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Review Highlander / Highlander - Volume 2 (Animated) [1994]
Release date: 2002-07-22
Run time: 44 min.
RRP: £2.99
Price: £0.01

Review Highlander - Volume 2 (Animated) [1994] / Highlander:


Review Paramount Home Entertainment / Star Trek Voyager - Vol. 2.11 - Resolutions / Basics Part One [2001]
Actors & Directors
  • Johnny Vaughan
  • Angel Coulby
  • Lee Oakes
  • Ricky Grover
  • Di Botcher
Release date: 1996-11-04
Run time: 88 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £2.75

Review Star Trek Voyager - Vol. 2.11 - Resolutions / Basics Part One [2001] / Paramount Home Entertainment:


Review Warner Home Video / Babylon 5 - Vol. 4.03 - The Long Night / Into The Fire [1994]
Actors & Directors
  • Bruce Boxleitner
  • John Lafia
  • Claudia Christian
  • Jerry Doyle
  • Patricia Tallman
  • Kevin Dobson
  • Mira Furlan
Release date: 1998-04-27
Run time: 84 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £2.00

Review Babylon 5 - Vol. 4.03 - The Long Night / Into The Fire [1994] / Warner Home Video:


Review Contender Entertainment Group / Lexx - Vol. 2.10 - 2.19 Brizon / 2.20 End of the Universe [1999]
Actors & Directors
  • Bruce McDonald
  • Stephen Manuel
  • Stefan Ronowicz
Release date: 2000-06-12
Run time: 95 min.
Price: £12.99

Review Lexx - Vol. 2.10 - 2.19 Brizon / 2.20 End of the Universe [1999] / Contender Entertainment Group:

A "Light Universe" and a "Dark Zone" keep good and bad apart for the characters of Lexx, even though it's often hard to tell the difference between the two in this offbeat and unique sci-fi show that delights in its own nastiness. With flashes of nudity and surgical gore, and a collection of extreme hairstyles and accents, the show's overall look is often akin to a sci-fi Eurotrash. Aboard the stolen 10-kilometre-long spaceship Lexx (designed to look like a dragonfly) are the "Dirty Three-and-a-Half": insufferable coward Stanley H. Tweedle (Brian Downey), the Edward Scissorhands clone and 2000-years-dead Kai (Michael McManus), decapitated and lovestruck robot head 790 (voiced by writer Jeffrey Hirschfield), and the skimpily wardrobed Zev (Eva Habermann), replaced for Season Two by Xev (Xenia Seeberg). A disregard both for genre conventions and good taste makes the show a constant series of surprises: by the time of the third season, the expression "anything goes" had long passed being understatement. On this tape: Desperate to call Mantrid's bluff, the Lexx crew are even prepared momentarily to trust his old tutor the Bio Vizier "Brizon". They know he has some treacherous agenda, but never guess what until it's almost too late. The storyline links straight into "End of the Universe", and the season finale sees every player of Mantrid's game attempting checkmate. 790 builds a counter army of Drone Arms, but it's to be Lyekker's efforts that once again save the day. The show ends with the very definition of a Big Bang, and leaves everything under one enormous question mark. [+]
-Paul Tonks.

Review Paramount Home Entertainment / Star Trek Voyager - Vol. 2.5 (Alliances/Prototype) [1996]
Actors & Directors
  • Jonathan Frakes
  • Les Landau
  • Kate Mulgrew
  • Jennifer Lien
  • Robert Beltran
  • Roxann Biggs-Dawson
  • Robert Duncan McNeill
Release date: 1996-05-13
Run time: 88 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £6.50

Review Star Trek Voyager - Vol. 2.5 (Alliances/Prototype) [1996] / Paramount Home Entertainment:


Review Paramount Home Entertainment / Star Trek The Next Generation - Vol. 3.4 - The Defector / The Hunted / The High Ground [1990]
Actors & Directors
  • Robert Scheerer
  • Michael Dorn
  • Gates McFadden
  • LeVar Burton
  • Jonathan Frakes
  • Cliff Bole
  • Patrick Stewart
  • Gabrielle Beaumont
Release date: 2000-06-05
Run time: 131 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £8.65

Review Star Trek The Next Generation - Vol. 3.4 - The Defector / The Hunted / The High Ground [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 Contender Entertainment Group / Lexx - 2.9 [1999]
Actors & Directors
  • Stephen Manuel
  • Bruce McDonald
  • Stefan Ronowicz
Release date: 2000-05-29
Run time: 95 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £5.00

Review Lexx - 2.9 [1999] / Contender Entertainment Group:

A "Light Universe" and a "Dark Zone" keep good and bad apart for the characters of Lexx, even though it's often hard to tell the difference between the two in this offbeat and unique sci-fi show that delights in its own nastiness. With flashes of nudity and surgical gore, and a collection of extreme hairstyles and accents, the show's overall look is often akin to a sci-fi Eurotrash. Aboard the stolen 10-kilometre-long spaceship Lexx (designed to look like a dragonfly) are the "Dirty Three-and-a-Half": insufferable coward Stanley H. Tweedle (Brian Downey), the Edward Scissorhands clone and 2000 years-dead Kai (Michael McManus), decapitated and lovestruck robot head 790 (voiced by writer Jeffrey Hirschfield), and the skimpily wardrobed Zev (Eva Habermann), replaced for Season Two by Xev (Xenia Seeberg). A disregard both for genre conventions and good taste makes the show a constant series of surprises: by the time of the third season, the expression "anything goes" had long passed being understatement. On this tape: "The Net" is "The Web" all over again, but with extended shots and external footage of what is happening to The Lexx. Some TV shows cobble together a "clips episode" toward a season's end in order to save budget. Lexx proves itself different yet again with this ingenious idea. The difference continues into "Brigadoom", which is a musical! A theatre appears from nowhere to put on a show telling the tale of the Brunnen-G: Kai and Xev take to the boards, and sing along, quite oblivious to the fact sci-fi usually can't pull this sort of thing off. They do. [+]
-Paul Tonks.

Review MGM Entertainment / Stargate SG-1 Vol. 2.10 - Missions 2.19 & 2.20 [1998]
Actors & Directors
  • Peter DeLuise
  • Jay Acovone
  • Bill Corcoran
  • Michael Shanks
  • Amanda Tapping
  • Richard Dean Anderson
  • Christopher Judge
Release date: 2000-07-24
Run time: 84 min.
Price: £7.99

Review Stargate SG-1 Vol. 2.10 - Missions 2.19 & 2.20 [1998] / MGM Entertainment:

The 1994 film Stargate was originally intended as the start of a franchise, but creators Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin were distracted celebrating their Independence Day. Episodic TV treatment was the natural next step. Since neither Kurt Russell nor James Spader would be able to commit, it gave the producers licence to tinker with the cast and the universe they'd explore. Replacing the roles of Colonel Jack O'Neill and Dr Daniel Jackson respectively are Richard Dean Anderson and Michael Shanks. They're joined by Captain Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping) and guilt-stricken former alien baddie Teal'c (Christopher Judge) to form the teacher's pet primary unit SG-1 With a seemingly endless network of Stargates found to exist on planets all across the known universe, their mission is to make first contact with as many friendly races as possible. Chasing their heels at almost every turn are the "overlord" pharaoh-like Goa'uld-the ancient Egyptian Gods who are none too chummy after the events of the original film. The welcome notion of a continued plot thread sees offshoots that follow the reincarnation of Daniel's wife, Sam's father literally joining a renegade faction of the Goa'uld, and Jack in an unending quest to out-sarcasm everyone. There's something of The Time Tunnel to the show's premise, but amid a dearth of derivative look-a-likes, Stargate has held its own with stories that put the science fiction back into TV sci-fi. "One False Step" lays a guilt trip on the whole SG-1 team for accidentally infecting a race with a disease. Then in "Show and Tell" the central story arc takes a dramatic turn when a child arrives to warn that some survivors of a Goa'uld attack are determined to eliminate anyone who might host their enemy-which means Earth as a whole. [+]
-Paul Tonks.

Review MGM Entertainment / Stargate SG-1 Vol. 2.5 - Missions 2.09 & 2.10 [1998]
Actors & Directors
  • Amanda Tapping
  • Richard Dean Anderson
  • David Warry-Smith
  • Don Davis
  • Michael Shanks
  • Jay Acovone
  • Duane Clark
Release date: 2000-05-29
Run time: 84 min.
RRP: £7.99
Price: £3.75

Review Stargate SG-1 Vol. 2.5 - Missions 2.09 & 2.10 [1998] / MGM Entertainment:

The 1994 film Stargate was originally intended as the start of a franchise, but creators Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin were distracted celebrating their Independence Day. Episodic TV treatment was the natural next step. Since neither Kurt Russell nor James Spader would be able to commit, it gave the producers licence to tinker with the cast and the universe they'd explore. Replacing the roles of Colonel Jack O'Neill and Dr Daniel Jackson respectively are Richard Dean Anderson and Michael Shanks. They're joined by Captain Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping) and guilt-stricken former alien baddie Teal'c (Christopher Judge) to form the teacher's pet primary unit SG-1 With a seemingly endless network of Stargates found to exist on planets all across the known universe, their mission is to make first contact with as many friendly races as possible. Chasing their heels at almost every turn are the "overlord" pharaoh-like Goa'uld-the ancient Egyptian Gods who are none too chummy after the events of the original film. The welcome notion of a continued plot thread sees offshoots that follow the reincarnation of Daniel's wife, Sam's father literally joining a renegade faction of the Goa'uld, and Jack in an unending quest to out-sarcasm everyone. There's something of The Time Tunnel to the show's premise, but amid a dearth of derivative look-a-likes, Stargate has held its own with stories that put the science fiction back into TV sci-fi. Two more episodes are featured on this tape. Returning to the planet from the original Stargate movie, Daniel catches up with his lost wife and painfully discovers her "Secrets", meanwhile Teal'c gets stung by a giant insect in "Bane". [+]
-Paul Tonks.

Review universal / THE INVISIBLE MAN - THE ORIGINAL B&W CLASSIC
Price: £8.95

Review THE INVISIBLE MAN - THE ORIGINAL B&W CLASSIC / universal:


Review Cinema Club / Highlander - The Animated Series - The Last Of The MacLeods / A Taste Of Betrayal [1994]
Actors & Directors
  • Gérard Hameline
  • Werner Stocker
  • Paolo Barzman
  • Jorge Montesi
  • Yves Lafaye
  • Jerry Ciccoritti
Release date: 2002-07-22
Run time: 44 min.
RRP: £2.99
Price: £1.66

Review Highlander - The Animated Series - The Last Of The MacLeods / A Taste Of Betrayal [1994] / Cinema Club:


Review MGM Entertainment / Stargate SG-1 Vol. 2.6 - Missions 2.11 & 2.12 [1998]
Actors & Directors
  • Richard Dean Anderson
  • Amanda Tapping
  • Martin Wood
  • Brad Turner
  • Don Davis
  • Jay Acovone
  • Michael Shanks
Release date: 2000-05-29
Run time: 84 min.
RRP: £7.99
Price: £3.99

Review Stargate SG-1 Vol. 2.6 - Missions 2.11 & 2.12 [1998] / MGM Entertainment:

The 1994 film Stargate was originally intended as the start of a franchise, but creators Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin were distracted celebrating their Independence Day. Episodic TV treatment was the natural next step. Since neither Kurt Russell nor James Spader would be able to commit, it gave the producers licence to tinker with the cast and the universe they'd explore. Replacing the roles of Colonel Jack O'Neill and Dr Daniel Jackson respectively are Richard Dean Anderson and Michael Shanks. They're joined by Captain Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping) and guilt-stricken former alien baddie Teal'c (Christopher Judge) to form the teacher's pet primary unit SG-1 With a seemingly endless network of Stargates found to exist on planets all across the known universe, their mission is to make first contact with as many friendly races as possible. Chasing their heels at almost every turn are the "overlord" pharaoh-like Goa'uld-the ancient Egyptian Gods who are none too chummy after the events of the original film. The welcome notion of a continued plot thread sees offshoots that follow the reincarnation of Daniel's wife, Sam's father literally joining a renegade faction of the Goa'uld, and Jack in an unending quest to out-sarcasm everyone. There's something of The Time Tunnel to the show's premise, but amid a dearth of derivative look-a-likes, Stargate has held its own with stories that put the science fiction back into TV sci-fi. O'Neill is crippled in "Spirits". Then in "The Tok'ra (Part I)", Sam's estranged father is dying of cancer, but her obligations sway her toward saving a member of the Goa'uld renegade Tok'ra who is also dying. [+]
Although the resolution may seem apparent a mile off, the series takes one of many brave steps in not chickening-out at the last moment. -Paul Tonks.

Review MGM Entertainment / Stargate SG-1 Vol. 2.9 - Missions 2.17 & 2.18 [1998]
Actors & Directors
  • Jay Acovone
  • Michael Shanks
  • Christopher Judge
  • Amanda Tapping
  • Peter DeLuise
  • David Warry-Smith
  • Richard Dean Anderson
Release date: 2000-07-24
Run time: 84 min.
Price: £7.99

Review Stargate SG-1 Vol. 2.9 - Missions 2.17 & 2.18 [1998] / MGM Entertainment:

The 1994 movie Stargate was originally intended as the start of a franchise, but creators Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin were distracted celebrating their Independence Day. Episodic TV treatment was the natural next step. Since neither Kurt Russell nor James Spader would be able to commit, it gave the producers a licence to tinker with the cast and the universe they'd explore. Replacing the roles of Colonel Jack O'Neill and Dr. Daniel Jackson respectively are Richard Dean Anderson and Michael Shanks. They're joined by Captain Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping) and guilt-stricken former alien baddie Teal'c (Christopher Judge) to form the teacher's pet primary unit SG-1 With a seemingly endless network of Stargates found to exist on planets all across the known universe, their mission is to make first contact with as many friendly races as possible. Chasing their heels at almost every turn are the "overlord" pharaohnic Goa'uld-the ancient Egyptian Gods who are none too chummy after the events of the original film. The welcome notion of a continued plot thread sees offshoots that follow the reincarnation of Daniel's wife, Sam's father literally joining a renegade faction of the Goa'uld, and Jack in an unending quest to out-sarcasm everyone. There's something of The Time Tunnel to the show's premise, but amid a dearth of derivative look-a-likes, Stargate has held its own with stories that put the science fiction back into TV sci-fi. "The Serpent's Song" is a cry for help from the team's nemesis-Apophis-whom they've been fighting since the beginning. [+]
It's a morality showcase all-round. Although deserving a "Holiday", the team just can't leave alien artefacts alone, which gets them into all manner of trouble playing with Ma'chello's body-swapping machine. This episode gives everyone a fantastic opportunity to impersonate one another. -Paul Tonks.

Review MGM Entertainment / Stargate SG-1 Vol. 2.7 - Missions 2.13 & 2.14 [1998]
Actors & Directors
  • Amanda Tapping
  • Don Davis
  • Richard Dean Anderson
  • Christopher Judge
  • Michael Shanks
  • Brad Turner
Release date: 2000-06-26
Run time: 84 min.
Price: £7.99

Review Stargate SG-1 Vol. 2.7 - Missions 2.13 & 2.14 [1998] / MGM Entertainment:

The 1994 film Stargate was originally intended as the start of a franchise, but creators Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin were distracted celebrating their Independence Day. Episodic TV treatment was the natural next step. Since neither Kurt Russell nor James Spader would be able to commit, it gave the producers licence to tinker with the cast and the universe they'd explore. Replacing the roles of Colonel Jack O'Neill and Dr Daniel Jackson respectively are Richard Dean Anderson and Michael Shanks. They're joined by Captain Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping) and guilt-stricken former alien baddie Teal'c (Christopher Judge) to form the teacher's pet primary unit SG-1 With a seemingly endless network of Stargates found to exist on planets all across the known universe, their mission is to make first contact with as many friendly races as possible. Chasing their heels at almost every turn are the "overlord" pharaoh-like Goa'uld-the ancient Egyptian Gods who are none too chummy after the events of the original film. The welcome notion of a continued plot thread sees offshoots that follow the reincarnation of Daniel's wife, Sam's father literally joining a renegade faction of the Goa'uld, and Jack in an unending quest to out-sarcasm everyone. There's something of The Time Tunnel to the show's premise, but amid a dearth of derivative look-a-likes, Stargate has held its own with stories that put the science fiction back into TV sci-fi. A satisfying conclusion to the previous episode's cliffhanger is reached in "The Tok'ra (Part II)". There may only be preliminary goodwill established between Earth and the rebels, but the dangling thread bodes well. [+]
On planet Madrona, the team are accused of stealing a "Touchstone" that controls its climate. The revelation of who really stole it causes ripples in the pond back on Earth. -Paul Tonks.

Review Fabulous Films Ltd. / Blake's 7 - Warlord / Blake - Episodes 51 And 52 [1978]
Actors & Directors
  • Viktors Ritelis
  • Douglas Camfield
  • Vivienne Cozens
  • Fiona Cumming
  • Jonathan Wright-Miller
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 MGM Entertainment / Stargate SG-1 Vol. 2.8 - Missions 2.15 & 2.16 [1998]
Actors & Directors
  • Amanda Tapping
  • Don Davis
  • Martin Wood
  • Michael Shanks
  • David Warry-Smith
  • Richard Dean Anderson
  • Christopher Judge
Release date: 2000-06-26
Run time: 84 min.
Price: £7.99

Review Stargate SG-1 Vol. 2.8 - Missions 2.15 & 2.16 [1998] / MGM Entertainment:

The 1994 film Stargate was originally intended as the start of a franchise, but creators Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin were distracted celebrating their Independence Day. Episodic TV treatment was the natural next step. Since neither Kurt Russell nor James Spader would be able to commit, it gave the producers licence to tinker with the cast and the universe they'd explore. Replacing the roles of Colonel Jack O'Neill and Dr Daniel Jackson respectively are Richard Dean Anderson and Michael Shanks. They're joined by Captain Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping) and guilt-stricken former alien baddie Teal'c (Christopher Judge) to form the teacher's pet primary unit SG-1 With a seemingly endless network of Stargates found to exist on planets all across the known universe, their mission is to make first contact with as many friendly races as possible. Chasing their heels at almost every turn are the "overlord" pharaoh-like Goa'uld-the ancient Egyptian Gods who are none too chummy after the events of the original film. The welcome notion of a continued plot thread sees offshoots that follow the reincarnation of Daniel's wife, Sam's father literally joining a renegade faction of the Goa'uld, and Jack in an unending quest to out-sarcasm everyone. There's something of The Time Tunnel to the show's premise, but amid a dearth of derivative look-a-likes, Stargate has held its own with stories that put the science fiction back into TV sci-fi. Prepare for a science lesson (one of the series' strengths) in "A Matter of Time" as the gang ponders how to resist a black hole's pull. The second episode on this tape carries a voice from the past through O'Neill's lips as the "Fifth Race" demands to be heard. [+]
-Paul Tonks.

Review Warner Home Video / Crusade - Vol. 1.05 - Racing The Night / The Needs Of Earth [1999]
Actors & Directors
  • Alex Mendoza
  • Tony Dow
Release date: 2000-06-05
Run time: 85 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £0.85

Review Crusade - Vol. 1.05 - Racing The Night / The Needs Of Earth [1999] / Warner Home Video:

When Babylon 5 finished its promised five-year run, it was obvious some things had been left out. Numerous plotlines lay casually unresolved and way too many "hints" looked ahead to an ominous future. With the Shadows dispatched at the end of the Great War, the final season revealed a race of hangers-on who stayed behind to continue the mischief-making. The biggest clue that more was to follow, came in the fourth TV movie A Call To Arms which introduced several new characters into the mix. Here we saw the Drakh's final "Planet Killer" let loose in Earth's atmosphere-a deadly virus that will take five years to adapt to human DNA, and then wipe it out. The rather high-stakes solution offered by Earthgov is to send an experimental starship, the Excalibur, out into the galaxy to find a cure. The Excalibur's crew is headed up by Gary Cole as Capt. Matthew Gideon; a no-nonsense leader whose principles seem to be challenged every show ("I'm not subtle. I'm not pretty. And I'll piss off a lot of people along the way. [+]
") Along for the ride are Daniel Dae Kim as the secretly telepathic Lt. John Matheson, Peter Woodward as quixotic Technomage Galen, and Carrie Dobro as the feisty criminal Dureena Nafeel. Although in theory there are members of the heroic Rangers at their side, the initial idea that this series should have the feel of an Arthurian quest clearly didn't come to pass. Suffering a plague of its own in studio indecisiveness, Crusade managed a run of 13 episodes which during post-production were juggled out of chronological order. It should be taken into consideration when viewing that the first eight were filmed last, so the "redesign" seen in the final five is in fact the opposite of what it seems. "Racing the Night" was originally to be the show's pilot, and might have been a stronger opener. Chancing upon a race who previously dealt with the plague, the Excalibur crew are perplexed to find all manner of historical information except the cure. Then there's a criminal to be caught in "The Needs of Earth", but of course someone beats Captain Gideon to him. The comedic highlight of this volume is learning that archaeologist Max Eilerson watches alien pornography! -Paul Tonks.

Review Playback / Earth: The Final Conflict - Vol. 1- Decision / Truth / Old Flame [1997]
Actors & Directors
  • Shary Guthrie
  • Le Blanc
  • Ross Clyde
  • Angelica Lisk
Release date: 2000-04-17
Run time: 90 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £9.99

Review Earth: The Final Conflict - Vol. 1- Decision / Truth / Old Flame [1997] / Playback:


Review Contender Entertainment Group / Farscape Vol. 1.4 - 1.08 That Old Black Magic / 1.09 DNA Mad Scientist [1999]
Actors & Directors
  • Geoff Bennett (II)
  • Ian Watson (II)
  • Tony Tilse
Release date: 2000-05-15
Run time: 113 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £13.99

Review Farscape Vol. 1.4 - 1.08 That Old Black Magic / 1.09 DNA Mad Scientist [1999] / Contender Entertainment Group:

An international co-production of Jim Henson's Creature Shop, Australia's Channel 9 and Hallmark Entertainment, Farscape is genre television at its most ambitious, inspired both by the cult appeal of Babylon 5 and the continuing success of the Star Trek franchise. Making extensive use of CGI, prosthetics and state-of-the-art puppetry, Farscape takes a visual leap beyond previous shows. Admittedly, the basic premise may be borrowed from Buck Rogers (American astronaut catapulted to far-flung galaxy populated by strange aliens), while the crew have something of Blake's 7 about them (a motley bunch of escaped convicts pursued by a relentless foe), and ideas such as the living ship are borrowed from Babylon 5. However the Farscape concept has a freshness that makes it look and feel completely original. The production design is all bio-mechanical curves and the script never takes itself too seriously (fart jokes and double-entendres pop up when you least expect them). It must have been expensive to make, but it certainly looks (and sounds) like every penny made it to the screen. In true Buck Rogers style, Ben Browder plays leading man John Crichton as an all-American astronaut, although with a more believable sense of bewilderment; the supporting cast is a mixture of Australian and British actors, mostly disguised under heavy make-up. There are two episodes on Volume 4. In "That Old Black Magic", a malevolent magician forces a confrontation between Crichton and his nemesis, Crais; Zhaan must revive her bad old ways in order to save the day. "DNA Mad Scientist" is the most original episode, with a neat twist on the Frankenstein scenario thanks to the splendid villain, Namtar; a distinctly unpleasant side to some of the characters is revealed as they bargain body parts in exchange for a map home. [+]
-Mark Walker.

Review Paramount Home Entertainment / Star Trek The Next Generation - Vol. 3.3 - The Enemy / The Price / The Vengeance Factor [1990]
Actors & Directors
  • Gates McFadden
  • David Carson
  • Timothy Bond
  • Jonathan Frakes
  • Robert Scheerer
  • Patrick Stewart
  • LeVar Burton
  • Michael Dorn
Release date: 2000-05-01
Run time: 132 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £3.15

Review Star Trek The Next Generation - Vol. 3.3 - The Enemy / The Price / The Vengeance Factor [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.

Models & Brands:
Highlander - Volume 2 (Animated) [1994], Star Trek Voyager - Vol. 2.11 - Resolutions / Basics Part One [2001], Babylon 5 - Vol. 4.03 - The Long Night / Into The Fire [1994], Lexx - Vol. 2.10 - 2.19 Brizon / 2.20 End of the Universe [1999], Star Trek Voyager - Vol. 2.5 (Alliances/Prototype) [1996], Star Trek The Next Generation - Vol. 3.4 - The Defector / The Hunted / The High Ground [1990], Lexx - 2.9 [1999], Stargate SG-1 Vol. 2.10 - Missions 2.19 & 2.20 [1998], Stargate SG-1 Vol. 2.5 - Missions 2.09 & 2.10 [1998], THE INVISIBLE MAN - THE ORIGINAL B&W CLASSIC, Highlander - The Animated Series - The Last Of The MacLeods / A Taste Of Betrayal [1994], Stargate SG-1 Vol. 2.6 - Missions 2.11 & 2.12 [1998], Stargate SG-1 Vol. 2.9 - Missions 2.17 & 2.18 [1998], Stargate SG-1 Vol. 2.7 - Missions 2.13 & 2.14 [1998], Blake's 7 - Warlord / Blake - Episodes 51 And 52 [1978], Stargate SG-1 Vol. 2.8 - Missions 2.15 & 2.16 [1998], Crusade - Vol. 1.05 - Racing The Night / The Needs Of Earth [1999], Earth: The Final Conflict - Vol. 1- Decision / Truth / Old Flame [1997], Farscape Vol. 1.4 - 1.08 That Old Black Magic / 1.09 DNA Mad Scientist [1999], Star Trek The Next Generation - Vol. 3.3 - The Enemy / The Price / The Vengeance Factor [1990]

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