"Actor: Robert Llewelyn"

• Red Dwarf: Just The Shows (Vol. 1) | DVD | (18/10/2004) from £6.96   |  Saving you £28.03 (402.73%)   |  RRP £34.99

  Notoriously, and entirely appropriately, the original outline for Doug Naylor and Rob Grant's comedy sci-fi series Red Dwarf was sketched on the back of a beer mat. When it finally appeared on our television screens in 1988 the show had clearly stayed true to its roots, mixing jokes about excessive curry consumption with affectionate parodies of classic SF. Indeed, one of the show's most endearing and enduring features is its obvious respect for the conventions of SF, even as it gleefully subverts them. The scenario owes something to Douglas Adams's satirical Hitch-Hiker's Guide, something to The Odd Couple and a lot more to the slacker SF of John Carpenter's Dark Star. Behind the crew's constant bickering there lurks an impending sense that life, the universe and everything are all someone's idea of a terrible joke. Later series broadened the show's horizons until at last its premise was so diluted as to be unrecognisable, but in the earlier episodes contained in this box set the comedy is witty and intimate, focusing on characters and not special effects. Slob Dave Lister (Craig Charles) is the last human alive after a radiation leak wipes out the crew of the vast mining vessel Red Dwarf (episode 1, "The End"). He bums around the spaceship with the perpetually uptight and annoyed hologram of his dead bunkmate, Arnold Rimmer (Chris Barrie, the show's greatest comedy asset) and a creature evolved from a cat (dapper Danny John Jules). They are guided rather haphazardly by Holly, the worryingly thick ship's computer (lugubrious Norman Lovett). --Mark Walker

• Red Dwarf: Series 4 | DVD | (16/02/2004) from £9.35   |  Saving you £10.64 (113.80%)   |  RRP £19.99

  By the end of this fourth year, Red Dwarf had completed its metamorphosis from a modest studio-bound sitcom with a futuristic premise to a full-blown science-fiction series, complete with a relatively lavish (by BBC standards) special-effects budget, more impressive sets and more location shooting. Despite the heavier emphasis on SF, the character-based comedy remained as sharp as ever. Witness the Cat's reaction to Lister's pus-filled exploding head; Kryten's devastatingly sarcastic defence of Rimmer; or, the classic scene that opens the series, Lister teaching Kryten to lie. In "Camille", Robert Llewellyn's real-life wife plays a female mechanoid who transforms into something else entirely, as does the episode, which by the end becomes a delightful skit on Casablanca. "DNA" comes over all SF, with lots of techno-speak about a matter transmogrifier and a RoboCop homage--but in typical Dwarf fashion, turns out to be all about curry. "Justice" sees Rimmer on trial for the murder of the entire crew, while Lister attempts to evade a psychotic cyborg. Holly gets her IQ back in "White Hole", but wastes time debating bread products with the toaster. "Dimension Jump" introduces dashing doppelganger Ace Rimmer for the first time--he was to return in later series, with diminishingly funny results. Here his appearance is all the better for its apparent improbability. Finally, "Meltdown" goes on location (to a park in North London) where waxdroids of historical characters (played by a miscellaneous selection of cheesy lookalikes) are at war. Only intermittently successful, this episode is really memorable for Chris Barrie's tour-de-force performance, as Rimmer becomes a crazed, Patton-esque general. On the DVD: Red Dwarf, Series 4, like its predecessors, comes as a two-disc set complete with full cast commentary for every episode, an extensive retrospective documentary (mostly featuring the cast reminiscing), deleted scenes and lots of other fun bits of trivia. --Mark Walker

• The World Is Not Enough | DVD | (03/11/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Greed, revenge, world dominance, high-tech terrorism - it's all in a day's work for James Bond, who races to defuse an international power struggle with the world's oil supply hanging in the balance

• Red Dwarf - Complete Collection | DVD | (10/11/2008) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £38.99

  Red Dwarf: 20th Anniversary - All The Shows

• View to a Kill | DVD | (03/11/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  A View to a Kill, Roger Moore's last outing as James Bond, is evidence enough that it was time to pass the torch to another actor. Beset by crummy action (an out-of-control fire engine?) and featuring a fading Moore still trying to prop up his mannered idea of style, A View to a Kill is largely interesting for Christopher Walken's quirky performance as a sort-of super-villain who wants to take out California's Silicon Valley. Grace Jones has a spookily interesting presence as a lethal associate of Walken's (and who, in the best Bond tradition, has sex with 007 before trying to kill him later), and Patrick Macnee (Steed!) has a warm if brief bit. Even directed by John Glen, who brought some crackle to the Moore years in the Bond franchise, this is a very slight effort. --Tom Keogh, Amazon.com On the DVD: For Roger Moore's final Bond outing the production crew faced the usual quota of difficulties and disasters, the "making-of" documentary reveals: from base jumpers off the Eiffel tower whose antics threatened to jeopardise fragile relations with the Parisian authorities, to Ridley Scott thoughtlessly burning down the 007 at Pinewood right before production was due to start. Patrick MacNee, who has a supporting role in the movie, hands over narrative duties on this one to Rosemary Ford. The commentary is one of those less-than-satisfying montages of comments from various members of cast and crew. Also included is Duran Duran's "A View to a Kill" video (sounding hopelessly dated now), the usual trailers and a brief deleted scene of comic relief inside a Parisian police station. The second documentary concerns the music of Bond--always a crucial ingredient--although it manages the neat diplomatic trick of interviewing both Monty Norman and John Barry without giving the least hint of any controversy about the famous James Bond theme. --Mark Walker

• Red Dwarf: Series 5 | DVD | (08/11/2004) from £7.80   |  Saving you £12.19 (156.28%)   |  RRP £19.99

  It's brown alert time all over again for Red Dwarf fans with the fifth season of the much-loved sci-fi/comedy series. Episode-wise, it's business as usual for the crew of the Red Dwarf--that is, if one considers encountering an alien squid that squirts a despair-inducing hallucinogen ("Back to Reality", later voted the best episode of the series by viewers and Stephen Hawking!), evil (and not particularly bright) versions of the crew ("Demons and Angels"), a virus that causes insanity ("Quarantine"), and a trip to a moon created entirely from the mind of the insufferable hologram Rimmer ("Terrorform") business as usual. In short, it's six hilarious episodes, highlighted by the typically terrific writing of creators Rob Grant and Doug Naylor (who also direct two episodes). As with the previous deluxe DVD releases, Series V features a wealth of supplemental features, the most intriguing of which is a look at the failed attempt to recreate the show in America (with U.K. cast member Robert Llewellyn and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Terry Farrell as Cat). Also included are cast and fan commentaries, featurettes on the show's "science" and villains, special effects tests, blooper reels, and a sampling of Grant and Naylor's BBC 4 radio sketch "Dave Hollins, Space Cadet", which served as the inspiration for Red Dwarf. Dedicated DVD owners will also be rewarded by Easter eggs lurking throughout the menus. --Paul Gaita

• Licence to Kill | DVD | (03/11/2003) from £4.59   |  Saving you £15.40 (335.51%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Timothy Dalton's second and last James Bond assignment in Licence to Kill is darker and harder-edged than anything from the Roger Moore years, dropping the sometimes excruciating in-jokes that had begun to dominate the series in favour of gritty, semi-realistic action. When CIA colleague and close friend Felix Leiter (David Hedison) gets married immediately after arresting villainous drug baron Franz Sanchez (with a little help from Bond), the crime lord's retribution is swift and terrible. Bond goes on a personal vendetta against Sanchez after his licence to kill is revoked. There are plenty of spectacular stunt scenes, of course, but the meaty story of revenge is this film's distinguishing feature. Dalton's portrayal of the iconic hero as tough but flawed was a brave decision that the producers subsequently retreated from after Licence to Kill's relatively poor box-office showing. On the DVD: Timothy Dalton's insistence that Bond was a man not a superhero, and "a tarnished man" at that encouraged the producers to redefine Bond with a tougher edge more in keeping with Fleming's original conception of the character. Licence to Kill is Bond's darkest assignment. The production team experienced their usual difficulties in bringing it to the screen, the "making-of" documentary reveals, including a haunted road in Mexico and a mysterious flaming hand that appeared out of the fire during the climactic tanker explosion. There are two commentaries here, both montage selections of interviews from cast and crew. The first features director John Glen and many of the actors; the second has producer Michael G Wilson and the production team. Gladys Knight pops up in the first music video, Patte La Belle in the second ("If You Asked Me To"). There are the usual trailers, gallery of stills and a feature on the Kenworth trucks specially adapted for the movie's stunt work. --Mark Walker