New DVD box sets of the Star Trek and I Love Lucy TV series are available this week.
Star Trek: The Original Series: The Complete Series Remastered (CBS/Paramount, 1966-69, 25 discs, 79 episodes, featurettes, trailers, two versions of The Cage, episodes of Star Trek: The Animated Series and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine). The mission of this DVD box set is to boldly go where well, actually, where the series has gone before, but with better shelf-friendly packaging and a cheaper retail price.
William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and the cast of the original show demonstrate why the first is always the best. Each episode has been remastered, and all of the previously released bonus features are here. Fans who havent been able to pony up the higher prices of earlier editions should be pleased.
I Love Lucy: The Complete Series (CBS/Paramount, 1951-60, b/w, 33 discs, 194 episodes, featurettes, deleted/extended scenes/episodes, original animation, promos, bloopers, excerpts from The Bob Hope Show, 13 radio shows: My Favorite Husband). Similarly, this new DVD box set of the iconic Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz sitcom is shelf-friendly and sold at a lower price. All previously issued bonus elements are here. Again, fans that couldnt shell out the cost before may find this one easier on the wallet.
Worricker: The Complete Series (PBS, 2011-14, three discs, three movies, featurettes). Veteran MI5 agent Johnny Worricker (Bill Nighy), a sort of James Bond with principles, discovers government corruption involving the prime minister (Ralph Fiennes) and a plot to undermine the British security agency he works for. It is highly entertaining paranoia spy stuff written and directed as three stand-alone-but-connected British-TV movies by David Hare (Plenty, The Hours). The supporting cast includes Helena Bonham Carter, Felicity Jones, Winona Ryder, Christopher Walken, Rachel Weisz, Olivia Williams and Michael Gambon.
The Story of Women and Power (Athena, 2015, three episodes). This documentary on systemic female oppression arrives just in time to precede the theatrical film Suffragette (which opened locally yesterday). Historian Amanda Vickery hosts this sweeping miniseries, which include profiles of Mary Wollstonecraft, Hannah More, Emmeline Pankhurst and others, chronicling their historic battles for womens rights.
The Great Fire (PBS, 2014, two discs, four episodes). The series is a dramatization of events surrounding the Great Fire of London, a conflagration in 1666 that lasted four days after an ember landed on a pile of straw in a bakers shop. Each hourlong episode takes place during one of the blazes four days, which leveled homes, churches and businesses, leaving 70,000 of the citys 80,000 residents homeless. It focuses primarily on the family that owns and operates the bakery and the royal courts response to the disaster.
In Their Own Words: Queen Elizabeth II (PBS, 2015).
In Their Own Words: Muhammad Ali (PBS, 2015).
In Their Own Words: Jim Henson (PBS, 2015). Each of these three DVDs is an hourlong episode of the PBS series In Their Own Words, a sort of Biography-style profile of disparate celebrities. Queen Elizabeth II includes interviews with former Prime Minister John Major and former U.S. President George H.W. Bush; Muhammad Ali has football legend Jim Brown and boxing champ Sugar Ray Leonard; and Jim Henson features fellow Muppeteer Frank Oz and Sesame Street veterans Caroll Spinney and Bob McGrath.
Getting On: The Complete Second Season (HBO, 2014, six episodes, deleted scenes, bloopers). This comedy set in the extended-care unit of a Southern California hospital stars Laurie Metcalf (Roseanne). Doctors, nurses and bureaucrats are the dysfunctional characters in this sitcom that skewers modern medical care. The usual HBO crassness is in full display. Guests include Betty Buckley, Jean Smart, Mary Kay Place and Carrie Preston. (Season three is now airing.)
Game of Thrones: The Complete First Season (Steelbook) (HBO, 2011, five discs, 10 episodes, deleted/extended scenes, audio commentaries, featurettes, maps, episode guides; magnets).
Game of Thrones: The Complete Second Season (Steelbook) (HBO, 2012, five discs, 10 episodes, deleted/extended scenes, audio commentaries, featurettes, maps, episode guides; magnets). These are new Steelbook collectors sets of the first two seasons of the popular, Emmy-winning medieval melodrama based on the fantasy novels by George R.R. Martin. (Beware of the usual HBO R-rated content.)
Doc McStuffins: Pet Vet (Disney, 2015, five episodes; pet collar). This Disney Junior cable animated series follows 7-year-old Dottie, who wants to follow in the footsteps of her mother, a doctor. She practices her skills on toys in her backyard, sometimes employing her magic stethoscope to bring toys and dolls to life.
Star Trek: The Original Series: The Complete Series Remastered (CBS/Paramount, 1966-69, 25 discs, 79 episodes, featurettes, trailers, two versions of The Cage, episodes of Star Trek: The Animated Series and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine). The mission of this DVD box set is to boldly go where well, actually, where the series has gone before, but with better shelf-friendly packaging and a cheaper retail price.
William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and the cast of the original show demonstrate why the first is always the best. Each episode has been remastered, and all of the previously released bonus features are here. Fans who havent been able to pony up the higher prices of earlier editions should be pleased.
I Love Lucy: The Complete Series (CBS/Paramount, 1951-60, b/w, 33 discs, 194 episodes, featurettes, deleted/extended scenes/episodes, original animation, promos, bloopers, excerpts from The Bob Hope Show, 13 radio shows: My Favorite Husband). Similarly, this new DVD box set of the iconic Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz sitcom is shelf-friendly and sold at a lower price. All previously issued bonus elements are here. Again, fans that couldnt shell out the cost before may find this one easier on the wallet.
Worricker: The Complete Series (PBS, 2011-14, three discs, three movies, featurettes). Veteran MI5 agent Johnny Worricker (Bill Nighy), a sort of James Bond with principles, discovers government corruption involving the prime minister (Ralph Fiennes) and a plot to undermine the British security agency he works for. It is highly entertaining paranoia spy stuff written and directed as three stand-alone-but-connected British-TV movies by David Hare (Plenty, The Hours). The supporting cast includes Helena Bonham Carter, Felicity Jones, Winona Ryder, Christopher Walken, Rachel Weisz, Olivia Williams and Michael Gambon.
The Story of Women and Power (Athena, 2015, three episodes). This documentary on systemic female oppression arrives just in time to precede the theatrical film Suffragette (which opened locally yesterday). Historian Amanda Vickery hosts this sweeping miniseries, which include profiles of Mary Wollstonecraft, Hannah More, Emmeline Pankhurst and others, chronicling their historic battles for womens rights.
The Great Fire (PBS, 2014, two discs, four episodes). The series is a dramatization of events surrounding the Great Fire of London, a conflagration in 1666 that lasted four days after an ember landed on a pile of straw in a bakers shop. Each hourlong episode takes place during one of the blazes four days, which leveled homes, churches and businesses, leaving 70,000 of the citys 80,000 residents homeless. It focuses primarily on the family that owns and operates the bakery and the royal courts response to the disaster.
In Their Own Words: Queen Elizabeth II (PBS, 2015).
In Their Own Words: Muhammad Ali (PBS, 2015).
In Their Own Words: Jim Henson (PBS, 2015). Each of these three DVDs is an hourlong episode of the PBS series In Their Own Words, a sort of Biography-style profile of disparate celebrities. Queen Elizabeth II includes interviews with former Prime Minister John Major and former U.S. President George H.W. Bush; Muhammad Ali has football legend Jim Brown and boxing champ Sugar Ray Leonard; and Jim Henson features fellow Muppeteer Frank Oz and Sesame Street veterans Caroll Spinney and Bob McGrath.
Getting On: The Complete Second Season (HBO, 2014, six episodes, deleted scenes, bloopers). This comedy set in the extended-care unit of a Southern California hospital stars Laurie Metcalf (Roseanne). Doctors, nurses and bureaucrats are the dysfunctional characters in this sitcom that skewers modern medical care. The usual HBO crassness is in full display. Guests include Betty Buckley, Jean Smart, Mary Kay Place and Carrie Preston. (Season three is now airing.)
Game of Thrones: The Complete First Season (Steelbook) (HBO, 2011, five discs, 10 episodes, deleted/extended scenes, audio commentaries, featurettes, maps, episode guides; magnets).
Game of Thrones: The Complete Second Season (Steelbook) (HBO, 2012, five discs, 10 episodes, deleted/extended scenes, audio commentaries, featurettes, maps, episode guides; magnets). These are new Steelbook collectors sets of the first two seasons of the popular, Emmy-winning medieval melodrama based on the fantasy novels by George R.R. Martin. (Beware of the usual HBO R-rated content.)
Doc McStuffins: Pet Vet (Disney, 2015, five episodes; pet collar). This Disney Junior cable animated series follows 7-year-old Dottie, who wants to follow in the footsteps of her mother, a doctor. She practices her skills on toys in her backyard, sometimes employing her magic stethoscope to bring toys and dolls to life.