DVD Collectors Online

Freak, a review by snowcat

(From Emma's Film Reviews (snowcat) on October 27th, 2009)

Star Trek, a review by KinkyCyborg

Title:Star Trek
Year: 2009
Director: J. J. Abrams
Rating: PG-13
Length: 127 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.40:1
Audio: English: Dolby Digital: 5.1, French: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround, Spanish: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround, Commentary: Dolby Digital: Dolby Surround
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

Stars:
Chris Pine
Zachary Quinto
Leonard Nimoy
Eric Bana
Bruce Greenwood

Plot:
The future begins in J.J. Abrams' smash hit STAR TREK. When the Romulan Nero comes from the future to take revenge on the Federation, rivals Kirk and Spock must work together to stop him from destroying everything they know. On a thrilling journey filled with incredible action, the new recruits of the U.S.S. Enterprise will voyage through unimaginable danger in one of the biggest and most critically acclaimed movies of the year.

Extras:
Scene Access
Audio Commentary
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Outtakes/Bloopers
Closed Captioned


Reboot of original Star Trek crew and well done! I was never a big fan of the original series and yet I was an avid fan of Star Trek : The Next Generation, both the tv series and it's spinoff movies. I was extremely pissed off when they canceled STNG at the height of it's popularity and I could never get into Deep Space 9 or any of the series after that. I don't know... I thought the original series was so incredibly hokey... I may give them another chance.

J.J. Abrams brings the action and SFX in all it's glory in this one but gives it a more contemporary feel with some humor thrown in for good measure. I particularly liked Karl Urban and Bones McCoy. Leonard Nimoy makes a reverent appearance and fit well into the story.  I heard William Shatner was pissed that he was not asked to be involved with this movie. I'm glad! Adding that porker to the movie would have greatly diminished the credibility of the film.

The way this story unfolded it has left the door wide open for any number of sequels. I'm sure they are coming....

KC

Rating:

(From KinkyCyborg's Random Reviews 2010 on August 17th, 2010)

The One Where It All Began: The Pilot Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

What's the show about?
Son Goku is the strongest fighter on Earth and pretty much anywhere. Still there are new enemies on a regular basis that threaten to destroy entire planets and Son Goku and his friends fight to prevent this. At first it's the Saiyans, then the Cyborgs, then Cell and in the end the demon Buu. Son Goku has also the help of the Dragon Balls - when all seven are put together, the eternal dragon Shenron will appear and grant wishes that can even resurrect the dead.

What happened before?
Son Goku has been fighting all his life, even in his childhood. He's competed three times in the Great Tournament and has won the last one. He's also defeated the Red Ribbon Army and the evil Piccolo Daimao.

"The New Threat"
A space capsule has landed on Earth and from it emerges the warrior Raditz and he's looking for his long-lost brother, Kakarrot. Humans have no chance when they stand in his way and even Piccolo fears him when they meet each other. Who is he and who is this "Kakarrot"?

My Opinion
I love the mangas this series is based upon. I've got all 42 volumes on my shelf and I read them from time to time. Back when I was in college we started to watch the original Dragon Ball series on a regular basis whenever possible. It was a group event. When I bought the books it happened that we sat in the back row of a boring lecture and we would read them in a row - five people with ascending volume numbers and when finished the books would shift.
It also happened to be the first manga series in Germany where the original reading order was kept and when you read it on the train people would give you strange looks because you read a book from back to front...
But I always liked the earlier stories better. The volumes 1-16 are represented by the Dragon Ball series and the volumes 17-42 by Dragon Ball Z and the latter one became too repetitive. For example: A normal Human had a power level of 5. Piccolo had 322. When Son Goku fought against Frieza the latter one had a power level of 4 million! After that the power levels were dropped again because it became ridiculous. After all, Son Goku still had to beat the Cyborgs, Cell and Buu.
The earlier stories were more humorous and had more fantasy elements in it. And I definitively prefer the manga over the anime because in the series they dragged out the fights to eternity.



(From The One Where It All Began: The Pilot Marathon on September 24th, 2009)