The Tardis is dragged down to the surface of the planet Frontios and apparently destroyed during a meteorite bombardment. The doctor is forced to help the planet’s human colonists – refugees from a doomed future Earth – and eventually discovers that their problems stem from an infestation of Tractators, burrowing insect-like creatures led by the intelligent Gravis.
The Mysterious Planet: The TARDIS is drawn to a space station where the Doctor is subjected to a Time Lord inquiry into his behaviour presided over by an Inquisitor. The prosecuting counsel the Valeyard presents the first piece of his evidence which consists of a recording played back on a screen linked to the Matrix. It concerns a visit by the Doctor and Peri to the desolate planet Ravolox which turns out to be a future Earth shifted light-years through space. The court watches as the pair get caught up in a conflict between the surface-dwelling Tribe of the Free led by Queen Katryca and the planet's other inhabitants a group of subterranean technocrats and their robotic ruler Drathro. Mindwarp: The Valeyard's second segment of evidence relates to the planet Thoros-Beta. Here the Doctor and Peri meet their old adversary Sil and others of his Mentor race whose leader Kiv is awaiting an operation from a scientist named Crozier to transplant his brain into another body. They also form an uneasy alliance with a kidnapped Krontep warrior King Yrcanos and encounter a group of resistance fighters. Terror Of The Vervoids: The distraught Doctor gives the court his evidence for the defence. He chooses an incident from his own future in which he and his companion Mel arrive on the space liner Hyperion III in response to a distress call. The Ultimate Foe: With the evidence complete the Doctor learns that the Master has gained illicit access to the Matrix in his TARDIS.
The Tardis is adrift. Deprived of a vital power source, the Doctor and Peri have one last hope the planet Varos. But Varos is a dangerous place. Trapped in the dreaded Punishment Dome, the Doctor and Peri must fight for their lives and save the starving population from the machinations of the villainous, reptilian Sil...
Time Flight: The Doctor finally manages to deliver Tegan to Heathrow Airport where he gets drawn into investigating the in-flight disappearance of a Concorde. Following the same flight path in another Concorde with the TARDIS stowed in the hold he discovers that it has been transported back millions of years into the past through a time corridor. Arc of Infinity: An antimatter creature has crossed into normal space via a phenomenon known as the Arc of Infinity but needs to bond physically with a Time Lord in order to remain stable. A traitor on Gallifrey has chosen the Doctor as the victim.
The Dead Are Talking... And She Is Listening. Melinda Gordon (Jennifer Love Hewitt) is a young newlywed with the unique gift to communicate with spirits of people who have died - a talent that was inherited from her grandmother. The dead seek out Melinda's ability to help them relay significant messages and information to the living. Despite her fear compassion compels her to help these earthbound spirits cross over by completing their unfinished business with the living. Relive these amazing journeys in all 22 first-season episodes. Episodes Comprise: 1. Pilot 2. The Crossing 3. Ghost Interrupted 4. Mended Hearts 5. Lost Boys 6. Homecoming 7. Hope and Mercy 8. On the Wings of a Dove 9. Voices 10. Ghost Bride 11. Shadow Boxer 12. Undead Comic 13. Friendly Neighborhood Ghost 14. Last Execution 15. Melinda's First Ghost 16. Dead Man's Ridge 17. Demon Child 18. Miss Fortune 19. Fury 20. The Vanishing 21. Free Fall 22. The One
Doctor Who: The Visitation is a routine adventure from the show's 19th season, beginning with Peter Davison's Fifth Doctor trying to return air hostess Tegan (Janet Fielding) to Heathrow Airport but materialising the TARDIS just as the Plague is ravaging 17th-century England. Three stranded Terileptils (humanoid-reptilian-fish hybrids in laughable costumes) are planning to wipe out humanity, while the local population have accepted the invader's puzzlingly camp robot for the Grim Reaper incarnate. There's much running around, being imprisoned and escaping again, but little substance in the story bar a return to the original series concept of tying the plot to elements of real history. Trying to find something for all the companions to do stretches the material thin, with the best entertainment coming from Michael Robbins' memorable turn as Richard Mace, an out-of-work actor turned charmingly genial highwayman. The "surprise" ending is predictable, Matthew Waterhouse's Adric as earnestly tiresome as ever and Tegan still tediously grumpy. Sarah Sutton as Nyssa is left too long building a sonic weapon which can vibrate a robot to pieces but doesn't harm the TARDIS or herself, yet Davison goes a long way to redeeming the tale with a charismatic intensity the yarn just doesn't deserve. On the DVD: Doctor Who: The Visitation is presented in the original 4:3 aspect ratio with a good if variable picture. There are numerous unavoidable light trails on the video-shot studio material and some visual distortion on a few scenes. The mono sound is good and extends to an optional isolated presentation of Paddy Kingsland's musical score, a feature complemented by a new 16-minute interview with the composer by fellow Who musician, Mark Ayres. Of greater general interest is a 26-minute reminiscence by director Peter Moffatt covering all the six Doctor Who adventures he helmed. There is a good feature on Eric Saward and on the writing of the show, five minutes of extraordinarily dull Film Trims, detailed Information Text and an automated photo gallery. There are subtitles for both the episodes and a commentary that finds Peter Davison, Janet Fielding, Peter Moffatt, Sarah Sutton and Matthew Waterhouse having great fun bantering their way through the four episodes, a feature that proves far more enjoyable than the serial itself. --Gary S Dalkin
Bridget Jones's Diary Featuring a blowzy, winningly inept size-12 heroine, Bridget Jones's Diary is a fetching adaptation of Helen Fielding's runaway bestseller, grittier than Ally McBeal but sweeter than Sex and the City. The normally sylphlike Renée Zellweger (Nurse Betty, Me, Myself and Irene) wolfed pasta to gain poundage to play "singleton" Bridget, a London-based publicist who divides her free time between binge eating in front of the TV, downing Chardonnay with her friends, and updating the diary in which she records her negligible weight fluctuations and romantic misadventures of the year. Things start off badly at Christmas when her mother tries to set her up with seemingly standoffish lawyer Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), whom Bridget accidentally overhears dissing her. Instead she embarks on a disastrous liaison with her raffish boss, Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant, infinitely more likeable when he's playing a baddie instead of his patented tongue-tied fops). Eventually, Bridget comes to wonder if she's let her pride prejudice her against the surprisingly attractive Mr. Darcy. If the plot sounds familiar, that's because Fielding's novel was itself a retelling of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, whose romantic male lead is also named Mr. Darcy. An extra ironic poke in the ribs is added by the casting of Firth, who played Austen's haughty hero in the acclaimed BBC adaptation of Austen's novel. First-time director Sharon Maguire directs with confident comic zest, while Zellweger twinkles charmingly, fearlessly baring her cellulite and pulling off a spot-on English accent. Like Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill (both of which were written by this film's coscreenwriter, Richard Curtis), Bridget Jones's stock-in-trade is a very English self-deprecating sense of humour, a mild suspicion of Americans (especially if they're thin and successful), and a subtly expressed analysis of thirtysomething fears about growing up and becoming a "smug married." The whole is, as Bridget would say, v. good. --Leslie Felperin Bridget Jones 2: The Edge Of Reason Although it's been three years since we last saw Bridget (Renée Zellweger), only a few weeks have passed in her world. She is, as you'll remember, no longer a "singleton," having snagged stuffy but gallant Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) at the end of the 2001 film. Now she's fallen deeply in love and out of her neurotic mind with paranoia: Is Mark cheating on her with that slim, bright young thing from the law office? Will the reappearance of dashing cad Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant) further spell the end of her self-confidence when they're shoved off to Thailand together for a TV travel story? If such questions also seem pressing to you, this sequel will be fairly painless, but you shouldn't expect anything fresh. Director Beeban Kidron and her screenwriters--all four of them!--are content to sink matters into slapstick, with chunky Zellweger (who's unflatteringly photographed) the literal butt of all jokes. Though the star still has her charms, and some of Bridget's social gaffes are amusing, the film is mired in low comedy--a sequence in a Thai women's prison is more offensive than outrageous--with only Grant's rakish mischief to pull it out of the swamp. --Steve Wiecking
One of the most popular of Colin (the sixth Doctor) Baker's adventures, Vengeance on Varos finds the Doctor and Peri (Nichola Bryant) involved with rebels in a 1984-like world, where televised torture is used to support and enforce an unworkable regime ruling a mining society on the planet Varos. When first broadcast the story aroused condemnation not only over the violence shown--particularly two men falling into a vat of acid--but also over the implied horror and moral corruption. However, these complaints missed the satiric subtext of a world in which the reality TV suffering pacifies the masses while big business carries on exploiting them; and none were more memorably corrupt than the reptilian alien Sil--a love-it-or-hate-it OTT performance from Nabil Shaban. While there is rather too much running about in corridors, the surreal terrors of the Punishment Dome make for good Doctor Who, and the adventure develops ideas from both The Sunmakers (1977) and The Caves of Androzani (1984) with considerable low-budget aplomb. Filled with bizarre touches such as Peri's transformation into a bird creature, the show also marked Jason Connery's TV debut as a rebel leader.On the DVD: There's 15 minutes worth of deleted and/or extended scenes and four minutes of stage footage, but by far the finest extra is the three way commentary track, with Baker, Bryant and Nabil Shaban. Affectionately sending the show and themselves up, while still demonstrating a great love for Doctor Who, the track sometimes degenerates into trivia, but at its best is simply hilarious. Both original BBC1 trailers and a continuity link are included, as is a photo gallery and the option to listen with the unfinished "production sound", something which is likely to appeal only to die hard fans. Rather more interesting are the optional on-screen production notes, which offer a wealth of behind-the-scenes information. The extras are completed with a small selection of outtakes. The sound is strong, clear mono, the 4:3 transfer has no sign of compression artefacting and is good enough to reveal the weaknesses in the original studio-bound video production. --Gary S Dalkin
Bridget Jones's Diary Featuring a blowzy, winningly inept size-12 heroine, Bridget Jones's Diary is a fetching adaptation of Helen Fielding's runaway bestseller, grittier than Ally McBeal but sweeter than Sex and the City. The normally sylphlike Renée Zellweger (Nurse Betty, Me, Myself and Irene) wolfed pasta to gain poundage to play "singleton" Bridget, a London-based publicist who divides her free time between binge eating in front of the TV, downing Chardonnay with her friends, and updating the diary in which she records her negligible weight fluctuations and romantic misadventures of the year. Things start off badly at Christmas when her mother tries to set her up with seemingly standoffish lawyer Mark Darcy (Colin Firth), whom Bridget accidentally overhears dissing her. Instead she embarks on a disastrous liaison with her raffish boss, Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant, infinitely more likeable when he's playing a baddie instead of his patented tongue-tied fops). Eventually, Bridget comes to wonder if she's let her pride prejudice her against the surprisingly attractive Mr. Darcy. If the plot sounds familiar, that's because Fielding's novel was itself a retelling of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, whose romantic male lead is also named Mr. Darcy. An extra ironic poke in the ribs is added by the casting of Firth, who played Austen's haughty hero in the acclaimed BBC adaptation of Austen's novel. First-time director Sharon Maguire directs with confident comic zest, while Zellweger twinkles charmingly, fearlessly baring her cellulite and pulling off a spot-on English accent. Like Four Weddings and a Funeral and Notting Hill (both of which were written by this film's coscreenwriter, Richard Curtis), Bridget Jones's stock-in-trade is a very English self-deprecating sense of humour, a mild suspicion of Americans (especially if they're thin and successful), and a subtly expressed analysis of thirtysomething fears about growing up and becoming a "smug married." The whole is, as Bridget would say, v. good. --Leslie Felperin Bridget Jones 2: The Edge Of Reason Although it's been three years since we last saw Bridget (Renée Zellweger), only a few weeks have passed in her world. She is, as you'll remember, no longer a "singleton," having snagged stuffy but gallant Mark Darcy (Colin Firth) at the end of the 2001 film. Now she's fallen deeply in love and out of her neurotic mind with paranoia: Is Mark cheating on her with that slim, bright young thing from the law office? Will the reappearance of dashing cad Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant) further spell the end of her self-confidence when they're shoved off to Thailand together for a TV travel story? If such questions also seem pressing to you, this sequel will be fairly painless, but you shouldn't expect anything fresh. Director Beeban Kidron and her screenwriters--all four of them!--are content to sink matters into slapstick, with chunky Zellweger (who's unflatteringly photographed) the literal butt of all jokes. Though the star still has her charms, and some of Bridget's social gaffes are amusing, the film is mired in low comedy--a sequence in a Thai women's prison is more offensive than outrageous--with only Grant's rakish mischief to pull it out of the swamp. --Steve Wiecking
Titles comprise: Running on Empty: After antiwar activists Annie and Arthur Pope (Chistine Lahti and Judd Hirsh) blew up a napalm lab in 1971 they became lifelong fugitives. They and their children have stayed just one step ahead of the law running from state to state job to job identity to identity. But now elder son Danny (River Phoenix) wants to stop running from a past not his. And to do so he might never see his on-the-lam family again... Escape To Victory: This is no ordinary soccer match: this is war! The battlefield: a stadium in occupied Paris. The armies: German all-stars vs. ragtag Allied POWs. The objective: demonstrate another proof of Aryan superiority. Guess who wins? Better yet guess who cleverly uses the match as a means of escape? Sylvester Stallone Michael Caine and Max von Sydow star in this rouser directed by the legendary John Huston. The climatic match is a heart-in-the-throat hat-in-the-air exhibition of brute force and balletic grace featuring soccer legends Pele Bobby Moore Osvaldo Ardiles Co Prins Mike Summerbee and more. Score a splendid entertainment goal for 'Victory'! Gettysburg: Summer 1863. The Confederacy pushes north into Pennsylvania. Union divisions converge to face them. Two great armies will clash at Gettysburg site of a theology school. For three days through such legendary actions as Little Round Top and Pickett's Charge the fate of one nation indivisible hangs in the balance. The bloodiest battle fought on American soil comes to the screen in a powerful production. Tom Berenger Jeff Daniels Martin Sheen Richard Jordan and more play key roles in this magnificent epic based on Michael Shaara's Pulitzer Prize-winning book 'The Killer Angels' filmed at actual battle locations and rigorously authenticated. Memphis Belle: Matthew Modine and Eric Stoltz head the dynamic cast of Memphis Belle an adventure inspired by true World War II heroics. During spring 1943 they took to the war-torn skies for the most dangerous mission in defence of freedom. If the ten-man crew of the bomber Memphis Belle returned they would receive a hero's welcome and renew flagging public morale. But the odds were stacked heavily against them in the true courageous story of the brave fly-boys who each fought mortal fear while fighting the enemy together.
Heaven And Earth (1993): From three-time Academy Award-winning filmmaker Oliver Stone -- whose Platoon took you to the Vietnam battlefront and whose Born On The Fourth Of July took you to the American homefront -- comes an acclaimed movie about the fight to survive on both fronts. Tommy Lee Jones and Joan Chen turn in award-caliber performances (Peter Travers Rolling Stone) in the powerful story of a man who fought a woman who endured...and a love caught up in the explosive wartime upheaval of a land and a people caught between Heaven And Earth. Escape To Victory (1981): The battlefield: a stadium in occupied Paris. The armies: German all-stars vs. ragtag Allied POWs. The objective: demonstrate another proof of Aryan superiority. Guess who wins? Better yet guess who cleverly uses the match as a means of escape? Sylvester Stallone Michael Caine and Max von Sydow star in this rouser directed by the legendary John Huston. The climatic match is a heart-in-the-throat hat-in-the-air exhibition of brute force and balletic grace featuring soccer legends Pele Bobby Moore Osvaldo Ardiles Co Prins Mike Summerbee and more. Gettysburg (1993): Summer 1863. The Confederacy pushes north into Pennsylvania. Union divisions converge to face them. Two great armies will clash at Gettysburg site of a theology school. For three days through such legendary actions as Little Round Top and Pickett's Charge the fate of one nation indivisible hangs in the balance. The bloodiest battle fought on American soil comes to the screen in a powerful production. Tom Berenger Jeff Daniels Martin Sheen Richard Jordan and more play key roles in this magnificent epic based on Michael Shaara's Pulitzer Prize-winning book 'The Killer Angels' filmed at actual battle locations and rigorously authenticated. Memphis Belle (1990): During spring 1943 they took to the war-torn skies for the most dangerous mission in defence of freedom. If the ten-man crew of the bomber Memphis Belle returned they would receive a hero's welcome and renew flagging public morale. But the odds were stacked heavily against them in the true courageous story of the brave fly-boys who each fought mortal fear while fighting the enemy together.
Titles Comprise:Nanny McPheeNanny McPhee & The Big BangPeter PanThe Grinch
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