January 30th 2009:

January 30th :Press releases for new games and DVDs…

New press releases are online now for the following:

• Hotel Giant 2 on PC DVD
• Raging Bull on Blu-ray
• Fall Guy Season 2 on DVD
• The Hunting Party on DVD
• Burn After Reading on DVD and Blu-ray
• The Accidental Husband on DVD
• Not Going Out Series 2 on DVD
• Rockstar 09 – Open for entries
• Pride 32: The Real Deal on DVD
• Pride: Shockwave 2006 on DVD
• No Mercy 2007 on DVD
• Cyber Sunday 2007 on DVD
• WWE The Twisted, Disturbed Life Of Kane on DVD
• Starrcade: The Essential Collection on DVD
• WWE: Live In The UK November 2008 on DVD

The latest press releasesare online now.

New films at this cinema this weekend…

Stuck for something to do this weekend? The list of films showing atManchcester Showcase Cinema can be found on this page, and won’t differmuch from what’s on in the rest of the country.

The new films out include: Milk and Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist.

January 29th :Bon Iver have a brief treat on CD…

Justin Vernon, aka Bon Iver, hit all the right buttons with his album ForEmma, Forever Ago wforDVDfever.co.uk reviewer Elly Robertsand this new four-track EP promises to have just the same result.

Bon Iver: Blood Bank EPis online and out now on CD.

Tom Jones has some love as a CD single…

And an extra slice of music comes in the form of a new single from Mr Tom Jones,released towards the end of February, courtesy ofDVDfever.co.uk reviewer Elly Roberts.

Tom Jones: Give a Little Loveis online and out on CD single from February 23rd 2009.

January 28th :Join the Animal Collective on CD…

With traces of the excellent Yello, this band are similarly the experimentalkind but can they pull it off as well?DVDfever.co.uk reviewer Elly Robertslends an ear, and this review also includes the press release for their newsingle and tour dates, plus a video for that single, My Girls.

Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavillionis online and out now on CD.

January 27th :CHARTS: Lady Gaga vs Pink – who got the No.1…?

Check out themusic chart analysis pagewhich is online now.

The release dates for singles and albums go up until late March.

January 26th :Manhunt 2: One of the goriest console games gets a belated sequel, on PS2…

Out now :

I really enjoyed the first game. Yes, it’s not for children but then it has got an 18-certificate on the box.However, this murderous jaunt around a mental asylum has come over a year later than the US and it’s also censored.And at this point it’s almost five years since the original came out, so is it a rather belated offering?

Manhunt 2is online and out now on Sony PS2.

Slumdog Millionaire: See the biggest film of the year, hear the soundtrack…

Nominated for 10 Oscars, Danny Boyle’s latest movie has had a massive amount of critical acclaim andDVDfever.co.uk reviewer Elly Robertshas plenty of that too for the soundtrack itself.

Slumdog Millionaire: Original Soundtrackis online and out now on CD.

Jack’s back and his new enemy has a twist to his story in 24 as the 7th Season continues…

Yes, a whole 19 months after the last time he was onscreen in a full series, Kiefer Sutherland returns and there’sa twist in the tale regarding the fact Tony’s his latest enemy. Has he really betrayed him?

Find out whatDVDfever.co.uk reviewer, Dan Owen made of this episode in this new review, which premiered on his excellent site, Dan’s Media Digest.

A review of24 Season 7: Episodes 3 & 4is online and the next episode is on tonight on Sky 1 at 9pm, with several repeats throughout the week.

CHARTS: Lady Gaga vs Pink – who got the new No.1…?

Check back shortly for the latest charts on themusic chart analysis page.

New DVD highlights out this week…

Once again, we look at a few titles in more detail.

The titles of note are the following, but read on for further details about the highlights:

• Ashes Of Time Redux (15.99 DVD, 19.99 Blu-ray, Artificial Eye)
• Death Proof (24.99 Blu-ray, Momentum)
• Doctor Who: The E Space Trilogy (34.99, BBC)
• The Fall (17.99 DVD, 24.99 Blu-ray, Momentum)
• Fly Me To The Moon (17.99, Momentum)
• Little Dorrit (34.99, BBC)
• Married Life (19.99, Fox)
• Moonstone (15.99, BBC)
• Planet Terror (24.99 Blu-ray, Momentum)
• The Royle Family: Christmas 2008 – The New Sofa (17.99, ITV DVD)
• Tropic Thunder (26.99 DVD & Blu-ray, Paramount)
• WWE The History Of The Intercontinental Championship (29.99, Silver Vision)

Little Dorrit:

A victim of her father’s debt, ‘Little Dorrit’ has spent her childhood behind the heavy, iron doors of Marshalsea Prison. But will a chance meeting change her life? Andrew Davies’ gripping new series brings to life Dickens’ classic tale of hardship and struggle in 1820s London, where larger-than-life characters leap from rags to riches (and back again), and fortunes can be reversed in an instant.

Returning home after many years abroad, Arthur Clennam is surprised by the mysterious presence of Amy Dorrit, a young seamstress, in his mother’s house. Troubled by the Dorrits’ plight, and suspecting his own family’s involvement in their downfall, he resolves to help them. Delving into the puzzling connections between the two families, Arthur entangles himself in a mystery that transcends the walls of Marshalsea to include an epic scope, and a personal resonance, that makes this tale one of the most exhilarating and stirring in history. And as the truth unfolds, Arthur discovers that the shadow of debt can fall in the most unlikely of places…

Little Dorrit is out now on DVD (£25.69).

Doctor Who: The E Space Trilogy.

The E-Space Trilogy contains the following:

Full Circle: The Doctor discovers the TARDIS has fallen into E-Space and landed on the planet Alzarius. Its only inhabitants live on a vast, dilapidated spaceship which they have been attempting to repair for generations in order to return to their home planet. But Mistfall, a legendary time of terror, is coming again to Alzarius, and an eerie menace is rising out of the misty marshes. The Doctor and Romana must solve the riddle of the strange Marshmen if they are to have any chance of returning to their own universe.

State of Decay: Searching for a way out of E-Space, the Doctor and Romana, joined by a young stowaway, land on an Earth-like planet. Here the people live in fear of ‘the Three who Rule’; cruel lords who live in a high tower overlooking their village. Suppressing all learning to keep their subjects ignorant and helpless, what chilling secret are these ruthless monarchs concealing? An ancient evil is rising once again and only the Doctor and Romana can destroy it.

Warriors’ Gate: A strange creature forces its way into the TARDIS steering them to a white void occupied only by the ruins of an old building and a spaceship. This empty space is a gateway to the past and future and the creature responsible for taking them there is Biroc, a Tharil, an enslaved race. The gateway offers the only exit out of E-Sapce, but the void is contracting. Are the Doctor and his friends fated to spend eternity in E-Space? And what final shock revelation awaits the Doctor?

For full details of the large amount of extras, click on the packshot.

Doctor Who: The E Space Trilogy is out now on DVD (£25.69).

Tropic Thunder (3-Disc Directors Cut).

When box office champ Ben Stiller’s comedic performances aren’t a variation on a soft-spoken, put-upon everyman with an eventual fuse, he’s usually playing a full-blown absurdist monster with an apoplectic Napoleon complex. These bizarre creations usually adorn films in which the funnyman provides the supporting work (DODGEBALL, HEAVYWEIGHTS), but, whenever he’s directing, he’s free to build an entire filmic universe around his asinine, ludicrously funny, culture-skewering characters and premises. His ZOOLANDER (2001) bit at the entertainment industry with silly abandon, but Stiller has firmly set TROPIC THUNDER within the realm of sophisticated Hollywood satire.

In it, a desperate director named Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan) trying to make a Vietnam war movie drops his pampered actors into the heart of the jungle. Cockburn’s stars include Stiller as an action hero who’s starting to make bad career choices, Jack Black as an insecure low-brow comedy star going through heroin withdrawals, and Robert Downey Jr. as an Australian Oscar winner so lost in his ‘craft’ he underwent a procedure to become black for his role. In the jungle, they remain under the delusion that they are still being filmed even after they encounter a dangerous gang of drug lords.

The film’s basic premise has popped up several times since Hollywood’s 1970s golden age in films such as THREE AMIGOS! and GALAXY QUEST. Where those films simply blanketed a classic Overconfident Bumbling Idiot comedy showcase with a pop culture lexicon, however, TROPIC THUNDER could have only been made, as on-the-nose at is, by people who have been working in the Hollywood system for years, making cutting observations along the way. Simply put, this raucous satire knows big-budget filmmaking, the delusional narcissism of actors, and even the good points of those actors–perhaps why they’re celebrated–like the back of its hand.

Tropic Thunder (3-Disc Directors Cut) is out now on DVD (£16.98) andBlu-ray (£16.98).

The Royle Family: Christmas 2008 – The New Sofa.

The nation’s favourite couch potatoes return for this one-off Christmas special. Events begin, as usual, in and around the Royle’s comfortable living room. But quickly move on to the equally tasteful surroundings of Dave and Denise flat, as Denise attempts to cook Christmas dinner.

Created by Caroline Aherne and Craig Cash, THE ROYLE FAMILY’s subtle humour and surprisingly poignant moments have seen it become a modern comedy classic.

The Royle Family: Christmas 2008 – The New Sofa is out now on DVD (£10.98).

January 23rd :Press releases for new games and DVDs…

New press releases are online now for the following:

• Roadkill 2, Devil’s Child, Hit & Run on DVD
• The Crew on DVD
• Recount on DVD
• Dallas Season 10 on DVD
• Xbox 360 records biggest year ever
• Garbage Warrior and Sakuran on DVD
• Underbelly Season 1 on DVD
• Waterloo Road Series 3 Autumn Term on DVD
• Fly Me To The Moon on DVD
• Fighter on DVD
• Law & Order Season 6 on DVD
• The Black Balloon on DVD
• Journey To The Center Of The Earth on DVD
• Pink Panther on DVD and Blu-ray
• Hunger on DVD
• Kill Switch on DVD and Blu-ray
• Oz and James’ Drink to Britain on DVD
• Transsiberian on DVD and Blu-ray
• Somers Town on DVD and Blu-ray
• Married Life on DVD
• The Duchess on DVD and Blu-ray
• Empire of Sports – Online tennis tournament

The latest press releasesare online now.

New films at this cinema this weekend…

Stuck for something to do this weekend? The list of films showing atManchcester Showcase Cinema can be found on this page, and won’t differmuch from what’s on in the rest of the country.

The new films out include: Underworld: Rise of the Lycans, Valkyrie and Slumdog Millionaire.

January 21st :Eddi Reader celebrates Robert Burns’ birthday on CD…

It’s been almost 21 years to the day since I first heard Fairground Attraction’sNo.1 single Perfect and someone else who’ll celebrate a significantanniversary is the legendary Robert Burns who will celebrate his 250th birthdayin 2009, if he were alive to do so. However, Eddi Reader will celebrate withan album of 18 tracks in his honour. Check out whatDVDfever.co.uk reviewer Elly Robertsthinks of it.

Eddi Reader: The Songs of Robert Burnsis online and out now on CD.

January 20th :CHARTS: Lady Gaga vs Kid Cudi – who got the No.1…?

Check out themusic chart analysis pagewhich is online now.

The release dates for singles and albums go up until late March.

January 19th :Shut Up & Shoot Me: a comedy about a man wanting to die, on DVD…

Out now :

Yes, it doesn’t sound like anything to laugh about as Colin Frampton’s wife is killed in a tragic accident and he hires anodd-job man to become a hitman, but you’d be surprised where the human condition takes you in desperate times. Karel Roden,star of many mainstream films – even though you may not recognise the name, and Dead Set‘s Andy Nyman are an unlikelypairing in this great new movie.

Shut Up & Shoot Meis online and out now on DVD.

World of Warcraft gets a new game to play on PC DVD-ROM…

Easily the biggest MMORPG around to date, there’s a whole new world in which to play and find out whether you have whatit takes as you read the opinion fromDVDfever.co.uk reviewer, Gaz Williams.

World of Warcraft: The Wrath of the Lich Kingis online and available now on PC DVD-ROM.

Jack’s back and he’s having yet another bad day in 24 as the 7th Season begins…

Yes, a whole 19 months after the last time he was onscreen in a full series, Kiefer Sutherland returns and there’sa new enemy and it’s someone he just can’t believe has betrayed him.

Find out whatDVDfever.co.uk reviewer, Dan Owen made of this episode in this new review, which premiered on his excellent site, Dan’s Media Digest.

A review of24 Season 7: Episodes 1 & 2is online and the next episode is on tonight on Sky 1 at 9pm, with several repeats throughout the week.

CHARTS: Lady Gaga vs Kid Cudi – who got the new No.1…?

Check back shortly for the latest charts on themusic chart analysis page.

New DVD highlights out this week…

Once again, we look at a few titles in more detail.

The titles of note are the following, but read on for further details about the highlights:

• Caught In A Trap (Connie Fisher) (15.99, Target)
• Dallas Season 10 (24.99, Warner)
• Dawson’s Weekly: The Complete Series (14.99, Network)
• Disaster Movie (17.99 DVD, 24.99 Blu-ray, Momentum)
• Doctor Who: The Next Doctor – 2008 Christmas Special (15.99, BBC)
• Eden Lake (15.99 DVD, 24.99 Blu-ray, Optimum)
• The Flying Doctors (Season 1, 34.99, Fremantle)
• Masada (19.99, Universal)
• Paul McCartney: In Performance (12.99, Edgehill)
• Scrubs Season 7 (25.99, Buena Vista)
• You Don’t Mess with the Zohan (19.99 DVD, 24.99 Blu-ray, Sony)

Doctor Who: The Next Doctor – 2008 Christmas Special:

It’s Christmas Eve in 1851 and Cybermen stalk the snow of Victorian London, in this special Christmas edition of Russell T Davies’s Bafta Award-winning time-travelling drama. Starring David Tennant, David Morrissey and Dervla Kirwan.

When the Doctor arrives and starts to investigate a spate of mysterious deaths, he’s surprised to meet another Doctor, and soon the two must combine forces to defeat the ruthless Miss Hartigan. But are two Doctors enough to stop the Cybermen?

Along with the latest Christmas adventure, this DVD features Doctor Who At The Proms. Filmed at the BBC Proms in July, this musical odyssey through time and space is hosted by Freema Agyeman (Martha Jones) and features a surprise guest appearance by Catherine Tate (Donna Noble) and the specially filmed scene starring David Tennant. With the Tardis on stage at London’s Royal Albert Hall.

Doctor Who: The Next Doctor – 2008 Christmas Special is out now on DVD (£10.98).

Scrubs Season 7.

With its deft combination of humour and heart, this single-camera sitcom is a both a critical and cult favourite. Scrubs stars Zach Braff as J.D., an eager doctor at Sacred Heart Hospital. With J.D. as its narrator, the show frequently dips into surrealism as it shows his strange thoughts and daydreams. The rest of the characters on SCRUBS are equally eccentric: best friend Turk (Donald Faison), bossy nurse Carla (Judy Reyes), J.D.’s reluctant mentor Dr. Cox (John C. McGinley), the anxiety-ridden ex-girlfriend Elliot (Sarah Chalke), and J.D.’s arch nemesis, known simply as ‘Janitor’ (Neil Flynn).

Get ready for an extra dose of laughs, and enjoy every surreal moment as Scrubs hits new heights in its sensational seventh season. Elliot, Turk and Carla may be growing older but they aren’t necessarily growing up, even as career changes, family issues and love invade the quirky world of Sacred Heart. Complete with exclusive bonus features – including a behind-the-scenes look at the “fairytale” episode directed by Zach Braff, bloopers and alternate lines, this is off-the-charts entertainment you’ll want to watch over and over again.

Special Features

• My Making Of II: “My Princess”
• One-On-One With Ken Jenkins (Dr. Robert “Bob” Kelso)
• Alternate Lines
• Deleted Scenes
• Bloopers
• Audio Commentaries

Scrubs Season 7 is out now on DVD (£17.99).

You Don’t Mess with the Zohan.

If You Don’t Mess with the Zohan feels like an extended and crazed sketch from Saturday Night Live, there are reasons for that. Zohan’s star and SNL alumnus Adam Sandler is joined by several fellow cast members (in uncredited cameo roles) from his years on the NBC show. But Sandler also co-wrote the film’s absurdist script with SNL veteran writer and sometime-performer Robert Smigel. Echoes of a few of their classic skits on the show–built around high-strung Israeli characters obsessed with disco and selling junk electronics out of a New York shop–are revisited in Zohan and are a lot of fun to see again.

Zohan is unbridled nonsense thrown at the wall, but with a sunny disposition that proves surprisingly persuasive. Sandler stars as an Israeli intelligence operative who fakes his death to reinvent himself in New York City as a hairdresser. Putting the lie to assumptions that any man in that professional field must be gay, Zohan routinely provides raucous sexual favours for all his older female customers. The sight of bottles of gels and hairsprays falling off shelves while the indefatigable Zohan pleasures frisky grannies is pure SNL, and is funnier than it might sound.

The silly story involves an old, Palestinian enemy of Zohan, the Phantom (John Turturro), showing up in Manhattan, but everything is really leading to a Big Apple version of the resolution of Israeli-Palestinian conflicts we’d all like to see on a large scale.

You Don’t Mess with the Zohan is out now on DVD (£9.98) andBlu-ray (£15.98).

January 16th :Press releases for new games and DVDs…

New press releases are online now for the following:

• Quantum of Solace on DVD and Blu-ray
• Gomorrah on DVD and Blu-ray
• The Fall on DVD and Blu-ray
• Little Miss Sunshine & Man on Fire on Blu-ray
• Emergency 4: Global Fighter for Life on PC DVD
• The Cosby Show Season 4 on DVD
• Taken on DVD and Blu-ray
• Splinter on DVD and Blu-ray
• John Adams on DVD

The latest press releasesare online now.

New films at this cinema this weekend…

Stuck for something to do this weekend? The list of films showing atManchcester Showcase Cinema can be found on this page, and won’t differmuch from what’s on in the rest of the country.

The new films out include: Seven Pounds, Beverly Hills Chihuahua, Clubbed, The Wrestler and My Bloody Valentine.

January 15th :Whisky Cats on CD: a jack of all trades, but do they master them all…?

Trying out several different styles on one album, including rhythmic groove,funky baselines, some acoustic, a ballad and even influences from Scott Joplin,does this band have what it takes? Find out fromDVDfever.co.uk reviewer Elly Roberts.

Whisky Cats: Whisky Catsis online and out now on CD.

January 14th :CHARTS: Lady Gaga vs Alexandra – who got the No.1…?

Check out themusic chart analysis pagewhich is online now.

The release dates for singles and albums go up until mid-Februaryand there are also lists for early 2009 so you can plan your post-Xmas music purchases.

January 12th 2009 :Vin Diesel is a bounty hunter with a mission in Babylon A.D. on DVD…

Out now :

With a special kind of cargo that has to be transported all the way from the Soviet Union to New York, but what is the reasonfor the trip and who’s behind it all? And if Michelle Yeoh’s involved, will she join Vin Diesel in the occasional fight scene?Questions to be answered, but will you enjoy the answers?

Babylon A.D.is online and out now on DVD.

Son Ambulance release an excellent third album on CD…

Often, the third album is seen as a difficult one for most bands, butDVDfever.co.uk reviewer, Elly Robertshas plenty of praise for this new release, filled with a “melange of 60s and 70s lush popish delights”.

Son Ambulance: Someone Else’s Déjà Vuis online CD and available now.

Will David Morrissey be The Next Doctor?…

Well, that question has already been answered, but find out whatDVDfever.co.uk reviewer, Dan Owen made of the 2008 Xmas episode in this new review.

A review ofDoctor Who: The Next Doctoris online and the next Special, Planet of the Dead is expected to appear in time for Easter.

CHARTS: Lady Gaga vs X-Factor’s Alexandra – who got the new No.1…?

Check back shortly for the latest charts on themusic chart analysis page.

New DVD highlights out this week…

Once again, we look at a few titles in more detail, although there’s not a lot out this week.

The titles of note are the following, but read on for further details about the highlights:

• Apparitions Series 1 (29.99, BBC)
• The Big Bang Theory Season 1 (24.99, Warner)
• The Devil’s Chair (19.99 DVD, Sony)
• Eichmann (12.99 DVD, High Fliers)
• Kamikaze Girls (14.99 DVD, Third Window)
• Memories Of Matsuko (14.99 DVD, Third Window)
• No Regret (14.99 DVD, TLA Releasing)
• Pineapple Express (17.99 1-disc DVD, 19.99 2-disc DVD, 24.99 Blu-ray, Sony)
• Red Sorghum (19.99 DVD, Drakes Avenue)
• Resident Evil: Degeneration (19.99 DVD, 24.99 Blu-ray, Sony)
• The Wave (17.99 DVD, Momentum)
• WWE Viva La Raza: The Legacy Of Eddie Guerrero (29.99 DVD, Silver Vision)

The Big Bang Theory Season 1:

The delightful sitcom The Big Bang Theory revolves around a character type rarely seen on television: the alpha geek. Physicists Leonard (Johnny Galecki) and Sheldon (Jim Parsons) get their lives shaken up when an attractive young woman named Penny (Kaley Cuoco) moves in to the apartment across from theirs. The key to the show, though, is not that they both fall haplessly in love–Leonard does, but Sheldon remains impermeably aloof and caustic about anything resembling romance or human relationships in general.

While the push and pull of Leonard’s yearning for Penny motivates much of the series’ ongoing plot, the show’s real drive comes from Sheldon’s fantastic combination of obsessive-compulsive neurosis and grandiose obliviousness. He’s a brilliant comic creation, imperious and dorky, a seamless collaboration of clever writing and an inspired performance by Parsons. Whether Sheldon loses his job for insulting his new boss, or finds his ego bruised by a child prodigy, or finds himself unable to bear being part of a lie that Leonard has told, he attacks the world with a relentless need to assert his supremacy–and the results are deeply funny.

The triumph of The Big Bang Theory is that everyone is written with genuine affection. What could have been a lifeless parade of stereotypes becomes instead a charming collision of cultures. The familiar stuff (computer games, comic books, social incompetence) has the grit of specificity. The show understands the difference between Halo and Halo 3, knows what the Bottle City of Kandor is, and grasps the infinite variety of ways in which a conversation can go terribly awry.

Kudos as well to supporting players Simon Helberg and Kunal Nayyar, who bring their own variations on geekiness to the table, and to great appearances by some of Galecki’s former cohorts on Roseanne: Sara Gilbert as geekette Leslie and Laurie Metcalf as Sheldon’s fundamentalist mother. All in all, one of the most winning sitcoms in years.

The Big Bang Theory Season 1 is out now on DVD (£17.99).

January 9th :Press releases for new games and DVDs…

New press releases are online now for the following:

• The History of the Intercontinental Championship on 3-disc DVD
• WWE Unforgiven 2008 on DVD

The latest press releasesare online now.

New films at this cinema this weekend…

Stuck for something to do this weekend? The list of films showing atManchcester Showcase Cinema can be found on this page, and won’t differmuch from what’s on in the rest of the country.

The new films out include: Bride Wars, Stuck, Defiance, Sex Drive and Role Models.

January 8th 2009 :CHARTS: Lady Gaga vs Alexandra – who got the new No.1…?

Check out themusic chart analysis pagewhich is online now.

The release dates for singles and albums go up until mid-Februaryand there are also lists for early 2009 so you can plan your post-Xmas music purchases.

January 5th 2009 :It’s a game too far for Ben X on DVD…

Out now :

For the first new review for 2009, we take a look at a new movie from a first-time directory, a foreign film mostly shot inBelgium, about a teenager called Ben who spends far too much time playing online computer games to the point where he can’t function properlyin the real world, nor have much of a conversation with anyone and his only salvation is Scarlite, his companion in the gameArchlord who now knows him better than anyone else. This is the first must-see film of 2009.

Ben Xis online and out now on DVD.

Nitin Sawhney releases a fantastic new CD…

Having played at Glastonbury last year, Nitin Sawhney has made “an album of collaboration to capture the London I know” and,asDVDfever.co.uk reviewer, Elly Robertsconfirms, to say this is a unique and brilliant album is an understatement. Find out why in the review.thinks of this.

Nitin Sawhney: London Undersoundis online CD and available now.

Will The Company win in the end? Prison Break Season 4 continues…

DVDfever.co.uk reviewer, Dan Owen returns with reviewsof the eagerly awaited fourth season of Prison Break, this time bringing the first part of the season to a close, althoughhow much more of a series there is to be remains to be seen.

A review ofPrison Break Season 4: Episode 16is online and the series continues on Sky 1 later this year. The dates have yet to be set but late February is possible.

CHARTS: Lady Gaga vs X-Factor’s Alexandra – who got the first No.1 of the New Year…?

Check back shortly for the latest charts on themusic chart analysis page.

New DVD highlights out this week…

Once again, we look at a few titles in more detail, although there’s not a lot out this week.

The titles of note are the following, but read on for further details about the highlights:

• Tripods: Complete Series 1 & 2 (24.99, BBC)
• Steel Trap (12.99, Lions Gate)
• UFC Ultimate Fighting Championship 86: Jackson Vs Griffin (17.99, Silver Vision)
• Compulsion (19.99, C4 DVD)
• Winter Soldier (19.99, Stoney Road Films)
• The Orphanage (15.99, Optimum)

Tripods: Complete Series 1 & 2:

Science fiction fans viewing British television in the 1980s had much to contend with. Limited budgets and unconvincing special effects often required a leap of faith of such size as to put people off. But, in the midst of this, emerged The Tripods, a fondly-remembered sci-fi hit of the time, of which both series are present on this DVD set.

Adapted from the books by John Christopher, The Tripods is set late in the 21st century, with humanity living in peaceful servitude, albeit under the eye of huge alien machines. These machines–The Tripods–fit the young with special headgear that will ensure future humans are similarly subservient to the alien invaders, and it’s when two teenagers, Will and Henry, look to evade such treatment that the adventure begins.

Hearing stories of other ‘uncapped’ humans in the south, they set off on a journey to find them, while being pursued by The Tripods, who naturally aren’t best happy.

There are many pleasant surprises to The Tripods, even rewatching it today, and the programme has stood up really very well to the rigours of time. The limited budget means that the deployment of the Tripods themselves is kept for carefully chosen moments, and they’re convincing, at time intimidating invaders. But it’s the storytelling that’s key here, and it’s that which should ensure this DVD release earns The Tripods a new collection of fans. Well worth picking up

Tripods: Complete Series 1 & 2 is out now on DVD (£17.99).

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