"Actor: Chris Drake"

• Them | DVD | (05/07/2013) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  An early entry in the 1950s cycle of creature-feature pictures, Them! is the one about hordes of ants mutated to a giant size by the first A-bomb test. An exciting, persuasive exercise in paranoid science fiction, it exhibits an interesting tension between cautious warning about irresponsible tampering with the atom and a Cold War vision of the authorities taking on extraordinary powers to combat a threat to the country. It begins as an eerie desert mystery, with New Mexico cop James Whitmore investigating disappearances and deaths: a mobile-home and a general store are crushed as if tanks have rolled over them, a shopkeeper is found dead of a huge injection of formic acid, quantities of sugar have been stolen (the film's sole straight-faced joke) and a catatonic little girl is shocked into shrieking "them, them!". FBI agent James Arness takes charge and a plaster-cast of a strange imprint summons a father and daughter investigative team from the Department of Agriculture, cherubic Edmond Gwenn and smart-suited Joan Taylor. Law-enforcement, military and scientific experts deduce the nature of the problem and take swift, decisive action to counteract the danger. Director Gordon Douglas stages several great monster-suspense scenes: a first encounter in a sandstorm, a venture into a poisoned nest, a glimpse of horror at sea, and a finale in the Los Angeles storm drains. On the DVD: Them! has the wonderful scarlet-lettered, shrieking title on an otherwise sharp-looking black and white print. An amusing newspaper-style menu uses original artwork from the lurid poster to showcase some interesting snippets of test or outtake footage of the big puppet ants in action, and there's a wonderfully overblown terror-trailer.--Kim Newman

• Stargate SG-1: Season 5 (Vol. 21) | DVD | (20/05/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £4.99

  Stargate SG-1 is the TV spin-off from the 1994 big-screen movie. In the roles of Colonel Jack O'Neill and Dr Daniel Jackson respectively are Richard Dean Anderson and Michael Shanks. They're joined by Captain Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping) and guilt-stricken former alien baddie Teal'c (Christopher Judge) to form the primary unit SG-1. With a seemingly endless network of Stargates found to exist on planets all across the known universe, their mission is to make first contact with as many friendly races as possible. Episodes on this DVD:"Red Sky". A picturesque location shoot and a questioning of faiths distinguishes this episode. After an unavoidable accident initiates a global catastrophe on planet K'Tau, Sam forces Jack and the others to decide between technology or primitive faith. Naturally, Daniel is for the latter, and ultimately the show stands tall by leaving its resolution up to the interpretation of the viewer. "The Rite of Passage". Some Stargate guest stars just don't get a break. Cassandra, the poor little girl turned into a human bomb four years ago ("Singularity") is now a teenager experiencing a far more problematic "Rite of Passage" than she deserves. Infected with a secretly dormant retro-virus, she also seems to be seeing a ghostly form no one else can see. And for once, there's an opportunity for Dr Fraiser to do more than jab needles too! "Beast of Burden". An interesting mix of the movie Enemy Mine and the Biblical tale of Daniel and the Lion. Here it's Daniel Jackson who had previously befriended the Unas "Beast" Chaka (Dion Johnstone) in "The First Ones". There's an agreeable political stance taken on slave labour and animal captivity too, aided enormously by the star calibre cameo of Larry Drake."The Tomb". Paired up with their on/off adversaries the Russians(!), SG-1 enjoys a spot of Indiana Jonesing around "The Tomb". Throw in a little Alien-style hunt and seek with an unseen predator, and you have a terrific movie mish-mash in which Jack manages an all-time high in sarcastic barbs. --Paul Tonks