I joined the crowd of fans for this show older in chronological age, but too young to see it on television as a kid (no kidding, I was born halfway through this show's run) but the only DVD you can really get of it is the one for the first season because it has Jessica Alba in an early role, trust me though - whether you're a fan or not she is not the reason to revisit the show (I somehow managed to get a hold of all four seasons, in terms of buying DVD's that's actually an accomplishment, granted extremely minuscule accomplishment but an accomplishment nonetheless) I haven't watched the fourth season yet but the question would be if it holds up... Yes, actually.The plot is that an average teenage girl wants to break out of being average at everything from grades, popularity and everything else in her life, feeling in the shadow from her high-achieving older sister Annie. The town they live in seems like the boring, yet colorful suburbia that every person living in the suburbs wants it to be but underneath it is corporate greed as a plant for... science-y things seems to run everything in the entire town (the theory that a hidden message is to not let corporations dominate our lives is something I totally buy!). One day the transportation of their latest chemical goes haywire and Alex is caught in the middle which gives her superpowers. The plot of the show from then is to have them try and live life with Alex trying out different things, using her powers to her advantage from time to time in secret and trying to stop the schemes of the plant to find "the kid" and other fiendish things.This show has a fantastic sense of humour for it's time and genre. I was expecting either humour that would get dated to just have people like me go "What?" the entire time or really lame jokes that would be in a show like this (I mean, just look at what passes off as jokes on live action kid's shows today), but in all honesty - some jokes do get a legitimate laugh, stuff like how in kid's shows like this the parents being oblivious is something they do make fun of and that is refreshing in comparison to other shows like this.I'll also say the show has a charm to it that kind of makes it worth coming back to after all these years. I mean while some episodes do steep into the kid's show crap such as a situation being "She's made friend's with a goth AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!" The show very rarely falls into that trap, with one episode each season with a crap premise or inconsistencies that I think would be called out on even by children watching it.The last thing I'll comment on is something which like the humour I was not expecting - evolution. What do I mean by that? Well Alex does get more powerful as the show goes on. The crush Alex starts having in the pilot isn't the crush she's too nervous to approach for the entire run of the show. A development is that the mother quits her job around the middle or so of Season 2 to go back to college and get another job. There might be more considering I haven't seen all of it but the effects do get better (even if her turning into water no matter which season you're looking at looks like she's the T-1000) and the show is surprisingly more timeless then most. Okay, Alex wears a cap on backwards and there's an episode where she gets a job at a video rental but honestly, that's probably all the "This is the 90's" stuff that doesn't get away with it slipping through and becoming timeless.This show is something to revisit for the 90's kids and if there are people looking for different kid's shows of that time then this would be a very good watch. Okay there are a few bad episodes but for every bad episode there are half a dozen good ones and half a dozen okay ones with maybe those one or two occasional episodes such as World Without Alex or The Other Side 2-Parter which actually exceed and turn from good to very good. I don't know if or how but the first season alone is not enough (and so far... honestly, it's the one season with no "very good" episodes), I mean while there are bad episodes and over-the-top performances, this honestly needs to be seen again as opposed to fading away.

This show was fun. I'd completely forgotten about it until I looked up the profile for that girl from "Dark Angel." I think she was that girl that Alex hated because she was dating the guy Alex liked. Something like that. I remember specifically watching the last episode. Although, I didn't know, then, it was the last episode since they marketed it as the season finale, but it was a pretty good finale (which you could expect considering the gimicky concept.) Shows like this, "Clarissa", and "Salute Your Shorts" make me wonder whatever will happen with these shows. They seem like too much fun to just never show again, but there aren't really nearly enough of them to fill a network. Home video, maybe? I think they should show them on TV Land weekly as part of their regular schedual because it seems weird just to let some of these shows which are filled with rising stars just to sit on some shelf.

Where do I begin on explaining the greatness of this show. One of the things I like most about movies or tv shows is the fact when we can relate to said movie or tv show. "The Secret World of Alex Mack" does just that, enabling us to enter the world of a normal teenager thrown out of order due to a unique circumstance of Alex having superpowers. And in a way we can relate to it, because I'm quite certain that all of us in that period of our lives felt out of whack with the world and we all felt as if we were outsiders trying to fit in. We bond with Alex because she is contemplating thoughts and behavior that many of us have done during those periods. But enough about the symbolism of the show. What really made the show shine was the lead actress, Larisa Oleynik. Had it not been for her leading the show, I'm pretty sure that it would have been hard for the show to have the same quality as it did. Larisa brought such talented acting to the part, that I was surprised when I read that during most scenes she would memorize the lines about 20 minutes before the scene would be shot. If that doesn't tell you star quality acting I don't know what does. Another thing that made the show memorable were the storylines. One of my favorite episodes *SPOILER* was the one when the show took place during Christmas, and Alex was forced to take a job to try and help out with the Christmas chores. During the course of the show, she ends up saving a monkey just like herself in superpowers, or at least she thing she does, and later mourns and hopes that the monkey turned out alright, which he does. Then the episode ends with one of the most moving scenes from the series. Alex, after going through so much trouble in the episode, still wants peace and happiness for others by shining a peace sign in the night sky with her powers. She never thinks about herself, only about others. A classic episode. Tragically, the series ended all to early, I'm not sure whether due to Larisa calling it quits or to the all familiar low ratings. And then Nickelodeon about a few months ago took the show off of syndication in its channel, and since then I have not seen a single episode aired since. I only hope that one day Nickelodeon one day decides to open up a channel where they showcase old Nick shows, with "The Secret World of Alex Mack" being in them. Luckily for me I managed to audio tape record eight episodes, and to me they're worth gold. Here's hoping that other people find out about this show and realize that it was quite possibly one of the greatest tv shows ever.

This was truly an original show. It made a star out of Larisa Oleynik. It wasn't too sappy, and didn't have any horrible story lines. It was just great!!!!! Did I mention that is was fabulous? Oh yeah, I did. Watch it when you get the chance!