"Actor: Melissa"

• Farscape 2.5 | DVD | (22/10/2001) from £14.80   |  Saving you £10.19 (68.85%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The second season of Farscape expands upon and develops the characters introduced in the ambitious first season. John Crichton's new nemesis is the deadly Scorpius, replacing Crais who has taken the living ship Moya's offspring on a voyage into the unknown. Moya's regular crew--Aeryn, Zhaan, Chiana, D'Argo and Rygel--remain as divided and suspicious of each other as ever, yet somehow manage to pull together at times of crisis. The writers continue to exploit the show's gift for surprising as well as emotionally convincing character development, while the CGI effects, prosthetics and state-of-the-art puppetry--courtesy of Jim Henson's Creature Shop--continue to make Farscape the most original-looking sci-fi show on TV. The witty scripts, peppered with post-modern pop culture references and film in-jokes, are also a breath of fresh air. The result is episodic TV sci-fi that continually pushes at the accepted boundaries of the genre. --Mark Walker

• Farscape 4.4 | DVD | (14/07/2003) from £14.97   |  Saving you £10.02 (66.93%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The fourth volume of Farscape's fourth (and final) series does all those things that the later stages of any season should do: individual episodes play interesting games with how we think television works, while the tension of the overall story arc builds and builds. Of the individual episodes here, "Mental as Anything" is an ensemble piece for the male members of Moya's crew: D'Argo's back-story gets some sort of resolution and Scorpius puts John Crichton through hell for the best of reasons. "Bringing Home the Beacon" is rather more fun-- the women of Moya frustrate a Sebacean/Scarren peace treaty--but ends in stark tragedy. In "Constellation of Doubt", Moya picks up, and the crew obsessionally watch, a documentary from American television about their recent visit to earth: Crichton gets to see human paranoia and wishful thinking through cold, intelligent alien eyes. Finally, in "Prayer", Aeryn suffers terribly at the hands of her Scarren captors and Crichton makes a devil's bargain with Scorpius to save her. By this point the season is building to the surprises of its last episodes: Farscape was about to be cancelled, but it never lost its edge. On the DVDs: Farscape, Series 4 Vol. 4 includes a dictionary of alien slang and technical terms with illustrative clips from the show, as well as text files on the villainous Peacekeepers Braca and Grayza. The high point of the extras, though, is an interview with the wonderfully flakey Gigi Edgeley (Chiana) and a lot of deleted scenes from "Constellation of Doubt", with footage of Chiana, Aeryn and Noranti interacting with Crichton's family in bizarre and touching ways. --Roz Kaveney

• Farscape 4.5 | DVD | (25/08/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  This last ever sequence of Farscape episodes is as effective and powerful a climax as those of earlier seasons. The three-parter "We're So Screwed" (a title censored by the BBC in the UK) starts with "Fetal Attraction", in which the crew of Moya attempt to rescue the pregnant Aeryn Sun from her Scarren captors and end up starting a dangerous epidemic on a space station. They get Aeryn back and lose Scorpius; in "Hot to Katratzi", the necessity of saving his worst enemy--who just knows too much to be left a captive--forces John Crichton to gate-crash the Sebacean-Scarren peace conference and bluff his way to success. Seemingly betrayed by Scorpius, John snatches victory in "La Bomba", striking another deadly blow against the Scarren empire. The title of the last episode "Bad Timing" refers both to the show's cancellation--the cast and crew felt real bitterness towards the SciFi Channel over this--and to the cliff-hanger ending; the crew of Moya have to prevent a Scarren ship finding its way through the worm-hole to Earth. Farscape was perhaps the best ever television space opera and certainly the most sexy, stylish, funny and dramatic; it will be greatly missed. On the DVD: Farscape, Series 4 Part 5 presents the shows in 16:9 format with impressively loud Dolby Digital 5.1 sound. The special features include a documentary about the cancellation of Farscape, in which the cast talk about their shock and grief and fans talk about the "Save Farscape" campaign. There are a couple of extended versions of scenes from these episodes and an extensive blooper reel, much of it hilarious. Also included is an illustrated glossary of terms from the Uncharted Territories and a collection of interesting facts about these last four episodes. --Roz Kaveney

• Farscape 3.5 | DVD | (16/09/2002) from £10.60   |  Saving you £14.39 (135.75%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The final four episodes of Farscape's remarkable third season prove conclusively that this is the show's best and bravest year to date. Powerful issues of love, loyalty and sacrifice remain to be resolved, but after enduring a vertiginous emotional roller-coaster ride in recent episodes, Moya's reunited crew have no time to recuperate as Crichton determinedly calls them to arms for their sternest challenge yet. Scorpius and his Wormhole research must be destroyed at any price. Thus the scene is set to conclude the series' biggest story arc in a climactic confrontation aboard the Peacekeeper Command Carrier. In "I-Yensch, You-Yensch" the plan is set in motion, as a canny Rygel bargains with Scorpius and gains his grudging respect during an unexpected and tragi-comic heist by two murderously incompetent criminals. Then the two-parter "Into the Lion's Den" takes everyone onto the Command Carrier, where Aeryn is confronted by her past, Crichton's subconscious finally releases its Wormhole secrets, and Crais persuades Talyn to do something extraordinarily noble. By the end, it's hard not to sympathise with poor put-upon Scorpius. In the final episode, "Dog with Two Bones", Moya's crew seem finally free to go their separate ways as a mysterious refugee helps Crichton confront his worst fears about Aeryn. Emotions reach a climax and remain tantalisingly unresolved at the cliffhanger ending. On the DVD: Farscape, Volume 3.5 carries all the usual gallery of extra features--including deleted scenes, "Info-Pods" on Rygel, Crais and Scorpius, "Farscape Facts", trailers and stills--plus of course four uncut episodes. --Mark Walker

• Farscape 3.2 | DVD | (06/05/2002) from £12.97   |  Saving you £15.01 (150.40%)   |  RRP £24.99

  With the third season well under way, it's clear that Farscape has developed into a grown-up show. There's a new self-confidence and a new maturity here that's entirely welcome after the often wildly erratic tone of the second season. The production design and high-quality effects work remain true to the show's original quirky style, although both the look and the more adult-themed scripts have become progressively darker. This second box set of Season 3 features five of the nastiest, most shocking and incident-packed episodes to date. Things start badly when psychotic madman Kaarvok kills D'Argo and Chiana and sucks out their brains. Only later do we discover he's "twinned" them when the same fate befalls Crichton--though both Crichton "twins" survive. Life just gets more and more complicated thereafter. Crichton twin 1 stays on Moya with D'Argo, Chiana and Jool, while Crichton twin 2 transfers to Talyn with Aeryn, Crais, Rygel and Stark. Talyn is being pursued by a Peacekeeper retrieval squad led by Aeryn's mum, Xhalax Sun, and is then swallowed by a Budong (in the Ben Browder-penned episode "Green-Eyed Monster") before Mrs Sun catches up with her daughter and pals. Back on Moya a mysterious "Energy Rider" possesses the crew in turn. Meanwhile on Talyn, Aeryn and Crichton twin 2 have been blissfully having sex, while Crais lusts vainly for Aeryn. Just wait until Scorpius gets involved. On the DVD: This box set contains the usual "Info Pods" and other extras, plus the first Region 2 commentary, for the episode "Relativity", with actor Lani Tupu and director Peter Andrikidis; it's a shame that they don't have a lot to say. --Mark Walker

• Killer Instinct | DVD | (25/01/2010) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £4.99

• Evil Things | DVD | (10/10/2011) from £12.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  On January 9th 2009 5 college students left New York City for a weekend in the country. 48 hours later all 5 students simply vanished without a trace. There were no leads and no evidence...until now.

• Farscape 4.3 | DVD | (19/05/2003) from £9.96   |  Saving you £15.03 (150.90%)   |  RRP £24.99

  In the episodes contained in this third volume, Farscape's fourth series finally kicks into gear and does some of the most surprising things a television show has ever done. The first three episodes are all Farscape classics, which take our expectations and jump up and down on them. "Unrealised Realities" takes John Crichton (Ben Browder) through a wormhole to be interrogated by a creature who regards the Ancients who put the knowledge of wormhole technology in his brain as annoying bumblers and who tells him a lot about time and about alternate universes. This gives the cast a chance to play each other again--Claudia Black's performance as Chiana is particularly disorientating. In "Kansas" John finds himself finally back on Earth, during his own adolescence, with the task of ensuring that his father does not die in the Challenger explosion and alter his personal history. The visit to his long-missed home continues in "Terra Firma" where the crew of Moya have to cope with Bush's America and John discovers the hard way--politics, family, old girlfriends, alien assassins--that you cannot go home again. Lastly in the moderately weaker "Twice Shy", Chiana (Gigi Edgeley) and the others learn that no good deed goes unpunished as a slave they rescue turns out to be one of the more deadly individual menaces they have ever faced. --Roz Kaveney

• Anna And The King / Ever After | DVD | (31/01/2005) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Anna And The King: Academy Award winner Jodie Foster and international sensation Chow Yun-Fat star in this epic retelling of a classic true-life story. When English schoolteacher Anna Leonowens arrives in the exotic land of Siam to teach the children of King Mongkut her Western sensibilities clash with the ruler's Eastern ways. The tension builds as Mongkut learns that outside forces are conspiring against his regime. With the political intrigue set to explode Anna and th

• Sucker The Vampire | DVD | (29/01/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  One hundred years after Bram Stoker's Dracula comes a new kind of vampire story. Anthony (Yan Birch) is a modern bloodsucker who uses his popular rock band as a front to lure beautiful young groupies to his lair. His assistant Reed (Alex Erkiletian) disposes of the bodies of these nubile unsuspecting victims after Anthony seduces and kills them. As a result of his bloody lifestyle Anthony soon contracts a deadly virus. Reed must try to save his master from a fate worse that death. Part dark satire part horror-comedy Sucker is truly a rock 'n roll vampire tale for the 90's.

• Farscape 2.2 | DVD | (07/05/2001) from £19.27   |  Saving you £5.72 (22.90%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The second season of Farscape expands upon and develops the characters introduced in the ambitious first season. John Crichton's new nemesis is the deadly Scorpius, replacing Crais who has taken the living ship Moya's offspring on a voyage into the unknown. Moya's regular crew--Aeryn, Zhaan, Chiana, D'Argo and Rygel--remain as divided and suspicious of each other as ever, yet somehow manage to pull together at times of crisis. After revelations about Pilot's introduction to Moya in "The Way We Weren't", the writers continue to exploit the show's gift for surprising as well as emotionally convincing character development. The CGI effects, prosthetics and state-of-the-art puppetry, courtesy of Jim Henson's Creature Shop, continue to make Farscape the most original looking sci-fi show on TV. The witty scripts, peppered with post-modern pop culture references and movie in-jokes, are also a breath of fresh air. The result is episodic TV sci-fi that continually pushes at the accepted boundaries of the genre. On the DVD: the four episodes included here are all distinguished by ambitious storytelling, somewhat let down in the execution. In "Picture if You Will", an old enemy returns with a truly bizarre and barely comprehensible scheme to imprison Moya's crew inside a picture (shades of Dorian Gray maybe?). "Home on the Remains" has a contrived plot that harks right back to classic Star Trek, with Crichton even quoting Jim Kirk (the highlight, though, is Zhaan's transformation, which gives a whole new meaning to hay fever). Both "Dream a Little Dream" and "Out of Their Minds" play around with the crew's perceptions of reality--the former is a curious flashback episode set in between the first and second season, as Zhaan is put on trial for murder on a dystopian planet run by lawyers; the second plays body-swap with the crew, with everyone obviously having fun pretending to be everyone else (the aliens, however, look like leftovers from The Dark Crystal). DVD extras include a handful of deleted scenes, a DVD-ROM screensaver and yet another photo gallery. --Mark Walker

• Little Monsters - TV Trevor Plus Other Stories | DVD | (22/07/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £5.99

  Trevor spent every spare moment watching television. If he saw a show that he particularly liked he would dress up and pretend to be the main character. Trevor pretends to be 'Rex The Wonder Dog' and insists on sleeping in an old basket on his bedroom floor! This DVD in the Little Monsters series also features episodes with Know-All Nancy Revolting Ronnie Helpful Henry Pickin' Peter and Forgetful Fiona.

• Whisper Kill | DVD | (02/08/2004) from £4.99   |  Saving you £-1.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

  Ambitious reporter Liz Bartlett secretly wishes that Jerry Caper her business associate were dead. Yet her hidden desire soon becomes a reality when he is brutally murdered. Investigative reporter Dan Walker is assigned to the murder case and becomes intrigued by the pretty reporter. They begin a passionate affair but Dan can't dispel his suspicion of Liz's guilt. When a second murder is commited Dan probes deeper looking for clues in Liz's past. But just as the pieces of the puzzle begin to fall into plac Dan follows a lead bringing him face to face with the killer in a shocking ending filled with suspense.....

• Farscape 2.4 | DVD | (27/08/2001) from £25.00   |  Saving you £-0.01 (N/A%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The second season of Farscape expands upon and develops the characters introduced in the ambitious first season. John Crichton's new nemesis is the deadly Scorpius, replacing Crais who has taken the living ship Moya's offspring on a voyage into the unknown. Moya's regular crew--Aeryn, Zhaan, Chiana, D'Argo and Rygel--remain as divided and suspicious of each other as ever, yet somehow manage to pull together at times of crisis. The writers continue to exploit the show's gift for surprising as well as emotionally convincing character development, while the CGI effects, prosthetics and state-of-the-art puppetry, courtesy of Jim Henson's Creature Shop, continue to make Farscape the most original looking sci-fi show on TV. The witty scripts, peppered with post-modern pop culture references and movie in-jokes, are also a breath of fresh air. The result is episodic TV sci-fi that continually pushes at the accepted boundaries of the genre. --Mark Walker

• Shattered Trust (Other Side of Love BONUS) | DVD | (07/11/2011) from £5.38   |  Saving you £-0.39 (-7.80%)   |  RRP £4.99

  Promising young attorney Shari Karney is breaking up under the stress of running her practice. She is neglecting her appearance and her boyfriend, and quarrels with her mother. When she becomes emotionally involved in a child abuse case and physically attacks a witness in court, it appears that she has finally gone over the edge. But whilst being helped by a friendly psychiatrist she comes to realise that her behaviour is the result of her father having abused her as a child.

• Final Scream | DVD | (15/10/2007) from £5.99   |  Saving you £-3.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £2.99

  A wealthy group of college graduates are invited to a remote estate to participate in what they believe to be an innocent murder mystery game. The evening begins as a fun night of scary stunts fake blood featuring a mysterious man in a creepy mask. But soon the body count becomes reality as one of the players turns into a violent killer. Now they are playing a far more realistic game a game to stay alive!

• Risk | DVD | (16/07/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  The world of insurance hasn't exactly inspired a wealth of memorable cinema, but Australian film Risk is a feisty, funny, clever and, yes, insurance-related movie. Drawing on a range of cinematic themes (good cop/bad cop, the young newcomer and his guiding light, a love triangle) the film offers a fresh insight by virtue of its unusual setting. Ben Madigen (Tom Long) finds himself working in the business by default and is soon taken under the wing of the charismatic John Kreisky (Brown). While trying to undertake his job without compromising his principles, Madigen is unwittingly lured into a scam by Kreisky and his girlfriend, lawyer Louise Roncaldi (Claudia Karvan). The burgeoning and later unravelling relationship between the three is the film's key story, as Long finds himself torn between the other two. Brown is excellent as the scheming Kreisky, once again proving that his failure to move into a more major acting league is little short of baffling--but then, this type of imaginative film offers him more scope than Cocktail or FX ever could and serves as a welcome advertisement for the growing Australian movie industry. This is a highly intelligent film that keeps its plot-cards closely to its chest, keeping the viewer guessing throughout. On the DVD: the usual scene selection is coupled with the trailer, which presents the film (slightly misleadingly) in pulsating, high-action tones. The "making of" featurette offers the viewer an insight into not very much happening (look, there's a man pushing something) and gives the cast an opportunity to take themselves a little too seriously. --Phil Udell

• Backflash | DVD | (10/06/2002) from £5.99   |  Saving you £2.00 (33.39%)   |  RRP £7.99

  Disgruntled video store owner Ray (Robert Patrick) is struggling to make ends meet in the desert of the Southwest U.S.A. To escape his problems he takes to the highway. On route to nowhere he picks up an attractive and mysterious hitchhiker Harley (Jennifer Esposito). The chemistry between them is immediate and Harley offers Ray the opportunity of a lifetime - to help her smuggle million of stolen money from a local bank. In the tradition of the classic American road movie and with a cast of bizarre characters dramatic locations and an unpredictable plot Backflash is a modern and edgy thriller with a stellar cast also including Colm Meaney and Melissa Joan Hart.

• The West Wing - Complete Seasons 1-3 (Amazon.co.uk Exclusive) | DVD | (29/03/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £99.99

  This box set containing the complete first three series of The West Wing is available exclusively from Amazon.co.uk. Aaron Sorkin's American political drama The West Wing, set in the White House, has won innumerable awards--and rightly so. Its depiction of a well-meaning Democrat administration has warmed the hearts of countless Americans. However, The West Wing is more than mere feel-good viewing for sentimental patriots. It is among the best-written, sharpest, funniest and moving US TV series of all time. Martin Sheen leads a strong ensemble cast: his Jed Bartlet is such an impressively plausible fictional President that polls once expressed a preference for Bartlet over the genuine incumbent. Handled incorrectly, The West Wing could have been turgid, didactic propaganda for The American Way. However, the writers are careful to show that, decent as this administration is, its achievements, though hard-won, are minimal. Moreover, the brisk, staccato-like, almost musical exchanges of dialogue, between Josh and his PA Donna, for instance, as they pace purposefully up and down the corridors are the show's abiding joy. --David Stubbs

• Deadfall | DVD | (17/06/2002) from £8.08   |  Saving you £-0.09 (-1.10%)   |  RRP £7.99

  All that is pure will wither and perish chaos has been awakened. Imprisoned in the worlds of old reborn in the new abndon all hope... for the dark hours are now upon you... A group of four friends spend a weekend at a cabin in the woods. Whilst there they unleash a dark force...