5 comments about Star Trek - The Original Series, Episode 25: This Side Of Paradise.

1. For the first time in his life, Spock has a good time. After Jill Ireland's character, Leila, tricks him into ingesting hallucinogenic spores, he smiles, laughs, plays in trees, marvels at clouds and sunsets, and becomes incredibly insubordinate to captain Kirk. He also falls in love with Leila.

   Eventually, the entire crew, with the exception of the captain, succumb to the spell of the spores and abandon the Enterprise in lieu of an idyllic life on a peaceful planet.

   This fun episode is a bit slow in parts, but Kirk's solution to the problem is one of those classic Trek moments. It must be viewed to truly appreciate. Over all, a very good episode.




2. Yet another excellent episode, this one concerns a planet where plant spores have caused an epidemic of joyful inebriation. Like many of the best early shows, the slow pacing here allows a sense of mystery to develop before the hook is revealed to us. This is one of the more convincing of the 'Enterprise in danger' episodes, but it is more than that. The plot device enables several crew members to flesh out their characters, most notably Leonard Nimoy. It is difficult not to feel angry at Kirk as he goads Spock with racial slurs, even as we understand why he says what he does. Certainly the conflict between the happiness provided by drugs and alcohol on the one hand vs. their 'unnatural' tendency to hinder personal development and achievement is as resonant today as it was in 1967.



3. Happy is putting it mildly! See Spock swing from trees and engage in some serious lip-lock with Leila Kalomi! The care-free colonists of Omicron Ceti III have a secret -- they should have died of Berthold Rays, but they're all happy, healthy, and not at all concerned that all of their animals have died. Kirk gets to the heart of the matter (with Samsonite luggage in hand).
   One of my favorite, favorite episodes of all time. This episode features one of the sweetest goodbye scenes ever. Guest stars include the lovely, and much missed Jill Ireland as Leila.



4. Which is better: to live a life of perfect happiness but no accomplishment? Or to live a life of achievement and progress yet never feeling content? This is one of the major questions of life. "This Side of Paradise" deals with it directly. An Earth colony has been zapped by a bunch of spores, which sustain life and induce blissful contentment in their hosts, but at a price. The spores take away all ambition, drive, and sense of duty.
   
   You can imagine how, when the Enterprise visits the planet, the spores change Mr. Spock, who at first fights them. But he finally gives in. In his case, they let his human side, for the first time in his life, reign supreme, enabling him to return the love of a beautiful woman (Jill Ireland) who has adored him from afar. It is Kirk, not Spock, who finally overcomes the spores. This is a running theme in the series... Spock is superior to Kirk in many ways: intellectually, physically, spiritually. But it is Kirk's unconquerable will that makes him the leader of the Enterprise.
   
   This episode is outstanding because of the subtle touches in DC Fontana's script and the marvelous way it is acted. Anyone who thinks Shatner is incapable of convincing acting should look at the scene in which Kirk says to the spore-influenced Spock, "Are you out of your mind?" while Spock hangs from a tree like a monkey.
   
   But it is the last half that is more than worth the price of admission. First, the scene where Kirk drives the spores' influence out of Spock by calling him a "freak" and insulting his parents. (Y'see, strong negative emotions overcome the spores.) This is followed up later by perhaps the best-written scene in the entire Star Trek franchise: Spock explaining to Leila that he cannot go back. "If there are self-made purgatories, then we all have to live in them. Mine can be no worse than anyone else's."
   
   The scene ends with the following exchange:
   
   LEILA: (Weeping.) You never told me if you had another name, Mr. Spock.
   
   SPOCK: (Pause. Touches her cheek.) You couldn't pronounce it.
   
   Then there is the final line of the show. As they prepare to warp out, Kirk asks Spock what he has to say about their adventure. Spock responds that he has nothing to say, except: "For the first time in my life, I was happy."



5. Drugs, a bit of counterculture and the love life of Mr. Spock all combine to make one of the best episodes of the Star Trek series. The Enterprise arrives at Omicron Ceti III to investigate the status of a human colony. The planet is being bombarded with Berthold rays, a form of radiation that is deadly to human tissue. Therefore, the Enterprise landing party has no hope of finding anyone alive.
   To their astonishment, they are greeted by the colonists, all of which appear to be hale and hearty. The level of astonishment rises even higher when McCoy reports that the colonists are in perfect health, even to the level that preexisting conditions have vanished. Spock is the first member of the crew to succumb to the spores, a plantlike creature that infects human bodies and grants immunity to the Berthold rays and repairs all body dysfunction. An additional effect is that it gives the infected person a mindset of complete tranquility. This causes Spock pain at first as it forces his human half to the surface, competing with his Vulcan half.
   With the exception of Kirk, the rest of the landing party is quickly infected and they pass the spores up to the Enterprise. In a short time, with the exception of Kirk, the entire crew is infected and down on the surface. He is also infected, but the strong and negative emotion he experiences at the thought of leaving the ship destroys the spores. Kirk then tricks Spock into beaming back to the Enterprise and incites him to violence, which destroys the spores in Spock's body. Together, they beam waves down to the planet which irritates the humans, causing the spores to die in all of them.
   One of the colonists is a female (Leila) that Spock had a prior relationship with. When they first meet he once again asserts his Vulcan nature and inability to show strong emotion. However, in some of the best scenes in the entire series, Spock hangs from a tree, talks back to Kirk and lies on the grass with his head in Leila's lap. Spock looks up into the sky and talks about what he sees from the romantic perspective rather than the scientific.
   This is also one of the best acted episodes of the series, the plot device of the spores allow Shatner, Nimoy and Kelley to display a wider range of emotions than they could in other episodes. In combination with a solid plot, this makes it one of the best episodes of the series.

5 comments about K-PAX.

1. This film would merit 4.5 stars for me. Kevin Spacey plays 'Prot' and Jeff Bridges play the psychiatrist who is asked to look after him. Prot claims to be an Alien from another planet and (I'm giving nothing away here as this happens immediately the film starts) seems to appear out of nowhere at a train station.
   
   Spacey and Bridges are brilliant actors and as a pairing you couldn't ask for better casting than this. Sure there are bigger stars, but the film wouldn't have been as good without these two. The film leaves you to make up your own mind about Prot. Could he be autistic? This is one possibility to explain his talents. However you'll have to see the film to decide whether he's an Alien or not.
   
   In some ways this is a sister film to John Carpenter's Starman in which Jeff Bridges played the Alien. Like that earlier film K-Pax is both moving and wonderous. I have watched it many times and still can't understand why neither of the leading Actors received any recognition in terms of the major film awards (Oscars, Cannes etc). In 2002 Denzel Washington (a fine actor) won the Oscar for Training Day - nope I don't don't understand that either!



2. The movie is interesting, clever, but ultimately unsatisfying.
   It poses what appears to be a simple question: prot, the lead character, is either from the planet K-Pax or he is a crazy man pushed into madness by the brutal destruction of his wife and daughter, and his murder of their tormentor.
   
   But it is not a simple question, not in an age of materialism and scientific evidence as the only valid form of knowledge. Going crazy, even if for a good reason, and getting into touch with aliens from another world, the hybrid solution of the two possibilities is not a synthesis of science but of literature and art and therefore unacceptable to our modern mindset. Which only sees things in their "true, scientific, actual, real form". He either is or he isn't. He is crazy and the movie is about a psychiatrist treating his patient or he is an alien and the psychiatrist is blind to reality because of his blinders to a greater reality than he can see before him.
   
   The movie is partly a mirror into our way of thinking, into what we will allow to be reality, what possibilities we think can exist. We can allow the movie to be sci fi and suspend our disbelief because of the genre and accept K-Pax as a real planet and prot as a traveler from it. But we know this is not real, it is sci fi, it is literary escapism. It doesn't effect our real view of what is real.
   
   Or it can be a psychological thriller, or how the psychiatrist solved the problem of the crazy man claiming to be an alien. This is real, we all know people who wear aluminum hats, we all have seen the homeless boxing with God, and we all know it is just a chemical imbalance, often self inducted, that perturbs their brain into an alternative reality, just for them. Their reality isn't real so it doesn't disturb our way of thinking about the real reality, our reality the least little bit.
   
   But we are given contradictory clues, he disappears (oddly enough simultaneously in real time Kevin Spacey does work in Newfoundland on "Shipping News"), Bess disappears, his box of collected things disappears, he knows things that puzzle the professional astronomers yet he remains catatonic after he catches the 5:47 lightbeam back to K-Pax.
   
   In any case, the movie strives for more than it achieves, it asks questions then doesn't seem to rise up to them to attempt answers. It is as if the writers took the novels it is derived from and lost significant pieces in the transition to a screen play. Pieces that would either provoke more thoughtful analysis or pieces that would answer this few questions about what is reality and our hope of really seeing it for what it is.



3. We've seen this film a number of times and enjoy it every time. It is filled with humor, misery, suspense, intrigue, science and a little bit of philosophy. K-Pax tries to get the viewer to expand his/her knowledge of the world around him/her by presenting the story of a man who appears one day in an airport and claims to be a visiting alien, named Prot (Kevin Spacey), from another star system on a mission to collect data.
   
   People react intensely in favor or against him which both shocks and amuses him. He is immediately arrested and transferred to a mental institution where he meets Dr. Powell (Jeff Bridges), a married man with three children who is more interested in helping his patients reach a breakthrough than raising his children.
   
   The more time Dr. Powell spends with Prot the more involved he becomes in trying to determine if he is an alien or a man suffering from split personalities. Dr. Powell makes it his mission to find out the truth no matter what the cost. Both men learn something from one another along the way. The viewer is left to make up their own mind to the truth. The end has many possibilities but no hard conclusions but this is ok. It really is.
   
   Jeff Bridges and Kevin Spacey are a good match but Spacey definitely steals the show. One of my favorite things about this film is the constant visual play with light (Prot supposedly traveled to our world via a ray of light); a constant reminder about Prot even when he's not in a scene.
   
   I highly recommend watching this PG-13 film.



4. On the one hand, you've got the nuthouse dramas where the mental patient provides deep truths to inmates and staff alike (Don Juan DeMarco; Cuckoo's Nest). On the other hand, you've got the Taoist alien dispensing generic new-age advice (Starman). Trying to mix the two was a BIG mistake. This movie was way too long, way too slow, too self-involved and overall just dull. Kevin Spacey has done some fantastic work (Seven; American Beauty; Usual Suspects) but this is isn't it. Also, someone said the ending was ambiguous. Not true. Prot is Robert Porter.



5. This has the essence of the book with the addition of time. The story is not unique and the subplots are not unique. However the execution is superb. Just the right people were picked for each character. The pacing was such that you had time to laugh, cry, and be shocked in the best proportions.
   
   Basically Prot turns up out of nowhere; yet many things can be explained. Then again many things can not be explained. As the people that deal with him vacillate as to his nature, others accept him and are better off for the experience.
   
   This leaves you with the question: "Is he a man, alien... or savior?
   
   Phenomenon DVD ~ John Travolta

5 comments about F/X 2 - The Deadly Art of Illusion.

1. Todo y que pueda resultar un remake de su predecesora,FX2 logra aprovechar de una forma notable el hecho de que el protagonista utilice su experiencia cinematográfica, y concretamente en el asunto de efectos especiales, para conseguir desarticular a un gang terrorista.De las multiples secuencias de acción, cabe a destacar el payaso robot,que comparte protagonismo con la pareja principal, y las persecuciones en el supermercado y a posteriori, en la residencia de los "malos".Buenas actuaciones y bastante imaginación para un film que vale la pena.



2. F/X 2 is a great ingenious film with plot and action! F/X 2 stars Brian Brown and Brian Dennehy as Rollie Tyler and Leo McCarthy and they are together for one last adventure to stop Mob from stealing gold Medilians from Vadican embassy in intaly!Great film! Very inventive and well thought out! I Like this movie despite what the movie critics thought about this fim in 1991! I wish there was an F/X 3 but unfortunatly that didn't happen. Despite what others say the movie great and is better then the original movie from 1986. Go find it! It's great movie!



3. Ah, the return of the characters from the first movie. KEWL.
   This sequel is well done, and more enjoyable to me than the first one.
   'Course, I like Brian Dennehy . . . and the mix of the two men works very well, once again.
   Plenty of action, suspense, and, once again, triumph!



4. I just watched this movie on cable today and couldn't look away because I was so entertained but not in the sense that the film makers intended. I kept laughing at the ridiculous MacGyver-esque schemes the main character devised to outwit dangerous professional killers. Formerly a creator of movie special effects, the main character is now an inventor of toys. So what defenses does he use when armed killers are chasing him?? Toys!! This plays out like a rejected episode of MacGyver where hair spray, baked beans, and a life size robotic clown are all manipulated to decieve and ultimately defeat the hapless bad guys.
   I'm not trying to be mean spirited here, and don't mean to offend people that might like this film, but this movie is truly dumb and unintentionally hilarious. Btw, the quoted title for this review is from Siskel and Ebert's review of this movie. After laughing hard at the grocery store scene of the movie I couldn't resist watching the review on their web site. Watching Siskel and Ebert's response to this "true disaster" was just as entertaining as the movie and much much shorter.



5. I have never ordered this. I am sure it is good, cause I saw the 1st FX movie. It is one movie that you can not leave unless you put it on pause.

3 comments about X-Men - Wolverine - Captive Hearts/Cold Vengance.

1. I love Wolverine and this movie is sooooo cool I have seen it and I love it IF I WERE YOU I WOULD ORder it now they will go super quick. SO order today while you stil can.



2. This set includes two episodes entitled Captive Hearts & the other episode is Cold Vengence.

   Captive Hearts takes places shortly after Wolverine is badly injured by sabertooth and the X-Men are on a mission to battle underground mutants that are called 'The Morlocks'. Storm battles their leader Callisto and encourage the Morlocks to return to the surface world when they become accepted by humanity. The episode ends with Wolverine not being present at the mansion and the "To Be Continued" line coming in.

   The "To Be Continued" line ushers in the second episode in this set Cold Vengence. The story in this one is Wolverine takes a vacation in the Arctic when he is once again attacked by his archenemy Sabertooth. Wolverine retreats by means of an iceberg and is rescued by Inuit eskimos. Sabertooth blows up their village and has them captured and it's up to Wolverine to save the day.

   A great episode combo from my all-time favorite cartoon series! Buy it!




3. These two movies are awesome! On Captive Hearts, Cyclops and Jean get captured by the Morlocks. They are rescued by the other X-Men when Jean asks Professor X for help telepathically. There is an awesome battle between the Morlocks and the X-Men. Storm battles Calysto (the leader of the Morlocks) and wins. Storm in return becomes their new leader. This is a must see for all X-Men lovers.

4 comments about Doctor Who - The Horns of Nimon.

1. Although I can't really rate it five stars, I can rate it four. This is a good adventure that probably few love, many hate, and most don't even know about(even so-called whoivans don't know it). It has an excellent cast of character actors and cool sets and back drops. The story is about a race of bull/buffalo-like humanoids who use black holes to traverse from place to place. What I like is not it's "realism" but its fun factor and humor. The atmosphere is farout as well. I first watched this as a kid and loved it all the way through highschool it was broadcast many times then fatefully, Doctor Who was banned from PBS in the US 1988 Feburary 27th and I never got to see it again until now.



2. En route to repairing the TARDIS, the Doctor and Romana crash with a rundown Skonnon battlecruiser bringing some unhappy Anethan youths in yellow karate outfits as tributes to the Nimon, the god of the Skonnos, a military dictatorship revelling in black fascist regalia. The leader of the Anethans is a youth named Seth, whom one of the girls, Teka, believes is a hero who will defeat the Nimon. Teka's devotion is a bit too much, as she expects too much of him.

   The leader of Skonnos, Soldeed, is eagerly awaiting the delivery of the youths, as it is the last payment to the Nimon, who have promised the Skonnons technology that will give rise to the second Skonnon Empire. "He speaks of Skonnos rising from its own ashes with wings of fire!" proclaims Soldeed. Indeed, Soldeed fawns and scrapes before the black, red-eyed bull-like Nimon, who seem to have read some Egyptian hieroglyphs for their loin cloths. He isn't bothered that all the Nimon want are youths to be sacrificed. "I play the Nimon on a long string," he says, and regarding an exchange of favours, "if there is an imbalance, make sure it's in your favour." However, Soldeed doesn't realize the full extent of the Nimon's plans, nor what the Great Journey Of Life" is about.

   Tom Baker has two funny lines at the expense of the despicable pistol-wielding co-pilot of the battlecruiser. "Have you noticed how people's intellectual curiosity declines sharply the moment they start waving guns?" And when the co-pilot won't allow the Doctor to go to the hold to help with some engine trouble, he says, "Why don't you give me the gun and then I can keep an eye on myself so I don't get into funny business?" When the Nimon tell the Doctor, "Later, you will be tortured, questioned, and killed." the Doctor replies, "Well, I hope you get it in the right order." And I was very bemused when the Doctor tells Soldeed that somebody is "digging a black hole on your doorstep."

   Lalla Ward (Romana) has a stylish red overcoat and spends most of her time with the Anethans, playing a Doctor-ish role to them, but does so straight.

   However, this is the second time Greek mythology has been tweaked. Think of Seth of the Anethans confronting the Nimon in the Power Complex. Now, think of Theseus of the Athenians confronting the Minotaur in the labryinth. And if trying to correlate Soldeed with Daedalus is a stretch, spell Soldeed's name backwards. Kind of, sort of, yeah? And the Doctor's remembering to have Seth's ship painted white for the welcome party given by his father is a reference to Theseus forgetting to change the sails of his ships from black to white, which had tragic consequences for Aegeus, or as the Doctor says in memory of his involvement with Theseus, "a whole of hoohah."

   Graham Crowden is best known as Tom in the Waiting For God TV series, and his OTT portrayal of Soldeed is akin to his future WFG role. He does look funny in the heavy brown beard and pop eyes, and that plummy voice of his may be a bit much. However, his singsong calling of "Lord Nimon" is a bit of pop culture kitsch.

   Due to the industrial strike that took place during Shada, The Horns Of Nimon was the last completed story of Season 17, which meant the end of two things. One was the end of Graham Williams as producer for the show and Douglas Adams as script editor, which meant no more silly jokes and lines, such as the loud bangs and silly noises the TARDIS console makes in Episode 3. The other was the blue time tunnel opening titles that had made its debut from the last Jon Pertwee season (1974). Not exactly a great story to end the season, but not bad either.




3. "The Horns of Nimon" is really a mixed-bag. Tom Baker and Graham Crowden play it for laughs, while Lalla Ward plays it dead straight. The serial has a real cheap feel to the production. The Nimons themselves are laughable when first seen. They look like giant cockroaches with lanky legs. Some of the sets are convincing, while others are not. Malcolm Terris as the co-pilot is wonderfully OTT. The secens where Romana lands on Crinoth are very effective. But, the supporting cast, especially the actors with no lines, lazilly sleepwalk through most of their staging. "The Horns of Nimon" might arguably be the worst of Season 17, but with an open mind and a few beers, this adventure might make even the most discriminating Who fan look twice.



4. Take a story based in Greek mythology (the Minotaur story), add a plot twist (no spoilers), and sprinkle in the most satisfying death in Doctor Who history (who didn't cheer when Nimon offed that annoying co-pilot?), and what do you have? One of the best stories of Doctor Who. Adding to the satisfaction of the pilot's death is that it is a death laden in humiliation, as the actor's pants split at the seams as he falls.
   
   Tom Baker's witty dialogue is prevalent in Horns of Nimon. "You will be qustioned, tortured and killed." "Well, I certainly hope it's in that order." Lalla Ward offers her best performance as Romana, on equal footing with the Doctor for once, and not in the shadow of the Doctor's scarf. She has even assembled her own sonic screwdriver, which obviously the Doctor prefers, as he tries to pull the old switcharoo on her. Here is a viewer tip that applies to all Romana 2 stories: Pay special attention to her facial expressions as she reacts to occurrences when she is in the background. Believe me, some of them are priceless.
   
   As is the case with most of Season 17, "fandom" is not too enamored with Horns of Nimon. They claim it's too silly. They claim that the jokes take away from the drama. This makes Nimon extra-special. When "fandom" forms a concensus, most of the time they are dead wrong. And this is one of those times. Horns of Nimon has the distinction of being the last story before JNT sucks the life out of Tom Baker (unless you count the uncompleted Shada). Enjoy this one, because you will never see this type of Who again.

1 comments about The Vengeance of Fu Manchu.

1. Much like his ongoing appearances as Count Dracula, Christopher Lee, the star of many horror outings, became well remembered for his masterful playing of another great villian of literature in the nefarious Dr. Fu Manchu. Always bent on taking over world leadership in many wild and often highly improbable schemes, he was usually matched every step of the way by the intrepid Nayland Smith from Scotland Yard with whom he crossed swords on many occasions. "The Vengeance of Fu Manchu", was the third installment in the series of films starring Lee as Fu Manchu in the mid 1960's and was also the last one produced before the series was taken over by low budget production companies in Europe. These companies ground out a few more installments on much lower budgets that got progressively worse in both story and production values which really shouldn't be compared to the first three films in the series. Christopher Lee makes Fu Manchu a most memorable villian and while this film is perhaps a little weaker than the earlier films in the series, "Vengeance", does share with them rich atmosphere and some fine performances by both the Asian and British members of the supporting cast.

5 comments about I Married a Monster From Outer Space (1958).

1. I love campy sci-fi, and this is a very good one. There's such a paranoia that prevales in it, it's so great. You know, like there are aliens who are here sneakily invading by taking the place of people we think we know. What could be more fun than that!? If you like the campy 50's sci-fi, don't miss this one.



2. Fusion: Sizzle
   
   I remember seeing this movie as a young woman. I liked the premise of the story, but I also really liked the alien -- Tom Tryon. He later became an author of several horror novels -- "The Other" and "Harvest Home". The movie is entertaining, and I enjoyed it.



3. This is a neat movie.Very entertaining.If this was done as one of those low budget drive in flicks,then this is among the best in that category.Special effects are simple but effective.As a bonus the picture quality is about as clear as you will ever see it.



4. Charlton Heston mimic, Tom Tryon, turns in adequate low-key performance in this kitschy, sexually charged and slyly irreverent hodgepodge of amorous space creatures red-smoking their victims into the thankless realm of high-powered chick mongering. No woman, not even mega-super-vixen Phyllis Diller (who does not appear), can crush the life out of a space monster like Gloria Talbot can. Just look at old Tryon struggling with wedding-night monsterface and post-wedding melancholy. The man/alien (delightfully) mopes and grumbles his way through 3/4 of this film until, obviously ad-libbing, he up and whacks the ditsy broad's mutt. But his attempt to squeeze a little joy out of life gets him screeched at and emasculates him to the point where he's hunched over in a permanent wince and speaking without feeling. Welcome to marriage on earth, space man!
   The film picks up steam when Tryon's (I never caught any of the characters' names) wife-marriage-commitment bashing buddies get red-smoked and join in on the fun. Talk about rude and crude, these black and white cats make Don Rickles look like Gandhi, always making with the sexist wisecracks and brooding at inopportune moments and, very strangely, acting like they all just snorted an eight ball of saltpeter. I was surprised these boys weren't making passes at each other, but then, who knows what goes on off camera?
   Overall this is enjoyable 50's sci-fi hokum, and the cinema's first (and highly effective) use of monsterface superimposition. Don't tell me Hitchcock didn't learn a little something from this one.



5. The idea of alien invaders masquerading as humans had been around since at least since John W. Campbell's 1938 novella WHO GOES THERE, but it had a special resonance during the cold war, when novels like Heinlein's THE PUPPET MASTERS and flims such as INVADERS FROM MARS and INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS were top of mind in pop culture. The 1958 I MARRIED A MONSTER FROM OUTER SPACE combined the notion with a TRUE ROMANCE spin. Bill (Tom Tryon) and Marge (Gloria Talbott) are eager to be married, but a year later Marge is wondering why Bill isn't the man he used to be before the wedding. One night she follows Bill when he takes a suspicious midnight stroll and discovers the awful truth. Tom is really a monster from outer space.
   
   Given that the film is set in 1958, director Gene Fowler and writer Louis Vittes can only do so much with the idea, but even so they make it very clear that Monster Tom and Normal Marge have been giving the sheets a regular work out--enough so that Marge consults a doctor to find out why she isn't pregnant. Once she realizes that Tom isn't Tom, she throws him out of the bed room and into the guest room, and then she begins trying to get the other townfolk to believe her story. Trouble is, she's never sure when she's talking to a human being or a monster! Who can she trust?
   
   In a great many ways I MARRIED A MONSTER FROM OUTER SPACE resembles the Val Lewton films of the 1940s, but whereas Lewton's films were "B" budget movies that rose to "A" art levels, MARRIED is "B" through and through. The plot is clever and the special effects aren't bad for the era, but the script is hokey and the whole thing was clearly shot quickly and with a sharp eye toward expense. Even so, the film does give us a fairly rare opportunity to see Tom Tryon, a startlingly handsome actor and deeply closeted actor whose career quickly stalled--but who went on to write such memorable best sellers as THE OTHER and HARVEST HOME while having torrid affairs with the likes of gay porn star Casey Donovan. Talbott is also a welcome face, a classic "B" actress who spent most of her career in television.
   
   The DVD doesn't offer anything in the way of bonuses, but the print is crisp and clean. I MARRIED A MONSTER FROM OUTER SPACE isn't really a gotta-have-it film unless you're a hardcore 1950s B-horror-flick fan, but it is an entertaining (and surprisingly influential) little film that should hold your attention for its fairly brief running time. Recommended.
   
   GFT, Amazon Reviewer

5 comments about Doctor Who - The Colin Baker Years.

1. In 1985, the television programme Dr Who had been running for over twenty years. When Colin Baker took on the role, the future of the show looked rosy. And then, halfway through his first season as the time-travelling Doctor, amid allegations of bust-ups with the production team behind the scenes, and accusations of 'too much horror and violence' in the programme, Dr Who was suspended. Some fans of the show say it never really recovered. The production team's subsequent lack of confidence, together with the BBC's apparent dislike of the show saw its eventual cancellation in 1989. Colin Baker's all-too-breif time playing the Doctor is well documented here. Introducing this video documentary himself, he also adds candid insights into what happened behind the scenes during what was to become known as a fairly troubled time for the long-running show. This video shows Colin as a humourous and likeable actor who was just getting to grips with the role of the world-famous time-lord when it was taken from him. Watching his recollections of Dr Who makes it all the sadder that was not able to remain with show longer.



2. I was born the year Colin Baker took the role of the Doctor. My brother was born the exact day the call came from Jonathan Nathan Turner that he would be regenerating. Strange, huh? Well, enough about me, on to the Doctor Who. I found this a most enjoyable programme, I had rented it from a small local store and I must have watched it 5 or 6 times in the three days I had it. It was fascinating. Simply fascinating. I know good ol' Colin isn't very well liked in Whovian circles, but he's one of my favorites.



3. Colin Baker was probably the most under appreciated person to play the role of the good Doctor. It was probably due to his short time in the role. After 2 years of the weak play by Peter Davison, Colin Baker was a return to the Doctor of old. His performance was outstanding and unfortunately as he was just getting into the role and making it more enjoyable he was released. Not that his replacement wasnt good, but its ashame we couldnt have seen more of him as the Doctor. The BBC after so many years changed there opinion on Doctor Who and set out to destroy it by limiting its budjet and deleting storylines. This gives you insight to the end of a legend. How the bbc set out to do what no enemy could do to the doctor and that is destroy it. Colin Baker shows that he truly was a great actor and a great Doctor. Unfortunate for him and us we werent allowed to see it very much. enjoy this tape becaue it shows a great insight. I wish there would have been more Colin Baker episodes but the bbc [messed]it all up.



4. Doctor Who: The Colin Baker Years looks back thru the era of Colin Baker's (short) run as the Sixth Doctor. It is very enjoyable to watch, as Colin looks back on his time on the show. Unlike previous installments in the Doctor Who "Years" tapes (The Hartnell Years, The Troughton Years, The Pertwee Years, Daleks: The Early Years, Cybermen: The Early Years) where they were showcasing surviving episodes of mostly missing stories from the 1960s (or 1970s for color versions of missing Pertwee episodes), or the Tom Baker Years set (where Tom just watches clips and talks about what he may remember, where sadly his memory was very lacking on recalling anything), Colin Baker remembers as much as he can, and brings lots of those memories to the viewer.

   It is sad that during Colin's run on the show, that the series went went through turmoil (behind-the-scenes), ratings dropped/ loss of viewers, and was deemed more violent, to the point that Dr. Who's owners, the BBC (upper management to be precise), lost interest in the show by that time and eventually to the dropping of Colin from the lead part itself after only doing two seasons (with an 18 month hiatus between seasons 22 and 23 not helping, and reducing the series to just 14 episodes for its last 4 years, seasons 23-26). Colin's portrayal of the Sixth Doctor was not well liked back then, and remains something to debate about to this day, and even some of the stories that were produced back then. Colin can't be blamed for this, but he got the axe, and was treated badly by the BBC in a drastic mood for some changes. A dark period in Dr. Who's history from which the series never really recovered from 1984-1986, and even afterward into Sylvestor McCoy's run as the Seventh Doctor (1987-1989).

   The Colin Baker Years was a short era indeed, but the look back on this period is a fun watch never the less. Add it to your Dr. Who video library.




5. In my humble opinion the BBC did an admirable job in sacking
   Colin Baker as Doctor Who.His representation of the Doctor was
   at best abysmal.He seemed totally disinterested in breathing new
   life into a character that after Tom Baker had become mundane.
   While Jon Pertwee,Tom Baker and Peter Davison contribute their
   enrgies into making the Doctor brilliant,witty,thoughtful,comical
   irriverent and human:Colin Baker contributed none of the
   aforementioned.He portrayed the Doctor as petty,self-serving and
   inconsiderate.I wish the BBC in its wisdom would consider some
   of the previous actors and their contributions in choosing the
   new Doctor for the upcoming 2005 season.Let us hope BBC can do
   better than choosing a Colin Baker and his ilk for the Doctor
   of the new millenium!!!Long live DOCTOR WHO!!!

5 comments about Quintet.

1. After many years a hunter of seals Essex (Paul Newman) comes home to the city. He beings his wife Vivia (Brigitte Fossey.) Before the greetings is over his extended family meats a violent ending. This is just the beginning for Essex as he must now make sense of this.
   
   In the process we learn of a game "Quintet" that reflects the geometric universe and the sense of life.
   
   Will he figure out the sense of the seemingly random disposal of life or will we finally get a glimpse of sixth space.
   
   Keep your eye on the goose.
   
   Appropriately filmed on location at "Man and His World", Montreal. The film has an out of focus border to give us not a dream scene as much as the feeling we are watching the whole movie through a frosty window.



2. This may not be your favorite Altman movie, but it is my favorite. Words fail me.
   
   
   
   
   ***** Helpful hint: I think you need to watch it 5 or 6 times to really get it. Either way...



3. For every "M*A*S*H" or "Gosford Park," there are a half-dozen Robert Altman misfires. "Quintet" is among the director's worst. Even Paul Newman looks bored in a painfully dull ice-age allegory. Altman's most ardent supporters will have a difficult time defending this fiasco.



4. QUINTET is Robert Altman's experiment in Bergmanesque atmosphere. As you can see from the disparity of reviews, it is one of his most polarizing films (no pun intended). The overwhelming oppressiveness of the Ice Age created gives QUINTET a feeling of doom, best exemplified by the observation of packs of roving Rottweilers casually eating the recently deceased. The still living carefully pick their way round the dogs with the knowledge that inevitably it will be their turn.
   
   That sense is why the game of Quintet, the only thing left to live for, has become lierally a game of life and death. Altman does not fully explain how the game works, although on set he and his crew did develop Quintet completely, and created a set of workable rules. He wisely leaves much to our imaginations, as he does in most of his films. Altman has always respected the intelligence of the filmgoer, and expects you to fill in the blanks with your own ideas. The process can be exhilarating as well as immensely frustrating, but you will not sit through a Robert Altman film without thinking.
   
   The cast, all wonderful actors from all over the world, are merely pawns in the great game of QUINTET. They each have their moments, and all visibly display the hardships endured in filming this movie. The sets, built in Montreal inside the long-vacant and crumbling World's Fair, were hosed down every night so that a wonderland of ice would be available for the next day's work, in temperatures that got down to minus forty degrees.
   
   Robert Altman's vision of the end of the world, QUINTET isn't for everyone, but is recommended for the open-minded, thinking film fan. The DVD also includes a short documentary on the making of the film.
   
   QUINTET is not available separately, but comes in an Altman Box set also including A WEDDING, M*A*S*H, and A PERFECT COUPLE. A WEDDING and A PERFECT COUPLE are also not available separately.



5. I love this movie, I grew up in a place that had 6 months of hard winter,
   but nothing like is portrayed in the movie. It may move at a glacial
   pace, but that is the way of the cold. You don't use any more energy
   that you have to. I love the bleakness of the movie, matches the
   bleakness of the peoples souls, and their surroundings. This movie is
   my favorite blizzard movie. Near 0 temps. and 24-36 inches snow. It
   seems to go with the movie. But Altman, the great implicator, has been
   true to form, with this movie. Nothing is cut and dried, it is all in
   a state of flux. The brutal conditions that the movie depicts, the
   sanctioned murders that occur in the name of the game, hence the title,
   "Quintet". With the counter point of ragged and questionable salvation
   of the survivors who have fell lower than the recent dog food deceased.
   A time of larger than life personalities, all using the "civilized",
   "ritualized", game of Quinted to heighten the sense of life with death.
   The implications for and of the human race is frightening, going out
   with a whimper instead of a bang. Not only is the landscape sterile,
   but so is the population, which makes the death of Essex's pregnant woman
   an even more terrible tradgedy in a tragic setting, in a tragic time,
   the end of mankind.

5 comments about Batman Beyond - The Movie.

1. I can not express how much I love this DVD. I'm sure alot has been said about this DVD / Series. So I'll get to the point. This is NOT for kids, its totally a PG13 genre. On this DVD you get 2 things:
   
   #1- 'The Movie' which is basically a full hour or so, to ease you into the new world and explaining of how the NEW Batman is reborn and takes you into a very cool emotional ride till the end.
   
   #2: you get 4 episodes, eachone is about 25mins or so long, they are awesome, they introduce you to new villians and old villians in a NEW way.
   
   This DVD is one of my favorites, even though I know the story of Batman Beyond almost word for word, I just can't get enough of it, the music is totally Head Banging to..and you will fall in the love with the characters.. the dialoge is never cheesy. its an action film first and for most, and an animation second.
   
   This is must have for the new generation Batman lovers, screw the WB this is the real thing :D



2. This is a good premier movie for "Batman Beyond" (known in Europe as "Batman of The Future"), starring Will Friedle as the new Batman (Terry McGinnis) and returning with Kevin Conroy (Batman from the original show) as old guy Bruce Wayne. Mr. Freeze (Michael Ansara) and Bane (Who never talks in his episode appearance) were the only remaining original bad guys until "Return of the Joker". The costume gallery in the Batcave (Original Batsuit, Robin's costume, Nightwing's costume, Batgirl's costume and the new Batsuit)
   
   Bottom Line: A show that takes some getting used to.



3. i like that thay have repackaged some of the movies i hope they repackage all of them to the keep case and release them all in season packages the like batman.



4. Excellent start to the new series, Batman fans will love it as much as i do.



5. Just would like to let everyone know that this is a must see if you like anything Batman. Great movie.