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ARCHIVED NEWS - 19th to 25th JANUARY 2004

January 20th 2004

Just a note to let you all know that I'm doing a ground-up re-install of my PC today, so if the site isn't updated for a while you know it all went terribly wrong! Fingers crossed it will be business as usual tomorrow...

January 19th 2004

DD Video has postponed the release of the Hammer comedy Nearest and Dearest, which was due last week because of a problem with the source elements. It should appear later this year, probably in March.

There are two new competitions for you to enter today, giving you the chance to win copies of two new releases from Network: the much-loved Thames children's series Michael Bentine's Potty Time and Andrew Davies' campus comedy drama A Very Peculiar Practice. Click on the banners above, or here for the Potty Time competition, or here for the A Very Peculiar Practice competition.

Angela Goldsmith and 'Mephisto' are the winners of last week's DD Video Hammer competition. They both knew that I Only Arsked! was a spin-off from Granada's TV series The Army Game. Copies of the new Hammer discs will be dispatched as soon as they're available. The winner of the Battlestar Galactica DVD box set was Chris Anderson, who knew that the human traitor in the series was Count Baltar. Congratulations to them, and my thanks to DD Video and Universal, for providing the prizes. 

And now, over to Ceri Laing for his roundup of the week's DVD news, and a summary of the most tempting offers from the online retailers....

Hi everyone, following the mammoth update last week, it’s not such a large one today – some film additions, but mainly TV, to the Incoming page and more bargains added to the Offers page.

First up let's have a look at the TV releases added to the Incoming page.

There are several new Acorn releases listed: A Family At War – Volume 3 – One Of Ours, the final volume of the first series; a Tenko - Series 3 (Box Set); volume two of Anthony Valentine and Christopher Strauli’s Raffles, entitled The Last Laugh; Monarch Of The Glen - Complete Series 4, which includes an interview with Susan Hampshire, picture gallery, cast filmographies and production notes; Rumpole Of The Bailey - Series 6; the second part of When The Boat Comes In - Series 2; and Series 2 of a show that’s one of the Top Ten in the BBC’s search to find Britian’s Best Sitcom, The Good Life, all for the 15th March. When The Boat Comes In - Complete Series 2 (Box Set) is due on April 12th. The A Family at War, Raffles and When The Boat Comes In - Series 2 – Part 2 releases have an RRP of £19.99. The Good Life and the Rumpole of the Bailey releases have an RRP of £24.99. Monarch Of The Glen - Complete Series 4 is £39.99, Tenko - Series 3 is £49.99 and When The Boat Comes In - Complete Series 2 is £59.99.

As expected, some of Network’s releases have had their dates revised. Chancer – Series 1, Press Gang – Series 1, Soldier Solider – Series 1 and Till Death Us Do Part ­­– The First Colour Series are now likely to appear next week, on January 26th. Peak Practice - Series 2, Public Eye - Series 4 and Special Branch - Series 3 are now listed for February 16th. 

Also with a revised date of the 16th February is BBC Worldwide’s Jonathan Creek - Series 1&2 (Box Set), but there are new titles being listed from BBC Worldwide as well. March 1st will see The Big Dinosaur Box, which will contain the previously released Walking with Dinosaurs and The Ballad of Big Al, along with Land of the Giants and The Giant Claw, both of which are new releases. Bonus materials will include interviews and factfiles. RRP is £29.99. Series 1 of the BBC’s fondly remembered version of The Borrowers, starring Ian Holm and Penelope Wilton, is listed for 5th with an RRP of  £14.99 (with this scheduled and The Chronicles of Narnia, can a Box of Delights release be far away?). Finally, two titles for 26th April, the second series of Rob Brydon’s Marion and Geoff and Sellers on Sellers, the recent BBC 2 documentary on Peter Sellers which utilised his own home movies. Marion and Geoff has an RRP of £15.99 and Sellers on Sellers is £17.99.  

Alan Clarke’s 1989 BBC play about gangs of football hooligans, The Firm, starring Gary Oldman, is also being listed. Prism is releasing it on the 2nd February, with an RRP of £5.99. 

The 8th March sees more Taggart releases from Clear Vision: Vol. 42 - Death Trap, Vol. 43 - Fire, Burn, Vol. 44 - Water Tight, Vol. 45 - The Friday Event, and a box set of these four volumes. The individual volumes will retail at £12.99 and the box set for £39.99. 

Now on to American TV: there are more box sets coming – Buffy The Vampire Slayer – Season 7 from Twentieth Century Fox, and C.S.I. – Series 3.1 from Momentum. The Buffy release has an RRP of £79.99 and the C.S.I. is £39.99. Both are listed for April 5th. MGM will release the Stargate SG-1 Complete Series 6 box set on February 2nd and Stargate SG-1 Complete Series 7 on June 28^th. Volume 35 of Stargate SG-1 is pencilled in for May the 3^rd, and Volume 36 for June 28th. The Stargate SG-1 release schedule is always in a state of flux, so don’t count on these arriving on time. The box sets have an RRP of £59.99; the individual volumes are £19.99.

Now onto the film releases.

MGM has lined up more Special Edition DVDs. As a follow up to last week’s listing of the extras cleared by the BBFC for The Good The Bad And The Ugly, a release date of the 26th of April looks likely. The 1969 film, The Battle Of Britain, starring Michael Caine, Trevor Howard and Laurence Olivier is listed for 31st May. The BBFC recently cleared the following extras for the release: A Film For The Few (20m); Authenticity In The Air (22m); Recollections Of An R.A.F. Squadron Leader (9m); Images From The Sky (4m). Finally, Peter Sellers’ 1968 film The Party, directed by Blake Edwards, which is being lined up for June 7th, though no word on the extras yet. All three have an RRP of £19.99.

Joaquin Phoenix and Ed Harris’s darkly comic Buffalo Soldiers is being listed for the 22nd March from VCI. Extras so far include a short film, How Democracy Really Works. The RRP is £19.99. VCI will also be belatedly releasing Death to Smoochy, which stars Robin Williams as an embittered and unbalanced children’s TV host, and Edward Norton as his successor. The film was partly financed by Film Four, and its disappointing box office performance played a factor in the distributor’s downfall.

The recent remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is listed for 22nd March, from Entertainment In Video. To accompany it, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3 – Leatherface is also listed for the same day. Both have an RRP of £19.99.

Anchor Bay have added four more films to their slate, two of which star Klaus Kinski:– Android and Jack The Ripper. Extras listed for Android are a production gallery, Klaus Kinski biography, film notes, theatrical trailer and DVD-Rom accessible features: film script and stills gallery. Jack The Ripper’s presentation on DVD has been supervised by the cinematographer, and extras listed are an audio commentary from the producer, a behind the scenes documentary featuring previously unseen footage, Film Restoration featurette, cast and crew biographies, production stills and deleted scenes. Both films are out next week on the 26th January. Also out next week is Santa Sangre, which will feature an audio commentary from director Alejandro Jodorowsky and film journalist Alan Jones, a deleted scene, La Constellation Jodorowsky (which runs to 87 minutes), an interview with the director, Echek: a short film directed by Jodorowsky’s son, stills and poster gallery, biographies and a trailer. Finally, A Sense of Freedom, which is due 23rd February, with extras including a biography of Jimmy Boyle and a documentary entitled Convict, Rage and Reverie. Santa Sangre has an RRP of £19.99; the other titles are £16.99. 

Billy Wilder’s long sought after The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, starring Robert Stephens as Holmes and Colin Blakely as Watson, is being listed with an RRP of £12.99, from Warner Home Video. The UK disc doesn’t appear to include the bonus features of the Region 1 version, from MGM. Woody Allen’s debut film What’s New Pussycat? is being released by MGM, with a £15.99 RRP. Both films are due 7th June.

And a final round-up of the films: Another Peter Greenaway release from the BFI, his 1982 film, Draughtsman's Contract is listed for 23rd February, with extras including an introduction and commentary by the director, trailers, behind the scenes footage, deleted scenes, an interview with composer Michael Nyman. RRP is £19.99. Also for February 23rd are Volumes 6 and 7 of Laurel and Hardy’s Comedy Shorts from Stonevision, each with a £19.99 RRP. Michael Moore’s 1997 documentary film The Big One has been listed for April the 19^th, with an RRP of £9.99.

The Offers page has been updated, too. Like HMV, Amazon is now offering the E.R. – Series 1 box set at £29.99 (£15.00 off). There are two bargains from Benson’s World – Two In Clover – The Complete Series at a pre-order price of £16.99 (£8.00 off) and Family Guy – Series 1 at £12.99 (£12.00 off). Thanks to David Piper-Balston on Roobarb’s DVD Forum for posting that CD-Wow have Peter Kay’s Phoenix Nights – Series 2 for £9.99 (£10.00 off). Choices Direct are listing Lost In Space – Series 1 with an RRP of £34.99 and are offering  it at a pre-order price of £26.42 (that’s £23.57 off the full RRP of £49.99). This looks like a mis-price, so take advantage of it while you can, if you’re interested. There’s no guarantee that Choices Direct will honour the price if it is a mistake, of course. Finally, dvd.co.uk have Network’s excellent Edward the Seventh release at £17.99 (£22.00 off).  

Previous News entries can viewed be by following this link.