Category: TV (Page 340 of 595)

Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers: The Collection, Vol. 1

June 6, 2008 /

Color me impressed. By the time the animated sci-fi Western, “Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers” made its debut in America’s syndicated markets in 1986, yours truly was a senior in high school who only allowed himself one specific cartoon vice: shows based on Marvel and DC properties. As such, this series totally and utterly passed me by during its initial run, and it stayed off my radar for the subsequent 22 years. Now that Koch Vision has taken it upon themselves to begin a DVD reissue of the show, I’ve been given the opportunity to investigate that which I missed the first time around, and…wow. With a Japanimation style immediately reminiscent of other classic ’80s series like “Battle of the Planets” and “Star Blazers” (to use my own personal frames of reference), “Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers” features the late, great Jerry Orbach as the voice of Zachary Foxx, captain of the so-called “series 5 Rangers,” leading a team on behalf of the Bureau for Extra-Terrestrial Affairs as they defend humanity’s new space outposts from the less savory aliens of the galaxy. This is not one of those cheap, “design the toy first, figure out the cartoon later” shows; it’s a full-fledged sci-fi epic, with gorgeous designs and intricate story arcs, presented here in the order that they were intended. In other words, it’s not designed for stupid kids (although, granted, there’s some silly stuff), but it will prove fascinating to those who enjoy both quality sci-fi and quality animation. There are a bunch of special features, including the original pilot / demo reel, interviews and commentary with creator Robert Mandell, and more. The best part, though? This is only Volume 1. (Vol. 2 is due out in August.)

Click to buy “Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers: The Collection, Vol. 1”

External TV, Reviews, TV, TV Anime, TV DVD Quicktakes, TV DVDs, TV Sci-Fi

MonsterQuest – The Complete Season One

June 5, 2008 /

As a kid, two types of monsters fascinated me: the fictitious creatures in black & white Universal horror movies, and the “other” ones such as Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster, who were possibly not so fictitious. It was great reading about all those eyewitness accounts and staring at those blurry one-of-a-kind photos. These days, Bigfoot and Nessie have all but been exhausted as far as research subjects go, and it seems they were nothing more than myth. (Well, that or they’re dead and rotting). Enter “MonsterQuest,” a 13 episode documentary series from the History Channel for the true believer, packing a slew of all-new urban legends such as Russia’s Killer Apemen, The Real Hobbit, and Gigantic Killer Fish. The problem is that we live in an age where even the most insignificant events, never mind the image of a mythical creature, seem to be snapped by someone’s camera; when something happens, somebody is there to get a picture of it. When listening to a teenager swear she and her friends saw three Bigfoot-type creatures in the woods, I wonder why nobody whipped out a cell phone. Given the technology at everyone’s fingertips these days, if these creatures existed, they’d be found, and that’s a depressing statement from someone who was genuinely jazzed by this sort of fare as a kid. In all fairness, the Giant Squid episode delivers the goods; you may even recall it hitting the news some time ago. Other than that instance, “MonsterQuest” is light on evidence, but to be fair, it’s as well put together as most anything from the History Channel. If you’re just interested in the lore, it’s worth your time, and it would no doubt stimulate the mind of the 10-year old in your life who really wants to believe. If this doesn’t work some magic, there’s always “The Water Horse.”

Click to buy “MonsterQuest”

Reviews, TV, TV DVD Quicktakes, TV DVDs, TV Sci-Fi

Hell’s Kitchen: Safe, Literally

June 4, 2008 /

Last night’s “Hell’s Kitchen” featured an elimination that made the five who were “safe” actually feel safe. They began by blindfolding the remaining six chefs and taking them to the roof of the building where Gordon Ramsay’s new restaurant will be, where one of them will be executive chef and earn $250K per year. Ramsay then had each of them take off their blue or red aprons, and put on black ones, signifying that they were no longer competing as teams, but as individuals.

For the opening challenge, each chef was given a type of meat that they had to build a dish around and cook it in 45 minutes. It came down to Christina’s fish and Jen’s steak, and Jen won the challenge. She started crying, showing an emotional side instead of her usual bossy attitude. Jen’s prize was a trip to Vegas and to have dinner with Rock, the Season 3 champ. Jen also was allowed to choose another contestant to travel with her to Vegas, and he surprisingly picked Corey. The rest of them had to unload delivery trucks all day, and while Christina took on a coordinator’s role, Matt was just whining all day.

For the dinner service, Ramsay teamed Christina and Matt up, knowing full well Continue reading »

Hell's Kitchen, Reality TV, TV

The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder: John, Paul, Tom & Ringo

June 2, 2008 /

Tom Snyder wasn’t a great interviewer in the traditional sense – lord knows his idiosyncrasies were numerous, as Dan Aykroyd regularly proved in his Snyder imitations on “SNL” – but he was a brilliant man whose odd timing and unique questions often got answers from his guests that they never would’ve offered up anywhere else. Shout! Factory already gave us a fascinating look back at Snyder’s encounters with various punk rock musicians; this time, they’ve compiled the three “Tomorrow” episodes where he met up with members of the Beatles. Snyder’s biggest coup here was one he didn’t (and couldn’t) know he was performing at the time: scoring the final televised interview with John Lennon, which took place in April 1975. The episode that’s actually included, however, was aired on December 9th, 1980, the day after Lennon’s assassination; Snyder re-ran the Lennon segment from ’75, then had others who had been close to Lennon chime in, with the most poignant memories coming from Jack Douglas, who’d worked with Lennon only hours before his murder. The McCartney interview took place in ’79, and it’s pretty inconsequential, with Macca and Linda sounding possibly (but not definitely) stoned; the ’81 conversation with Ringo is more interesting, however, giving the drummer a chance to comment on the death of his friend and bandmate as well as talk up both “Caveman” and Stop and Smell the Roses. The lack of special features is forgivable in this instance, but, really, why did this need to be split between 2 DVDs? The run time is less than 3 hours!

Click to buy “The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder: John, Paul, Tom & Ringo”

External Entertainment, External TV, Interviews, TV, TV DVD Quicktakes, TV DVDs

The Next Food Network Star: Did You Catch This?

June 2, 2008 /

Let me introduce you to one of the better reality shows on television. “The Next Food Network Star,” now in its fourth season on the Food Network, began last night. The show mixes drama, intrigue, and some pretty bold personalities as they search for someone who will have the chance to host their own show. It also moves along quickly and blends a really good amount of current network personalities into the mix.

This season started with ten finalists—Kelsey, a 23-year old culinary school grad; Kevin, a 39-year old restaurant owner/radio host; Shane, a 19-year old private chef; Jennifer, 32, an executive chef and single mom; Cory, a 44-year old stand up comic with a cooking background; Jeffrey, a 43-year old caterer; Adam, 30, a fifteen year kitchen veteran and theater performer; Lisa, a 31-year old restaurant owner who already reminds me of Omarosa from “The Apprentice”; Aaron, a 36-year old hospital chef; and Nipa, 35, a self-taught cook with a bubbly personality.

They began the show by introducing the season’s judges — network star Bobby Flay, and network executives Susie Fogelson and Bob Tuschman. Then they brought out another network personality, Alton Brown. Alton is not afraid of the camera Continue reading »

Reality TV, The Next Food Network Star, TV

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