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Review Paramount Home Entertainment / Star Trek Voyager - Vol. 7.7 [1996]
Actors & Directors
  • Kate Mulgrew
  • Jeri Ryan
  • Roxann Biggs-Dawson
  • Robert Beltran
Release date: 2001-09-03
Run time: 84 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £1.58

Review Star Trek Voyager - Vol. 7.7 [1996] / Paramount Home Entertainment:

Star Trek: Voyager, the first Trek spin-off to be made without any input at all from Gene Roddenberry, made its debut in 1995 and quickly established itself both as markedly different from cosmic cousin Deep Space Nine and as the successor to The Next Generation. Despite a lack of originality in its premise (Lost in Space anyone?), Voyager has none the less often been a bigger ratings success than any of its predecessors. Catapulted unwittingly to the far-flung Delta Quadrant, the crew of the Federation vessel Voyager must try somehow to get back home. The ghost of Katherine Hepburn lives on in Kate Mulgrew's forceful Captain Janeway, who has an equivocal relationship with first officer and Native American-lite Chakotay (Robert Beltran). Tim Russ gives possibly the franchises' first fully realistic (yawn) portrayal of a Vulcan, and to enhance the alien quotient there's cuddly chef Neelix (Ethan Phillips). Garret Wang must have drawn short straw for character development, since his Harry Kim is never imbued with any of the drama of rebellious pilot chum Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill), who even gets the series' only romance with the seemingly inescapable resident half-breed B'Elanna Torres (Roxann Dawson). Until the fourth season, the fan favourite was the straight-funny man role of Robert Picardo's nameless Doctor. Then, with the brave Borg storyline "Scorpion Part 2", a serious improvement in the show's behind-the-scenes thinking introduced actress Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine, who immediately upped sex appeal and viewing numbers. There have been some oddities and errors along the way, such as the disappearance of cast regular Kes, the appearance of semi-regular Naomi Wildman, and various holodeck obsessions with Leonardo Da Vinci, a smoky bar and an "Oirish" village. Flashes of brilliance still emerge, while Jerry Goldsmith's graceful theme always opens the show in style. [+]
-Paul Tonks.

Review Paramount Home Entertainment / Star Trek Voyager - Vol. 7.5 [1996]
Actors & Directors
  • Jeri Ryan
  • Robert Picardo
  • Kate Mulgrew
Release date: 2001-07-16
Run time: 84 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £0.74

Review Star Trek Voyager - Vol. 7.5 [1996] / Paramount Home Entertainment:

Star Trek: Voyager, the first Trek spin-off to be made without any input at all from Gene Roddenberry, made its debut in 1995 and quickly established itself both as markedly different from cosmic cousin Deep Space Nine and as the successor to The Next Generation. Despite a lack of originality in its premise (Lost in Space anyone?), Voyager has none the less often been a bigger ratings success than any of its predecessors. Catapulted unwittingly to the far-flung Delta Quadrant, the crew of the Federation vessel Voyager must try somehow to get back home. The ghost of Katherine Hepburn lives on in Kate Mulgrew's forceful Captain Janeway, who has an equivocal relationship with first officer and Native American-lite Chakotay (Robert Beltran). Tim Russ gives possibly the franchises' first fully realistic (yawn) portrayal of a Vulcan, and to enhance the alien quotient there's cuddly chef Neelix (Ethan Phillips). Garret Wang must have drawn short straw for character development, since his Harry Kim is never imbued with any of the drama of rebellious pilot chum Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill), who even gets the series' only romance with the seemingly inescapable resident half-breed B'Elanna Torres (Roxann Dawson). Until the fourth season, the fan favourite was the straight-funny man role of Robert Picardo's nameless Doctor. Then, with the brave Borg storyline "Scorpion Part 2", a serious improvement in the show's behind-the-scenes thinking introduced actress Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine, who immediately upped sex appeal and viewing numbers. There have been some oddities and errors along the way, such as the disappearance of cast regular Kes, the appearance of semi-regular Naomi Wildman, and various Holodeck obsessions with Leonardo da Vinci, a smoky bar, and an "Oirish" village. Flashes of brilliance still emerge, while Jerry Goldsmith's graceful theme always opens the show in style. [+]
-Paul Tonks.

Review Fabulous Films Ltd. / Blake's 7 - Warlord / Blake - Episodes 51 And 52 [1978]
Actors & Directors
  • Douglas Camfield
  • Jonathan Wright-Miller
  • Fiona Cumming
  • Viktors Ritelis
  • Vivienne Cozens
Release date: 2000-01-17
Run time: 99 min.
Price: £10.99

Review Blake's 7 - Warlord / Blake - Episodes 51 And 52 [1978] / Fabulous Films Ltd.:


Review Encore Entertainment / Runaway [1985]
Actors & Directors
  • Michael Crichton
  • Kirstie Alley
  • Stan Shaw
  • Tom Selleck
  • Cynthia Rhodes
  • Gene Simmons
Release date: 1996-03-25
Run time: 96 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £9.95

Review Runaway [1985] / Encore Entertainment:


Review Manga Entertainment / The Legend Of The 4 Kings - Chapters 1 And 2
Actors & Directors
  • Shigeru Ueda
  • Yoshihiro Yamaguchi
Release date: 1995-02-06
Run time: 92 min.
Price: £13.99

Review The Legend Of The 4 Kings - Chapters 1 And 2 / Manga Entertainment:


Actors & Directors
  • David Warner
  • Steven Lisberger
  • Jeff Bridges
  • Bruce Boxleitner
  • Cindy Morgan
Run time: 92 min.
RRP: £9.99
Price: £5.99

Review Tron [1982] / Walt Disney Home Video:


Review 2 Entertain Video / Doctor Who Earthshock [1982] [1963]
Actors & Directors
  • Peter Davison
  • Peter Grimwade
Release date: 1995-02-13
Run time: 97 min.
RRP: £7.99
Price: £2.80

Review Doctor Who Earthshock [1982] [1963] / 2 Entertain Video:


Review Paramount Home Entertainment / Star Trek The Next Generation - Vol. 2.5 - Time Squared / Icarus Factor / Pen Pals [1990]
Actors & Directors
  • Robert Iscove
  • Brent Spiner
  • Patrick Stewart
  • Jonathan Frakes
  • Winrich Kolbe
  • Joseph L. Scanlan
Release date: 1999-06-07
Run time: 132 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £9.45

Review Star Trek The Next Generation - Vol. 2.5 - Time Squared / Icarus Factor / Pen Pals [1990] / Paramount Home Entertainment:

In 1987, some 20 years after the original series had ended, Star Trek: The Next Generation was launched into a decade renowned for its materialistic greed, but also for its hesitant steps towards a more unified world order. Creator Gene Roddenberry revised his vision of humanity's future accordingly, shifting the Trek timeline 80 years on and reinventing the new Starship Enterprise as an Ark-like exploration vessel full of families, schools, soothing recreational facilities and a maternally pacifying computer voice (Roddenberry's wife, Majel Barrett). The Next Generation crew were not soldiers, but scientists and diplomats. Unlike the fiercely individualistic Captain Kirk, Patrick Stewart's patrician Captain Jean-Luc Picard was a model team leader: no matter how desperate the crisis, he ensured that everyone got to sit round the Conference Room table and talk it over. And in a true late-1980s touch, a key member of the Bridge crew was psychoanalyst Counsellor Troi, always on hand to discuss everyone's feelings. Season Two saw the welcome introduction of the cybernetic horror that was the Borg. Originally a powerful symbol of technological misuse in an otherwise technologically utopian universe, ultimately their hive-like existence served to reinforce the message that everyone would be much happier as a team player. Even renegade super-entity Q (John De Lancie) relied on Picard as much as his fellow god-like playmates; Data followed Pinocchio and Spock in a quest to discard what made him an individual; and there was even an episode that rationalised why all aliens basically looked alike (we're all one big family). Even the slogan change to "Where no one has gone before" acknowledges that there's no "one" in a team. But for all its earnest political correctness and an over-reliance on "technobabble", good stories played by an appealing ensemble cast were at the heart of the show's success. [+]
After seven successful seasons, "All Good Things" finally came to an end. Until Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise, that is. -Paul Tonks.

Review Paramount Home Entertainment / Star Trek Voyager - Vol. 2.7 - Dreadnought / Death Wish [1996]
Actors & Directors
  • Roxann Biggs-Dawson
  • Kate Mulgrew
  • Robert Beltran
  • Jennifer Lien
  • James L. Conway
  • LeVar Burton
  • Robert Duncan McNeill
Release date: 1996-07-22
Run time: 88 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £9.85

Review Star Trek Voyager - Vol. 2.7 - Dreadnought / Death Wish [1996] / Paramount Home Entertainment:


Review Paramount Home Entertainment / Star Trek : Deep Space Nine - Vol. 3.10 - Through the Looking Glass / Improbable Cause [1995]
Actors & Directors
  • Siddig El Fadil
  • Avery Brooks
  • Rene Auberjonois
  • Avery Brooks
  • Cirroc Lofton
  • Winrich Kolbe
  • Terry Farrell
Release date: 1995-08-07
Run time: 88 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £15.99

Review Star Trek : Deep Space Nine - Vol. 3.10 - Through the Looking Glass / Improbable Cause [1995] / Paramount Home Entertainment:

From the outset, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was about conflict. Producers Rick Berman and Michael Piller challenged the utopian ideals of Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek universe to create something totally different from its predecessors. That meant no familial camaraderie, squeaky-clean Federation diplomacy, or beige décor. Instead they wanted interpersonal friction, ruthless enemies (Gamma Quadrant Imperialists-The Dominion) and rebellion at every turn. The DS9 concept was originally facilitated by introducing the Cardassian/Bajoran war during The Next Generation's final days. After a muted first reception fans gradually came to accept the new look, but no one liked Star Trek without a starship and eventually the producers capitulated to viewers' wishes by introducing the USS Defiant (an apt name) in Season 3. Relying far less on technobabble than TNG, DS9 was unafraid to focus on matters of the spirit instead, demonstrating a ballsy independence from its parent shows. Taking up the gauntlet thrown down by Babylon 5, improved CGI space battles also became a fan favourite. Throughout the increasingly serialised story arc there were rebellious factions within the different establishments: Kira had belonged to the Shakaar resistance cell; the Maquis was Starfleet vs Cardassians; section 31 was a secret Starfleet group; the True Way was a Bajoran group opposed to peace; the Cardassians had their Obsidian Order and the Romulans their Gestapo-like Tal Shiar. Yet for all its constant bickering and espionage (even Bashir got to be James Bond), there was always some contemporary social commentary lurking: the Ferengi were used as a comedic foil to frown on materialistic greed; drugs were looked at via the Jem'Hadar foot soldiers' addiction to Ketracel White. [+]
Perhaps Sisko summed up the real heart of things: "Bajor doesn't need a man, it needs a legend". A future vision that retains a place for religion and spirituality turned out to be Deep Space Nine's first best destiny. -Paul Tonks.

Review Warner Home Video / Soylent Green - Special Collector's Edition (1973)
Actors & Directors
  • Joseph Cotten
  • Leigh Taylor-Young
  • Brock Peters
  • Chuck Connors
  • Richard Fleischer
  • Charlton Heston
Release date: 1995-08-14
Run time: 93 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £13.94

Review Soylent Green - Special Collector's Edition (1973) / Warner Home Video:

While Soylent Green may be one of the many dystopian visions of the future, the film stands out because it's one of the few titles that addresses current environmental issues head on. Adapted from Harry Harrison's novel Make Room, Make Room, it gives us a nightmarish vision of an over-populated, polluted future on the brink of collapse-a vision that gets uncomfortably closer every year. Charlton Heston as police officer Thorn investigates a murder in between suppressing food riots and uncovers the nightmarish truth about Soylent Green, the new foodstuff being sold to the poor. The film neatly combines police procedural with conspiracy thriller. Heston's scenes are counterpointed by more elegiac ones in which the centenarian Edward G Robinson as his friend Sol broods on the world he has outlived-his death in a euthanasia chamber is a gloriously lachrymose moment, which he plays to the hilt. Heston, too, is good as Thorn, a morally equivocal cop who loots the apartments of the victims whose deaths he investigates-he's a man just getting by in an impossible world. On the DVD: Soylent Green on disc comes with a commentary from director Richard Fleischer, the highpoint of which is a memorable description of what it was like to work with the brilliant ailing, entirely deaf Robinson. He is joined by Leigh Taylor-Young whose work on the film as heroine led to years of serious environmentalist commitment. It has a useful contemporary making-of documentary and touching shots of Robinson's 100th birthday party with telegrams from Sinatra and others. The feature itself is presented in anamorphic widescreen with its original mono sound. [+]
-Roz Kaveney.

Review Scream Time Video / The Giant Claw [1957]
Actors & Directors
  • Fred F. Sears
  • Morris Ankrum
  • Mara Corday
  • Edgar Barrier
  • Jeff Morrow
  • Louis Merrill
Run time: 71 min.
Price: £12.99

Review The Giant Claw [1957] / Scream Time Video:


Review Manga Entertainment / The Legend Of The 4 Kings - Chapters 5 And 6 [1991]
Release date: 1995-04-03
Run time: 91 min.
Price: £5.99

Review The Legend Of The 4 Kings - Chapters 5 And 6 [1991] / Manga Entertainment:


Review Connoisseur Video / Stalker [1979]
Actors & Directors
  • Natasha Abramova
  • Aleksandr Kajdanovsky
  • Nikolai Grinko
  • Anatoli Solonitsyn
  • Alisa Frejndlikh
  • Andrei Tarkovsky
Release date: 2000-01-24
Run time: 155 min.
Price: £15.99

Review Stalker [1979] / Connoisseur Video:


Review Paramount Home Entertainment / Tekwar 4 - TekJustice [1994]
Actors & Directors
  • William Shatner
  • Torri Higginson
  • Eugene Clark
  • Jerry Ciccoritti
  • Greg Evigan
Run time: 86 min.
Price: £9.99

Review Tekwar 4 - TekJustice [1994] / Paramount Home Entertainment:


Review Sovereign Multimedia Ltd / Survivors 1 - The Fourth Horseman / Genesis [1975]
Actors & Directors
  • Terence Dudley
Release date: 1998-05-11
Run time: 100 min.
RRP: £10.99
Price: £8.87

Review Survivors 1 - The Fourth Horseman / Genesis [1975] / Sovereign Multimedia Ltd:


Review Manga Entertainment / The Legend Of The 4 Kings - Chapters 9 And 10 [1991]
Release date: 1995-06-05
Run time: 92 min.
Price: £5.99

Review The Legend Of The 4 Kings - Chapters 9 And 10 [1991] / Manga Entertainment:


Review Mia Video Entertainment Ltd / Nemesis 2-Nebula [1995]
Actors & Directors
  • Tina Cote
  • Albert Pyun
  • Earl White
  • Sue Price
Release date: 1996-04-01
Run time: 81 min.
Price: £10.99

Review Nemesis 2-Nebula [1995] / Mia Video Entertainment Ltd:


Review Second Sight Films Ltd. / The Day Of The Triffids [1962]
Actors & Directors
  • Janette Scott
  • Steve Sekely
  • Nicole Maurey
  • Freddie Francis
  • Kieron Moore
  • Howard Keel
  • Mervyn Johns
Release date: 1997-11-10
Run time: 94 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £6.98

Review The Day Of The Triffids [1962] / Second Sight Films Ltd.:


Review Manga Entertainment / Megazone 23 [1990]
Actors & Directors
  • Masato Kubota
  • Mayumi Shô
  • Mîna Tominaga
  • Maria Kawamura
  • Noboru Ishiguro
  • Matt Greenfield
  • Kaneto Shiozawa
Release date: 1995-06-05
Run time: 101 min.
Price: £5.99

Review Megazone 23 [1990] / Manga Entertainment:


Models & Brands:
Star Trek Voyager - Vol. 7.7 [1996], Star Trek Voyager - Vol. 7.5 [1996], Blake's 7 - Warlord / Blake - Episodes 51 And 52 [1978], Runaway [1985], The Legend Of The 4 Kings - Chapters 1 And 2, Tron [1982], Doctor Who Earthshock [1982] [1963], Star Trek The Next Generation - Vol. 2.5 - Time Squared / Icarus Factor / Pen Pals [1990], Star Trek Voyager - Vol. 2.7 - Dreadnought / Death Wish [1996], Star Trek : Deep Space Nine - Vol. 3.10 - Through the Looking Glass / Improbable Cause [1995], Soylent Green - Special Collector's Edition (1973), The Giant Claw [1957], The Legend Of The 4 Kings - Chapters 5 And 6 [1991], Stalker [1979], Tekwar 4 - TekJustice [1994], Survivors 1 - The Fourth Horseman / Genesis [1975], The Legend Of The 4 Kings - Chapters 9 And 10 [1991], Nemesis 2-Nebula [1995], The Day Of The Triffids [1962], Megazone 23 [1990]

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