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DVD NEWS

Optimum has confirmed that their forthcoming New Avengers DVD box set (due on October the 30th) will feature two episodes with commentary tracks: The Eagle's Nest and Dead Men Are Dangerous (both tracks are by writer Brian Clemens and star Gareth Hunt). The eight-disc set has an RRP of £59.99.

I've seen some of the new Hammer discs from Optimum. There's good news, and not-so-good news. Two of the titles I've examined (Rasputin - The Mad Monk and Quatermass and the Pit) seem to be virtually identical, compared to the old, Warner Home Video (WHV) versions. The new Quatermass and the Pit disc features a 2'30" theatrical trailer that wasn't on the WHV version.

The good news is that One Million Years B.C. has been given a new anamorphic transfer, which might bode well for some of the other titles in the new collection (not least of which, Dracula: Prince of Darkness and She!) You can see some comparative screen grabs from the old and new versions here.

More good news! Optimum's new version of The Nanny has a commentary track by Jimmy Sangster! (You'd think they'd mention stuff like this in the press release, wouldn't you!?) It also has a new anamorphic 1.78:1 transfer, which adds substantial picture information to the sides, with some cropping to the top and bottom. You can see some comparative screen grabs from the old and new versions here.

The Hammer DVD Guide has been updated accordingly.

Here's a look at the Ultimate Hammer Films Box Set, which is due from Optimum on October the 23rd. It seems that The Devil-Ship Pirates might not now be included in the set.

Tartan will release Jeremy Brock's directorial debut Driving Lessons on December the 26th.

The film, which stars Julie Walters, Rupert Grint and Laura Linney, will be presented in anamorphic widescreen format, with a choice of Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 audio tracks. The disc will also feature Tartan-exclusive interviews with Brock, Julie Walters and Rupert Grint; and a commentary track by Brock. RRP is £19.99.

Buena Vista Home Entertainment will release the fifth - final - series of Alias on November the 20th.

The five-disc set features seventeen episodes, along with the following bonus features: commentary tracks (for Prophet Five, Bob, The Horizon and There's Only One Sydney Bristow); Celebrating 100 featurette (behind-the-scenes on episode 100); The Legend of Rambaldi featurette; Heightening the Drama - The Music of Alias featurette with composer Michael Giacchino; The New Recruit (featurette on Rachel Nichols; bloopers and Easter Eggs. RRP is £49.99.

A box set containing all five seasons will also be released on November the 20th. It has an RRP of £120.

Arrow Films will release a radically re-edited edition of the 1989 adventure film Erik The Viking on October the 9th. Director Terry Jones explains: "When The film came out in 1989 I was not happy at all with it. With the Monty Python movies I'd been a hands-on editor, yet with Erik The Viking I didn't get involved with the process until too late. I've always felt there was a better film in there, waiting to get out, and this new version is it!"

Billed as Erik The Viking - The Director's Son's Cut, the two disc set will feature the theatrical version of the film, and a new version of the film, with new 5.1 audio and "enhanced picture transfer". The new transfer is in 1.85:1 ratio, with anamorphic enhancement. The 5.1 audio is offered at 384kbps.

There have always been two versions of Erik The Viking in circulation. The English cut was about ten minutes shorter than the US edition, because Jones continued to whittle away at it after the American theatrical prints had been struck. The original English version (the version on disc two) is 129'26". The new DVD version runs for a lean 75'15".

The set will feature a director's commentary track; an interview with Terry and his son Bill (7m); the contemporaneous featurette The Making of Erik The Viking (30m); Feature Reports (approx. 20m); Extended Cast Interviews (approx 16m) and a photo gallery. The RRP is £15.99.

Lord Tom of Baker will be hosting the Tom Baker's Ultimate Sci-Fi Quiz DVD, which will be released by Liberation Entertainment on November the 27th.

The disc offers an interactive quiz with questions in fourteen different categories, using clips, music and photographs from well-known genre TV shows and movies. Titles included are: 2001 A Space Odyssey, War of The Worlds, Forbidden Planet, Serenity,  Thunderbirds, The Land That Time Forgot, The Man Who Fell To Earth, Red Dwarf, Doctor Who, The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy, Blake’s 7, The Time Machine, The Fly, Barberella and Flash Gordon. There'll also be a slightly more elaborate UMD format version. The DVD has an RRP of £19.99.

Eureka! will release Maid Marian and Her Merry Men - The Complete Series Three on October the 23rd.

The two-disc Special Edition set will include an additional hour-long Christmas Special. The disc will also feature "audio commentary", and will come with a booklet written by Tony Robinson, and illustrated by Paul Cemmick. The RRP is £19.99.

Eureka! is releasing a box set of thirty-two Buster Keaton short films that includes Cops and The High Sun, as The Complete Buster Keaton Short Films 1917-1923, on October the 23rd.

The four-disc set will feature audio commentary on six of the films by Joseph McBride, and it will be accompanied by a 212-page book. The RRP is £49.99.

The films included in the set are:

Lurker Films, the Oregon company that has published a couple of Edgar Allen Poe-themed DVD anthologies, is releasing The Weird Tale Collection - Volume 1: The Yellow Sign this month. It features several film adaptations of stories by Robert W. Chambers.

The disc is available from the Lurker Films website.

Here's a breakdown of the disc's contents, from the press release:

The Yellow Sign short starring Shawna Waldron from The American President and Little Giants. This film is in English with subtitles in: English, Spanish, German, French, Japanese, Finnish and Portuguese.

David Leroy's short film Tupilak. Winner of Best Short at the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival. During a polar expedition, Kelvin and Max leave their wounded Inuit guide behind them. Two years later, on the very same date, they meet by accident in a deserted museum. The past comes back, and the evil shadow of the Tupilak is not far away. This film is in French with subtitles in English and French.

The King in Yellow by filmmakers Emiliano Guarneri & David Fragale. A girl goes to an antique shop to buy a book for her friend who was admitted to a hospital; but on the way to see her, falls down into a nightmare world where she will meet the King in Yellow. But who is, or a better question to ask, what is the King in Yellow? This film is in Italian with subtitles in English.

Chambers in Paris, a documentary on Robert Chambers by expert Christophe Thill. Robert W. Chambers (1865—1933) is probably best remembered for The King in Yellow, an odd collection of supernatural weird tale, and tales of the artist’s life in Paris. First published in 1895, The Yellow Sign is one of Chambers’ very best stories taken from The King in Yellow, his second (and best) book.

Slide shows, deleted scenes, audition footage, and more.