Spides - Season 1 - DVD

Content: Nora (Rosabell Laurenti Sellers) wakes up one day in the hospital without memories of her previous life. Supposedly she had been in a coma after taking the party drug Blis. But neither the alleged party night, nor her family can remember the young woman. Instead, she is plagued by mysterious visions of a dystopian future. But Nora does not seem to be the only victim of the new drug. Investigators David Leonhart (Falk Hentschel) and Nique Navar (Florence Kasumba) discover that there seems to be a connection between the emergence of the drug and the disappearance of several teenagers in Berlin. But what they don't suspect: Nora's visions are by no means figments of her imagination. Rather, they are the harbinger of an alien invasion that is being prepared by the drug. And Nora seems to be the key to prevent this invasion - if it is not already too late.

Spides, the first German in-house production of the pay-TV channel SyFy, ventures into a rather stepmotherly treated terrain in this country. A science fiction series about aliens - with a touch of The Body Snatchers coming - that is definitely a novelty in Germany. Admittedly, the effects are not all convincing and especially the last scene of this first season seems - although it also makes great desire for a sequel - somehow a bit trashy. Nevertheless, the series can not be denied a fairly high entertainment value. Especially since especially some of the filming locations in Berlin give the story a very special atmosphere, which makes it stand out a bit from similarly knitted genre representatives.

Dramaturgically, the wheel is not reinvented here, but the tension buildup is quite successful. Sure, there are some very stereotypically drawn characters and quite a few clichés known from this genre. Nevertheless, the makers manage that there is hardly any noticeable boredom here and that the audience is always riveted to the action - even if some plot elements are quite predictable. Spides quickly morphs into entertaining B-movie fare that blends familiar elements into an entertaining mix of sci-fi, crime thriller and mystery-thriller.

The ensemble cast is largely convincing, with Florence Kasumba or even Désirée Nosbusch particularly convincing in playing over weaknesses in the script. But let's face it - a series like Spides isn't about great acting or highfalutin dialogue, it's about whether the audience is being well entertained here. And in that regard, the series definitely delivers - if you can get into it. Remains in the end actually only to hope that there will be a second season and that the creators will then succeed, especially in terms of character drawing to iron out the weaknesses of these first episodes. Worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: The technical implementation is on a good TV level. The picture is clean, the overall sharpness is satisfactory and also the detail representation can convince in many moments. The colours are attractively mixed, which makes the picturesque landscapes in particular stand out well. Presented in a Dolby Digital 5.1 mix, the audio pleases with some decent surround effects, but is also convincing in the moments where only dialogue and music set the tone. Good!

Extras: As a bonus, DVD 3 features a Making of (approx. 18:01 min.), which takes a rather interesting look at the making of the series with a mix of series clips, interviews and behind-the-scenes footage. There are also a couple of interviews (approx. 25 mins), although there are some repeats from the making of interviews to be seen here. In addition to these video extras, the DVD also comes with a booklet with more interviews and info. Good!

Conclusion: Spides is an entertaining science fiction series from Germany. Even if there are dramaturgically and also in the effects a few weaknesses, the story about an imminent alien invasion can entertain quite. The DVD presents the episodes of the first season in good picture and sound quality. On the second disc there are also a few extras. All in all, there is for this quite clearly a: recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp