Doctor Who: The Light at the End (Limited Collector's Edition - CD)

The 50th anniversary of Doctor Who brings a treat from Big Finish with a multi-Doctor adventure available in three editions: a limited collector's edition CD (which is the one I have); the standard CD edition; and a vinyl edition. The CD editions are also available to download.

So, what do we have in this delicious collector's CD edition? Well, there are a total of five discs featuring the adventure itself on discs one and two. Disc three has a 'making of' documentary; disc four brings us another documentary: Doctor Who at Big Finish; disc five is an entry in the Companion Chronicles series called 'The Revenants' which features William Russell.

This limited collector's edition CD set is presented in a book-size hard shell slip case. This is individually numbered with total copies pressed being 10,000.

Inside the shell is a hardcover book which houses the discs and some excellent photographs and artwork featuring various Doctors, companions and others. A taste of these follows:

The Three Doctors

Grand Companions

Doctors United

Recent DVD Pick Ups: Slaughter Disc and Not Now, Comrade

 

An anti-porn porn film? kind of, I suppose. Slaughter Disc is actually pretty good given its lack of budget. It's essentially a horror film with hardcore sequences. Or is it a hardcore film with horror sequences? Well, it works either way as far as I'm concerned.

The lovely Caroline Pierce stars as murderous porn queen, Andromeda Strange, whose debauchery knows no bounds. Her latest fan is Mike, a porn addict who's on the lookout for new kicks. But it's not long before he discovers that porn kills as the gorgeously gothic Andromeda's craving for blood becomes ever more urgent.

The DVD boasts a nice selection of extras including a making of sequence and a couple of photo galleries. On the downside, the menu options are horribly placed so that they effectively run over the side of the screen which makes navigating a bit of a nuisance.




A Russian ballet dancer decides to defect to the West with the help of his striptease-performing girlfriend played by the wonderful Carol Hawkins. Her accomplices are played by Michele Dotrice and Ian Lavender whose frantic attempts to stay one step ahead of the authorities give rise to misleadings and misunderstandings aplenty.

This is a Ray Cooney farce. Much of the action takes place in the living room of one Commander Rimmington (Leslie Phillips). It's a nice living room - big with lots of space for slapstick and swinging doors. 'Not Now, Comrade' isn't quite as much fun as Cooney's 1973 farce 'Not Now, Darling', but it is still a more than pleasant way to spend an hour and a half. The cast also includes Ray Cooney himself along with Roy Kinnear, Windsor Davies and June Whitfield. There's also a cameo appearance from Don Estelle. However, the star of the show is Carol Hawkins.





Oh, Carol!

 

 

Recent DVD Pick Ups - 84 Charing Cross Road and, erm, Fantom Kiler 2

Don't know why it's taken me so long to pick up a copy of this film on DVD because I love it. I first saw it at the cinema on its release and subsequently owned a copy of the VHS and, of course, the book.

Lovely central performances from Anthony Hopkins as London bookseller Frank Doel, and Anne Bancroft as writer and bookworm Helene Hanff who cannot find the books she craves in New York. Given that the two leads do not appear on screen together and communicate only by letter there must have been a risk that this would look too much like a stage play. However, the excellent supporting cast along with the vibrant New York and staid London settings open the film out nicely.

And from the sublime to the ridiculous! I happened upon a second hand copy of Fantom Kiler 2 and obviously, I had to get it (I've already got entries 1 and 3 in the series). It's gloriously awful stuff with a crazed killer (or should I say 'kiler') on the loose who manages to find his way about even though his face is covered by what looks like a thick woollen sock. There's a detective on the case, though. Unfortunately, he's an arrogant moron who makes Inspector Clouseau look like Sherlock Holmes.

Stand by for inept English subtitles (that's when you can actually read them against the light backgrounds on the film), fake blood and naked loveliness. It's not quite as good as the first Fantom Kiler film - but what is, eh? What is?

And speaking of the first Fantom Kiler, here's a clip from that particular classic.