Keaton's Batman: it's Gothic Best

 With streaming a dear do and nearly everything I want to watch on NOW, which we don't have or needing to be rented on Prime or Netflix, despite paying for them already, I've bought my first DVDs in years.

Second hand in a charity shop, £2 for a boxed set of the initial four Batman films 1989 to 1997. Basically, Keaton to Clooney.

Having watched the Bale era trilogy, Nolans Dark Knight saga, last month, I've gone back to the beginning,nowhere the bat first flew again on the big screen.

Tim Burton's late-1980's Batman was an important moment for me, a knight of passage. I was 28, a young Dad, in very reflective mood and all the childhood nostalgia I held was welling up inside me and seeking some outlet.

Batman provided it.

This one film gave a name to my new obsession: 

toys!

The shops were full of Keaton's gadgets and gizmos. The plastic batarang, the grapple hook, the batmobile. It was the Sixtie's Adam West all over again, only better!

I wuz amazed and slowly began to remember all the toys I'd had as a kid. It was a revelation and the springboard to a lifetime of collecting, selling, reading about and ultimately blogging madly over ..., toys!

I re-watched Batman last night. 

Me, Michael, Jack and Kim.

It's simply divine film-making, Burton's gothic milestone, which will never be beaten. 

So, as the leaves fly as the Batcar zooms by, next up is .... Returns!

Did you like the 1989 Batman movie?

DVD Boxed Sets - Does Anyone Still Collect Them?

Here is a gentleman with an extensive collection of DVD boxed sets. 

The Dark Shadows set comes in a large, coffin-shaped box, with the contents making up a large picture of Barnabas Collins. Even better is a plastic model of the Mystery Machine van, with Shaggy and Scooby Doo in the cab. The back opens up, revealing the discs.

MY BOX SET DVD COLLECTION - YouTube

Here are his TV show sets and part-sets.

TV SHOW SERIES COLLECTION | HUGE COLLECTION - YouTube

A very impressive collection.

Do you still have any?

Paul Adams from New Zealand

BIRTHDAY DOSSIER: PAUL A'S REVIEW OF THE HONEY WEST DVD COMPLETE SERIES

Hi Woodsy

Here is my review of the Honey West DVD set. I do recall seeing this set in a shop several years ago, but I did not buy it at the time, as I did not know very much about the series, and how great it is. If you want to have a look at the series before buying the DVD, it is available to view for free on You Tube. Anyone who liked The Avengers, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and Mission: Impossible should enjoy this series.

To recap, the Honey West TV series of 1965-66 was based on a series of books that had made their debut in 1957, beginning with This Girl For Hire. On television the character was introduced in an episode of the series Burke's Law in 1965. This was followed by a full series with Anne Francis as Honey, and John Ericson as her sidekick Sam Bolt. There were numerous changes from the books. It comprised 30 black and white episodes, all running 25 minutes. It is a really cracking action-adventure series about a female private eye and martial arts expert, who could have held her own with Emma Peel. Anne Francis would later play the re-named Honey Best on an episode of the revived Burke's Law in 1994.

There are several different DVD sets available, some of which include the original Burke's Law episode as an extra - alas, this is not included in my set, which is by VCI Entertainment. The copyright date on the discs is 2008, but the cover says 2009. Here, you get all 30 episodes, on four discs (each with a different picture of the cast), with a fairly limited range of extras. Discs 1 and 2 each include a small photo gallery of mainly black and white photographs. All have a selection of vintage TV commercials for a variety of products, only some of the ads on Discs 3 and 4 have any connection to the show. Total running time 900 minutes, which is 15 hours.

The blurb on the back cover gives a potted history of the show, but does not even mention the original books. This states that 'Honey West was the first dramatic TV show with a female star in an action-adventure role'. A highly dubious claim - there was certainly Sheena: Queen of the Jungle, with Irish McCalla, as far back as 1955. Possibly others as well. 

Given my love of the show, which did not screen in NZ in the 1960s and which I have only just discovered, I really enjoyed the episodes. It is fun, there is plenty of action, with comedy, and great fights - Honey is a dangerous lady. Car lovers will also enjoy it. 

Honey usually drives an AC Shelby Cobra, basically a small British sports car with an American V8 engine, although she has a Jaguar XKE (E Type) in one episode. For undercover and surveillance work there is a Ford Econoline van. In each episode there are many familiar faces from 1960s TV. The best known today would be Richard Kiel (Jaws in the Bond films) in King of the Mountain.

The DVD set is available in Britain, where it has a BBFC PG rating, which actually surprised me, given the level of violence in the show, and the way the BBFC usually hits violence with at least a fully restricted 12 rating. I got my copy from Amazon US, as Amazon UK no longer ships to NZ.

Paul Adams

New Zealand

THE FUTURE WAS FANTASTIC DVD?

I've often wondered what this old 1990's film was like, the Future Was Fantastic. Do any of you have it in any format? What do you think?

I've read how it was lost for a decade both here in this description and on the Space 1999 Catacombs site http://catacombs.space1999.net/main/merc/vmfanvid.html

Did the producers plan to bring it out on VHS or DVD or was it a TV documentary? What do you reckon?

Here's an Ebay sales description I saw ages ago online:

"The Future was Fantastic" Vol 1 is a 1 hour 50 min documentary featuring the people, places and props featured in the various TV series created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson [Thunderbirds, UFO, SPACE 1999 etc)

Never being previously seen, it was made across a period of 5 years between 1999 and 2004, but the original master edit went missing for a further 9 years, and has only recently been unearthed, and recompiled!

Now remastered to DVD, I am releasing a very limited number to fans as I am down to my last few copies now (Disk is plain region free Pal).

The show features appearances by Mike Billington, Brian Johnson, Bob Bell, Mike Trim, and many other special surprise guests!

We get a potted history of the studios at Slough, Bray and Pinewood where most of the series were filmed.

We see the history behind the Doppelganger cars, and their transformation into the UFO cars. We see where the VFX were shot and how the designs came about. We see how the puppets developed and learn how the puppet directors were able to turn their talents to live action.

If you are a fan of any Anderson series, this DVD gives a unique insight into how these shows came about, with an emphasis on the look and design aspects of the productions. Featuring rare footage and stills, some of which you have never seen before. Narrated by Ed Bishop, in one of his last voice over jobs he ever did"

the death of the dvd?

My LOVEFILM subscription has been put on notice. I have been a subscriber for years and watched many fantastic films.

For those who don't know LOVEFILM is a postal DVD rental service, whereby subscribers can rent movies and get them delivered by the postman. Once done you simply send them back.

LOVEFILM will close on October 31st.

Amazon acquired LOVEFILM some years ago.

The reasons cited for closure are a a decline in subscriptions and a drop in the number of requests for DVDs by post.

People are simply not renting DVDs anymore and stream their movies direct these days.

Is this the beginning of the end for the DVD?

THE LOST WORLDS OF GERRY ANDERSON DVD COVER

Here's the cool cover of Network/ Anderson DVD on Amazon UK, The Lost Worlds of Gerry Anderson. Scoop posted his thoughts on this the other day. It includes The Day After Tomorrow and Space Police. Looks like the red Investigator vehicle on the front cover too. 

Thundervids

One area of Andersonising that I have never really got into is collecting the various DVD formats of the Anderson TV series and films. This is odd as I'm an avid VHS video collector but for some reason I've never made the leap to an interest in DVD, As a consequence DVD improvements such as HD and Blu-Ray have so far passed me by as well.

 

 

However, I'm aware from my VHS collection that the picture and audio quality, duration, country of release etc can matter a great deal and whole collections can be built around acquiring the various different versions. With advances in DVD technology this is probably even more important for DVD collectors particularly when box sets are produced in different countries like the recent 7 - disc Blu Ray package from Japan.



This got me thinking as to what is currentkly available for Thunderbirds Are Go. I've got lots of Thunderbirds VHS including the movie but is there a DVD package with lots of doumentaries and extras? The only UK version I could, on Amazon, below, find looks rather lacklustre in terms of extras

 

Is there a really good DVD version of Thunderbirds Are Go with tons of extras about Zero X thrown in?