs for snowshoes. The 50-odd minute runtime of each episode is usually more than enough for each script, although the series' generally light tone and two-level story structure might have been better off as as a half-hour production. Luckily, what really urges The Alaskans along -- aside for the obvious sex appeal of Moore and Provine, of course -- is the chemistry of its stars and more than a few memorable supporting characters, all of which work with the modest but serviceable production design to create a then-unique atmosphere for audiences to enjoy in the early years of a new small-screen format. Aside from more on-location footage, however, my one wish is that The Alaskans would have been produced in full color; like the similarly black-and-white Hawaii Eye, it certainly would've added plenty of tangible exotic appeal to this series.

While I certainly wouldn't call The Alaskans an extended game of "spot the former or future celebrity guest star", its revolving-door roster of guest appearances during all 36 episodes is actually quite deep and includes the likes of Julie Adams (Bend of the River), French beauty queen Jacqueline Beer (77 Sunset Strip), Robert Colbert (The Time Tunnel), Alan Hale, Jr. (Gilligan's Island), Werner Klemperer (Hogan's Heroes), Bing Russell (The Magnificent Seven, and being Kurt's dad), Dick Sargent (Bewitched), Karen Steele (Marty), William Tracy (almost 20 years after The Shop Around the Corner, and one of the last roles of his career), Lee Van Cleef (The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly), and Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. (also 77 Sunset Strip), among others. That said, it's pretty fun to pick out all the familiar faces, and this surplus of one-off characters helps to keep The Alaskans' otherwise limited framework fresher than expected.

Presented in a compact and nicely restored nine-disc Blu-ray set from Warner Archive, The Alaskans: The Complete Series includes all 36 episodes in their original broadcast order as listed below. Brief episode descriptions and cast lists (including guest stars) can be found at the usual outlets such as IMDb and even TV Guide. Overall, it's a largely solid show and those with vague memories of The Alaskans growing up will absolutely love getting reacquainted.

Disc One: "The Gold Sled", "Cheating Cheaters", "The Devil Made Five", "The Petticoat Crew"

Disc Two: "Starvation Stampede", "Big Deal", "Contest at Gold Bottom", "Winter Song"

Disc Three: "The Golden Fleece", "Doc Booker", "The Abominable Snowman", "Remember the Maine"

Disc Four: "Million Dollar Kid", "The Trial of Reno McKee", "Gold Fever", "The Challenge"

Disc Five: "The Long Pursuit", "Spring Fever", "Black Sand", "The Seal-Skin Game"

Disc Six: "Peril at Caribou Crossing", "Behind the Moon", "Partners", "Disaster at Gold Hill"

Disc Seven: "The Last Bullet", "A Barrel of Gold", "The Bride Wore Black", "Odd Man Hangs"

Disc Eight: "Counterblow", "Heart of Gold", "Kangaroo Court", "The Silent Land"

Disc Nine: "Calico", "Sign of the Kodiak", "White Vengeance", "The Ballad of Whitehorse"

The Alaskans: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Alaskans is basically a perfect fit for Warner Archive, whose TV-on-Blu-ray efforts are rare treats when they arrive such as their recent release of another late 50s gem, Colt.45. This nine-disc set follows suit with another outstanding restoration built from new 4K scans of the original camera negatives; while the series isn't as visually arresting as its premise implies, this is nonetheless a full-bodied presentation loaded with fine detail and excellent contrast levels that wring just about every drop out of the source material. As usual, these raw 4K scans have been treated to a round of careful manual cleanup by the boutique label, erasing just about every conceivable bit of dirt, debris, and other age-related damage while preserving its original film-like texture -- quite the feat, considering The Alaskans features more than a few fierce snow storms. From wide shots to tight close-ups, these episodes look uniformly great with a striking amount of visual dynamic range in ideal lighting conditions, while even those rare scenes shot in low light hold steady with perhaps only minimal amounts of likely necessary noise reduction. (Grain levels do waver on occasion, but it's more for source reasons such as push-in zooms rather than any kind of excessive scrubbing.) Disc encoding is quite good as well, with each of these nine dual-layered discs getting four ~52 minutes episodes apiece and running at a supportively high bit rate with only occasional trace levels of macro blocking on display.

All things considered, this is a best-case scenario for fans of the series: The Alaskans will look far better here than on any broadcast over the years and was never, to my knowledge, released on earlier home video formats.

The Alaskans: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Though clearly more modest in direct comparison, the DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio split-channel mixes for The Alaskans' original mono source material have also been polished to a careful shine. Free from virtually all age and source-related damage and other limitations such as hiss, popping, or distortion, this series enjoys a decently strong dynamic range while retaining the familiar sonic footprint of TV shows released during this era. Music and other generally high-volume elements (gunshots, strong winds, large crowds, etc.) are obviously going to sound fairly thin in the high end, though thankfully the audio hasn't been artificially smoothed over to compensate and retains all of that period-specific charm while not sacrificing any of its original dynamic range. Again, this is another perfectly solid effort from Warner Archive and one that purists and long-time fans of classic television are really going to appreciate.

Optional English (SDH) subtitles are also included during all 36 episodes; I only spot-checked these on occasion but didn't notice any stray typos and other mistakes like those found on WAC's recent release of Colt. 45.

The Alaskans: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Since The Alaskans only technically aired for one very long season (October 1959-June 1960), it makes sense that Warner Archive has packaged the entire series in one nine-disc keepcase rather than the multi-case approach for the three-season Colt .45. It's a sturdy case with four separate hinges and no overlapping hubs or stacked discs, which is never a bad thing in my book. Otherwise, though, it's a pretty barebones presentation with fairly plain front-cover artwork and no inserts or episode guide, though names are at least printed on each disc.

Unsurprisingly, no extras are included, though it's worth noting that each episode includes the original bumpers; these were reportedly found at the last minute and the reason why this set was delayed for a few months.

The Alaskans: The Complete Series Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There are times when an otherwise near-perfect home video release loses overall points due to a lack of extras, but Warner Archive's essential new Blu-ray edition of The Alaskans is an obvious exception. This cult favorite TV series has undergone a truly impressive 4K-sourced restoration and the last-minute inclusion of original bumpers only supports the notion that a great deal of care went into this release. It may not be the greatest blind buy due to its current price, fans of the show absolutely owe it to themselves to pick up a copy. Highly Recommended to the right crowd.