TV on DVD Buzz

Here is this week’s edition for TV on DVD Releases in the science fiction category.

Battlestar Galactica Season 4.5 - This release is a 4 disc set. It includes over 10 hours of bonus features including never before seen extended episodes. This release is also being released on Blu-Ray.

Doctor Who: Planet of the Dead - This release is a one disc release with the “Planet of the Dead” episode of Doctor Who. The only bonus feature is an hour long episode of Doctor Who Confidential, which is about the production and location filming of the “Planet of the Dead” episode. This release is also being released on Blu-Ray.

Dollhouse: Season One - This release is a four disc set. This release includes the 13 episodes from the show’s first season along with a good amount of bonus features. The bonus features include audio commentary version of two episodes, the original unaired pilot, deleted scenes, and the following featurettes: Making Dollhouse, Coming Back Home, Finding Echo, Designing the Perfect Dollhouse, and A Private Engagement. This release is also being released on Blu-Ray.

Life On Mars: Series 1 - This release is a four disc set of the first series/season of the British Life on Mars show. The bonus features include audio commentaries, an hour long documentary called “Take a Look at the Lawman,” interview with director Bharat Nalluri, “The Music of Life on Mars” featurette with composer Ed Butt, “Get Sykes” featurette with production designer Brian Sykes, and outtakes.

Torchwood: Children of Earth - This release is a two disc set of the show’s third series/season. This season has only 5 episodes compared to 12 that the first two had. This release is also being released on Blu-Ray.

Here is this week’s edition for TV on DVD Releases in the drama category.

Charlie’s Angels - The Complete Fourth Season – This release is a six disc set of the show’s fourth season.

Hotel: The First Season – This release is a six disc set. It includes the film pilot and the 22 episodes from the show’s first season.

Monk: Season Seven – This release is a four disc set of the show’s seventh season. This season includes 16 episodes. This season includes the 100th episode in the series, which is called “Mr. Monk’s 100th Case!”

Prison Break: The Final Break – This release is a Prison Break movie. I do not think it ever aired on television, but it is part of the show’s overall series of events.

Psych: The Complete Third Season – This release is a four disc set. This set includes all 16 episodes from the third season.

Pushing Daisies: The Complete Second Season – This release is a four disc set of the show’s second season. The episodes in this season include “Bzzzzzzzzz!,” “Circus Circus,” “Bad Habits,” “Frescorts,” “Dim Sum Lose Some,” “Oh Oh Oh It’s Magic,” “Robbing Hood,” “Comfort Food,” “Lighthouse,” “The Norwegians,” “Window Dressed to Kill,” “Water & Power,” and “Kerplunk.” This release is also being released in Blu-Ray format.

Stargate SG-1: Children of the Gods – This release is of the show’s pilot episode. The episodes new features include a New Edit with Never-Viewed Scenes, New and Enhanced Visual Effects, Revoiced Performance by Christopher Judge, Original Score by Joel Goldsmith. The DVD special features include Commentary by Co-Creator Brad Wright and Actor Richard Dean Anderson and Back to the Beginning Featurette.

Here is this week’s edition for TV on DVD Releases in the science fiction category.

Doctor Who: Attack of the Cybermen - This releases is just one episode of the show. It is episode 138.

Doctor Who: The Rescue / The Romans - This release is a two disc set with the show’s 11th and 12th episodes.

Here is this week’s edition for TV on DVD Releases in the science fiction category.

Eureka: Season 3.0 - This release is a two disc set of the SciFi Channel show.

Stargate Atlantis: The Complete Fifth Season - This release is a five disc set of the show’s fifth season.

Here is this week’s edition for TV on DVD Releases in the comedy category.

The Best of Abbott & Costello 3 Pack Funniest Routines Volume 1, Funniest Routines Volume 2, & The Christmas Show - This release is a three disc set.

Best of Snoop Dogg’s Father Hood

RiffTrax Shorts Volume 1 from the stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000! - This release is contains 9 shorts.

RiffTrax Shorts Volume 2 from the stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000!

RiffTrax: Plan 9 From Outer Space from the stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000!

Rifftrax: Night of the Living Dead from the stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000!

RiffTrax: Missile to the Moon from the stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000!

RiffTrax: Carnival of Souls - from the stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000!

RiffTrax: House on Haunted Hill from the stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000!

RiffTrax: Swing Parade from the stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000!

RiffTrax: Little Shop of Horrors from the stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000!

RiffTrax: Reefer Madness from the stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000!

The Three Stooges Collection Volume 6: 1949-1951 - This releases is a 2 disc set with 24 Three Stooges shorts.

Tyler Perry’s House of Payne Volume 4 - This release is a three disc set.

Here is this week’s edition for TV on DVD Releases in the science fiction category.

The Best of Star Trek: The Next Generation - This release is a simple one disc release with four episodes of the show. Certainly not something I notice much outside of kids television releases, but I guess it could serve as a cheaper way to introduce to the series than buying a whole season set. The included episodes are “Best of Both Worlds Part 1,” “Best of Both Worlds Part 2,” “Yesterday’s Enterprise,” and “The Measure of A Man.”

The Best of Star Trek: The Original Series - This is another one disc set with only four episodes of Star Trek. These episodes are from the original series. The included episodes are “City on the Edge of Forever,” “Trouble with Tribbles,” “Balance of Terror,” and “Amok Time.”

Here is this week’s edition for TV on DVD Releases in the science fiction categories.

Doctor Who: Battlefield - This release is of episode 156 of the show. This is a two disc set. The special features include a featurette, interviews, and a photo gallery.

Doctor Who: The E-Space Trilogy Full Circle/State of Decay/Warriors’ Gate - This release is episodes 112-114 in the Doctor Who series. This release is a three disc set. The special features include Audio Commentary, Deleted Scenes, a Featurette, Interviews, Production Notes, and more.

Gene Roddenberry’s Earth: Final Conflict Season 1 - This release is a five disc set. This is an interesting release in that the shows third and fourth seasons are already out. It seems the first two seasons were held up in a rights war between two studios over who owned the the rights to those seasons, while the other two seasons were clearly owned by the one studio.

Here is this week’s edition for TV on DVD Releases in the science fiction/fantasy category.

Doctor Who: The Key to Time Special Collector’s Edition - This is a seven disc set of The Key to Time series. It has been released before, but this edition is full of special audio commentaries by Tom Baker and Mary Tamm and other special features.

Doctor Who: The Power of Kroll - This sounds like it just one of the discs that are part of The Key to Time set and it might not have the extra goodies that the disc has in the set.

Doctor Who: The Armageddon Factor - Perhaps another one of the ones from the set, but I am not sure, as there was no review on this one, which is what alerted me to the one above being in the set.

Doctor Who: The Ribos Operation - Yet another release possibly part of the first set described.

Doctor Who: The Pirate Planet - Possibly the fourth in the set.

Doctor Who: The Stones of Blood - The fifth???

Doctor Who: The Androids of Tara - The sixth??? It seems that all of these other six are the discs being released separately, as there happens to be six releases besides the set. I do not know if the discs are exactly the same on their own, but perhaps it is worth while for those that do not want to buy the set all at once.

Stargate: The Ark of Truth/Stargate: Continuum - This is two Stargate movies based on the show that direct to DVD releases. This is having regular DVD and Blu-Ray releases.

Here is this week’s edition for TV on DVD Releases in the science fiction/horror category.

A Haunting - Demon Angels - This contains four episodes of the Discovery Channel show that recreates haunted happenings based on eyewitness accounts. The episodes included are “The Possessed,” “The Presence,” “The Wheatsheaf Horror,” and “The Unleashed.”

A Haunting: House Of Fear - This contains another four episodes of the show. The episodes included are “The Forgotten,” “The Attic,” “Fear House,” and “Hidden Terror.”

Friday the 13th the Series: The Second Season - 2009 is a big year for fans of Friday the 13th with the movie remake, movie rereleases on DVD, and the second season of the show coming to DVD. This is a 6 disc set of the second season.

Tales from the Darkside: The First Season - This release is a three disc set of the series first season.

Here is this week’s edition for TV on DVD Releases in the science fiction category.

Classic Sci-Fi TV: 150 Episodes - This release contains 150 episodes of classic Science Fiction television. It is a 12 disc set with over 40 hours of footage from 24 shows. It includes 4 episodes of Captain Fathom, 24 episodes of Captain Z-Ro, 1 episode of Climax, 1 episode of Destination Space, 14 episodes of Flash Gordon, 2 episodes of G.E. Theatre, 1 episode of Here Comes Tobor, 1 episode of Invisible Avenger, 1 episode of Johnny Jupiter, 4 episodes of Lights Out, 1 episode of Mandrake, The Magician, 16 episodes of One Step Beyond, 1 episode of Operation ESP, 12 episodes of Phantom Empire, 12 episodes of Radar Men From the Moon, 23 episodes of Rocky Jones, 1 episode of The Shadow, 9 episodes of Space Angel, 1 episod of Stamp Day for Superman, 1 episode of The Star & The Story, 1 episode of Tales of Frankenstein, 6 episodes of Tales of Tomorrow, 1 episode of Thriller and 12 episodes of Undersea Kingdom.

The Invaders The Second Season - This is the second and final season of The Invaders. This release is a 7 disc set containing the 26 episodes from the second season. This Sci Fi series appears to be known for being more about the drama than the special effects, thus creating more believable plots than some other sci fi shows. Amazon also has the first two seasons available as a set, although it currently costs 1 penny more than buying them separately.

M.A.N.T.I. S: Complete Series - This release contains the complete M.A.N.T.I.S. series in a 4 disc set. It is not much of a series with only one episode, but I guess they decided to call it Complete Series rather than Season One. It may just be me, but Series tends to imply it at least had two seasons, although technically I guess you just need two episodes to become a series. This release contains the feature length pilot movie, the 20 episodes aired on FOX, and the 2 episodes that did not air on FOX, but have aired on the Sci Fi Channel. It seems some people liked this show while others call it cheesy.

It’s finally here! LOST: The Complete Third Season — The Unexplored Experience released today. My copy hasn’t hit the mailbox yet, but rest assured a LOST marathon is in my near future. The rewatching of Season 3 must occur before Season 4 premieres in February.

With the writers’ strike still going strong, rewatching my faves is pretty much the only option anyway. Most of the shows have finished up their runs and it’s not looking like a resolution is even close.  

 LOST: The Complete Third Season is a 7 disc set which includes all 23 episodes and a plethora of bonus features:

*One-on-one with star Matthew Fox
*Featurette on “The Others,”
*Documentary chronicling 24 hours in production and a selection of never-before-seen flashbacks.
*Behind-the-scenes looks at 10 episodes
*Audio commentaries
*Deleted scenes
*Bloopers

In honor of the DVD Awards win as “Best One Season Wonder,” today we feature The Dresden Files. The Dresden Files is actually more like a half-season wonder, premiering on the Sci-Fi Network on January 12, 2007 and airing only 12 episodes. It was announced on August 3, 2007 that The Dresden Files would not be renewed for a second season.

The show was based on the series of books by Jim Butcher and centers around Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden (named by his father after Harry Houdini, Harry Blackstone, Sr., and David Copperfield). Dresden is the only professional wizard in modern-day Chicago (he’s even listed in the phone book) and he uses his magic to battle vampires, demons, spirits, faeries, werewolves and others. It’s a tough life for a modern day private detective. Thank goodness, the Chicago PD’s Special Investigation unit, led by Lt. Connie Murphy, frequently calls on Dresden to help solve cases involving the supernatural.

The show starred Paul Blackthorne as Harry Dresden, Valerie Cruz as Lt. Murphy, Terrence Mann as Hrothbert “Bob” of Bainbridge and Conrad Coates as Warden Donald Morgan.

After the series was cancelled, fans began a campaign to bring it back. They gathered over 4,000 signatures on a petition and sent drumsticks to the Sci-Fi Network in hopes of convincing them to change their mind. The campaign was unsuccessful and the series remained cancelled.

The 3 disc DVD set, which released on August 7, 2007, includes all 12 episodes plus commentary, deleted scenes and a behind-the-scenes featurette.

I warned you that I was going to devote this week to Twin Peaks. In keeping with that theme, I wanted to take a look at the only thing that’s really missing from the Gold Box set that released yesterday - the big screen release Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.

This movie is quite darker and, believe it or not, even stranger than the television series. It served as both a “prequel” and an epilogue to the series and answered some of the questions about Laura Palmer that many fans had. The film centers around the murder of Teresa Banks and the last seven days in the life of Laura Palmer, but you really need to be familiar with the series to “get” everything that goes on in the movie. Most of the original cast returned for the film, with the exceptions of Lara Flynn Boyle (who was replaced by Moira Kelly, late of One Tree Hill) and Sherilyn Fenn. Many fans of the television series were not happy with the film because of it’s darker tone, disturbing images and lack of humor. The film was panned by critics and booed at the Cannes Film Festival.

I recommend it for true Twin Peaks fans, because it does make a nice companion to the television series and because it completes the collection.

The current DVD is lacking in special features but does include an original documentary, Reflections on the Phenomenon of Twin Peaks, featuring the cast and crew. There is some buzz that a future release may contain deleted scenes from the over 5 hours of footage shot by David Lynch for the theatrical release. Many Twin Peaks fanatics would love to see that happen.

I’m a little disappointed that they didn’t include it in the Gold Box set, but apparently the rights are owned by different entities making it next to impossible.

OK, I know Twin Peaks was technically on for more than one season, but just barely. 29 episodes plus a pilot doesn’t really qualify for two seasons, so I’m using editor’s discretion and featuring it today anyway. So there.

Twin Peaks was created by David Lynch and Mark Frost. It premiered on April 8, 1990 and was like nothing we had ever experienced on American TV. It ran for a season and a half, ending on June 10, 1991. A “prequel” movie, Fire Walk With Me, followed in 1992.

In its first season, Twin Peaks was honored with 14 Emmy nominations, 2 Emmy awards, and the Peabody award. They also took home 4 Golden Globes out of 5 nominations.

The show was set in the fictional town of Twin Peaks in northeastern Washington state. The story centered around coffee-loving FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachlan) and his investigation of the murder of Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee). Palmer was a high school student and homecoming queen. Her body was found on the river bank, wrapped in plastic - a very memorable and iconic scene. We soon find out that Laura Palmer was not the wholesome girl she appeared to be and Agent Cooper begins the daunting task of untangling the sordid web of characters she was involved with. (more…)

Invasion was a show that I quite liked and was sorry to see cancelled. Created by former teen idol Shaun Cassidy, it debuted in the fall of 2005 in the plum slot following ABC’s big hit LOST. It told the story of an alien invastion in the aftermath of a hurricane in a Florida town, which was a little hard for ABC to promote after the devastation of Hurricane’s Katrina and Rita just prior to the opening of the television season. They had to rethink their marketing campaign and focused solely on the alien aspect of the show, rather than the hurricane.

Despite the changes made in promotion of the show, it opened big with 17 million viewers, but viewership quickly dropped off and ABC lost confidence in the show. They pulled the show twice during the season for extended hiatus which damaged viewership even more.

The story focused on park ranger Russell Varon and his family. His wife, Larkin, was a television reporter. Her brother, Dave, was a deadbeat conspiracy theorist living in their barn. Russell’s kids, Jesse and Rose, split their time between him and his ex-wife, Dr. Mariel Underlay and her husband, creepy Sheriff Tom Underlay. Tom’s daughter, Kira, was also a big part of the story. During the hurricane Rose had seen hundreds of lights entering the water. Mariel disappeared, only to later turn up naked in the swamp - but she was different. She had a strange affinity for water and didn’t seem quite herself. Tom shut down the city and placed them under quarantine and none of this seemed right to Russell. He and Dave begin investigating all the strange occurrences and find that they are dealing with much more than just the effects of a hurricane.

The cast included Eddie Cibrian (Third Watch) as Russell Varon, William Fichtner (Prison Break) as Sheriff Tom Underlay, Kari Matchett (24) as Dr. Mariel Underlay, Lisa Sheridan as Larkin Groves, Tyler Labine (Reaper) as Dave Groves, Alexis Dziena as Kira Underlay, Evan Peters as Jesse Varon, and Ariel Gade as Rose Varon.

I thought this show had some great character development and moved along at a nice pace. Many other fans loved it as well and started a Save Invasion campaign after it was cancelled. It was rumored that CW might pick it up, but that didn’t come to pass. Unfortunately, the show ended with a cliffhanger that we’ll never have reconciled making this DVD a bittersweet recommendation.

Included on the DVD release are all 22 episodes plus 50 minutes of extras including 12 deleted scenes, a gag reel and a documentary, Invading the Mind of Shaun Cassidy.