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Things to Watch: DVDs

One of the best movies of 2009 (certainly in the top 5) is coming out on Tuesday: Cold Souls. This one isn’t an action/adventure tale with Sci-Fi special effects wallpaper like so many others, but the core premise of the story is science fiction, and the rest of the film explores the consequences spinning off from that premise. Because it was in such limited release in the theaters a lot of folks didn’t get the chance to see this on the big screen. Do not miss it now; the acting is amazing, and the story itself is wonderfully presented.

The other movie worth noting is Zombieland, yet another comedy about the living dead; at this rate, they could become almost as numerous as TV shows about Vampire Cops/Detectives.

Speaking of TV, also this week are the final David Tennant Doctor Who episodes, >Dr. Who: End of Time Parts 1 & 2 and Doctor Who: The Water of Mars. If you haven’t already acquired the other two Who Specials, Doctor Who: The Complete Specials box set gets released Tuesday as well.

the only new Anime I found coming out this week is Skull Man: Complete Collection, which looks like it would make a good double feature with Red Garden (if you have 12 hours to watch a double feature). I just wanted to mention last weeks Sands of Destruction again, because they have a great tag line: Destroying the world solves everything.

Beginning TV

There are a few new TV shows beginning in the US that I wanted to mention. Hopefully you already know about them, but if not this will be timely.

First, there are two programs from the UK. Demons started a few weeks ago on BBC America (if you missed the first few episodes, they are still available on Video On Demand). The politically incorrect chief detective from Life on Mars stars as the American trainer of the teenage heir of the Van Helsing dynasty. Terry Nation, inventor of the Daleks and Blakes 7, also created a series in the ’70s called Survivors, about the handful of people left in England after a biologic disaster. Just like Doctor Who, the series has been revived by the BBC, and rolls out on BBC America on February 13th.

In the US but Brit-related, it seems Fox Broadcasting is once again looking to create locally something Whoish; this time around it is a US pilot for Torchwood. Or almost US; Russel T. Davies would be writing the script (at least for the first one), Julie Gardner and the team from BBC Worldwide would be doing the production, even the surviving original actors could be involved. It sound more like tangential episodes to the series than a remake, which is again much like Fox’s one venture into the world of Doctor Who.

Finally, Caprica kicks off tonight on Syfy. This prequel to Battlestar Galactica has been anticipated for a while, and it is finally here. The VoD Caprica pilot they have been running for the last few weeks ends today; it will be interesting to see if it is the same as the one they broadcast, or different.

Red Dwarf Radio, Doctor Who Special

Starting tomorrow, Sunday December 6th, BBC7 will be running Infinity Welcomes Careful Drivers, the book by Grant Naylor (who is actually Rob Grant & Doug Naylor) that tells the story about how Dave Lister ended up as part of the crew of the Red Dwarf. If that wasn’t enough, the story is read by Arnold Rimmer himself – Chris Barrie. The segments are 30 minutes long, so it will take six of them to read the whole book. There are three more Red Dwarf books and I for one am sincerely hoping they decide to present them all.

There are only 3 David Tennant Doctor Who specials left, and BBC America will be playing The Water of Mars on Saturday December 19th. Yes, it is the Beginning of the End; and Children in Need had a taste to share…

Things to Watch

Out new this week is Aliens in the Attic, a Family Friendly invasion of Earth movie where the kids get to save the day. Another new release is GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra; I saw it in a movie theater and asked to be paid triple my ticket price to compensate me for my time when it was over. StarQuest: The Odyssey looks to be a direct-to-DVD release.

For the classic releases, Doctor Who has a few important ones this week. the Patric Troughton story line The War Games are a welcome addition to the collection, as is the Tom Baker Black Guardian sequence.

While the release of the live action version of Terminator Salvation won’t happen until the beginning of December, Terminator Salvation: The Machinima Series comes out on DVD this week. Not bad for something that started life as a viral marketing campaign, and the disk release dates match up with the original deployment. Also on the animation front is Star Wars: The Clone Wars The Complete Season One.

There are a ton of quality releases on the Anime front, starting with Dragonaut – The Resonance, in which Earth clones Dragons to defend against extinction-level asteroid impacts. Also out is Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit Volume 7. And then there is the Bleach Season 4 Box Set as the soul reaper saga continues. Also out is Utawarerumono The Complete Collection, and You’re Under Arrest: Fast & Furious, season 2 part 1. The Boogiepop Phantom complete collection is out this week as well; guess I jumped the gun last week.

NTA Nominees announced, Who/Blackadder news

The nominees have been announced for the UK’s National Television Awards, and I am happy to report they include Ashes to Ashes, Deamons, Doctor Who, Primeval, and Torchwood entries among them. All five shows are up against each other in the Best Drama category. John Barrowman, Philip Glenister, Eve Myles, Hannah Spearritt, and David Tennant are vying for the Best Drama Performance spot. There are many more categories, I need to go through the list in detail. But I had to relay this bit as well; the creater of Blackadder will be writting a Doctor Who episode in which a historic figure battles a monster. Keeping my fingers crossed that the figure is Blackadder himself!