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Something to Watch: DVDs

The movie worth checking out this week is Priest, an action film based on the graphic novel of the same name. Kind of a vampire post-apocalypse western, the vampires are hungry and the clergy are heavily armed.

In TV, Outcasts: Season One could also be called The Entire Series, since it got cancelled before it had finished airing in the UK, and well before it was brought to the US by BBC America. Which is sad, because even though it started out slow, by the end of the season they had built up quite a powerful storyline that just got better with each episode. Also out this week is both season 5, and the entire series to date (seasons 1 through 5) box sets of Dexter, a program that is just strange enough to be genre itself.

There doesn’t seem to be any interesting genre Anime coming out this week unless I missed something. For western animation, there is Batman The Brave & the Bold: Season 2, Part 1, which seems a bit Saturday morning cartoon-like to me.

Something to Watch: DVDs

In movies, Limitless is a driving story of artificially boosted intelligence, and what the implications might be. I loved this one in the theaters, and ordinarily it would get my vote for top pick, but also out this week is the live action version of Tekken.

In TV, the choice release is Doctor Who: Series Six, Part One. I am not in favor of the new trend of releasing half a season of a program at a time because they try to use it to raise the prices, but sometimes you can find some good deals on these, and this is one of those times. Plus, it’s Doctor Who, so I would be picking it up regardless. Also out this week, Torchwood: The Complete Original UK Series, packaging up the first two seasons with the miniseries Children of Earth into a single box set. If you bought the seasons separately, there doesn’t seem to be a lot new here; while they mention 10 hours of bonus features, that was about what you had on the original single season DVDs when you added them up, and no where does the BBC say if they are new features or the old ones recycled.

In Anime, Queens Blade 2: Evil Eye Series Part 2 continues the battle royal to determine the new ruler, as well as the practice of selling series in half-season chunks. And in classic re-releases, Gungrave – The Complete Series makes Gungrave affordable in a single box set; around $26 with a little shopping around.

Torchwood Radio Plays this week

Starz ran episode 1 of the new season of Torchwood: Miracle Day last night, and it was good. But we have still more Torchwood goodness before they run episode 2 next Friday in the form of three radio plays they recorded right after filming ended on the new season. On Monday the 11th we get episode 1 of The Lost Files when Rhys and Gwen go to the Ivyday Nursing Home to close out his elderly uncles affairs, something isn’t quite right. In episode 2 Captain Jack and company use a submarine to try to rescue a stranded alien in the Mariana Trench on Tuesday the 12th, and it finished up on Wednesday the 13th with episode 3 at The House of the Dead, the most haunted pub in Wales. These are all run in BBC4’s Afternoon Play time slot at 14:15 GMT, but they should also be available to listen to online for six more days after each one airs. While neither Torchwood or Doctor Who, I should also mention Best Interests, Thursday at 14:15. It features a confused young man with no I.D. and a Dr. Who fixation, so I am going to have to check it out as well. Also Starz has uploaded episode 1 0f Torchwood: Web of Lies to YouTube.

Personal Dalek

It looks like the official props crew of the BBC, and the BBC itself, have now licensed for sale Official Daleks. They are full sized replicas built from the same moulds and specifications used to create the ones you see on TV, and if they seem a bit pricey at £3,000 (just under $5,000), remember that each one is hand-built to order. Being the same as the TV versions, you can not ride around in them like cars, but you can wear them like costumes if you crouch down and manipulate the transport directly (foot powered). Thanks to the folks at io9 for the heads up on this one.

Doctor Who Anime

This may be the best fan-made Anime I have ever seen, and certainly the best Doctor Who fan built Anime. We are talking Classic and Retro here; the Doctor in this one is Jon Pertwee, and the Master is Roger Delgado, using some excellently edited sound bytes from the 1970s episodes. On the Anime side, Bubblegum Crisis, Dirty Pair, and Macross all contributed to the animation style, although I don’t speak quite enough Japanese yet to vouch for the Nihongo quotes (but I expect they are as well done). I do suspect a lot of them are from those series, which puts our Doctor Who influences from the 70s and our Anime influences from the 80s, and gives us a nice familiar jumping off point to explore this totally new combo creation from them. Did I mention this may be the best fan-made Anime I have ever seen? It even uses the old-school minimal animation sequences with the modern flash minimal animation sequences. They may sound the same, but you create them using totally different techniques. Thanks OtaKing 77077, also known as Paul Johnson for creating this incredible animation!! He has a number of Tutorial animation videos as well, you should watch them all!

I recommend watching it full screen, in case you were wondering: it is just that good.