Author Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels offer an alternate reality that has proven irresistible to an avid, international audience-a universe where the world really is flat, after all, supported by four elephants floating through the cosmos on the back of a giant turtle. It's a world where fantasy conventions have been filtered through an antic, satirical lens that slyly warps the actions and motives of the wizards, witches, monarchs and knaves that populate them, suggesting a sword & sorcery counterpart to Douglas Adams's venerable A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Developed for British television as an animated, six-episode miniseries, the sixth Discworld novel Wyrd Sisters marks the first attempt at transferring the franchise to video. As presented here on three tapes, with a running time of approximately 147 minutes, Pratchett's cracked re-imagining of familiar mythological themes retains its verbal wit and realises colourfully stylised visual terrain, although modest animation techniques relegate its impact to the realm of older TV cartoons. Sci-fi aficionados spoiled by lavish computer graphics and the current big-screen state of the art will wonder what all the fuss is about. Pratchett's fans, however, won't mind. An intricate plot, set in motion by the murder of King Verence by the utterly dimwitted Duke Felmet, encompasses a smuggled baby, an itinerant theatrical troupe, a kiss lasting 18 years, time travel and other pokerfaced twists of fate, cohering around the three title heroines, a coven of rather dotty witches. A droll, sociable Death (voiced by Christopher Lee) epitomizes the breezy comic spirit that fuels Pratchett's stories. -Sam Sutherland, Amazon. com.

The eighth season of The X-Files will always be remembered as the year of brave decisions. David Duchovny's increasing dissatisfaction with the role meant he'd only appear in a few episodes. The solution? Enter Agent John Doggett (Robert Patrick) who basically stole the show within his first two minutes of screen time (and watch out for several Terminator 2 in-jokes too!). Scully switched roles to being the believer alongside Doggett's sceptic in a year that was more reliant on the background story arc than ever before. Her pregnancy remained at the foreground, while a more prominent Skinner joined in a hunt for the abducted Mulder that drew upon the black oil, cloning and bounty hunting aspects of the convoluted alien conspiracy story. A distinct lack of guest stars or writers indicated maturity beyond the need for ratings stunts: dedicated fans were pleased to see cameos from sinister Krycek, the reliable Lone Gunmen and the return of the show's very first abductee. The real strengths of the season came from new characters, including alternative female role model Special Agent Monica Reyes, and some terrific standalone episodes. Investigations covered a man going backward in time, deaths aboard an oilrig, a contagion in the Boston subway tunnels and creatures resembling bats and slugs. Agent Leyla Harrison (named after an X-Files fan who died of cancer) got to ask all the petty questions regular viewers want to know themselves. With Season 9 promised to be the last, this year was a remarkable achievement so late in a show's life. [+]

Tom Baker's fourth season of Doctor Who marked a change from the exploration of Gothic horror. The unusually satirical "The Sun Makers" finds the Doctor, Leela (Louise Jameson) and robot dog K9 involved in a struggle against capitalism-gone-mad at the outer limits of the solar system. The Earth exhausted, mankind has colonised Pluto and lives in six vast "megropoli" lit by artificial suns. These colonies are run by The Company, with drugged human "work units" slaving simply to pay their funeral expenses. With video monitors, brain-washing and ruthless repression there is an obvious a debt to 1984, the white corridors echoing George Lucas' THX 1138 (1970) and the action a low-rent Star Wars. Michael Keating, who played a rebel in Dalek creator Terry Nation's Blake's 7 (1978-1981), is similarly cast as a reluctant freedom fighter. There are plentiful pot-shots at over-zealous taxation and bureaucracy-Robert Holmes wrote the story as revenge on the Inland Revenue after a frustrating VAT audit-and splendidly theatrical performances from Richard Leech and Henry Woolf as the ultra-capitalist villains. With no monsters and little conventional horror, Baker is on fine form in a briskly directed four-part comedy-thriller distinguished by its political edge. -Gary S Dalkin.

Jon Pertwee, the third actor to play Doctor Who, introduces an exclusive-to-video feature-length programme devoted to his role as the BBC's most famous time traveller. The tape is dominated by three complete episodes, each the final part of a serial, such that a plot synopsis would have made matters more comprehensible. "Inferno" (1970) is a tale of environmental peril involving a project to drill into the Earth's core; "Frontier in Space" (1973) showcases the last performance by the original Master, Roger Delgado; while "The Daemons" (1971) is chosen as the climax of Pertwee's own favourite Doctor Who story. It should be noted this episode is in black and white, the BBC having wiped the colour original from the archive. There are very few personal reminiscences of the kind found in this video's companion volume The Colin Baker Years, though there are more diverse clips than in The Troughton Years. These include Pertwee's first appearance as the Doctor in "Spearhead from Space" (1970), an unused test version of a new title sequence, footage shot at a 20th anniversary celebration at Longleat in 1983, and a very entertaining introduction to the "Whomobile", as originally seen on Blue Peter in 1973. -Gary S. Dalkin.

1980 movie based on Ray Bradbury's classic Sci-Fi novel. Starring Rock Hudson.

One explanation for the enduring appeal of George Lucas' "space opera" might be that the Star Wars universe is a clever synthesis of a multitude of filmic, cultural and folkloric references, from Robin Hood (the Errol Flynn incarnation of course) to Tolkien to Samurai legends and Kurosawa's Hidden Fortress in particular (the inspiration for R2D2 and C3PO). As a result, audiences of almost all ages can find something to identify with. Luke Skywalker's journey from disaffected teenager dreaming of adventure beyond the narrow confines of home life to Jedi Knight and saviour of the galaxy is the very stuff of fairy-tale: he not only rescues a Princess, but discovers she's a close relative (one explanation for the relatively cool reception accorded to The Phantom Menace might be that it sacrifices the fairy-tale theme for political machination). If there's a lesson to be gleaned from the Skywalker clan it's that no matter how bad things get in the average dysfunctional family, it's never too late for reconciliation. Little wonder, then, that Star Wars continues to grip our collective imagination. This box contains, among other delights, the digitally remastered "Special Edtion" versions of the movies, restored and enhanced (some would say "tinkered with") by George Lucas in 1997. Star Wars has the most drastic changes, the best of which are the improved effects sequences; the worst the Cantina showdown where Han Solo near-suicidally now allows Greedo to get off a shot before firing back (since he misses at point-blank range, Greedo must be a very poor assassin indeed). The restoration of the Jabba-Solo scene is interesting although the CGI isn't completely convincing. The Empire Strikes Back also has touched-up effects shots, most spectacularly the expanded vistas of Cloud City; Return of the Jedi has a new song-and-dance number in Jabba's Palace (which is just as excruciating as the original) and a revised ending that looks forward (or should that be backwards?) to Episode I. Also included here is a 10-minute sneak preview of Episode II, due for theatrical release in Summer 2002, featuring interviews with Lucas and other cast and crew members. [+]