Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Michael Durr on August 3rd, 2009
This week, we are continuing to give small reviews to a range of discs from the Smithsonian Network. The next disc is entitled: The Big Blue. This documentary goes into Southeastern Australia and tells us the unique tale of the blue whale, the largest creature in the world. The whale has a heart the size of a small car and a tongue that weighs several tons but is more elusive than a cunning criminal. In the next 45 minutes, I hope to uncover a little more of those mysteries and other odd facts.
A fisherman off the southeastern coast of Australia has spotted a rare occurrence. He has seen a whale twice the size of the boat. He has seen what is known as a blue whale, the largest of the animals on the planet Earth. The spectacle is due to a yearly event called the Bonney Upwelling which is when nutrient rich cold water wells up the shelf and triggers an explosion of life from December to April.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Michael Durr on August 1st, 2009
The people at Smithsonian Networks decided to send us a few documentary discs in the last week. The discs were presumably made to show off a few of their network shows on the Smithsonian HD channel which is starting to crop up on many satellite outfits including DirecTV and Dish Network. It is also listed on some of the cable companies lineup including TimeWarner and Charter Communications. The first disc is called Sky View and subtitled “Soar like an Eagle; A Unique View that will take your breath away.” Hopefully the proceedings won't be too high, I just might get airsick.
In splendid picture quality and sound, we are introduced to four different episodes in Sky View.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 1st, 2009
Running for a single season in 2008, this ABC Family production is a humorous pastiche of superheroics and Avengers-style adventure. Natalie Morales plays Wendy Watson, a struggling artist making ends meet as a temp. When she demonstrates incredible unflappability when a monster is unleashed at her current job, straight-arrow superhero the Middleman (Matt Keeslar) recruits her to join him in the fight against all sorts of bizarre menaces. A sampling of titles gives the flavour of the series: “The Boy-Band Superfan Interrogation,” “The Palindrome Reversal Palindrome,” “The Flying Fish Zombification.”
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on August 1st, 2009
In 2007, the Pang Brothers, whose The Eye was one of the spookiest ghost stories of recent memory, made their North American debut with The Messengers, a disappointingly ordinary tale of a haunted farm. Nobody asked for a sequel, to my knowledge, but here it is, apparently closer to writer Todd Farmer's original story than the first film.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 29th, 2009
This was Lucille Ball's follow-up to I Love Lucy, and the first season is, apparently, the most highly regarded one. Here Ball is a widowed mother of two, sharing her home with best friend Vivian Vance, who is a divorced mother of one. All the other members of household are, of course, faced with the disasters triggered by Lucy. I screened this set immediately after viewing its close contemporary, Petticoat Junction, and the difference between the two was instructive. There are plenty of hoary gags and situations on The Lucy Show, but there is an enormous difference between the shows thanks to the comic genius of Lucille Ball. Her energy fills each episode, her timing is spot-on, but there is also her commitment to a type of physical comedy that to this day remains pretty much the exclusive domain of male performers. Not only does she make this style her own, she grounds it in a female reality. There is a reason she was so beloved a performer, and why her work still stands up today.
Though the image is a bit soft, with features losing definition in long shots, the picture is still looking remarkably good for television from 1962-63. The black-and-white tones are very warm, and the grain, though present, is minor. There is no edge enhancement to deal with. It is, frankly, very unlikely that these episodes have ever looked better.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on July 28th, 2009
Once upon a time, there was an age of TV where hit shows where women in their 20s played high school students, and an entire episode could revolve around the burning crisis of whether the dog that followed one daughter home could stay. It is from this era that Petticoat Junction hails. This series about a widowed mother and her three daughters tending the Shady Rest Hotel ran for seven years, and begat both Green Acres and The Beverly Hillbillies, in that characters from all three series would interact with each other.
So our principle cast here consists of mother Kate Bradley (Bea Benaderet), daughters Billie Jo (the flirt, played by Jeannine Riley), Bobbie Jo (the bookworm, played by Pat Woodell, who would leave after this season), and Betty Jo (the tomboy, played by Linda Kaye Henning, daughter of series creator Paul Henning). Throwing in his two bits is lazy Uncle Joe (Edgar Buchanan). Joining the cast this season is Higgins the dog, who would subsequently star as Benji, and thus eclipse his human co-stars.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Michael Durr on July 28th, 2009
The Green Lantern character has always been one of my favorite DC comic book heroes, right after the likes of Batman and the Flash. As far as Earth-born GL’s, Hal Jordan has always been first in my heart and even though the John Stewart was shown predominantly in the cartoon series: Justice League Unlimited, it was hard wrapping my head around him as the Green Lantern. I was excited to see that due to recent success with other characters, the people at DC decided to release a direct to disc release for the Green Lantern sub-titled: First Flight.
Hal Jordan is a test pilot for the military. He’s testing one of the newest planes when suddenly his ship is enveloped in a green energy beam to a crash site. There he finds a dying Abin Sur, the current Green Lantern of sector 2814. Before he dies, he bequeaths his ring to Hal Jordan, proclaiming him the new Green Lantern. Moments later after the passing of Abin Sur, several current members of the Green Lantern corps arrive and take Hal Jordan to the headquarters where the Lanterns and Guardians of the Universe meet.
Posted in: No Huddle Reviews by Archive Authors on July 23rd, 2009
According to the Chinese calendar, during the seventh month of every year vengeful spirits are allowed to break free from hell and mix it up with mortals. Throughout this month, there are precautions that need to be taken in order to avoid any terrifying contact with these demons. It is during this month, that housekeeper Alyssa (Marina Resa) decides to take a job at a wealthy Chinese family’s home in the desert and the thrills begin.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 22nd, 2009
Since the events of 911 there has been a lot more appreciation, at least publicly, for the real life heroes who populate fire and police stations all over the country. Few jobs offer so little reward for such high risk all in the name of protecting our society from harm. It’s likely no coincidence that while Third Watch began a couple of years before those events, it reached its peak in popularity in the months and years that followed. A better than average procedural drama, Third Watch offered a look at both police officers and firefighters along with their paramedics. You could call it a cross between Hill Street Blues and Emergency.
The police officers and the fire fighters are all members of New York’s 55th Precinct. The Precinct carries the nickname of Camelot. While they work from separate facilities, they are across the street from each other and their duties often find them working together. The two houses share a bond, but there are also moments of stress and rivalry. But when there’s a crisis, these men and women are the best and get the job done.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on July 22nd, 2009
I grew up on the Peanuts creations of Charles M. Schulz. Most of us have, in some way or another. His newspaper comic strip is one of the longest running and most successful strips of all time. The work has been translated into every language currently spoken on the planet. The images of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, and the rest of the Peanuts gang have appeared on just about any kind of product imaginable. Our pop culture contains too many references to the strip to mention briefly. For me, it was the television specials starting in the mid 1960’s that brought the gang into my life. The classics are running annually, still after nearly 50 years. A Charlie Brown Christmas and It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown are the most mentioned and certainly beloved by generations of children and adults. I thought I never missed an airing.
Now Warner Home Video has brought together a special collection of the cartoon specials that started it all. It includes those annual greats and a few that I don’t really remember so much. The two discs include the following Peanuts specials:
![Green Lantern: First Flight (+ Digital Copy) [Blu-ray] dvd cover art](https://upcomingdiscs.com/ecs_covers/green-lantern-first-flight-digi-large.jpg)
