Resurrecting the seminal B&W TV creepfest in digital form, The Outer Limits season 1 box set is 32 straight hours of golden age SF. The episodes look and sound outstanding in their restored form (which also means the inclusion of the full show, a lot of which gets sliced for commercial time on such venues as the Sci-Fi Channel). My only complaint is with the discs themselves; I applaud MGM Home Video for trying to keep costs down for the consumer by consolidating what easily could have been an 8-disc set into four double-sided discs, but the packaging for the set leaves a lot of room for simple mishandling or accidents to lead to serious disc damage. That’s a great pity, because the packaging and the menus on the discs themselves are a seamless whole, and fit the mood of their contents perfectly. (more…)

featuring the episodes Mantrid, Terminal, Lyekka and Luvliner

This first volume of Lexx’s second season kicks off with Mantrid, an episode that resolves a complication hinted at in the last of the Lexx TV movies. Terminal makes things slightly less murky with a scenario devised specifically to see off series regular Eva Habermann, who really only reprised her role in the season’s first two hours as a favor to the producers before returning to her career in Germany; it’s an interesting analysis and exit for her character, as well as a set-up for Xenia Seeburg taking over the role. (more…)

featuring the episodes Tomorrow Is Yesterday and Return Of The Archons

It’s doubtful that Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home would exist as we know it without Tomorrow Is Yesterday, the earliest and least troublesome trek through time for Star Trek. Not only is it a high-stakes story with loads of humor in just the right places, but Yesterday also boasts some of the original series’ best effects in the unnervingly convincing shots of the Enterprise flying Earth’s somewhat less-than-friendly skies. (more…)

Space: 1999’s second season continues in this set with The Rules Of Luton – no, not that Luton! Essentially the Space: 1999 version of the Classic Trek episode Arena, only with a trio of healthy-looking trees directing the combatants, Luton pits Koenig and Maya against three aliens (one of whom would go on to be one of the original regular cast members of Blake’s 7) in a contest of cunning and endurance. It’s a bit silly, but basically, if you’ve seen Arena, you know how this one turns out. (more…)