DVD Collectors Online

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, a review by Tom

Title: Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
Year: 1991
Director: Nicholas Meyer
Rating: FSK-12
Length: 109 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 2.00
Audio: German: Dolby Digital 5.1, English: Dolby Digital 5.1, Commentary: Dolby Digital Surround
Subtitles: Arabic, Bulgarian, Commentary, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, German, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Swedish, Turkish

Stars:
William Shatner
Leonard Nimoy
DeForest Kelley
James Doohan
Walter Koenig

Extras:
Commentary
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Photo Gallery
Scene Access
Trailers

A great farewell movie for the original crew. Maybe a little to much prejudice involved for supposedly open-minded Starfleet officers.

I always liked the passing of the torch to the Next Generation crew with Kirk's final log entry:
"This is the final cruise of the Starship Enterprise under my command. This ship and her history will shortly become the care of another crew. To them and their posterity will we commit our future. They will continue the voyages we have begun, and journey to all the undiscovered countries, boldly going where no man... where no one has gone before."

Expecially the "where no man... where no one..." part as this reflects the opening narrations of the respective series.

Rating:

(From Tom's Star Trek Movies Marathon on February 3rd, 2009)

Toy Story, a review by Critter

Toy Story



Year: 1995

Director(s): John Lasseter

Run Time: 80 min

Plot: A cowboy toy is profoundly threatened and jealous when a fancy spaceman toy supplants him as top toy in a boy's room.

Cast: DVD Extras:My Thoughts
Toy StoryToy Story still holds its own visually.

Of course I could go on forever about how beautiful it looks, but in the end a great film comes down to a great story, and storytelling is what Pixar do best. Toy StoryMy Rating

 


(From Critter's Animated Film/Anime Marathon on June 29th, 2010)

Farscape Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Synopsis: The crew (or a few of them) consider to abandon the ship since Moya can't conduct a proper Starburst at the end of her pregnancy and they are basically sitting ducks. Moya wants to prove to them that she can starburst if necessary and attempts to do so. But something goes wrong and the ship gets stuck between dimensions. And not only that the ship also seems to exist in several dimensions at the same time and the crew is scattered on these different versions. They have to find a way out of there or the ship will ultimately be destroyed.

My Opinion: It was an OK episode, but nothing special about it. For John it was a real-life jump'n'run. For the actor's sake I hope they didn't have to shoot too many scenes to often.

Synopsis: A Peacekeeper Marauder is closing in and John decides to try a different tactic. He's posing as Peacekeeper Captain while Aeryn takes her old role as Lieutenant. The others (with the exception of Chiana) have to return to their cells. But the Marauder isn't looking for them. They have a task of their own and they need to bring something to a secret Peacekeeper Gammak base in the uncharted territories. But that "something" escapes and it turns out to be a virus that can possess people and it plans on reproducing.

My Opinion: I love it when they blame John when his plan didn't work (again). As if one of their plans had ever worked the way it was supposed to. And while this was yet another just OK episode I once again found it interesting how far you can get if you wear the right rank insignia and have the right attitude/aura.


Synopsis: During their engagement with the Peacekeeper Marauder Aeryn was hurt and needs a compatible donor or she will die. But where does one find a Peacekeeper in the uncharted territories? There's only one way: John re-assumes his role as Peacekeeper and flies to the Gammak base. Even though he has help in the form of Gilina - the PK tech girl - he gets caught by Scorpius. And Scorpius wants to know how he got onto that base and why he's here.

My Opinion: Now that's another type of episode. It has seen the introduction of both Scorpius and Stark (a prisoner on the base), both characters who will become recurring guest stars on the show. And we learn that John is not the only one looking for wormhole technology. And we learn that the race that produced the fake Earth put the wormhole knowledge into John's brain. And Crais is on the Gammak base, too!
What I also liked was this small piece of continuity. That Aeryn was stabbed in the previous episode could have easily been forgotten (or the wound could be healed by now), but they didn't. They took that tiny piece of story and continued there with a follow-up story that in itself is much bigger.

Synopsis: John is still fighting against the Aurora Chair (a machine that can extract memories) because he doesn't want to betray Gilina. But Scorpius simply assumes that he's hiding more knowledge about wormhole technology and he digs deeper and deeper into John's memories. Meanwhile Chiana has returned with the cure for Aeryn. Now D'Argo, Zhaan and the not fully healed Aeryn (the only one who can pose as Peacekeeper) try to free John while Rygel and Chiana have to help Moya - she's gone into labour.

My Opinion: Moya's offspring is very beautiful - and very dangerous. It's a Leviathan/Peacekeeper hybrid gunship and as such heavily armed. This ship will have a very interesting life.
I also liked how Gilina manipulated the chair so that it shows her kiss with John in a different context. But that "context" guarantees that Crais has to sit on the chair himself. Too bad that - in the end - she had to pay the price of being in love with the main - she died in his arms.
If I had to classify this (and the previous) episode I'd say it's a second pilot episode. The previous episodes have introduced us to the universe and its rules and now the main arc begins: The hunt for wormhole technology also known as John versus Peacekeepers versus Scarrans versus John.

(From Farscape Marathon on March 28th, 2009)