Showing posts with label bbc-home-entertainment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bbc-home-entertainment. Show all posts

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Doctor Who: Invasion of the Dinosaurs (Story 71)



My First Doctor Who!
Now, all of us lets be mature and get past the puppet dinosaurs and see that "Invasion of the Dinosaurs" is a great addition to the series. The story is excellent. The acting, well, it was the '70s, give 'em a break. The chemistry between Sarah Jane and The Doctor is brilliant, especially during the first episode. The line between good guy and bad guy is tremendously well slurred and makes us wonder if The Doctor's doing the right thing. All in all, this is a great story and a wonderful tribute to the late Sladen, forever in our hearts.

Wondrful fun but DVD puzzles at times.
First off, let me say that I dont have a problem with the dinosaurs. Why? Because I saw this story in High School (20 years ago +) and I thought they were dreadful, but acceptable considering I understood the limitations of the production. Over time the the dinosaurs became exgerated in my head. I thought of them as being much worse than they truly are. So. that stuff aside. Its a solid story. I wish I could say that the color enhanced episode one is a major disappointment. Color restoration had been impressive in the past on stories such as Terror of the Autons. For this version BBC only had partial color information and added the blue with a computer. So the blues look great and the rest looks pretty rough, especially browns and flesh tones. I must say that I am puzzled as to why they couldnt use a computer colorization technique to bring the entire episode up to the standards of the rest of the show. Especially when one considers they had the rest of the serial for reference it...

Classic Doctor Who: INVASION OF THE DINOSAURS
The 5-Star rating is for the quality and value of the DVD. Superb job as is typical of the Doctor Who Restoration Team in their production of Classic Era Doctor Who DVD's.

INVASION OF THE DINOSAURS
Story # 71
Season 11's Second Story
Third Doctor, Jon Perwee Era, final season 1973-74
Second Classic Sarah Jane Smith story

OVERALL STORY RATING 8/10
INVASION OF THE DINOSAURS is a 10/10 story pulled down to 8/10 solely due to poor dinosaur special effects. If the viewer is willing to put forth a tiny bit of effort and engage their imagination when the dinosaurs are onscreen, the reward will be a truly superb story well worth the watching. It is truly sad that such an excellent story is pulled so low by a single problem. Were it not for the poor dinosaur special effects, INVASION OF THE DINOSAURS would likely rate among the finest WHO stories of all time, possibly even in the top 25.

Essential for SARAH JANE ADVENTURES fans, and...

Click to Editorial Reviews

An Idiot Abroad



A Travelogue And A Comedy--Karl Pilkington, World Traveler, Endures Humiliations In This Triumphant Jaunt Around The Globe
Fans of Ricky Gervais will undoubtedly be familiar with daft and mercilessly funny Karl Pilkington. Gervais and partner Stephen Merchant have transformed Pilkington into an international superstar in previous programming--most notoriously, he is the undisputed star of their podcasts which have also been turned into "The Ricky Gervais Show" for HBO. Pilkington has a precious and skewed world view which combines faulty logic with unsubstantiated facts, yet for all its absurdity--there is often a nugget of wisdom in Pilkington's ramblings. An endless source of mockery and taunts from his co-workers, you might be inclined to feel sorry for the maligned Pilkington if he weren't so darn funny. A certified homebody, never having traveled further than Wales, Gervais and Merchant designed a new and inspired way to torture their little buddy. Why not send him around the world, ostensibly to view the Seven Wonders, and put him into situations that he will absolutely hate? Thus, "An Idiot...

NOT an NTSC-region Blu-Ray
This Blu-Ray set is not region-coded, but it runs at 50i, so it does NOT PLAY in most Blu-Ray players sold in the USA. On my Sony Blu-Ray player, the opening logos play and then it shuts off. After a long backorder I was thrilled to receive this amazing show on Blu-Ray and I can't watch it!

This is an incredibly funny show, but Amazon needs to wait until they release it properly at the correct framerate! Or at minimum, label it properly! It should be labeled as a PAL-framerate set!

The funniest thing I have ever seen in my entire life - no joke
This might be, and with absolutely no hyperbole, the funniest thing I have ever seen in my entire life. X-D

Without trying, completely spontaneous and genuinely insightful - our man Karl Pilkington is hands down the funniest guy living on Planet Earth today.

Certainly there have been moments - in my own life and those that come from the entertainment field - that have had me in tears, crying so hard from laughing. The first time I saw the late Sam Kinison, the moment when a friend ate his entire meal then discovered a fat cockroach at the bottom of his bowl, the combat/spear and hippo birth scenes in 'Ace Ventura, When Nature Calls'. Moments that I'll carry with me the rest of my life.

But this guy Karl - this guy is beyond humorous. He's like the Dalai Lama of comedy, delivering the rawest, most truthful, insanely funny things ever uttered by man.

He's added to my...

Click to Editorial Reviews

Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Doctor Who: The Android Invasion (Story 83)



I just love this episode...
I truly enjoy the earlier Tom Baker (Sarah Jane) episodes. "The Android Invasion" is a wonderful example (when he actually wore the hat) and a great performance by Liz Sladen as they arrive and explore a seemingly deserted English village. When I sit down to watch a Dr Who, I often find myself reaching for this tape. The story has a special charm that is difficult to explain. I would recommend that all Dr Who fans add "The Android Invasion" to their library. It is one of my very favorite episodes!

Great Companion Episode
I loved it when I first saw it in 1984 and it remains one of my favorites today. And the reason is simple: it remains one of the best companion episodes of all time. Baker and Sladen have the best interaction (second only to the Seeds of Doom). It highlights why Sarah Jane Smith remains one of the Doctor's best companions to this day. The aliens were slightly hokey, but the plot was interesting (I refuse to give out plots) and the execution was superb. Watch it, you'll like it or, at least, appreciate the interaction between the Doctor and Sarah Jane.

The plot may be formula, but the filming makes it first rate
The Android Invasion is a very fun Tom Baker story. The village setting was an excellent location for this creepy story. The outside location shots give parts of this story a cinematic feel. The return of the UNIT makes this story even more interesting. A definitive Tom Baker era story.

Click to Editorial Reviews