Category Archives: Might See
A Boy and His Dog (1975) | LQ Jones’ post-apocalyptic sci-fi on Blu-ray
From 101 Films comes the Blu-ray release of director LQ Jones’ 1975 American black comedy sci-fi, A Boy and His Dog, based on Harlan Ellison’s 1969 novella.
Following World War IV, which lasted five days in the year 2024, the earth is ravaged, and survivors struggle to find food, shelter, and companionship. One of them is amoral 18-year-old Vic (Don Johnson), who wanders the post-atomic wasteland with his sardonic, telepathic dog, Blood, who helps find women for Vic to rape in exchange for food.
When they encounter the suspiciously seductive Quilla June (Susanne Benton), Vic is lured into an underground city, Topeka – a bizarre caricature of pre-nuclear war America – ruled over by Quilla June’s father, Lou Craddock (Jason Robards).
As Blood keeps vigil on the surface, Vic soon learns his fate below – to fertilise the city’s female population and be terminated after his 35th impregnation.
Now, if the storyline sounds bizarre – then you are absolutely correct. This oddball sci-fi wasn’t a huge hit on its release but has become some of a cult film since its release in 1975, much like some other dystopian sci-fi’s of the era including Soylent Green, The Omega Man, Silent Running and Logan’s Run – only with the profanities and sexual references dialled up to the max.
However, watching it now in these ‘woke’ times may raise a few red flags – especially over the chauvinistic portrayal of women as objects of abuse and baby machines. But then, that could be what director LQ Jones was trying to address in the sci-fi satire.
The 101 Films Blu-ray release has a super audio commentary which really helps viewers understand the complexity of the film’s production and the filmmakers’ objectives. Actor, director, writer Jones, who left us in July 2022, aged 94, also penned and starred in the equally quirky 1971 TV horror, The Brotherhood of Satan.
SPECIAL FEATURES
• Newly restored High-Definition Transfer
• In Conversation: Harlan Ellison and LQ Jones
• Commentary by LQ Jones, cinematography John Arthur Morrill and actor Charles Champlin
• English subtitles
Check out the original – very weird – trailer
Pulse | ‘It traps you in your house…then pulls the plug’ – the 1980s sci-fi shocker on Blu-ray
Now, what would you do if you discovered a serial killer intelligence was moving from house to house in your neighbourhood via the electrical grid? Well, that’s the premise of this 1988 American sci-fi. And, you what, it’s not a bad little shocker.
Chid star/singer and future reality TV/game show celeb Joey Lawrence plays David, a Colorado kid forced to spend quality time in the Californian burbs with his divorced dad Bill (Cliff De Young) and step-mum (Roxanne Hart). Arriving the day after a neighbour seeming went into murder/suicide mode after wrecking his house, David becomes convinced that something in the wires was the real cause. He’s soon in ‘why don’t you believe me’ territory with his dad, who blames scary-eyed builder Holger (Charles Tyner) for filling his kid’s head with such nonsense. Of course, it takes a couple of bizarre accidents involving David and Ellen before Bill finally realises he must find a way to pull the plug before its too late.
I never caught this on its original release, but it holds up rather well after all these years. Sitting firmly in the kid-in-peril genre, it boasts a winning turn from Joey Lawrence (making his second feature). Excepting those scenes he shares with his real-life kid brother Matthew (whose little Stevie delights in describing the recent murder in gruesome detail), Joey Lawrence dominates the proceedings as the young boy pining for some fatherly affection. And his domestic drama plays out quite nicely alongside the sinister goings-on which starts out with the family’s lawn dying off and ends in a blaze of pyrotechnics as father and son join forces to take the pulse down (along with the family home).
The special effects of the pulse are quite effective, there are some great set pieces and the music is composed by Jay Ferguson (who went on to composed the theme song for the US version of The Office). But my favourite scene is the ending, which I suspect is a subtle dig at suburban American ideals.
Pulse is now out on Blu-ray in the UK from Eureka Entertainment.
SPECIAL FEATURES
• 1080p presentation on Blu-ray
• LPCM 2.0 audio and optional English SDH
• Audio commentary by author and film historian Amanda Reyes
• Tuning in to Tech Horror: video essay by writer and film historian Lee Gambin
• Collector’s booklet featuring a new essay by author Craig Ian Mann
The H-Man & Battle in Outer Space | A double-bill of 1950’s Japanese sci-fi from Ishirō Honda on Blu-ray
On Blu-ray for the first time in the UK comes Ishirō Honda’s 1950s sci-fi extravaganzas The H-Man and Battle in Outer Space, as part of Eureka Entertainment’s The Masters of Cinema Series.
The H-Man (Bijo to Ekitai-ningen, 1958)
Tokyo police are baffled when a drug dealer and then his associate disappear, leaving just their clothes behind. A young scientist Dr Masada (Kenji Sahara) suspects that a radioactive liquid found on board a ghost ship is dissolving people into slimy, sentient blobs of destruction! The police are sceptical at first, but when one of their own is liquified by the H-Men, they soon realise the entire city could be wiped out.
Fusing gangster noir and body melting horror, The H-Man (or Bijo to Ekitai-ningen – which translates as Beauty and the Liquid People) is Japan’s answer to The Blob. It’s a colourful camp riot from beginning to end, with most of the action taking place in a kitsch nightclub – where the missing dealer’s girlfriend (Yuma Shirakawa) performs – before a fiery showdown in the sewers of Tokyo. Hugely entertaining, I’ll be revisiting this one very soon.
Battle in Outer Space (Uchū Daisensō, 1959)
A series of catastrophes sweep the globe, causing the world’s scientists to conclude that Earth is under attack by extraterrestrials, and every nation must now unite to defend itself in a battle in outer space!
Special effects wizard Eiji Tsuburaya and director Honda play out every youngster’s fantasy with this glorious love-letter to all things sci-fi. The designs of the spaceships, ray-runs, lunar surfaces are gorgeously retro; and the action scenes are bona fide Boy’s Own Adventure stuff. Makes for perfect viewing on a cold and rainy afternoon. Let the battle begin.
BLU-RAY SPECIAL FEATURES:
- Includes both original Japanese and international English dubbed versions of each film on Blu-ray
- Original mono audio presentations
- English subtitles (for Japanese versions) and English SDH (for English versions)
- Stills galleries
- Booklet featuring some excellent essays by Christopher Stewardson and Japanese cinema expert Jasper Sharp
Project X (1968) | William Castle’s cartoony espionage sci-fi heads to Blu-ray
It’s the year 2118, and the world is divided between the West (well the US of A) and Sino-Asia. While on a mission into enemy territory to make contact with fellow operative Gregory Gallea (Monte Markham), American spy Hagen Arnold (Christopher George) discovers that the West will be destroyed in 14 days.
Hagen successfully escapes his captor, Sen Chiu (Keye Luke), but has a complete loss of memory following a plane crash. With the countdown on, a team of scientists headed by Dr Crowther (Henry Jones) and Dr Verity (Lee Delano), use a holographic memory reading device and an elaborate historical re-enactment to try and retrieve vital information from Hagen’s mind. But can they uncover the truth before its too late?
Project X is an intriguing piece of late-1960s espionage-sci-fi from producer-director William Castle, and one of the last films from the great showman who gave us the classic gimmick chillers, House on Haunted Hill and The Tingler. Unfortunately, Castle just doesn’t chime with the times here – though he does give it his best shot.
The splendidly gaudy Technicolor photography (by Harold Stine who went on to lens The Poseidon Adventure), production design (by Hal Perriraa nd Walter H Tyler, who won Oscars for The Rose Tattoo and Samson and Delilah), costumes and sets all look like they came out of an Irwin Allen TV sci-fi (think The Time Tunnel meets Lost in Space); and the story itself (as intricate and twisty as it is) feels like a feature-length Outer Limits episode. Even the cast and production crew are all drawn from TV land.
The film’s big star is Christopher George (who I grew up watching as TV’s The Immortal, then in Grizzly and Day of the Animals, and then in some Italian exploitation movies before his early death aged 52 in 1983), but Henry Jones steals every scene. For me, he will always be Dr Smith’s nefarious long-lost cousin Jeremiah in Lost in Space, but he’s a right little rascal here.
He’s not the only TV character actor to crop up in this mixed-bag, there’s also Harold Gould and Lee Delano (who were constant fixtures on prime-time TV shows in the 1970s and 1980s), and the legendary Keye Luke – but who the hell is Greta Baldwin, who plays Hagen’s love-interest? She only has three credits to her name and she’s rather bland here, plus the romantic story side-plot rather detracts from the ‘action’.
Then there’s the animated sequences created by Hanna-Barbera. They look fantastic, but they jar somewhat against the live action sequences (which includes a sequence lifted from a Jonny Quest episode). If Castle had done the whole thing as a cartoon (and a spoof), maybe it could have worked better (and become the Archer or The Venture Bros. of its day). But the end result is more Cyborg 2087 than Planet of the Apes, which came out one month before Project X.
While promoted as a sci-fi, it’s actually an old-fashioned espionage adventure dressed as sci-fi (with some social commentary shoehorned in). Van Cleave’s music score is also more spy film than sci-fi – but I loved it, especially the opening title theme and the ‘organ’.
Project X is out now on Blu-ray from 101 Films and includes two extras: an audio commentary with The Dark Side editor Allan Bryce and film writer David Flint, and Money Back Guarantee: William Castle’s Ingenious Gimmicks, which also features Allan, David and BFI archivist Vic Pratt.
Now, I actually enjoyed the film more by listening to the audio commentary, in which Allan and David discuss the film’s cast, crew and production, but also pay homage to Castle’s final directorial effort, the poetic tragic comedy horror Shanks (starring mime legend Marcel Marceau) and his last production, the superior eco-horror Bug (now these are two Castle films that so deserve a proper restoration release). Allan, of course, gets to mention his favourite film (can you guess what it is?) and David has a great story about getting drunk while watching House on Haunted Hill (with Emergo – which I believe is pronounced – ’emerge-o’ BTW).
The Witch | The last 30-minutes of this South Korean sci-fi blockbuster is a blood-drenched assault on the senses
10 years ago, Koo Ja-yoon (Kim Da-mi) escaped from a medical facility during an incident and her memory. Now an unusually bright high school student, the farmer’s daughter enters a TV talent show which makes her a target to those who want her back. But she responds with a terrifying transformation from innocent girl into cold-blooded super killer!
Like Stranger Things, Orphan Black and its like, this South Korean sci-fi (aka Manyeo) deals with an amnesiac with latent genetically-engineered/mutant powers. Yep, we’ve seen it all before, and this one – from writer/director Park Hoon-jung – is a bit of a mixed bag. It starts off pretty slow, with some family domestics, but then comes the jaw-dropping finale – a blood-drenched assault on your senses that’s best experienced on the biggest screen possible and with a really good sound system (just to hear those bones cracking).
Kim Da-mi shines in the title role, but my favourite was Jo Min-soo as Ja-yoon’s ‘creator/mother’, Dr Baek. Channelling Joan Crawford’s mothering skills, her Dr Frankenstein-like brain surgeon is one crazy bitch indeed! One mystery I’d like solved, however, is why her superhuman children are referred to as ‘witches’. There’s no obvious explanation. Or did I miss it?
The Witch did soaring business in its native South Korea, while its full title (Part 1 – The Subversion) hints at more adventures to come. I’d be up for that – if only to get an answer to my question!
The Witch is out now on Digital HD from Signature Entertainment
Terra Formars (2016) | Takashi Miike’s mutant killer cockroach sci-fi adventure
The ever-prolific Japanese film-maker Takashi Miike (Audition, Blade of the Immortal) returns with this intergalactic epic in which a team of space explorers find themselves pitched against a horde of oversized anthropomorphic cockroaches.
In the mid-21st century, humankind has been forced to look to colonising other planets as a means of combating overcrowding on Earth – their first stop, Mars. With a population of cockroaches having been introduced on Mars some 500 years prior to help prepare the way for human colonization, a manned mission sets out to the red planet with the aim of clearing away the bugs. Upon arrival, however, they discover that the roaches have evolved to huge, vicious creatures capable of wielding weapons…
Based on the popular Manga series of the same name, Terra Formars is an action-packed space adventure brought to life by one of Japan’s most celebrated contemporary filmmakers.
The Arrow Video Blu-ray release is out now with the following special features…
• High-Definition Blu-ray (1080p) presentation
• Original uncompressed Stereo and 5.1 DTS-HD MA options
• Newly-translated English subtitles
• The Making of Terra Formars: feature-length documentary
• Extended cast interviews
• Footage from the 2016 Japanese premiere
• Outtakes
• Image Gallery
• Theatrical and teaser trailers
• Reversible sleeve featuring two artwork options
• Illustrated collector’s booklet (first pressing only)
Iwrin Allen’s 1960s sci-fi show The Time Tunnel on HD Blu-ray in the UK
From the golden age of TV sci-fi comes Irwin Allen’s The Time Tunnel, starring James Darren and Robert Colbert in sparkling HD
‘Two American scientists are lost in the swirling maze of past and future ages, during the first experiments on America’s greatest and most secret project, the Time Tunnel. Tony Newman and Doug Phillips now tumble helplessly toward a new fantastic adventure, somewhere along the infinite corridors of time…’
The control of time is potentially the most valuable treasure that man will ever find. Or so believe the scientists of Project Tic-Toc. Located deep beneath the Arizona desert, the 10-year project’s focus is the feasibility of time travel.
But when the government reconsiders the project, the scientists, led by Lt General Heywood Kirk (Whit Bissell), have only 24 hours to prove their untested Time Tunnel will actually work. Determined to save the project, Dr Tony Newman (James Darren) and Dr Doug Phillips (Robert Colbert) go through the tunnel – and quickly find themselves catapulted from one historical event to another (from the sinking of the Titantic to the attack on Pearl Habor), barely escaping with their lives as their colleagues race to figure out a way to bring them back home in one piece…
The BBC only showed 13 episodes of Irwin Allen’s third sci-fi series in 1968 as broadcasts were stopped to make way of the Olympics (held between 12-27 October 1968), and the show never returned to the BBC. Some ITV regions picked up the series in subsequent years, but other areas only got to see the full series when it was broadcast in the early 1990’s on ITV.
This new release, which features all 30 episodes presented in the original broadcast order, is produced from HD digital restoration masters created from the original negatives to ensure the best visual experience available. The seven-disc collector’s Blu-ray edition comes packed with special features and a brand new 5.1 surround sound mix, alongside the original mono audio.
SPECIAL FEATURES
• Original Unaired Pilot Episode (HD Version)
• 2002 Unaired TV Pilot
• Time Travelers TV Movie
• Cast Interviews
• Irwin Allen’s Behind-The-Scenes Home Movies – UK Edit (No Audio)
• Promotional TV & Radio Spots
• Visual Effects
• Camera Test (No Audio)
• Stills Galleries
• New 5.1 surround sound mix and original mono audio
Koch Media/Revelation Films presents The Time Tunnel on seven-disc Blu-ray from 5 November
ORDER HERE: https://amzn.to/2vv8CoV
Night of the Creeps (1986) | The cult sci-fi zom-com gets a dual format release
From Eureka Entertainment comes director Fred Dekker’s jokey 1980s sci-fi comedy Night of the Creeps, in a Dual Format (Blu-ray & DVD) edition as part of the Eureka Classics range.
When an alien experiment goes awry, it crashes to Earth in 1959 and infects a college student. 27 years later, his freeze-dried body is unwittingly revived by nerds Chris (Jason Lively) and JC (Steve Marshall), which releases alien slugs that turn their fellow campus students into brain-hungry zombies. Chris, CJ and Chris’ new girlfriend Cynthia (Jill Whitlow) must then team up with a troubled detective (Tom Atkins) to find a way to defeat the zombie horde…
Presented for the first time on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK, this deluxe edition of Night of the Creeps features the original director’s cut and the following special features…
DUAL FORMAT SPECIAL FEATURES
• High-definition remaster of the director’s cut
• Original stereo soundtrack and 5.1 surround audio options, presented in PCM and DTS-HD MA respectively on the Blu-ray
• Audio commentary by writer/director Fred Dekker
• Audio commentary by actors Jason Lively, Tom Atkins, Steve Marshall and Jill Whitlow
• Thrill Me: Making Night of the Creeps: an hour-long series of video pieces on the making of the film featuring new interviews with cast and crew
• Tom Atkins: Man of Action featurette
• Video Interview with Fred Dekker
• Deleted Scenes
• Original theatrical ending (which I rather prefer)
• Trivia track subtitles
• Theatrical trailer
• Limited-edition booklet featuring a new essay by critic Craig Ian Mann
• Limited Edition O-Card slipcase
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979-1981) | The Technicolor comic-strip adventure blasts off in HD
The year is 1987, and NASA launches the last of America’s deep space probes.
In a freak mishap, Ranger 3 and its pilot, Captain William Buck Rogers,
are blown out of their trajectory into an orbit which freezes his life-support systems,
and returns Buck Rogers to Earth, 500 years later…
Following the success of Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica, US TV producer Glen A Larson turned his attention to the iconic American comic-strip character Buck Rogers, which he developed into a big-budget TV series for Universal.
Actor Gil Gerard was handpicked by Larson to play Buck (now an astronaut instead of a World War One dirigible pilot), but Gerard only accepted the role after changes were made to make the character more human than hero, but with a witty sense of humour (which Gerard often improvised).
Assisting the hairy-chested Bond-esque hero in his ‘Dynasty meets The Love Boat in space’ adventures were Colonel Wilma Deering (Erin Gary), her boss Dr Elias Huer (Tim O’Connor), friendly robot Twiki (played by Felix Silla and voiced by the legendary Mel Blanc), and sentient computer, Dr Theopolis (voiced by Eric Server).
The show ran for two seasons from 1979-1981, earning itself a legion of fans and even caused the ratings for Doctor Who in the UK to plummet.
The first season saw Buck assisting Earth’s Defence Directorate with a range of external threats, which saw a host of guest stars (including a few from the 1960s Batman series) playing either that week’s villain or someone in need of Buck’s help (see them all below).
The second season found Buck, Wilma and Twiki joining an intergalactic mission to seek out the lost ‘tribes’ of humanity. Set aboard The Destroyer, they were joined by Admiral Efram Asimov (Jay Garner), scientist Dr Goodfellow (Wilfrid Hyde-White), alien Hawk (Thom Christopher) and prissy robot Crichton (voiced by Jeff David).
Following a stunning HD ‘Twiki’, the Technicolor disco-era sci-fi adventure is back and it looks and sounds better than ever. Boasting impressive sets and special effects (the spaceships, matt paintings and stargates all echoing the show’s comic book origins), and lots of big-hair, slinky outfits and sparkling lipgloss, as well as a great theme tune, this is one cult TV series that deserves a revisit. Let the adventures begin anew…
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century is available on Blu-ray in the UK from Fabulous Films
DISC-BY-DISC EPISODE GUIDE
DISC 1
• Awakening: Awoken in the year 2491, Buck goes on trial, accused by being in league with Draconian Princess Ardala (Pamela Hensley) and her henchman Kane (Henry Silva). The feature-length opener was helmed by Daniel Haller, the former art director of the Corman-Price-Poe films.
• Planet of the Slave Girls: Jack Palance chews the scenery as a Messianic slave trader plotting to invade the Earth. This feature-length episode also has Buster Crabbe (aka the original Buck Rogers from the 1930s serials) making a cameo, as well as Roddy (Batman‘s Bookworm) McDowall and McDonald Carey (These Are The Damned).
• Buck Rogers in the 25th Century: Theatrical version of the pilot episode in Standard Definition.
DISC 2
• Vegas in Space: A notorious smuggler (Cesar Romero, aka Batman‘s The Joker) seeks help in rescuing his ‘daughter’ from a crime boss (Richard Lynch).
• The Plot to Kill a City: Frank Gorshin (Batman‘s The Riddler) guests as the leader of a group of terrorists with unique abilities trying to sabotage New Chicago’s anti-matter power plant. Watch out for Anthony James (aka The Chauffeur in Burnt Offerings) as the deformed Varek.
• The Return of the Fighting 69th: A gang of oldies (led by Peter Graves) set out to stop the vengeful Corliss (Robert Quarry) from releasing a nerve gas.
• Unchained Woman: Buck springs a female inmate (Jamie Lee Curtis) from a penal colony, only to encounter a malfunctioning android prison guard.
DISC 3
• Planet of the Amazon Women: Jay Robinson (aka Dr Shrinker) guests a slave trader who auctions male prisoners off to the female population of the planet Xantia.
• Cosmic Wiz Kid: Gary ‘What’chu talkin’ ’bout, Willis?’ Coleman plays Hieronymous Fox, a child super-genius who gets kidnapped by Ray ‘Uncle Martin’ Walston.
• Escape from Wedded Bliss: Princess Ardala (Pamela Hensley) and her cronies, Tigerman (HB Haggerty) and Kane (now played by Michael Ansara) return with an alien weapon.
• Cruise Ship to the Stars: A beauty queen (Playboy Playmate Dorothy Stratten) is targeted by a transmute (Kimberly Beck and Trisha Boble) who is plotting to sell her genetics on the black market. Watch out for Return of the Fly‘s Brett Halsey as the Cruise Ship Captain. Tragically, Stratten was murdered eight months after this episode aired.
• Space Vampire: Buck and Wilma encounter a freighter crew infected by a mysterious virus. This week’s guest stars included Christopher Stone (aka Jaime Somers’ love interest in The Bionic Woman).
DISC 4
• Happy Birthday, Buck: Dr Huer finds an assassin is out to get him, while Buck turns bodyguard for a psychic (Dallas‘ Morgan Brittany). Blackploitation star Tamara ‘Cleopatra’ Dobson also guest stars.
• A Blast for Buck: Theo tries to solve a riddle in this clip show, which sees Gary Coleman back as Hieronymous Fox.
• Ardala Returns: The pesky princess and Kane create a clone of Buck.
• Twiki is Missing: John P Ryan (It’s Alive, Class of 1999) guests as a mining operator who sends out his psychic enforcers (including Dr Strange‘s Eddie Benton) to steal Twiki.
• Olympiad: US soap star Judith Chapman seeks Buck’s help to help her boyfriend defect from his repressive home world. This patriotic episode also guest starred Robinson Crusoe on Mars’ Paul Mantee.
DISC 5
• A Dream of Jennifer: A host of familiar names crop in this episode in which Buck is lured into a trap set by the warring Kovens, including Mary Woronov, Paul Koslo, Anne Lockhart and even Dennis Haysbert (who would go onto play an assortment of roles on the show).
• Space Rockers: Mind-altering music frequencies from popular band Andromeda are used to cause the galaxy’s youth to riot. Broadway star Jerry Orbach is the guest villain, and the funky song causing all the chaos was composed by Johnny Harris.
• Buck’s Duel to the Death: A ruthless warlord with a cybernetic implant (exploitation actor William Smith) challenges Buck.
• Flight of the War Witch: Princess Ardala is forced to help Buck go to the aid of the Pendarans, who are being ruled by an enemy race, the Zaads. Batman’s Julie Newmar is the War Witch, while other guest stars include Sam Jaffe, Vera Miles and Sid Haig. Available in two parts and as a feature-length episode.
DISC 6
• Time of the Hawk: Season Two sees Buck, Wilma and Twiki join the crew of The Searcher and provides a great introduction for new character, Hawk: a part-human/part-bird alien with links to Easter Island.
• Journey to the Oasis: This two-parter sees Star Trek‘s Mark Lenard guest starring as Wilma’s former love interest and an ambassador that The Searcher escorts to a peace conference.
• The Guardians: Buck must fulfill his promise to a dying man in taking a cursed box to its new keeper (Harry Townes). The Outer Limits‘ Control Voice Vic Perrin plays the original Guardian, Star Trek‘s BarBara Luna is Koori and Buck’s mum is The Partridge Family‘s Rosemary DeCamp.
DISC 7
• Mark of the Saurian: Reptilian beings in human form give Buck nightmares. The Leech Woman‘s Kim Hamilton and Coffy‘s Barry Cahill guest star.
• The Golden Man: An alien with molecular-altering powers is sought out in a bid to save the Searcher from being destroyed. Dukes of Hazzard‘s Bruce M Fischer, voice actor Roger Rose and Anthony James guest star.
• The Crystals: Amanda Wyss (A Nightmare on Elm Street) plays a young girl on the planet Philoctetes is discovered to have a genetic link with a marauding mummy.
• The Satyr: Buck starts turning into a mythological creature while searching for lost colonists on the planet Arcadis. This episode scored the show’s only Emmy (for Outstanding Achievement in Music Composition) and was directed by Victor French (from Little House on the Prairie fame).
• Shgoratchx! Seven dwarves with telekinetic powers cause trouble and strife for the Searcher crew. Terror of Tiny Town‘s Billy Curtis and future Ewok Tony Cox guest star.
DISC 8
• The Hand of Goral: Buck, Hawk and Wilma find themselves on board a duplicate of the Searcher.
• Testimony of a Traitor: William Sylvester (Devil Doll, 2001: A Space Odyssey) guests as Buck goes on trial for high treason.
• The Dorian Secret: A Dorian warship threatens to destroy the Searcher unless a woman hiding a deadly secret be handed over to them. This was the final episode of the series.
• Journey to Oasis: This is the two-part syndicated version of another Daniel Haller-directed episode.
Slaughterhouse-Five (1972) | Kurt Vonnegut Jr’s haunting anti-war satire – now on Blu-ray
Meet Billy Pilgrim (Michael Sacks) – who may or may not have come unstuck in time. During the Second World War, the young soldier is captured and sent to a German POW camp. On route, he witnesses the bombing of Dresden, an event that unhinges his fixity in time and causes him to live his life simultaneously as a POW, an optician in 1970’s America, and as the elderly abducted resident of a zoo on the planet Tralfamadore, where his captors provide him with a mate in the form of a porn star.
This thought-provoking anti-war, sci-fi from directed George Roy Hill (best known for Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting) is based on American author Kurt Vonnegut Jr’s most influential and popular work, the 1969 satirical semi-autobiographical novel, Slaughterhouse-Five, which drew on the author’s own experiences as a prisoner of war when he was captured at the Battle of the Bulge in 1944.
Thought to be impossible to film given its intertwining storylines and timelines, it went on to win the Prix du Jury at Cannes, as well as the praise of Vonnegut who remarked: ‘I drool and cackle every time I watch that film, because it is so harmonious with what I felt when I wrote the book’.
The Bach compositions used in the movie were supplied by celebrated classical pianist Glenn Gould, while the film’s star Michael Sacks later retired from the entertainment industry in the mid-1980s to become a technology industry executive for Morgan Stanley. Amongst the cast is Ron Leibman (TV’s Archer), Valerine Perrine (Lenny) and Perry King (Class of 1984).
Slaughterhouse-Five is out on DVD from Fabulous Films and on Blu-ray from 26 June
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