the invasion of gallifrey

A six part doctor who story from 1978 comes to dvd. this features tom baker as the doctor, louise jameson as his companion leela, and john leeson voices his robotic dog K9. In this story the Doctor heads back to his homeworld and becomes president, only to sell the planet out to a race of alien invaders.

Has the doctor gone mad or bad? is he playing a dangerous game? and who are also lurking in the wings waiting to strike?

see the cover of the box for the answer to the latter one.

those involved in old doctor who often say that their primary motivation with a story was to ensure that there weren't twenty five minutes of blank screen on the bbc on a saturday night. and that's why this one exists. it was a last minute replacement for a story that feels through, and it does feel like a story written in a hurry and shot on the cheap. particularly in the last two episodes where the corridors of an old hospital double for the tardis interior.

There's some good acting from the supporting cast and the regulars, but this in many ways merely filler and it's a long way from the best that the show can offer.

The dvd contains two discs. the story is on the first, with all six episodes and direct scene access. production subtitles and english language subtitles for the hard of hearing. there's a commentary from the script editor, louise jameson and john leeson, and one of the special effects people, and the option to replace some of the effects with more modern cgi versions. and some of them need it.

On disc two we have:

out of time a sixteen minute long documentary about the story. As good and comprehensive as these usually are, although a bit short compared to some.

A ten minute feature about gallifrey throughout the history of the show. interesting but a bit too short and doesnt touch on certain stories at all

The elusive david agnew: a jokey little feature about the writer of the story [it was actually a pen name for the producer and the script editor] that is a nice idea but doesnt have much to offer. note the name of the director of the feature. Alan Smithee. if you don't know who that is then google it.

There are several deleted scenes, but this is just more corridor walking from the last two episodes which have enough of those already and these don't add anything.

The bbc trailers of the time for the story

the radio times listings of the time - as a PDF file which you look at on computer

a photo gallery of the story

a trailer for upcoming release of the invisible enemy/k9 and company, two k9 stories.

and for an easter egg go to the second screen on disc two, watch it on a computer, and move the pointer around till a doctor who logo lights up. click on that to find a short piece seemingly cut from the out of time documentary with a props man looking at how one item in particular was made to work. it's not a bad little piece.

An average story. and an okay package for it

IF YOU ALIEN LOVE AND PREDATOR FILMS WATCH AVP 2

The movie AVP 2 gives me what i wanted aliens fighting predators who cares about story lines and poor acting it's about them 2 iconic cinema figures.I have loved every movie in this franchise theres been classic scenes and chronic ones but so what just watch and enjoy them all.Granted they ARE not SHAWSHANK or CUCKOO'S NEST but they DO all deliver, BLOOD AND GORE superb movie cant wait for AVP 3.

A whirlwind of tears and fears!

When i first saw David Tennant at the end of series one, i was truly annoyed! I honestly thought he would be boring and not half as good as Christopher Eccleston. But man was i wrong!
David Tennant, despite having a though act to follow, is 100% fantastic as the Doctor. He can range from funny, sarcastic, sexy (oh yes!) and completly heart breaking.

The second series was what really made me get interested in doctor who. Billie Piper is as fabulous as ever, playing the wonderfully chavvy and insightful Rose.

Most of the episodes were of brilliant quality, namely"Girl In The Fireplace" which was utterly fantastic. And Doomsday, which was about Rose if anything else. The perfect acting by both David Tennant and Billie Piper mad it one of the most tearjerking things i have ever seen.

Love and monsters is definatly one of this series low points. Another is School reunion in my opinion, they could have done more with the return of Sarah-Jane and K9.

But overall, brilliant! May David Tennant stay for a long time!

Ups and Downs

I'm still a huge Doctor Who fan, which makes me quite nervous when I think that the writing might easily at any point plummet downwards. So far it's staying more good than bad. Everyone says the episode Blink was fantastic, and I can't agree more. It was the best Dr Who episode I've ever seen. (Granted, I've only seen the last three series).
Some of the episodes were great, some were alright and some were...um, not brilliant. 'Blink' was great, bits of the stuff with the Master in were good. The episode 'Utopia' for example was quite excellent. The episode I think it was called '42', that wasn't too bad, I mean it was very similar to 'The Impossible Planet' but not completely the same. It was sort've like the writer had seen the film"Sunshine" and thought"This is how it should have gone..." and I agree with him. That film would have been far cooler...
Bits of 'Family of Blood' were good, the poignant scenes about humanity, war and childhood lost etc. That was good. The hammy stuff where the villains literally cackled and preened was just...corny. A lot of the villains are really cliched, they hiss through fangs and cackle maniacally with each other over and over again. *sigh*
I've heard it said that the old Doctor Who was camp and corny and all the rest of it. But that was then, and this is now and so I'm judging it by the standards of today.
It still passes though, on the whole.
Watch Doctor Who!!

Black Orchid

Black Orchid is a story which presents itself really well. At just 50 minutes which compared to must classic Doctor Who is quite short. Nevertheless, the structure of the adventure is incredibly well thought out, the characters are on top form, great setting and a good script as well as some shocks and suprises along the way. Black Orchid also has a number of special features:

Commentary - Peter Davison, Janet Fielding , Sarah Sutton and Matthew Waterhouse give an entertaining commentary and as you can guess with Janet and Peter in the commentary it is going to be brilliant

Now and Then - By far the best one made to date. With tremendous detail about the locations it is a little gem

Deleted Scenes - Yet again, another great arrival to the package

Film Restoration - Looks at how The Restoration Team managed to restore the episode to the best quality

Blue Peter - Looks at the cotumes in Black Orchid

Stripped for Action - A look at the fifth doctors appearance in the comic strips

Points of View - Looks at viewers complaints sparked from switching the airdate and time for Doctor Who

Photo Gallery - A selection of Black Orchid images

Coming Soon - A trailer of the forthcoming dvd 'The Trial of a Timelord'

Easter Egg - If that wasn't enough, there is also an easter egg featuring continuity announcements from the story


So over all, Black Orchid is a brilliant release with a lot of special features

5/5

Voyager - The Grand Finale.

If you are a fan of the series, this is not one to be missed, the final season, with all your favourites characters, in a lovely slim-line box. I was thrilled! It was worth the wait!

A little bit more effort required next Christmas

Ok, being a big Dr Who fan of all the Doctor Who series since 1963 I do enjoy the new 21st Century series. However, this Christmas i was very dissapointed with this offering.

The storyline firstly was simply boring, it could have been lifted from any disaster movie you like. I was getting bored toward the end and everybody at our house was glad when it finished. The monsters hadnt really been given any thought, a bit of a cross between an axon and a"robot of death" i thought. Quite frankly the teaser trailer was more interesting than the storyline.

Also, why the need to have celebrities like Kylie or Catherine Tate? There just is no need and it's in danger of becoming a farce. I'm dreading the next episode coming up which appears to have Catherine Tate again - why oh why? Get with the programme BBC, Dr Who is a serious show, not a satirical take the micky for cheap one liners.

A must Buy

What an absolute bargain, 5 series of B5, the pilot (feature length) and 4 films including Crusade and lost tales. I paid over £300 for the lot seperately a few years ago, i wish i'd waited. Put Quite simply Babylon 5 was the best and most logically consistant science fiction to grace our screens. I was brought up on written sf and star trek which i loved. It has depth, lots of it and is texturally woven with massive references to its inspirations and influences in the sf genre. JMS the main writer of the show has a very deep knowledge of the SF genre and his love of this genre comes across. Its 5 year arc (overall story)quietly set a trend for shows like"24","lost" and more recently"battlestar galactica" for an unfolding storyline and character development within a dramatic context. OK there are a few bad episodes in here ie"grey 17 is missing" &"infection" but the sub plots give a lot of valuable background information. There are only half a dozen below par episodes out of over a 100 so that's not bad going is it? Later seasons Deep space 9 were influenced a great deal by the story arc of B5 and DS9 gained more popularity while doing it very poorly. This is not the naive world of trek, but a metaphor for our dark political times, power hungry individuals and patriotic races, ideaologies and alliances set against a galactic background. This is not just about the great macro background of political events, but filtered through the micro world of the individuals taking part. There is some astonishing acting and script writing in here especially from actors andreas katsulas, peter jurasik and mira furlan. Set against this darkness is the light of Humanism which is at its core. This is a rich and well realised tapestry with hidden subtexts which begs repeated watching and analysis. The main characters are developed throughout the arc sensibly and coherently and this is B5's main strength- its wonderful characters, you have to follow them through to their personal conclusions. This was a pioneering show in the use of CGI and the effects stand up very well indeed even compared to todays standards. This was done on a really tight budget too. The ships and designs used on the show were highly individual and distinctive with amazing ship designs by Ron Thornton, inspired by veteran SF illustrator Chris Foss. The CGI underpins the beautiful storylines and does not detract from them like much bad SF nowadays. I cannot do B5 justice in this paltry review. Do yourself a favor buy the whole set- you will be hooked from beginning to end - and at this price you can't go wrong.

Borg, Time Travel and Holodeck malfunctions! ST: Voyager - season three

Season Three was when Voyager really kicked into gear, with some great stories, aliens and effects. There is fun, 'False Profits', time travel, the two-part 'Future's End', serious goings on in 'Darkling' when the Doctor messes with his holoprogram, and Captain Janeway gets to be an action hero in 'Macrocosm', when Voyager is invaded by a nasty virus, and Janeway strips to her vest, gets sweaty (and just a little sexy) and kicks some alien butt!
In 'Warlord' Kes gets taken over by an ancient warlord, and gets some serious screen time (about time too!), and almost the first girl-on-girl Trek kiss [that was saved for DS9].
All in all, Season Three is a good one - and points to the good times to come. There is a fair smattering of stories and the two crews (Federation and Marquis) are now almost fully intergrated, the characters becoming very familiar to the viewer...and is that a romance blossoming between bad-boy Tom Paris and half-Klingon half-human Belanna Torres? It starts with the conclusion to 'Basics' and ends with the first part of 'Scorpion'. Well worth having.

Value for money.

For £22.00 on Amazon you get a grand total of 9 discs containing all 4 Alien films remastered, with both the theatrical and extended cuts, which in the case of Aliens and especially Alien 3 is an improvement on their original release. For each movie you get two discs, disc one containing two versions of the film and disc two has probably the most comprehensive in depth look into just about every aspect of the Alien saga. From the first draft of the script to casting to principal photography to special effects and many more story/technical features including input from directors Ridley Scott, James Cameron, and Jean Pierre Jeunet and the cast in crew of each film everything is covered.

Particularly enjoyable was the split interview between creator Dan o Bannon and producer Walter Hill, both claiming other had less to contribute to the pictures etc. Each Disc two contains detailed files on pre production-post production work. Just everything is packed in, in a fascinating look into the films, in particular the look into what went wrong on Alien 3 with frank interviews from various cast and crew members along with producers and so on which shows you how NOT to make a movie. Seeing the films digitally is something to savour on this format with commentary tracks for each films including Scott, Cameron and Jeunet and various cast members including Sigourney Weaver for the Alien track, the only commentary she does on any Alien film.

There is also an hour-long documentary about Alien, along with trailers, still galleries a look into HR Gigers design for the Alien and how it was made real through sculptures and animatronics. All these features are highly entertaining and then you have the films. For me anyway Alien and Aliens are two of the best Sci-Fi thriller/horror or in the case of Aliens action movies ever made but to go through all the things that made those movies great would require two more very long reviews, and the DVD collection covers it pretty well anyway trust. If you're an Alien fan buy it is EASILY worth its price tag and is tremendous entertainment in the films alone then all the many bonuses will provide hours of viewing pleasure, there is also a sleek booklet contained it the case which shows the time line between each movie and lists the bonus features cast crew and an interesting little snippet on Alien 3. This set is a great addition to any DVD collection and contains some of the most detailed and fascinating documentaries I have seen for any films. Though for people who live in Ireland anyway, the DVDS are a mere 20.00 in HMV, trust me that's some bargain for 9 discs, 4 films and for the above mentioned extra features which are so good the films themselves ALMOST become the bonuses in this mammoth set.

Season 4 - Resitance is Futile!

As Season Three of Star Trek: Voyager neared its conclusion the show really hit its stride. And Season Four just got better. Starting with the second part of Scorpion (which introduced Jerry Ryan as Seven of Nine) almost every story is a cracker. The lost of Kes was unfortunate (losing the irritating Neelix would have been a better option!), but gaining Seven of Nine, later to be know Seven, was a masterstroke. Although maybe too many of the later stories revolved around her - but then she is a great character. There are a couple of great two-parters: The Year of Hell and The Killing Game (which features the Hirogen, who featured in an earlier story in the season).
The actors all know their characters inside and out and have become comfortable with the set up. Kate Mulgrew makes a formidable (and, at times, quite sexy) captain who sparks off of Seven quite fequently. Quite possibly the most completely satisfying Season in Voyagers seven years, with strong stories, great effects and good writing and acting. There are some quite good extras, not over burdend with them, but then there are seven seasons to fill - and there are several 'easter eggs' dotted about (on all seasons).

if you like x files...

if you like x files, don't have the DVDs and want the DVDs get this! tis simple

Franchise fans beware.

The main feature of this film is the pretty gruesome killings that go on throughout, it definitely has its share of blood and gore. The plot is pretty simple, carrying on from the first film. The Predator ship crashes on Earth and releases its Alien cargo, including a Predator-Alien hybrid. This prompts a elder Predator to set off to clean-up the situation, wiping out the traces of the incident.

There are quite a few things I found amiss about the film. First off, it follows none of the usual 'rules' of the Alien series, the Predalien seems to be able to produce aliens when it feels like, in my eyes an excuse to simply speed up the gore. This means the film loses the queen Alien, whose lair and person were often the most chilling elements of the Alien films.

Also the Predator in the films dosen't seem too clever, he sets off alone for some reason, despite the obvious magnitude of the situation. There is also emphasis throughout the film of his disposing of singular bodies, when thousands of people have by this point been killed. He removes human corpses, then openly skins and hangs up one guy in the forest. He also dosen't use the Predator trademark big explosion thingy to wipe out the Alien trace.

The Predator did however make the redeeming quality of this film for me. Him brutally slaughtering aliens and often humans alike in one of about 15 different ways nevers gets old. While Aliens kill people in their usual manner, the Predator swaggers through town shooting, slicing, stabbing and generally exploding Aliens in his path.

For anyone looking for a good guts 'n' gore horror film, this is an obvious choice, a lack of plot and character depth aren't too important. For any fans of the Alien or Predator franchises I'd say steer clear, it just dosen't deliver the same caliber of film. I personally prefered the previous AvP film, which offered much more intricacy and suspense in its story.

BEST EVER

I think thease are the best eposdes of dr who.
the acting is brill,john simm is the best master ever.
BUY ITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

Superb series...full of extras!

Just had to respond to the 2"reviews" on this page, and confirm that these boxsets certainly DO contain all the extras that were found on the original boxsets. So even more reason to get them!!

"Please Watch SG Atlantis! Please! PLEASE!"

SG-1 was, to my mind, one of the four greatest Television Series ever made. It had bad episodes like every other programme. But ever since the series was syndicated half-way through series five, the sheer number of half-baked, cliched and 'Filler' episodes per series has grown and grown.

This trend has peaked with series ten and left me feeling bitterly disappointed. I loved the previous series so much that I wish I could give it five stars. But remember, a TV series is not a work of art, it is a cash-cow designed to earn revenue through syndication, advertising and merchandising fees.

One minor story line during the ninth and tenth series of SG-1 was that Stargate Command's funding had been cut by 70% in order to free up more resources for the Atlantis project. And having sat through the vast number of 'Filler' episodes in this series, I am almost completely convinced that this storyline was based on fact.

All of the writer's and producer's attention was entirely focused on SG Atlantis, because they'll need ratings to push the programme to series five and beyond. The cross-over episode was yet another attempt to 'Net' the hardcore SG-1 fans. And so whilst the six or seven episodes that actually followed the Ori plotline ran the gammit from great to incredible, the rest of the series is mediocre at best, and there was no 'Ending' of any kind.

Don't get me wrong. The final episode of series ten was very good indeed. But having spent the whole series longing for another Grand Finale, the storyline simply tailed off and left me feeling very disappointed.

The Ori ships and armies were still rampaging through the galaxy. And so the only conclusion I can draw is that either the producers didn't care anymore, they didn't want to divert any more valuable resources from their goal of getting Atlantis syndicated, or the Ori plotline will simply be transfered to the fourth series of Atlantis.

If this happens, then I will rent the fourth series of Atlantis and fast forward to the points where the Ori's fleet is defeated. I hated the first series of Atlantis so much that I refuse to waste my money on another. However, I just can't shake the feeling that there was supposed to be an eleventh series, but that the producers pulled the plug because they didn't want to waste the money.

SG-1 was syndicated back in series five. It was as well-known and popular as it was ever going to be. There was no more money to be made by making an eleventh series, and so they simply closed the curtains and left us feeling cold.

Slimline - how??

'Slimline' refers to the packaging of the DVDs, rather than to their content.

However, the carton does state"Some episodes may be edited from their original network versions."

Wow

I never watch Doctor Who, I always thought of it as dumb sci-fi, so I was surprised when I saw these three episodes on TV. If you've never watched Doctor Who before, buy this DVD first before any others (although there's some in-jokes there that you don't get if you're not a fan).

There are three episodes on here and the first up is Human Nature, where a school teacher dreams of havign adventures in space. Worst episode on the disc, but still very scary. Baines, the villain is a brilliant actor and those scarecrows are... scary.

THe second is the second part of Human Nature; Family of Blood. More Baines, more scarecrows, and some truly sad moments. Paul Cornell is a brilliant writer and all the actors are incredible.

The final episode is Blink, and if you go to any Doctor Who website, most people say this is the best Doctor Who episode. It doesn't have Doctor Who in it much, but the plot which starts very confusing makes brilliant sense in the end and the bad guys are very creepy.

The weird thing is, these are the first Doctor Who I watched and Doctor who was in all three episodes together for about five minutes. Still great though.