Actors & Directors
- Vincent McEveety
- DeForest Kelley
- Ralph Senensky
- William Shatner
- Leonard Nimoy
Run time: 144 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £11.51
Review Star Trek : The Original Series - Vol. 2.8 - Return To Tomorrow / Patterns Of Force / The Ultimate Computer / Paramount Home Entertainment:One of the most popular and influential shows in the history of television, for many viewers the original Star Trek (1966-9) defines good science fiction: however much it tries to be about the future, it cannot help but reflect the values of its own time, and Star Trek's vision was very much a product of creator Gene Roddenberry's 1960s liberal-humanist idealism. Conceived at the height of the Cold War and during the escalation of the Vietnam conflict, his was a radical vision of a world where national and racial differences have been put aside and all people work together. With a policy of non-intervention in the affairs of other civilisations, and violence only as a last resort, Star Trek embodied a lost dream, a fantasy of what America could have been had John F Kennedy not been assassinated in 1963. Captain James Tiberius Kirk (William Shatner) had the middle name of a Roman emperor, but otherwise shared his initials with the late president, and both were young, good-looking, womanising, charismatic popular heroes. If Kirk didn't uphold truth, justice and the American way from the White House, a big white starship was the next best thing. There was even a Russian, Mr Chekov (Walter Koenig), on the bridge, and the show delivered network TV's first inter-racial kiss between Kirk and Uhura (Nichelle Nichols). Even though there was a white American male in control, it was still all a bit much for 1960s mainstream TV, hence the voyages of the Starship Enterprise, boldly going on its five-year mission to explore strange new worlds, only lasted three seasons and 72 episodes before being cancelled in 1969, the year man first walked on the moon. While the once-ground-breaking special effects now look routine, and the then-radical politics have now become part of the politically correct global mainstream, Star Trek retains an enduring popularity due to its strong storytelling-the show employed such top science fiction writers as Robert Bloch, Harlan Elllison, Richard Matheson, Norman Spinrad and Theodore Sturgeon-and admirable characters. Spock (Leonard Nimoy), McCoy (DeForest Kelley) and Scotty (James Doohan), Sulu (George Takei), Kirk, Chekov and Uhura remain icons for a world short of real heroes: loyal to the end, honest and utterly dedicated, these were the friends and colleagues who week after week trusted each other with their lives. Devoid of cynicism and self-interest the crew of the USS Enterprise never, ever let anyone down, and ultimately that is a very big reason for Star Trek's enduring popularity. [+]- Gary S Dalkin.
![Review Metrodome Distribution / Invaders, The - Vol. 5 - Dark Outpost / Task Force [1967]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/510JMWZW6FL._SL160_.jpg)
Release date: 1994-08-22
Run time: 98 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £24.99
Review Invaders, The - Vol. 5 - Dark Outpost / Task Force [1967] / Metrodome Distribution:
Actors & Directors
- Carrie Fisher
- George Lucas
- Irvin Kershner
- Mark Hamill
- Harrison Ford
- Richard Marquand
- Anthony Daniels
- Billy Dee Williams
RRP: £39.99
Price: £4.24
Review Star Wars Trilogy - Special Edition - Platinum Box Set / 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment:
![Review Warner Home Video / THX 1138 [1970]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/411464B66QL._SL160_.jpg)
Actors & Directors
- George Lucas
- Donald Pleasence
- Ian Wolfe
- Maggie McOmie
- Don Pedro Colley
- Robert Duvall
Run time: 82 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £0.69
Review THX 1138 [1970] / Warner Home Video:George Lucas's enigmatic feature film debut expands on a student film he made at USC. Created under the wing of producer Francis Ford Coppola, this movie is a bleak vision of a world in which technology, not man, is the ultimate dictator. Efficiency overrides every other aspect of human life, as people are reduced to code names and their lives are contained, monitored and manipulated for the sake of the system. Featuring unsettling performances by Robert Duvall, Donald Pleasance and Maggie McOmie, THX 1138 does not attempt to explain how things became this way; rather, it utilises the alienation of its characters, the stifling white-on-white imagery of its sterilised society, and the claustrophobic, droning sound design to emphasise the dangers of a world reliant on soulless technology. Even though this is not a film one will want to take in repeatedly, THX 1138 merits attention because it is that rare film that uses images and sounds-rather than relying heavily on dialogue-to communicate its dark prophecy. -Bryan Reesman.
Actors & Directors
- Caroline John
- Louise Jameson
- Charmian May
- Peter Davison
- Reece Shearsmith
- Bill Baggs
Run time: 42 min.
Price: £11.99
Review P.R.O.B.E. - Ghosts Of Winterborne / Reeltime Pictures:
Actors & Directors
- Leonard Nimoy
- Herb Wallerstein
- William Shatner
- Jud Taylor
- Herb Kenwith
Run time: 144 min.
Price: £5.99
Review Star Trek : The Original Series - Vol. 3.6 - Whom Gods Destroy / The Mark Of Gideon / The Lights Of Zetar / Paramount Home Entertainment:One of the most popular and influential shows in the history of television for many viewers the original Star Trek (1966-9) defines good science fiction: however much it tries to be about the future, it cannot help but reflect the values of its own time, and Star Trek's vision was very much a product of creator Gene Roddenberry's 1960s liberal-humanist idealism. Conceived at the height of the Cold War and during the escalation of the Vietnam conflict, his was a radical vision of a world where national and racial differences have been put aside and all people work together. With a policy of non-intervention in the affairs of other civilisations and violence only as a last resort, Star Trek embodied a lost dream, a fantasy of what America could have been had John F Kennedy not been assassinated in 1963. Captain James Tiberius Kirk (William Shatner) had the middle name of a Roman emperor but otherwise shared his initials with the late president, and both were young, good looking, womanising, charismatic popular heroes. If Kirk didn't uphold truth, justice and the American way from the White House, a big white starship was the next best thing. There was even a Russian, Mr Chekov (Walter Koenig), on the bridge and the show delivered network TV's first inter-racial kiss between Kirk and Uhura (Nichelle Nichols). Even though there was a white American male in control, it was still all a bit much for 1960s' mainstream TV, hence the voyages of the Starship Enterprise, boldly going on its five-year mission to explore strange new worlds, only lasted three seasons and 72 episodes before being cancelled in 1969, the year Man first walked on the moon. While the once-groundbreaking special effects now look routine, and the then-radical politics have now become part of the Politically Correct global mainstream, Star Trek retains an enduring popularity due to its strong storytelling-the show employed such top science fiction writers as Robert Bloch, Harlan Elllison, Richard Matheson, Norman Spinrad and Theodore Sturgeon-and admirable characters. Spock (Leonard Nimoy), McCoy (DeForest Kelley) and Scotty (James Doohan), Sulu (George Takei), Kirk, Chekov and Uhura remain icons for a world short of real heroes: loyal to the end, honest and utterly dedicated, these were the friends and colleagues who week after week trusted each other with their lives. Devoid of cynicism and self-interest the crew of the USS Enterprise never let anyone down and ultimately that is a very big reason for Star Trek's enduring popularity. [+]-Gary S Dalkin.
Actors & Directors
- Paul Darrow
- Derek Martinus
- Michael Keating
- Jan Chappell
- Gareth Thomas
- Sally Knyvette
Run time: 103 min.
RRP: £10.99
Price: £10.25
Review Blake's 7 - Trial / Killer - Episodes 19 And 20 / Fabulous Films Ltd.:
![Review Moonstone Pictures / Endgame [1983]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/515HD2YC1AL._SL160_.jpg)
Actors & Directors
- Al Yamanouchi
- George Eastman
- Joe D'Amato
- Laura Gemser
- Jack Davis
- Al Cliver
Run time: 97 min.
Price: £4.99
Review Endgame [1983] / Moonstone Pictures:
![Review Metrodome Distribution / Invaders, The - Vol. 6 - Counterattack / Inquisition [1967]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51MVGHPTY2L._SL160_.jpg)
Release date: 1994-08-22
Run time: 98 min.
Price: £12.99
Review Invaders, The - Vol. 6 - Counterattack / Inquisition [1967] / Metrodome Distribution:
![Review Metrodome Distribution / Invaders, The - Vol. 4 - The Saucer / The Enemy [1967]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51CQ0523K8L._SL160_.jpg)
Actors & Directors
- Roy Thinnes|Anne Francis|Dabney Coleman
Price: £12.99
Review Invaders, The - Vol. 4 - The Saucer / The Enemy [1967] / Metrodome Distribution:
Actors & Directors
- Robert Powell
- Paul Ciappessoni
- Simon Oates
- John Paul
- Terence Dudley
RRP: £9.99
Price: £14.00
Review Doomwatch - The Plastic Eaters / Tomorrow, The Rat / Meridian Entertainment:
![Review Medusa Comms. and Mktg. Ltd. / The Dark Side Of The Moon [1990]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51PVHJN5ETL._SL160_.jpg)
Actors & Directors
- Robert Sampson
- D.J. Webster
- Joe Turkel
- Camilla More
- Will Bledsoe
- John Diehl
Run time: 87 min.
Price: £10.99
Review The Dark Side Of The Moon [1990] / Medusa Comms. and Mktg. Ltd.:
![Review Mia Video Entertainment Ltd / Dreamscape [1983]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/519DFSYN1RL._SL160_.jpg)
Actors & Directors
- Max von Sydow
- Christopher Plummer
- Dennis Quaid
- Joseph Ruben
- Kate Capshaw
- Eddie Albert
Run time: 94 min.
RRP: £10.99
Price: £3.98
Review Dreamscape [1983] / Mia Video Entertainment Ltd:Alex Gardner (Dennis Quaid) is a talented young psychic who is frittering his gifts away betting on the ponies. That is, until he's coerced by his old pal and mentor Dr Paul Novotny (Max von Sydow) into taking part in a dream research project in which his psychic abilities make him indispensable. The project concerns "dreamlinking", whereby talented individuals like Alex hook up via electrodes and project themselves into some troubled subject's nightmares, in which they not only observe but participate in the dream, hopefully effecting some remedy. Alex is by nature a feckless guy, a charismatic scoundrel sporting a Cheshire cat's grin. But he warms easily to his new role as dream-dwelling psychotherapist, having a core of decency. Not so his nemesis, Tommy Ray Glatman (David Patrick Kelly), a dreamlink prodigy and pawn of Bob Blair (Christopher Plummer), who runs the research project for the government (he's described as the "head of covert intelligence"). Blair is worried about the President (Eddie Albert), whose nightmares of nuclear holocaust cause him to escalate disarmament talks with the Russians, much to Blair's dismay, being your basic evil, slick, smarmy covert kind of guy. Turns out Blair's real aim is to use the project to train dreamlink assassins, his star pupil being psycho Tommy Ray and his test case the President. Only Alex is there to stop them. Dreamscape is all business, with a well-structured screenplay that lays the groundwork for the film's many admirable performances. [+]Kate Capshaw in particular is very dreamy as a research scientist and Dennis Quaid's love interest. And David Patrick Kelly is likely to become your worst nightmare, especially when he's the Snakeman, giving an often fantastical performance. But what you are most likely to remember from this wonderful thriller is the many vivid dream sequences, aptly surreal images from the troubled psyche. -Jim Gay.
![Review Paramount Home Entertainment / Star Trek Voyager - Vol. 6.9 (Spirit Folk/Ashes To Ashes) [1996]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/512PCHH5YXL._SL160_.jpg)
Actors & Directors
- Ethan Phillips
- David Livingston
- Kate Mulgrew
- Robert Picardo
- Terry Windsor
- Robert Beltran
- Roxann Dawson
Run time: 88 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £2.50
Review Star Trek Voyager - Vol. 6.9 (Spirit Folk/Ashes To Ashes) [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 (does she, doesn't she fancy him?) relationship with first officer and Native American-lite Chakotay (Robert Beltran). Tim Russ gives possibly the franchise's first fully realistic (yawn) portrayal of a Vulcan, and to enhance the alien quotient there is cuddly chef Neelix (Ethan Phillips). Garret Wang must have drawn the 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. None the less, flashes of brilliance still emerge, while Jerry Goldsmith's graceful theme always opens the show in style. [+]-Paul TonksOn this tape: The Voyager producer's obsession with stereotypical French and Irish Holodeck stories continue to fill the mid-sixth season. In "Spirit Folk", the inhabitants of Fair Haven become suspicious of Voyager's crew playing God with their lives, but it is over-familiar territory for Trek. In "Ashes to Ashes", the mid-season B-plot stories continue when Harry Kim is given a second chance with his estranged lover whom he believed was dead. In the end, though, life on ship inevitably returns to normal. -Colin Neal.
Actors & Directors
- Ely Pouget
- Brad Dourif
- William Hootkins
- Stephen Norrington
- Martin McDougall
- John Sharian
Run time: 111 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £12.73
Review Death Machine (1995) / Entertainment in Video:
![Review Paramount Home Entertainment / Star Trek The Next Generation: Descent - The Full Length TV Movie [1990]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/411HGFAFWCL._SL160_.jpg)
Actors & Directors
- John Neville
- Patrick Stewart
- Jonathan Frakes
- Alex Datcher
- Jim Norton
- Alexander Singer
Run time: 82 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £4.88
Review Star Trek The Next Generation: Descent - The Full Length TV Movie [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.
Actors & Directors
- Edward D. Wood Jr
- Rudolph Grey
Price: £7.96
Review Nightmare of Ecstasy: Life and Art of Edward D. Wood / Faber and Faber:
Actors & Directors
- Yoko Tani
- Edward Judd
- Alan Bridges
- Valerie Gearon
- Lyndon Brook
- Ric Young
Price: £5.99
Review Invasion [1965] / Braveworld Ltd. (Defunct):
![Review Paramount Home Entertainment / Star Trek Voyager - Vol. 5.3 - Once Upon A Time / Timeless [1996]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51F09WX0RVL._SL160_.jpg)
Actors & Directors
- Robert Duncan McNeill
- Kate Mulgrew
- John T. Kretchmer
- LeVar Burton
- LeVar Burton
- Christina Harnos
- Robert Beltran
Run time: 88 min.
Price: £5.99
Review Star Trek Voyager - Vol. 5.3 - Once Upon A Time / Timeless [1996] / Paramount Home Entertainment:
![Review Manga Entertainment / Gunhed - The Ultimate Battle [1989]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/516GBQMYQRL._SL160_.jpg)
Actors & Directors
- Brenda Bakke
- Aya Enjôji
- Masato Harada
- Alan Smithee
- James Brewster Thompson
- Masahiro Takashima
- Yujin Harada
Run time: 96 min.
Price: £5.99
Review Gunhed - The Ultimate Battle [1989] / Manga Entertainment:
| Models & Brands:
Star Trek : The Original Series - Vol. 2.8 - Return To Tomorrow / Patterns Of Force / The Ultimate Computer, Invaders, The - Vol. 5 - Dark Outpost / Task Force [1967], Star Wars Trilogy - Special Edition - Platinum Box Set, THX 1138 [1970], P.R.O.B.E. - Ghosts Of Winterborne, Star Trek : The Original Series - Vol. 3.6 - Whom Gods Destroy / The Mark Of Gideon / The Lights Of Zetar, Blake's 7 - Trial / Killer - Episodes 19 And 20, Endgame [1983], Invaders, The - Vol. 6 - Counterattack / Inquisition [1967], Invaders, The - Vol. 4 - The Saucer / The Enemy [1967], Doomwatch - The Plastic Eaters / Tomorrow, The Rat, The Dark Side Of The Moon [1990], Dreamscape [1983], Star Trek Voyager - Vol. 6.9 (Spirit Folk/Ashes To Ashes) [1996], Death Machine (1995), Star Trek The Next Generation: Descent - The Full Length TV Movie [1990], Nightmare of Ecstasy: Life and Art of Edward D. Wood, Invasion [1965], Star Trek Voyager - Vol. 5.3 - Once Upon A Time / Timeless [1996], Gunhed - The Ultimate Battle [1989] |
