Science Fiction - Page 53

Manufacturer: Warner Home Video Brand: Warner Brothers Model: 4934850

In 2267 the Earth is quarantined, having been infected with a deadly plague by an attacking alien force. Scientists estimate that it will kill every inhabitant within 5 years, not nearly enough time for a cure to be developed. So the planet's only hope lies with the Excalibur, an advanced prototype starship sent out to search ancient alien ruins for their former inhabitant's secrets, hoping that somewhere out there a cure can be found. The first and only spin-off of Babylon 5, J. Michael Straczynski's short-lived sci-fi series Crusade had its roots in the B5 television movie A Call to Arms, in which Earth was battling a Drakh invasion at the end of the Shadow Wars. When Crusade begins, the Drakh have released a deadly virus that threatens to wipe out all 10 billion humans living on Earth unless a cure can be found in five years. To take on this monumental task, Captain Matthew Gideon (Gary Cole) is assigned command of the state-of-the-art Destroyer-class ship Excalibur. His crew includes telepath John Matheson (Daniel Dae Kim); pompous but brilliant archaeologist-linguist Max Eilerson (David Allen Brooks); Dureena, a member of the Thieves' Guild and the last surviving member of her species (Carrie Dobro); medical officer Sarah Chambers (Marjean Holden); and technomage Galen (Peter Woodward). While Babylon 5 had five years to develop into a powerful saga, Crusade had its plug pulled after a mere 13 episodes (which were reordered for TNT's broadcast), and the series never really got its footing. Galen often took center stage, then disappeared for several episodes. Matheson was underutilized (other than to provide fans with clues about what happened in the Psi-Wars after B5 ended), and tough-guy Gideon bounced back and forth between his desire to save the human race and his own moral code. There were some good action scenes and intriguing concepts (developed in conjunction with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory). Special effects sometimes were impressive and sometimes showed budget constraints, and we never really...

Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox Brand: 20TH Century Fox

From X-Files creator Chris Carter, The Lone Gunmen Complete Series - get inside the trio of X-Files computer-hacking geeks popularly known as The Lone gunmen in the perfect DVD for all X-Files fans. Experience the altered world and suspenseful action that will keep you watching! The Lone Gunmen was the short-lived spin-off series starring those scene-stealing conspiracy theorists from The X-Files. To recap, there is buttoned-down Byers (the bearded, relatively normal-looking one, played by Bruce Harwood), the "man of action" Frohike (the short one who had the hots for Scully, played by Tom Braidwood), and master hacker Langly (the one with the long blond hair, played by Dean Haglund). They also meet some new characters who both help and hinder: a female agent calling herself Yves Adele Harlow (and other anagrams for Lee Harvey Oswald, played by Zuleikha Robinson), who always seems a step ahead of them, and James "Jimmy" Bond (Stephen Snedden), the dimwitted benefactor who thinks that the Gunmen give him a purpose in life. The series lasted a mere 13 episodes, and in retrospect probably plays better now than it did in the spring of 2001 when the peak years of The X-Files were still fresh in the memory. Thanks to direction and writing by the same creative talent and music by Mark Snow, The Lone Gunmen has the feel of Chris Carter's signature series, though without the impenetrable mythology and the sexual tension (Robinson is beautiful, but let's be serious). The episodes are generally stand-alone affairs reflecting the goofy humor that made the trio part of the comic relief in The X-Files. Light-hearted topics include a blind football team and a super-intelligent chimpanzee, but the closing episode dealt with the familiar themes of alien abduction and government cover-ups (a thread that after the series' cancellation had to be concluded in an episode of The X-Files, which is also included in this set). And particularly chilling is the pilot: aired six months before 9/11, it deals with an attempt to fly an...

Manufacturer: Universal Studios Home Entertainment Brand: UNI DIST CORP. (MCA) Model: 2220471

Bela Lugosi is known as the master of evil in the horror-film genre. His range as an actor in this realm knew no boundaries and his legend lives on in this 5-movie collector's edition, featuring Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Black Cat, The Raven, The Invisible Ray, and Black Friday.

Manufacturer: Universal Studios Home Entertainment Brand: OLMOS,EDWARD JAMES Model: 4925733

With the 12 colonies of man virtually destroyed in the climax of a hundred-year war with the Cylon Empire, President Roslin (Mary McDonnell) and Commander Adama (Edward James Olmos) gather up the few humans left and embark on a journey to find the mythical planet Earth, not realizing that the Cylon robot is no longer a recognizable enemy. Battlestar Galactica is a complete re-imagining of the 1970s series - upping the ante on the action, adventure, and drama that made the original so popular. Now, experience all 13 thrilling episodes of Season 1 and the four hour TV miniseries that started it all in this 5 disc DVD set loaded with explosive bonus features and presented in Dolby 5.1 Surround Sound. Battlestar Galactica's Edward James Olmos wasn't kidding when he said "the series is even better than the miniseries." As developed by sci-fi TV veteran Ronald D. Moore, the "reimagined" BG is exactly what it claims to be: a drama for grown-ups in a science-fiction setting. The mature intelligence of the series is its greatest asset, from the tenuous respect between Galactica's militarily principled commander Adama (Olmos) and politically astute President Roslin (Mary McDonnell) to the barely suppressed passion between ace Viper pilot "Apollo" (a.k.a. Adama's son Lee, played by Jamie Bamber) and the brashly insubordinate Starbuck (Katee Sackhoff), whose multifaceted character is just one of many first-season highlights. Picking up where the miniseries ended (it's included here, sparing the need for separate purchase), season 1 opens with the riveting, Hugo Award-winning episode "33," in which Galactica and the "ragtag fleet" of colonial survivors begin their quest for the legendary 13th colony planet Earth, while being pursued with clockwork regularity by the Cylons, who've now occupied the colonial planet of Caprica. The fleet's hard-fought survival forms (1) the primary side of the series' three-part structure, shared with (2) the apparent psychosis of Dr. Gaius Baltar (James Callis) whose every thought and move are m...

Manufacturer: Paramount / MTV Brand: Paramount Model: 5066020

Aeon Flux, the sexy secret agent extraordinaire that took MTV by storm is back on DVD! Follow the deftly skilled Aeon on her adventures through a futuristic world brimming with chaos and corruption. Experience every gripping episode of this cutting edge animated series like never before, as each episode has been digitally restored and has been bolstered with a 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound audio track. Every aspect in the creation of The Complete Aeon Flux has been overseen and endorsed by original creator Peter Chung making this the definitive Aeon Flux collection. Utopia or Deuteranopia Trevor has an obsession with Aeon and tries to create a space in the ambassador's body (whose gone missing) for several days now. A Breen named Gildemere teams up with Aeon and tries to bring down Trevor and his evil ways, but instead Aeon turn on Gildemere as he is charged with the murder of the ambassador. Thanatophobia Aeon and Trevor play with two peoples life, Sybil and Onan, who are a couple trying to get to Monica, where it has more freedom. They are currently in Brenga, in which Trevor runs. When they both try to escape Onan is successful but Sybil is not. She breaks one of her spinal column and keeping her from falling apart or upright, she needs a device in which Trevor provides. Sybil decides she had enough of Aeon, Trevor and Onan and decides to try her jump into Monica again. Only to see a new device, that she help make, was planted there, cutting her legs off instead. A Last Time For Everything Aeon teams up with a double agent named Scafandra, who has hands on her feet. Trevor manages to create a cloning device and he manages to clone Aeon. Aeon then, we think, switch places with her clone but Trevor knows this. The "real" Aeon falls for Trevor, the "clone" Aeon tries to carry on. In the end things get too complicated to explain to the clone and the real Aeon allows herself to get killed as the "clone" runs away. Ether Drift Theory Aeon decides to help someone named Lindze, who is trying to get to Barg...

Manufacturer: Microcinema International

The Call of Cthulhu, an all new silent film, is HP Lovecraft's most famous story. The film follows the story's three-part narrative construction, and it moves from the 1920s to 1908 to the1870s and back, as the story does.

Manufacturer: Warner Home Video Brand: Warner Manufacturing

Lois & Clark: The Complete Second Season (DVD)This humorously romantic action/adventure series puts a modern twist on the time-honored, legendary superhero, bringing to life the comic book characters Clark Kent; his superhuman alter-ego, Superman; and Lois Lane, fiction's first lady of the press, in the most unrequited romance of all time.]]> In Lois & Clark's first season, Clark Kent (Dean Cain) and Lois Lane (Teri Hatcher) joined the ranks of Sam and Diane and David and Maddie as TV's sparkiest couples whose devoted fans couldn't wait to see get together. Season 2 takes the star-crossed duo--and the series--to "the next step"; a long-awaited first kiss (the episode "Lucky Leon"), and declarations of love, culminating in a season-ending marriage proposal ("And the Answer Is..."). But getting to that deliriously romantic rain-soaked moment is all the fun. There are diabolical villains for Superman to foil, including a resurrected (and bald) Lex Luthor (John Shea reprising his first-season role in "The Phoenix"), a trash-TV host (Raquel Welch in "Top Copy), the vengeful Prankster (Bronson Pinchot in "The Prankster" and "Return of the Prankster"), and, incredibly, a time-traveled Al Capone (William Devane in "That Old Gang of Mine"). There is also a romantic rival for Clark's affections, Deputy D.A. Mayson Drake (Farrah Forke in "Church of Metropolis") and for Lois's (Jim Pirri as agent Daniel Scardino in "Resurrection"). Lois and Clark's second season not only features improved special effects, but a stellar roster of character actors: Roger Corman veteran Dick Miller as Lois's uncle and Peter Boyle as Intergang kingpin Bill Church in "Church of Metropolis"; a reunited Sherman Hemsley and Isabel Sanford (The Jeffersons) in the Dean Cain-penned holiday episode, "Season's Greedings"; Bruce Campbell as Bill Church Jr. in "Individual Responsibility"; and Terry Kiser of Weekend at Bernie's fame as H.G. Wells in "Tempus Fugitive," the fan-favorite episode in which futuristic villain Tempus spills the beans to the "gal...

Manufacturer: Warner Home Video Brand: Warner Bros Model: 4924745

Babylon 5: The Legend of the Rangers (DVD)The epic adventure of Babylon 5 enters a new age for humankind... The wars have ended, and an unprecedented era of exploration is at hand. Under the guidance of the Interstellar Alliance, the Rangers, an elite military group of humans and aliens, enforces peace and rebuilds civilization. But these young heroes may have met their match when they encounter a previously unknown alien race more powerful--and more lethal--than any encountered before.]]> Babylon 5: The Legend of the Rangers is a two-hour television movie created by J. Michael Straczynski (original creator of the Babylon 5 series) for the Sci-Fi Channel. The telefilm takes place in 2264 after the wars are over and a new age of space exploration has begun. Science-fiction fans are notoriously hard to please, and few have anything good to say about The Legend of the Rangers, produced in 2002 to introduce a spinoff of the popular Babylon 5 TV series. The naysayers have a point. Few elements of this 90-minute pilot, subtitled "To Live and Die in Starlight," will likely be memorialized among the genre's golden moments; the dialogue is often clunky and on-the-nose, the acting is less than stellar, and the effects work, while pretty good, doesn't live up to the standard set by Stargate, Farscape, and others. Nevertheless, there's a reasonably compelling story here, involving the elite Rangers (made up of humans and aliens alike, including the Minbari, who sport "head bones" instead of hair and whose cute little ears are placed on the sides of their necks) and the threat posed to the universe by a mysterious new foe known as "the Hand" (these are some seriously bad dudes, a race that has lain dormant for many years but is now back with a vengeance). Front and center is human Ranger David Martell (played by Dylan Neal). Court-martialed for choosing to save his crew rather then lead them to certain death (in violation of a code mandating that "we do not retreat, whatever the reason"), he's put in command of the Liandra, a...

Manufacturer: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Brand: Sony Model: 4944718

Suit up for classic comedy! When kooky, spooky college profs Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) and Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis) lose their university jobs, they decide to go freelance, de-haunting houses in a new ghost removal service. As soon as they open their doors, their first order of business becomes saving beautiful cellist Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver) and nerdy Louis Tully (Rick Moranis), who’ve inadvertently opened the gates of hell…right in their own apartment building! UHD Synopsis: When kooky, spooky college profs Peter Venkman (Bill Murray), Ray Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) and Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis) lose their university jobs, they decide to go freelance, de-haunting New York City with a new ghost removal service. As soon as they open their doors, their first order of business becomes saving beautiful cellist Dana Barrett (Sigourney Weaver) and nerdy Louis Tuilly (Rick Moranis), who've inadvertently opened the gates of hell...right in their own apar

Manufacturer: Cartoon Network Brand: WHV Model: 4985288

Venture Bros, The: Season One (DVD)Once a child prodigy, Dr. Venture now fails as both a scientist and father. Luckily, his twins, Hank and Dean are too stupid to care. And they've got their vicious, macho bodyguard, Brock, looking out for them. Together they'll get in all sorts of situations involving wild alligators, street ruffians, and booby traps. Brock really likes the booby traps.]]> If Jonny, Haji, Race Bannon, and the rest of the Jonny Quest gang were idiots, their animated adventures might play out like The Venture Bros., a consistently funny spoof on '60s adventure cartoons from the Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming. The premise should be immediately familiar and nostalgic for any Saturday morning TV aficionado who grew up in the '60s and '70s: Dr. Venture (James Urbaniak from Henry Fool) is an inventor, while sons Hank and Dean's insatiably curiosity lands them in hot water with supervillains, robots, magicians, and the like. Brock Sampson (voiced by the very funny Patrick Warburton of The Tick) is the good doctor's right-hand man, who rescues the boys with good old-fashioned manpower. The twist in The Venture Bros. is that every single character, down to the supervillains' henchmen, are complete and utter dolts, and their adventures are inspired more by foolishness, personal obsessions (for Brock, it's sex and violence, and for Dr. V, it's diet pills and a daddy fixation), or just plain cosmic weirdness than any sense of post-Kennedy-era adventure and derring-do. The result is subversive and occasionally shocking insanity (Dr. V loses his kidneys in the series opener "Dia de Los Dangerous"; Dean suffers an unmentionable personal injury in "Are You There, God? It's Me, Dean"; the boys believe that Dr. Venture's stomach tumor is actually a pregnancy in "Return to Spider Island"), but with enough flashes of surreal brilliance to make this a must-have for modern animation fans. The Season One two-disc set contains all 13 episodes, as well as two bonus episodes--the show's original pilot, "The Terr...