4th May 2005

Full details of Channel 4 Video's Comic Strip Presents... DVD are now available.

The Comic Strip Presents - The Complete Collection 1982-2000 will be released on July the 4th. It will be a nine-disc set, collecting all thirty-nine episodes, including Five Go Mad in Dorset, Strike!, Bad News Tour and the feature film The Supergrass.

The ninth disc will feature more than two hours of bonus material, including a new retrospective look at the series, comprised of interviews with Dawn French, Adrian Edmondson, Peter Richardson, Alexei Sayle, Nigel Planer, Pete Richens, Lenny Henry, Leslie Philips, Julie T Wallace, Gary Beadle and Phil Cornwell. It will also feature Julien Temple's 1981 look behind-the-scenes of the original stage show, The Comic Strip, and cast interviews from two 1998 First on Four documentaries.

Full episode breakdown:

Disc One - Episodes 1-6  (179m): Five Go Mad In Dorset, War, The Beat Generation, Bad News Tour, Summer School, Five Go Mad On Mescalin

Disc Two - Episodes 7-11  (162m): Dirty Movie, Susie, A Fistful of Traveller's Cheques, Gino - Full Story and Pics, Eddie Monsoon - A Life?

Disc Three - Episodes 12-15  (201m): Slags, The Bullshitters, The Supergrass, Consuela

Disc Four - Episodes 16-19  (193m): Private Enterprise, The Strike, More Bad News, Mr Jolly Lives Next Door

Disc Five - Episodes 20-22  (158m): The Yob, Didn't You Kill My Brother?, Funseekers

Disc Six - Episodes 23-27  (170m):  South Atlantic Raiders, South Atlantic Raiders Part II, GLC, Oxford, Spaghetti Hoops

Disc Seven - Episodes 28-33  (208m): Les Dogs, Red Nose of Courage, The Crying Game, Wild Turkey, Detectives On The Edge of a Nervous Breakdown, Space Virgins From Planet Sex

Disc Eight - Episodes 34-39  (193m): Queen of the Wild Frontier, Gregory - Diary of a Nutcase, Demonella, Jealousy, Four Men In A Car, Four Men In A Plane

Disc Nine - Extras (120m+): Comic Strip - A Retrospective (60m aprox), The Comic Strip - Live, First On Four documentaries (x2)

A larger version of the sleeve can be seen if you click here!

Universal Pictures UK will release the critically-acclaimed, Oscar-winning biopic of Ray Charles, Ray, on June the 6th.

The film will be presented on two discs, featuring the theatrical version, and an extended version featuring twenty-five minutes of additional footage. There are also extended music performances of two tracks (Hit The Road, Jack and What Kind of Man Are You?); audio commentary by director Taylor Hackford; fourteen deleted scenes; Stepping Into The Part (on-set interviews and behind-the-scenes footage, with Charles and Foxx); Ray Remembered (friends and fellow musicians reminisce); seven additional complete music performances; Filmmaker's Journey ("in-depth" interview with Hackford and producer Stuart Benjamin, about their fifteen-year journey to bring Charles' story to the screen). The set will come with a twenty-eight page bonus photo journal. No technical spec's were announced. RRP is £19.99.

On the same day (a year after Charles died) Universal will also release the Ray Charles tribute concert, Genius: A Night For Ray Charles.

The event was recorded in LA in October 2004, and was hosted by Jamie Foxx (the actor who played Charles in Ray). Contributors include Elton John, Stevie Wonder. BB KIng, Mary J Blige, Al Green and Norah Jones. Tributes and introductions come from Tom Cruise, Morgan Freeman, Bruce Willis and Jamie Cullum. The disc will feature two bonus items: A Look Inside RayL The Theatrical Trailer (a behind-the-scenes look at the film) and Genius Loves Company (interviews with artists who duet with Charles on his last album). The RRP is £9.99.

A box set featuring both titles will be available, with an RRP of £27.99. A DVD version of Ray with DVS (Descriptive Video Service), intended for blind and low-vision audiences will also be available.

Fox has released the final artwork for their Elektra DVD (we featured the provisional art when we featured the initial announcement on March the 31st. Updated spec's were listed on the News page for the 13th of April. Here's the artwork...

2nd May 2005

Let's begin the week with a new Zeta Minor review, written by your humble scribe!

It's of the highly acclaimed, Oscar-winning Fox comedy Sideways, which is being released on disc on May the 16th of May. It's a terrific film about friendship and mid-life angst, as two college buddies take a tour of the California vineyards: one last trip together before one of them ties the knot. The disc features a very appealing transfer, and a good array of bonus goodies. Click on the sleeve image, right, or here, to read the review.

You might like to know that there's a good-value double bill set featuring the Daredevil Director's Cut and spin-off Elektra due at the end of May (when Elektra is released), so you might want to wait for that, because it'll be cheaper than buying the two films separately. Play have it for a pretty decent £17.99 for example (click here).

Miami Vice - Season 1 and the Daredevil: Director's Cut are both available to buy now!

The Incoming page has been given a quick overhaul. All titles that were due today have been checked against a couple of online retailers, to see if they're still expected today. Titles that were due today, but have been postponed are Cutting It - Series 3 and New Tricks - Series 1 (both now 23/5/05); Only Fools and Horses: A Royal Flush is now due on May the 9th; and Sideways is due on May the 16th.