Tag: DVD

Posted on
by

Babylon 5: The Lost Tales Cover ArtThe Babylon 5 Scripts mailing list just announced a July 31 release date for Babylon 5: The Lost Tales. JMS announced the project at last year’s San Diego Comic-Con: to revisit the universe for a series of direct-to-DVD movies. The first, Voices in the Dark, focuses on Sheridan, Lochley, and Galen, set during the 10th anniversary of the Interstellar Alliance.

One part of the story follows Sheridan as he picks up an unexpected visitor on the edge of Centauri space, Prince Regent Dius Vintari, and a warning about what will come afterward delivered by the techno-mage, Galen. The other part of the story is set aboard Babylon 5, as Colonel Lochley summons a priest from Earth space to deal with a problem that may have dark supernatural overtones. The two parts of the greater story intersect at certain key plot and thematic points, so that they overlap and complement each other while telling separate, but simultaneous, stories.

JMS has been posting photos and notes from the set from time to time, and (via ***Dave), TV Shows On DVD has posted a press release with more background and information about the DVD.

Interestingly, the press release and cover art make no mention of it being the first in a projected series. This is hardly a surprise, though, as Warner Bros. has always been reluctant to commit fully to Babylon 5 without testing the waters. Then they see the dollar signs and go all-out. It happened when they decided to release the pilot as a TV movie, instead of committing immediately to a series. It happened when they licensed the VHS rights to Columbia House, until they realized how much money Columbia House was making and launched their own series. It happened when they released just the pilot and one prequel as a DVD, before they were willing to release full season sets.

Hmm, perhaps the pre-order on Amazon shooting up to #10 in DVD sales before the end of the first day might help convince them? Edit: On day two, it’s up to #5. His people are coming.

Here’s hoping it’ll be worth the wait.

Posted on
by

Bart as Impulse in 'Justice'With Bart Allen returning to Smallville tonight—alongside Cyborg, Green Arrow, and Aquaman—I find myself wondering about the best way to hang onto just a few episodes. Last night I went looking for my tape of “Run,” the first episode in which he appeared, and I couldn’t find it.

I have no interest in buying full seasons of Smallville, but I’d like to have copies of the two episodes with Bart (partly for character research, partly for completism). Warner Bros. has no reason to release individual episode DVDs, but downloadable episodes (as in iTunes) might be an option.

Another possibility: themed collections. There have been enough episodes guest-starring other DC heroes that WB could do something similar to Buffy‘s Slayer Collection, or The Simpsons “Treehouse of Horror” set. A single disc featuring, let’s say, the Flash, Cyborg, and Aquaman episodes (Green Arrow might need his own disc), followed by tonight’s big team-up, “Justice.”

Hey, I’d buy it.

Posted on
by

I grew up with Star Wars. It was the key fandom of my childhood. I don’t remember discovering Star Wars because I did so before I could really form long-term memories. I started reading the novels when Heir to the Empire came out, and the Dark Empire and Tales of the Jedi comics. I was thrilled to see the special editions in theaters after nearly 15 years, even though some of the changes, like Greedo firing first and the way that you restored the Jabba scene,* didn’t make sense.

And while I’ve lost some interest over time—the novels and comics have gotten so complex that I wouldn’t have time to keep up with them if I wanted to, and the prequels were less engaging than the original series—I stayed on board for the entire prequel trilogy. Grumbling at times, but enjoying them nonetheless.

When you announced that only the special editions would be available on videotape, I was disappointed, because I liked both versions. When you announced that the films would be changed again for the DVDs, I was disappointed for the same reason. But I bought the DVDs, and (mostly) enjoyed them.

So when you announced that the original versions of the original trilogy would be available on DVD, I was thrilled! Continue reading →

Posted on
by

Animaniacs DVD colume 1 cover artEver since TV shows started coming out on DVD en masse, I’ve been waiting for Animaniacs. I didn’t grow up with the show, but it was a big part of my senior year of high school and the first couple of years of college.

They didn’t even have the whole series on VHS—just a paltry five or so tapes with cartoons stitched together by theme.

Well, this morning I got an email from aeryncrichton that Pinky and the Brain would be coming to DVD in July. I figured, great, but what I really want is still Animaniacs. So I started looking around the site, and it turns out that Animaniacs Season 1 is being released on the same day!

Posted on
by

DVD Box artI picked up the complete Flash TV series on DVD today. It’s been a long wait since it was announced last October, but an even longer wait since the show aired in 1990. I haven’t had time to watch any of it yet, but it turns out that Best Buy is selling an exclusive package with a bundled comic book.

That “exclusive” comic book isn’t anything totally new—it’s an abridged version of 2002’s DC First: Superman/The Flash featuring the first race between Superman and the original Flash, Jay Garrick. The original book is 38 pages, and it’s been cut down to 24 by removing a subplot involving the Pied Piper (which was essentially really early setup for “Rogue War”) and trimming a few pages from the main story in which two Flashes and Superman combat Abra Kadabra.

The funny thing is that the TV show features Barry Allen (more or less), but the comic they chose features the other two Flashes!* If it had been up to me, I would have chosen the Flash TV Special, which used the TV version of the characters, but I guess they wanted something closer to the current version of the character. The whole thing is printed small enough to fit inside the box.

Now if only they’d included the Smallville episode, “Run”, which guest-starred another version of the Flash, the set would really be complete. One of the Smallville DVD sets did include an episode of The Flash as an extra, for no apparent reason.

*There’ve been three Flashes: Jay Garrick from 1940-1951, Barry Allen from 1956-1986, and Wally West from 1986-2006. Rumor has it that Wally will be replaced after Infinite Crisis, with Barry’s grandson Bart Allen—who got to be the Flash in Smallville—the current front runner.