Leading TV shows released on DVD and Blu-ray this week is the British mystery series Foyles War, a mixed blessing for fans. Were happy to have three new feature-length episodes, but sad that this marks the end of the show.
Foyles War: Set 8 (Acorn/Blu-ray/DVD, 2015, three discs, three episodes, featurettes, photo gallery). Michael Kitchen is back as Christopher Foyle, the wily detective unwilling to look the other way, even when his superiors say he should, which, during this final trio of 90-minute programs, gets him in some trouble.
Its 1946 in London and Foyle is working for British Intelligence as the Cold War begins to heat up, with his driver Sam Wainwright (the irrepressible Honeysuckle Weeks) at his side as he investigates the death of a translator for the Nuremberg trials, tries to stop a terrorist plot and looks for a traitor inside the agency. Kitchen is perfect as Foyle and the scripts for this last go-round are excellent, very well researched, intelligent and filled with rich characters.
Kitchen and Weeks make a wonderful, if improbable, team, and among the guests in the first episode is John Mahoney, best known for playing the cranky father of Kelsey Grammer on the sitcom Frasier. And hes quite convincing as an unlikable bounder.
Planet Dinosaur 3-D (BBC/Blu-ray/3-D, 2012, trailers).
Wings 3-D (BBC/Blu-ray/3-D, 2014, trailers).
Tiny Giants 3-D (BBC/Blu-ray/3-D, 2014, trailers). These three educational documentaries are visually stunning, and if you dont have a 3-D television, there is a 2-D or flat viewing option on each disc. Even without the 3-D, the eye-popping cinematography more than pleases the eye. Planet Dinosaur (narrated by John Hurt) and Tiny Giants are under an hour each, while Wings (narrated by David Tennant) is feature-length, but all are satisfying journeys through their respective subjects weird dinosaurs, tiny creatures struggling to survive on and under the ground, and our winged friends, from bald eagles to parrots to barn swallows.
The Way Things Go (Icarus/Blu-ray/DVD, 1987). This is an upgraded transfer of the famous and still fascinating half-hour film by Swiss artists Peter Fischli and David Weiss of a seemingly uninterrupted Rube Goldberg-type chain reaction. They used everyday objects to send things rolling in, around and through each other, from tires and boards to oil drums and ladders, with gravity, centrifugal force and even fire to propel and knock over various items as they roll, climb and fall. Although it appears to be one long take, the film is actually cleverly edited and strangely mesmerizing. (You can see snippets on YouTube.)
Joe 90: The Complete Series (itv/Timeless/DVD, 1968-69, four discs, 30 episodes, audio commentaries, featurette). This British sci-fi series for kids is another Gerry Anderson puppet show in his Supermarionation franchise. Here, a science professor invents a machine to transfer knowledge and skill from one person to another, and transforms his adopted son into an expert in, well, everything. This leads to their being recruited by a secret agency to combat evildoers.
Walker: Texas Ranger: Flashback (CBS/Paramount/DVD, 1995). Flashback is an episode from the second season of Chuck Norris TV series and introduced the 19th century Texas Ranger Hayes Cooper, who would appear in several subsequent episodes throughout the series eight-season run. Here, Walker is bitten by a rattlesnake, which leads to flashbacks about Cooper. (Available exclusively at Walmart.)
The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts: Stingers and Zingers (StarVista/DVD, 1973-84, eight discs, 24 episodes, featurettes, skits from The Dean Martin Show). In between episodes of his variety series, Dean Martin hosted roasts, in which celebrities tossed insults at each other, often with hilarious results. No question that these shows are dated and young viewers may not get most of the references or even know the celebrities, but baby boomers will laugh themselves silly. Among the roasted in this set are Michael Landon, Danny Thomas, Truman Capote, Wilt Chamberlain, Jack Klugman and Tony Randall (during their Odd Couple days), and many others. Roasters include Bob Hope, Sid Caesar, Angie Dickinson, Bob Newhart, Harvey Korman, Phyllis Diller, etc.
The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts: Hall of Famers (StarVista/DVD, 1973-77, three episodes, featurettes, skits from The Dean Martin Show). This trimmed-down, single-disc, three-episode set roasts Joe Garagiola, Evel Knievel and Hank Aaron, with roasters including Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Stan Musial, Orson Welles, Milton Berle, Red Buttons, Shirley Jones and many others.
Little House on the Prairie: Season Five (Lionsgate/Blu-ray/DVD, 1978-79, five discs, 24 episodes, featurette). Michael Landons adaptation of the autobiographical books by Laura Ingalls Wilder was still riding high in the ratings in its fifth season, which begins with a two-part episode as the residents of Walnut Grove having been displaced at the end of Season 4 are relocated to new homes where they must adjust to city life. Upgraded hi-def picture and sound are stunning.
A Haunting: Season 7 (Timeless/DVD, 2014-15, four discs, 16 episodes). Anthology series about allegedly true paranormal incidents is a semi-documentary program with re-enactments using actors. This season deals with demons in several forms, as well as ghosts and a mummy.
World War One: The Peoples Story (Athena/DVD, 2015, two discs, four episodes; 12-page booklet). Documentary footage and re-enactments using actors are mixed with diaries, letters and memoirs to tell the story of everyday British men and women affected by the Great War.
The End of the Civil War (Lionsgate/DVD, 2002-07, two discs, four episodes). Four feature-length Civil War documentaries, three of which explore various aspects of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln: Shermans March, April 1865, The Hunt for John Wilkes Booth and Stealing Lincolns Body.
Sabans Power Rangers Super Megaforce: The Perfect Storm (Lionsgate/DVD, 2014, five episodes). In addition to the title episode, the others collected here are Power of Six, Love Is in the Air, United as One and The Grass Is Always Greener or Bluer.
Foyles War: Set 8 (Acorn/Blu-ray/DVD, 2015, three discs, three episodes, featurettes, photo gallery). Michael Kitchen is back as Christopher Foyle, the wily detective unwilling to look the other way, even when his superiors say he should, which, during this final trio of 90-minute programs, gets him in some trouble.
Its 1946 in London and Foyle is working for British Intelligence as the Cold War begins to heat up, with his driver Sam Wainwright (the irrepressible Honeysuckle Weeks) at his side as he investigates the death of a translator for the Nuremberg trials, tries to stop a terrorist plot and looks for a traitor inside the agency. Kitchen is perfect as Foyle and the scripts for this last go-round are excellent, very well researched, intelligent and filled with rich characters.
Kitchen and Weeks make a wonderful, if improbable, team, and among the guests in the first episode is John Mahoney, best known for playing the cranky father of Kelsey Grammer on the sitcom Frasier. And hes quite convincing as an unlikable bounder.
Planet Dinosaur 3-D (BBC/Blu-ray/3-D, 2012, trailers).
Wings 3-D (BBC/Blu-ray/3-D, 2014, trailers).
Tiny Giants 3-D (BBC/Blu-ray/3-D, 2014, trailers). These three educational documentaries are visually stunning, and if you dont have a 3-D television, there is a 2-D or flat viewing option on each disc. Even without the 3-D, the eye-popping cinematography more than pleases the eye. Planet Dinosaur (narrated by John Hurt) and Tiny Giants are under an hour each, while Wings (narrated by David Tennant) is feature-length, but all are satisfying journeys through their respective subjects weird dinosaurs, tiny creatures struggling to survive on and under the ground, and our winged friends, from bald eagles to parrots to barn swallows.
The Way Things Go (Icarus/Blu-ray/DVD, 1987). This is an upgraded transfer of the famous and still fascinating half-hour film by Swiss artists Peter Fischli and David Weiss of a seemingly uninterrupted Rube Goldberg-type chain reaction. They used everyday objects to send things rolling in, around and through each other, from tires and boards to oil drums and ladders, with gravity, centrifugal force and even fire to propel and knock over various items as they roll, climb and fall. Although it appears to be one long take, the film is actually cleverly edited and strangely mesmerizing. (You can see snippets on YouTube.)
Joe 90: The Complete Series (itv/Timeless/DVD, 1968-69, four discs, 30 episodes, audio commentaries, featurette). This British sci-fi series for kids is another Gerry Anderson puppet show in his Supermarionation franchise. Here, a science professor invents a machine to transfer knowledge and skill from one person to another, and transforms his adopted son into an expert in, well, everything. This leads to their being recruited by a secret agency to combat evildoers.
Walker: Texas Ranger: Flashback (CBS/Paramount/DVD, 1995). Flashback is an episode from the second season of Chuck Norris TV series and introduced the 19th century Texas Ranger Hayes Cooper, who would appear in several subsequent episodes throughout the series eight-season run. Here, Walker is bitten by a rattlesnake, which leads to flashbacks about Cooper. (Available exclusively at Walmart.)
The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts: Stingers and Zingers (StarVista/DVD, 1973-84, eight discs, 24 episodes, featurettes, skits from The Dean Martin Show). In between episodes of his variety series, Dean Martin hosted roasts, in which celebrities tossed insults at each other, often with hilarious results. No question that these shows are dated and young viewers may not get most of the references or even know the celebrities, but baby boomers will laugh themselves silly. Among the roasted in this set are Michael Landon, Danny Thomas, Truman Capote, Wilt Chamberlain, Jack Klugman and Tony Randall (during their Odd Couple days), and many others. Roasters include Bob Hope, Sid Caesar, Angie Dickinson, Bob Newhart, Harvey Korman, Phyllis Diller, etc.
The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts: Hall of Famers (StarVista/DVD, 1973-77, three episodes, featurettes, skits from The Dean Martin Show). This trimmed-down, single-disc, three-episode set roasts Joe Garagiola, Evel Knievel and Hank Aaron, with roasters including Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Stan Musial, Orson Welles, Milton Berle, Red Buttons, Shirley Jones and many others.
Little House on the Prairie: Season Five (Lionsgate/Blu-ray/DVD, 1978-79, five discs, 24 episodes, featurette). Michael Landons adaptation of the autobiographical books by Laura Ingalls Wilder was still riding high in the ratings in its fifth season, which begins with a two-part episode as the residents of Walnut Grove having been displaced at the end of Season 4 are relocated to new homes where they must adjust to city life. Upgraded hi-def picture and sound are stunning.
A Haunting: Season 7 (Timeless/DVD, 2014-15, four discs, 16 episodes). Anthology series about allegedly true paranormal incidents is a semi-documentary program with re-enactments using actors. This season deals with demons in several forms, as well as ghosts and a mummy.
World War One: The Peoples Story (Athena/DVD, 2015, two discs, four episodes; 12-page booklet). Documentary footage and re-enactments using actors are mixed with diaries, letters and memoirs to tell the story of everyday British men and women affected by the Great War.
The End of the Civil War (Lionsgate/DVD, 2002-07, two discs, four episodes). Four feature-length Civil War documentaries, three of which explore various aspects of the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln: Shermans March, April 1865, The Hunt for John Wilkes Booth and Stealing Lincolns Body.
Sabans Power Rangers Super Megaforce: The Perfect Storm (Lionsgate/DVD, 2014, five episodes). In addition to the title episode, the others collected here are Power of Six, Love Is in the Air, United as One and The Grass Is Always Greener or Bluer.
