Paramount

I must first admit that I never saw The Sentinel when it originally aired in the 90’s. I guess this one never made my radar. It’s basically a cop show with a somewhat sci-fi or maybe paranormal twist. It seems that Jim Ellison’s (Burgi)plane went down in the jungles of South America. While the crash killed his crew, he not only survived, but somehow obtained strange super powers. The idea is that this ancient jungle tribe develops a “sentinel” to be their guardian. For years Ellison protected the village before his...eventual rescue. Now he’s a cop with a certain advantage. Ellison has heightened hearing and vision. The rub is he can’t really control when or where it kicks in. As I watch the series, predictably the powers always kick in at just the right time. His other senses are also super-active, but sight and sound make for the most used power. Of course there has to be a team. Blair Sandburg (Maggart) is an anthropologist who studies Ellison. Captain Banks (Young) also contributes to the team This was an early UPN show. It should be noted that this series has nothing at all to do with the upcoming film with the same title.

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It’s his show, he’s Andy Milonakis. That’s what the rap says to begin each and every idiotic entry to the first season of The Andy Milonakis Show. And as Andy himself points out in the commentary for episode six, the show is meant to be as stupid as humanly possible. With Milonakis at the helm, it reaches such high aspirations with ease. I’m still not sure of the merits of a program, whose only intention is to see how asinine it can be. Rest assured, there’s a huge difference between stupid-stupid and stupid-f...nny, and Milonakis sticks with the former like it’s his religion.

I don’t know what else to really say about the eight episodes included in season one. The format of each is Andy acting as stupid as he can in a series of unrelated vignettes. For those who don’t know the name Milonakis, you’ll probably know the face that goes with it. Then again, with his only film credit that immediately comes to mind being a supporting role in Waiting (a funny flick with marginal-at-best box office returns), you may not. But if you’ve ever seen his face, you’re not likely to forget it. Afflicted with a growth hormone condition that puts him in the body (and mind) of a 14-year old, this 30-year old “comedian” usually gets a jaw-dropping reaction from those familiar with him once they discover his true age. Count me in that throng. But the real shock here is not that Milonakis is twice as old as he looks (and acts) – no, the truly flooring bit of information is that his show was ever picked up and produced in the first place. If this is the future of comedy, then I proudly call myself an old fogy.

Time travel has always been a favorite staple in the Star Trek franchise. Since the days of Kirk and Spock, through the Temporal Cold War of Enterprise Federation, officers and their ships have traversed both past and future. It’s no surprise that the two most popular Trek films: The Voyage Home and First Contact happen to be time travel tales. In this collection, Trek fans have voted for their favorite temporal excursions from the first four versions of the show. Unfortunately some fine Enterprise entries are not ...ncluded. While all of these episodes are to be found in their individual season sets, this is nonetheless an impressive collection.

From the Original Series comes perhaps its greatest episode. Harlen Ellison’s “The City On The Edge Of Forever” features a compelling guest stint by a then very young Joan Collins as the ill-fated Edith Keeler. When McCoy escapes into the past enraged by an accidental drug overdose, he changes the past and strands the landing party on a dead planet. Kirk and Spock travel to Depression era San Francisco, where to Kirk’s horror he finds he must allow Keeler to die. To complicate matters, he appears to have fallen in love with her along the way. This classic is accompanied by that show’s Tomorrow Is Yesterday.