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AUDIOBOOK REVIEWS
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31st May 2007 DVD NEWS
Here's the press release's description of the new series' premise... James Nesbitt plays Tom Jackman, a modern day Dr Jekyll, with an old dilemma – the devilish Mr Hyde. But they have a cunning arrangement - a body share - and an impossible life is somehow lived. What Hyde doesn't know is that Jackman is married - there's a wife and two children he'll do anything to protect from his dark side. With all the resources of modern technology, and the best surveillance hardware, he's determined to keep this evil side in line. He's done a deal with his own devil. What neither of them knows: an ancient organisation, with limitless wealth and power, is monitoring their every move, and a plan over a century in the making is coming to fruition… it seems the return of Dr Jekyll is no accident… The BBC series also features Coupling's Gina Bellman, Denis Lawson, Michelle Ryan and Meera Syal. The two-disc set will feature commentary tracks on two episodes (on episode one, by Moffat, Douglas Mackinnon and Elaine Cameron, and on episode six, by Beryl Vertue, Matt Lipsey and Gina Bellman); and two featurettes: The Tale Retold (a forty-five minute look behind-the-scenes), and Anatomy of a Scene (a fifteen-minute look at a composite scene from Episode 2). The set has an RRP of £29.99. (HMV currently have the series up for pre-order for £17.99!)
They're releasing ITC favourite Strange Report as a special edition five-disc box set in August. The series starred Anthony Quayle as Adam Strange, a criminologist who's consulted by the authorities in baffling cases. It also featured Kaz Garas as Strange's dashing assistant, Hamlyn Gynt, and former Doctor Who companion Anneke Wills as - er - Strange's flighty next door neighbour. Many fans will already own Network's UK box set of the series, so Umbrella will need something special to tempt fans to double-dip. Well, judge for yourself! Here's the line-up of extras... Commentary tracks on three episodes (by Anneke Wills on Covergirls; by director Peter Duffell and guest star Jane Merrow on Racist; and by guest star Derren Nesbitt on Swindle); new interviews with Anneke Wills; original episode and series trailers; extensive image galleries from the ITC Archives; insert reprint of original ITC publicity booklet; textless material; alternate US footage; original commercial break bumpers; restoration featurette; complete bonus episode of The Saint (The Helpful Pirate) introduced by guest star Anneke Wills; and production notes. The series will be presented uncut, from re-mastered source materials. Release date and RRP are TBA. A Roobarb's DVD Forum thread about the series can be found here. Here's the provisional box artwork...
29th May 2007 DVD NEWS News has been thin over the bank holiday weekend, so there's time to catch up with a few bits and pieces that slipped through the net recently. The Hours and Times, the short film about Brian Epstein and John Lennon's 1963 trip to Barcelona, has been re-scheduled. It was due on sale next week, but has now been postponed to August the 27th. More information can be found in the News entry for the 3rd of April. Metrodome will release Ronald Neame's Tunes of Glory, which stars Alec Guinness and John Mills, on July the 23rd, and the 1988 thriller Pin, which features Terry O'Quinn, on July the 2nd. No technical details were available. Neither was there any mention of bonus features (the Anchor Bay US disc of Pin features a commentary track, and Criterion's Tunes of Glory features a couple of interviews). Sony will release a Special Edition of Eli Roth's horrifying Hostel on DVD on June the 18th.
The two-disc set will feature four
commentaries; Kill The Car multi-angle featurette; Hostel
Dissected multi-part Making of... documentary (as per the
current Unseen Edition DVD). Disc two will feature an interview
with HAMMER DVD NEWS On the advice of correspondent Duncan Taylor, I've taken a close look at the two The Vampire Lovers discs (the US disc from M-G-M, and the UK one from ILC), and amended the Hammer DVD Guide accordingly. I've also added frame grabs from the two discs, to illustrate the differences in framing. Last week's Zeta Minor News can be viewed here. Previous Zeta Minor News entries can viewed here. |
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Contender
Home Entertainment will release Steven Moffat's modern-day adaptation of
Robert Louis Stevenson's classic novella,
It's
been a while since we've heard from Australian cult TV specialists
Umbrella.
