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Review Paramount Home Entertainment / Star Trek The Next Generation - Vol. 3.7 - Captain's Holiday / Tin Man / Hollow Pursuits / The Most Toys [1990]
Actors & Directors
  • Cliff Bole
  • Gates McFadden
  • Timothy Bond
  • Robert Scheerer
  • Chip Chalmers
  • Jonathan Frakes
  • Patrick Stewart
  • Michael Dorn
  • LeVar Burton
Release date: 2000-09-04
Run time: 175 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £3.75

Review Star Trek The Next Generation - Vol. 3.7 - Captain's Holiday / Tin Man / Hollow Pursuits / The Most Toys [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 The Next Generation - Vol. 1.1 - Encounter at Farpoint
Actors & Directors
  • Jonathan Frakes
  • Patrick Stewart
  • Michael Dorn
  • Corey Allen
  • Denise Crosby
  • LeVar Burton
Release date: 1998-04-20
Run time: 137 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £1.00

Review Star Trek The Next Generation - Vol. 1.1 - Encounter at Farpoint / 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 Network / Space Patrol - Vol. 1 - Episodes 1-4 [1963]
Actors & Directors
  • Ysanne Churchman
  • Ronnie Stevens
  • Murray Kash
  • Libby Morris
  • Dick Vosburgh
  • Frank Goulding
Release date: 2001-09-07
Run time: 100 min.
Price: £6.99

Review Space Patrol - Vol. 1 - Episodes 1-4 [1963] / Network:


Review Paramount Home Entertainment / Star Trek The Next Generation - Vol. 3.6 - The Offspring / Sins of the Father / Allegiance [1990]
Actors & Directors
  • Jonathan Frakes
  • Winrich Kolbe
  • Patrick Stewart
  • Les Landau
  • LeVar Burton
  • Jonathan Frakes
Release date: 2000-08-14
Run time: 130 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £3.60

Review Star Trek The Next Generation - Vol. 3.6 - The Offspring / Sins of the Father / Allegiance [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. 6.10 (Child's Play/Good Shepherd) [1996]
Actors & Directors
  • Robert Duncan McNeill
  • Roxann Dawson
  • Michael Vejar
  • Kate Mulgrew
  • Ethan Phillips
  • Robert Beltran
  • Winrich Kolbe
Release date: 2000-11-06
Run time: 88 min.
Price: £5.99

Review Star Trek Voyager - Vol. 6.10 (Child's Play/Good Shepherd) [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 obssessions 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: In "Child's Play" Seven of Nine plays the social worker and protective mother when one of the ship's Borg children is set to be united with his natural parents. As usual, sparks fly between Janeway and Seven and these result in some the best character scenes to date between the pair. "Good Shepherd" has another twist on a Next Generation episode when the Captain takes three junior officers under her wing. Predictably, all three overcome their deficiencies in time to save each other and the Delta Flyer. The episode contains some excellent effects shots and a refreshing score. -Colin Neal.

Review Entertainment in Video / The Astronaut's Wife [1999]
Actors & Directors
  • Joe Morton
  • Donna Murphy
  • Charlize Theron
  • Rand Ravich
  • Clea DuVall
  • Johnny Depp
Release date: 2000-09-25
Run time: 100 min.
Price: £5.99

Review The Astronaut's Wife [1999] / Entertainment in Video:

An intriguingly creepy premise but failed execution marks The Astronaut's Wife, a stylish and ultimately bland thriller about a pretty, young woman whose pretty, young astronaut husband comes back from his most recent space mission a little. odd. Before that fated space trip, Spencer (Johnny Depp) and Jillian (Charlize Theron) were a sunny, happy couple with matching blonde hairdos and a predilection for romping in the sack from extremely clever camera angles. However, after a communications blackout brings Spencer and his partner back down to earth prematurely, things are a little. peculiar. Spencer's partner goes bonkers and has a heart attack; on top of that, the partner's wife takes a fatal shower with a plugged-in radio. [+]
Getting out of the space biz, Spencer accepts a job as a corporate exec in New York, and as a welcome to the Big Apple for his comely wife, he molests her at the company cocktail party. Soon enough, Jillian is pregnant, but as you might expect, this pregnancy (twins, don't you know) is a little. unusual. Writer-director Rand Ravich takes his sweet time getting from extremely obvious plot point A to even more obvious plot point B, stretching out the development particulars in mind-numbing, suspense-killing fashion. Even Joe Morton, as a sinisterly psychotic NASA official, can't liven things up-you know you're in bad thriller territory when the biggest scare comes from a light suddenly being switched off. Theron, sporting a Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby style haircut, sleepwalks beautifully through the movie, but she did this role much, much better in The Devil's Advocate. Depp, with a cornpone Southern accent, is about as realistic as his peroxided hair. Ravich does the viewer no favours with a hackneyed ending straight out of a B-grade paperback horror novel in which the most shocking moment is Theron's sudden emergence as a brunette. With Blair Brown as a jaded socialite who offers to help out Theron by providing do-it-yourself abortion pills, and a lovely Donna Murphy as the suicidal wife who figures it all out before everyone else. - Mark Englehart, Amazon. com.

Review Contender Entertainment Group / Lexx - Vol. 3.1 - 3.01 Fire and Water / 3.02 May / 3.03 Gametown [1999]
Actors & Directors
  • Stephen Manuel
  • Stefan Ronowicz
  • Bruce McDonald
Release date: 2000-08-07
Run time: 150 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £6.85

Review Lexx - Vol. 3.1 - 3.01 Fire and Water / 3.02 May / 3.03 Gametown [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 lovesick 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 show's third year has a pre-determined 13 episode run, and in a new direction there's also a pre-determined continual storyline. This is teasingly set-up by "Fire and Water"-the names of a binary planet system. The Lexx is stuck in orbit around 4,000 years after the "End of the Universe". We're introduced to the mysterious Prince (Nigel Bennet) who rules the planet Fire, 790 experiences a shift of devotion, and Xev gets a new hairdo. All threads are expanded by "May" (Anna Kathrin Bleuler) who's found on planet Water. [+]
All too suddenly, Xev's in love with Prince and Stanley with May. The crew are torn every which way. Even more so when a fleet of new Moths land Kai in "Gametown", where the show's most gratuitous nudity yet reassures fans that this third year will be as dangerous and dirty as it's always been. -Paul Tonks.

Review Contender Entertainment Group / Farscape Vol. 1.8 - 1.17 Through the Looking Glass / 1.18 A Bug's Life [1999]
Actors & Directors
  • Virginia Hey
  • Claudia Black
  • Ian Watson (II)
  • Andrew Prowse
  • Ben Browder
  • Geoff Bennett (II)
  • Kent McCord
  • Tony Tilse
  • Anthony Simcoe
Release date: 2000-09-04
Run time: 110 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £13.99

Review Farscape Vol. 1.8 - 1.17 Through the Looking Glass / 1.18 A Bug's Life [1999] / Contender Entertainment Group:


Review Reeltime Pictures / P.R.O.B.E. - The Zero Imperative [1994]
Actors & Directors
  • Jon Pertwee
  • Sylvester McCoy
  • Caroline John
  • Bill Baggs
  • Colin Baker
Release date: 1998-04-06
Run time: 90 min.
Price: £11.99

Review P.R.O.B.E. - The Zero Imperative [1994] / Reeltime Pictures:


Review Paramount Home Entertainment / Star Trek Voyager - Vol. 2.11 - Resolutions / Basics Part One [2001]
Actors & Directors
  • Ricky Grover
  • Lee Oakes
  • Angel Coulby
  • Johnny Vaughan
  • 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 Network / Space Patrol - Vol. 2 - Episodes 5-8 [1963]
Actors & Directors
  • Dick Vosburgh
  • Murray Kash
  • Ronnie Stevens
  • Libby Morris
  • Ysanne Churchman
  • Frank Goulding
Release date: 2001-07-16
Run time: 100 min.
Price: £6.99

Review Space Patrol - Vol. 2 - Episodes 5-8 [1963] / Network:


Review Adv Films / Bubblegum Crisis - Tokyo 2040 - Vol. 8
Actors & Directors
  • Kiyoyuki Yanada
  • Hiroko Konishi
  • Satsuki Yukino
  • Yu Asakawa
  • Hiroki Hayashi
  • Rio Natsuki
Release date: 2001-04-02
Run time: 50 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £25.98

Review Bubblegum Crisis - Tokyo 2040 - Vol. 8 / Adv Films:


Review Paramount Home Entertainment / Star Trek Voyager - Vol. 6.7 (Virtuoso/Memorial) [1996]
Actors & Directors
  • Kate Mulgrew
  • Robert Picardo
  • Allan Kroeker
  • Les Landau
  • Robert Beltran
  • Ethan Phillips
  • Roxann Dawson
Release date: 2000-09-04
Run time: 88 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £9.98

Review Star Trek Voyager - Vol. 6.7 (Virtuoso/Memorial) [1996] / Paramount Home Entertainment:


Review Contender Entertainment Group / Farscape Vol. 1.7 - 1.15 Durka Returns / 1.16 A Human Reaction [1999]
Actors & Directors
  • Ian Watson (II)
  • Tony Tilse
  • Geoff Bennett (II)
Release date: 2000-08-07
Run time: 110 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £5.90

Review Farscape Vol. 1.7 - 1.15 Durka Returns / 1.16 A Human Reaction [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 like the living ship are borrowed from Babylon 5, but 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-in Dolby Digital 5. 1) 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. Series One continues with two more episodes on this tape: "Durka Returns", in which the crew meet the beautiful Chiana as well as Rygel's old tormentor, Captain Durka; and "A Human Reaction", where Crichton finally gets back to Earth but with unfortunate results for the rest of Moya's crew. -Mark Walker.

Review Paramount Home Entertainment / Star Trek Voyager - Vol. 6.8 (Tsunkatse/Collective) [1996]
Actors & Directors
  • Robert Picardo
  • Michael Vejar
  • Ethan Phillips
  • Kate Mulgrew
  • Roxann Dawson
  • Alison Liddi
  • Robert Beltran
Release date: 2000-10-02
Run time: 88 min.
Price: £5.99

Review Star Trek Voyager - Vol. 6.8 (Tsunkatse/Collective) [1996] / Paramount Home Entertainment:


Review Sony Pictures Home Entertainment / Men In Black [1997]
Actors & Directors
  • Barry Sonnenfeld
  • Will Smith
  • Vincent D'Onofrio
  • Tommy Lee Jones
  • Rip Torn
  • Linda Fiorentino
Release date: 1998-04-08
Run time: 98 min.
RRP: £15.99
Price: £0.64

Review Men In Black [1997] / Sony Pictures Home Entertainment:

This imaginative comedy from director Barry Sonnenfeld (Get Shorty) is a lot of fun, largely on the strength of Will Smith's engaging performance as the rookie partner of a secret agent (Tommy Lee Jones) assigned to keep tabs on Earth-dwelling extra-terrestrials. There's lots of comedy to spare in this bright film, some of the funniest stuff found in the margins of the major action (a scene with Smith's character being trounced in the distance by a huge alien while Jones questions a witness is a riot. ) The inventiveness never lets up, and the cast-including Vincent D'Onofrio doing frighteningly convincing work as an alien occupying a decaying human-hold up their end splendidly. -Tom Keogh, Amazon. com On the DVD: This Collector's Edition disc contains a "Visual Commentary" that features director Barry Sonenfeld and actor Tommy Lee Jones in an anecdotal conversation, but with the unique twist that they are displayed as silhouettes on your TV screen (imagine you're sitting in the back row of the cinema and they are up front) using a pointer to highlight particular events on screen. If you have a widescreen TV, the menu prompts you to switch to 4:3 mode to see this. There is also a "Visual Effects Scene Deconstruction" in which the tunnel scene and the Edgar Bug fight scene are dissected into their constituent parts; an in-depth documentary, "Metamorphosis of MIB", which charts the progress of the concept from comic book to screen; five "Extended and Alternate" scenes; trailers, including a teaser for MIB II; and Will Smith's "Men in Black" music video. -Mark Walker.

Review Paramount Home Entertainment / Star Trek Voyager - Vol. 4.3 (Revulsion/The Raven) [1996]
Actors & Directors
  • Robert Beltran
  • Robert Picardo
  • Roxann Dawson
  • LeVar Burton
  • Kenneth Biller
  • Kate Mulgrew
  • Ethan Phillips
Release date: 1998-04-06
Run time: 88 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £12.14

Review Star Trek Voyager - Vol. 4.3 (Revulsion/The Raven) [1996] / Paramount Home Entertainment:


Review Paramount Home Entertainment / Star Trek : Deep Space Nine - Movie - Emissary / What You Leave Behind
Actors & Directors
  • Allan Kroeker
  • Avery Brooks
  • David Carson
  • Rene Auberjonois
Release date: 2000-10-23
Run time: 176 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £2.99

Review Star Trek : Deep Space Nine - Movie - Emissary / What You Leave Behind / 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 Paramount Home Entertainment / Star Trek : Deep Space Nine - Vol. 4.2 - The Visitor / Hippocratic Oath [1995]
Actors & Directors
  • Cirroc Lofton
  • Rene Auberjonois
  • Terry Farrell
  • David Livingston
  • Michael Dorn
  • Avery Brooks
  • Rene Auberjonois
Release date: 1996-03-11
Run time: 88 min.
RRP: £5.99
Price: £0.39

Review Star Trek : Deep Space Nine - Vol. 4.2 - The Visitor / Hippocratic Oath [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 / Babylon 5 - Vol. 18 - There All The Honor Lies / Knives [1994]
Actors & Directors
  • Stephen Furst
  • Bill Mumy
  • Michael Vejar
  • Robert Rusler
  • Stephen L. Posey
  • Bruce Boxleitner
  • Andrea Thompson
Release date: 1996-11-25
Run time: 84 min.
RRP: £12.99
Price: £0.90

Review Babylon 5 - Vol. 18 - There All The Honor Lies / Knives [1994] / Warner Home Video:


Models & Brands:
Star Trek The Next Generation - Vol. 3.7 - Captain's Holiday / Tin Man / Hollow Pursuits / The Most Toys [1990], Star Trek The Next Generation - Vol. 1.1 - Encounter at Farpoint, Space Patrol - Vol. 1 - Episodes 1-4 [1963], Star Trek The Next Generation - Vol. 3.6 - The Offspring / Sins of the Father / Allegiance [1990], Star Trek Voyager - Vol. 6.10 (Child's Play/Good Shepherd) [1996], The Astronaut's Wife [1999], Lexx - Vol. 3.1 - 3.01 Fire and Water / 3.02 May / 3.03 Gametown [1999], Farscape Vol. 1.8 - 1.17 Through the Looking Glass / 1.18 A Bug's Life [1999], P.R.O.B.E. - The Zero Imperative [1994], Star Trek Voyager - Vol. 2.11 - Resolutions / Basics Part One [2001], Space Patrol - Vol. 2 - Episodes 5-8 [1963], Bubblegum Crisis - Tokyo 2040 - Vol. 8, Star Trek Voyager - Vol. 6.7 (Virtuoso/Memorial) [1996], Farscape Vol. 1.7 - 1.15 Durka Returns / 1.16 A Human Reaction [1999], Star Trek Voyager - Vol. 6.8 (Tsunkatse/Collective) [1996], Men In Black [1997], Star Trek Voyager - Vol. 4.3 (Revulsion/The Raven) [1996], Star Trek : Deep Space Nine - Movie - Emissary / What You Leave Behind, Star Trek : Deep Space Nine - Vol. 4.2 - The Visitor / Hippocratic Oath [1995], Babylon 5 - Vol. 18 - There All The Honor Lies / Knives [1994]

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