Creator
John Gray
Cast
Jennifer Love Hewitt Melinda Gordon
David Conrad Jim Clancy
Aisha Taylor Andrea Moreno
DVD Release Date: October 31, 2006
Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 960 Minutes on 6 discs
The Show
The idea of communicating with dead people isn’t exactly a new one. It’s been done so many times over the years in countless movies and television shows. The premise revolves usually revolves around someone and their special gift, which allows her to talk with spirits while no one else has the foggiest about what’s going on or the reason behind it. The person with the gift ends up trying to thwart the bad spirits and help the good ones get what they need and find peace.
Now here comes Ghost Whisperer and it’s the exact same thing.
Hold on, though. Before you give up on the article and find something else, let me reassure you that even though this show has the same idea of all those “ghost-talker” movies before, it is still enjoyable to watch.
Melinda (Jennifer Love Hewitt) is our protagonist and someone who realizes that she has a unique talent of talking with the dead. The spirits come to her when they have some unresolved problems. Until those problems are resolved they are stuck between the world of the living and the dead. But for Melinda, problem-solver isn’t her only occupation; in her spare time she runs an antique store.
The thing I really like about this show is that each episode is its own separate entity. What I mean is that I’m a person who will see promos for season premiere TV shows and psyche myself up. The thing is is that I then forget about the premiere and start to watch a series ten shows too late, and I have no idea what is going on. (See LOST as a prime example.) But with Ghost Whisperer, you can watch any episode and it has its own story. Sure some details carry over from episode to episode to make for good continuity, but you don’t have to watch the first five episodes to understand and enjoy the sixth.
Kudos to the series’ creators and their decision to not make all the ghosts be extremely pleasant. It’s no surprise that I am a fan of horror films, so I enjoy the evilness that can be brought about by some restless souls. The ghosts that Melinda encounters are sometimes only trying to resolve some conflict and have things made right with people they left behind. But there are others that are causing havoc, breaking things, and even trying to hurt people. Melinda seeks out to calm them down, but it’s the fact that those ghosts even exist in this show is what makes me enjoy it even more.
Episodes
Disc One:
Pilot: A restless soldier’s spirit from his death in Vietnam some thirty years ago keeps haunting Melinda and it’s up to her to try and help him find some type of reconciliation and closure with his son.
The Crossing: Melinda has the spirit of a young boy following her around this time and he needs her help. Killed in a train accident, the boy’s mother believes it was her fault and the boy wants Melinda to convince her it wasn’t before she does something she’ll regret.
Ghost, Interrupted: A young girl’s twin sister is believed to be the cause of her very strange behavior and this lands her in a mental institution. When she crosses paths with Melinda, Melinda realizes it’s the girl’s twin’s spirit haunting her which is causing her odd ways. Ghost Whipserer sets out to help them reconcile and let them both live freely.
Mended Hearts: A dead tri-athlete seeks out Melinda’s help in order to try and save his fiancée’s life. She had become suicidal but he wants Melinda to help her find the man who received his donated heart and try to start a relationship with him so she can live well and love again.
Disc Two:
Lost Boys: Melinda and Andrea help clean the basement of an old inn before it is torn down when Melinda comes into contact with the spirits of three boys and their dog that died in an orphanage fire some fifty years ago. If the inn is torn down before the boys can pass on, they will be stuck as spirits on earth forever so Melinda sets out to help them.
Homecoming: A teenage ghost is seriously upset about something so Melinda sets out to help him in any way she can. The only problem is that while helping him, she learns something that could possibly affect the lives of every single person he knew during his life.
Hope And Mercy: A woman who passed away during pregnancy seeks out Melinda’s help in letting her cross over, but she can’t do that until she makes sure her husband stops blaming himself for what he didn’t cause. Meanwhile, Andrea’s strange past has a little revealed about it by a con artist.
On The Wings Of A Dove: An old friend coming back around brings about some very painful memories for Melinda while Jim is trying to deal with the anniversary of his father’s death approaching. Melinda realizes his strange behavior could be caused by a spirit haunting him and she tries to help him while dealing with her own problems.
Disc Three:
Voices: A mother’s wandering spirit seems to only be able to contact Melinda through electronic devices. The mother seeks Melinda’s help in finding her son so she can help him reconcile with his father. Melinda accepts and will help the woman, but the spirit’s ways of communicating cause a horrible ailment for her.
Ghost Bride: Melinda’s friend Lisa has her wedding interrupted by a tortured spirit in a wedding gown. When Melinda seeks out why, she finds out that the spirit died on her wedding day before she could marry her fiancée who also happens to be Lisa’s new husband.
Shadow Boxer: Melinda helps a father and son, a boxer, reconcile at the request of a woman who recently passed. Melinda must get the two to get over their differences or the woman will stand by her decision to never cross over.
Undead Comic: The confused spirit of a comedian crosses paths with Melinda. He doesn’t seem to quite understand what is going on with him, but that’s before Melinda finds out he took his own life and she can make him comprehend. She seeks out to help him make amends with all those he left behind.
Disc Four:
Friendly Neighborhood Ghost: A new neighbor happened to bring a hostile and dangerous ghost along with him in all his belongings. The help Melinda gives in getting rid of the ghost causes some turmoil in her relationship with Jim.
Last Execution: Jim’s problems continue as he is being sued for trying to help someone. At the same time, a troubled spirit follows Melinda home from an art gallery and seeks her help in finding his daughter who can’t seem to cope with his death.
Melinda’s First Ghost: In a bit of a change of events, Melinda must reconcile with someone in her life before the spirit of a young girl can be saved. The first ghost Melinda ever saw reappears and needs help crossing over. But it’s this same ghost that caused problems between Melinda and her mother so many years ago when her mother couldn’t handle her daughter’s special gifts. Melinda and her mother must try to reconcile or the girl’s spirit will lie in limbo forever.
Dead Man’s Ridge: One of Andrea’s friends is missing and was last seen while going on a hike. She seeks out Melinda’s help in finding her friend fearing that the worst may have happened.
Disc Five:
Demon Child: Melinda comes in contact with a young boy’s spirit who is terrorizing his family. When she realizes that he may be putting people in harm’s way, she steps in and tries to have the child find peace so he can cross over.
Miss Fortune: A circus magician’s spirit accuses his jealous brother of murdering him and trying to cover it up as an accident. Melinda tries to help the brother settle their differences so they can have some sort of reconciliation and let the magician’s spirit rest.
Fury: A man killed in a supposed racial hate crime many years ago is still seeking justice. Melinda seeks out to help the man not only find justice for his death, but also convince his son to drop his racist views before he passes them along to other generations of their family.
The Vanishing: An injury to her head puts Melinda’s unique abilities at risk. Even though she may end up losing her powers, she still tries to help a young girl deal with the recent passing of her boyfriend.
Disc Six:
Free Fall: The spirits of a pilot and flight attendant contact Melinda. But instead of really looking for help, they deliver a sense of forewarning in her that cause her to sense some bad feelings over the possibility of a plane crash.
The One: Finding out she was right in her intuitions, Melinda now seeks out to help hundreds of passengers from a plane crash cross over and find peace. Crash investigators are a bit suspicious though as she works with them, but they try to figure out how she knew about the crash beforehand.
The Video
The show is presented in Widescreen, which I think is best for creepy shows or those about ghosts. It just gives the series a much better feel when viewed this way instead of in fullscreen. The show transfers over very well and looks great.
The Audio
The show is heard in Dolby Digital 5.1 and sounds very good as well. I did notice something very strange on the DVD packaging though. There is a small note on the back of each DVD case that states, “some music has been changed in this home entertainment version,” which leads me to believe they couldn’t get copyright to have the music for sale. Interesting.
Special Features
Can You See Me?: The First Season Of Ghost Whisperer – Consider this a really long trailer for the entire first season. It goes in deep as to what you can expect from the show and how it’s going to take place.
Second Sight: The Clairvoyants Of Ghost Whisperer – Cast and crew together again as they talk about how they set up the scenes, crossing over, spirits, and stories.
A Tour Of Grandview – A tour of the entire town where the episodes take place from Melinda’s antique store to Village Java to all the homes you see each week. And a cool note is that they re-did the entire town to make it their own, but it once was Hill Valley from Back to the Future.
Scare Tactics – Here the creators explain how they came up with the scares in each episode. Special attention is paid to make-up and special effects, and anything else to make you jump out of your seat or sit back. I would love having the job of deciding what is scary and what is not.
Ghost Whisperer Mythology – A very cool bit all about how they came up with the opening credits. The credits include some very interesting drawings and animation that are unique to the show, and the art directors explain to you what everything means.
Blooper Reel – Your normal run of the mill bloopers that are actually pretty funny.
Audio Commentary/Deleted Scenes – Throughout the collection, there are deleted scenes available for some episodes. There are also some episodes that have commentary from cast, crew, and creator.
The Inside Pulse
I wasn’t sure exactly what I was going to get coming into this show, but I came out with a lot more then I ever could have expected. The show is just really enjoyable to watch, straight up. The extras could have had a little more to them, but for a first outing it wasn’t too bad. This set is receiving a high recommendation from me, and worth your time. That goes for fans and those who have never seen Ghost Whisperer before.
