Now, Jensen Ackles, the man behind Dean Winchester, is moving one step closer as he lends his voice to a new animated Batman DVD release.

According to the LA Times, Jensen will voice The Red Hood, an anti-hero, superhero in Batman: Under the Red Hood. Bruce Greenwood will voice Batman and even Neil Patrick Harris will be along for the ride.

No word on the release date yet, but a preview of the film will be included on the next Justice League DVD “Crisis on Two Earths.”

Photo: Jensen Ackles poses with his Ten Inch Hero castmates Danneel Harris and Elisabeth Harnois. Credit: Cynthia Boris

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This set is made up of the last four Doctor Who specials, The Next Doctor, Planet of the Dead, The Waters of Mars and The End of Time, Parts One and Two.

Having those complete and at your fingertips for multiple watchings is good enough but they’ve also packed on some excellent special features. You get the full Doctor Who Confidential episodes, Doctor Who at the Proms, Deleted scenes with introduction from Russell T. Davies, Doctor Who BBC Christmas idents, Audio commentaries and my two favorite pieces David Tennant Video Diaries: The Final Days and Doctor Who at Comic-Con.

The Final Days video diary is a bit tricky to sit through – kind of like watching an old friend shove off, never to be seen again. This behind the scenes footage really shows you how much the cast and crew enjoys working on the series and how much they’ll miss David.

Doctor Who at Comic-Con is a fun featurette that gives you some idea of the madness that is that convention. All the excitement without the crowds, the long lines and the expensive hot dogs.

Doctor Who: The Complete Specials comes packaged in a spiffy fold-out with adventurous graphics and a small booklet with a forward by David Tennant. The audio and video quality is top notch.

Since Doctor Who only airs on BBC America out here, I have to believe there are a lot of people who haven’t had a chance to see this specials. If you’re one of them, I wouldn’t hesitate to buy this set even though the price is a little hefty. Alternately, BBC Video is also offering individual DVDs of Waters of Mars and The End of Time, but the combined price is nearly that of this four special set.

I say, go for gold, fellow Who fans, buy Doctor Who: The Complete Specials available today on Amazon or anywhere DVDs are sold.

Photo: Amazon

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What can you tell us about your new Blu-ray & DVD, Surrogates?

The movie is a sci-fi, action thriller and I play an FBI agent called Peters. The device of the story is that there is a surrogate technology being used in the world and the population is addicted to using it. You plug into a device, which is basically a robot, and that robot goes and performs all of your daily tasks for you. When that happens, you can manicure your life. You can organize and control how you want to live and how you want to feel. However, something goes wrong in this society and my character works alongside Bruce Willis’ character to figure out who committed a murder.

What would you use a surrogate to do for you? Perhaps you’d like to jump out of a plane?

I think you’d lose part of the experience if you used a surrogate for something like jumping out of a plane. Part of the experience is about risking your own mortality. I’d love to use a surrogate to do all of the boring things in life that I’ve done thousands of times before, like cleaning or household chores. However, I think I’d want to do all of the exciting stuff for myself.

How much of the stunt work were you allowed to do?

I did some of the stunt work, but there was also a stunt girl on hand. The girl who did my stunts had to swing from ropes between buildings and things like that. There were lawyers on the set making sure I didn’t do too much, but I was allowed to run around in between fast cars and I was strapped to the top of the bus driving through the city. I discovered that I can jump from elevated sections onto targeted marks in high heels, which was fun.

Why is it difficult to play a robot?

It’s difficult to play a robot and still keep drama within a scene because what’s robotic is not necessarily dramatic. However, it’s certainly interesting to watch a bunch of robots sitting around talking to each other. It’s an interesting concept to say the least. Playing a robot was a tricky challenge because you have to cut out any idiosyncrasies we have as human beings. You can’t slouch or shake your arms when you move. Robots are clipped, manicured and purposeful in their movements – and there was always someone on set to tell us if we weren’t doing it right.

What DVDs should everyone have in their collection?

I love the way that you can watch a whole season of a TV show in one sitting on DVD. In that respect, I really like shows like True Blood and Mad Men. However, when it comes to movies, everyone should have Blade Runner, The Matrix and Surrogates in their DVD collection.

SURROGATES is Available on Blu-ray & DVD January 26^th!

Photos courtesy of Touchstone Pictures

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Hartnell represents the least watched era of Whodom for me, 1963-1966. I don’t think it’s the year of the original airing so much as the fact that I never really warmed up to Hartnell as The Doctor. He’s a bit too much like a stern schoolmaster in looks and that’s always put me off to watching his episodes.

In “The Keys of Marinus,” The Doctor and his companions must fight against the evil Vood. As luck would have it the keys to the only weapon that can defeat them are scattered all over the planet! Scavenger hunt, anyone?

The DVD is lighter on the extras than usual. There are commentaries by William Russell and Carole Ann Ford, director John Gorrie and designer Raymond Cusick who gives you a closer look at the sets built for the episode. There’s also a hidden Easter egg and if you go online with a DVD-Rom you can access a full set of Doctor Who Cadet Sweet cards.

Colin Baker, on the other hand, is probably my most watched classic Doctor. This DVD is episode 137 “The Twin Dilema” and it features Peri as The Doctor’s companion.

In the episode, The Doctor has just regenerated and it’s not going well. He’s so perplexed by the change, he decides to become a hermit but that plan is set aside when a gastropod kidnaps twin boys from Earth!

Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant (Peri) and Kevin McNally (Hugo) all participate in the commentary on this DVD. There’s also a short interview with the title sequence director Sid Sutton, a nice look at the comic strip, a “Breakfast Time” interview with Baker and Bryant and an interview from “Blue Peter.” There’s also a fun look back a The Doctor’s ever changing wardrobe.

The interviews are rare gems and the featurettes are all enjoyable, you’ll also find another hidden Easter egg if you work at it.

As with all of the new BBC DVD releases, all ten episodes on these two discs have been digitally remastered which means they’re supremely watchable. Doctor Who is such a part of TV history, it’s wonderful to see them cleaned up and preserved for us and future generations.

I wouldn’t hesitate to add both of these new releases to your collection. They’re both available for a very good price at Amazon.com.

Box art from Amazon.

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– The first prize winner will receive a Caprica DVD [Run Time: 1hr. 33min.]  and a Caprica T-Shirt.

– A second winner will receive a T-Shirt.

Set 58 years before Battlestar Galactica, Caprica follows two rival families – the Graystones and the Adamas – as they grow, compete, and thrive in the vibrant world of the peaceful 12 Colonies, living in a society close to our own. Entangled in the burgeoning technology of artificial intelligence and robotics that will eventually lead to the creation of the Cylons, the two houses go toe-to-toe, blending action with corporate conspiracy and sexual politics. Caprica will deliver, intrigue, political backbiting and family conflict in television’s first science fiction family saga.

Caprica will premiere Friday, January 22^nd at 9/8c. on Syfy and stars Eric Stoltz, Esai Morales, Paula Malcomson, Alessandra Torresani, Magda Apanowicz, Polly Walker, and Sasha Roiz.

HOW TO ENTER

Since this is a prequel, leave us a comment naming a show that you’d like to see done as a prequel.

US Only

Deadline to enter is January 22 at 9:00 PST (which is, not coincidentally, the day and time that Caprica premieres on Syfy.)

2 winners will be chosen by random draw and notified by email, so please be sure to leave a working email addy. Winners will have 72 hours to claim their prize or another winner will be chosen.

Good luck and have at it!

Photo: Syfy

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KYLE XY: THE COMPLETE THIRD AND FINAL SEASON

The boy without a belly button reaches the end of his saga in this, their third and final season of Kyle XY. Hey, wait, don’t we know that guy on the right side of the box. . .

The ABC Family series picks up with Kyle (Matt Dallas) and Jessi (Jaimie Alexander) working as a team to uncover the secrets of their origin. Kyle’s world is turned upside-down when his powers suddenly disappear, and he’s in for another surprise when Amanda (Kirsten Prout) comes home with an unexpected question. As one woman in Kyle’s life arrives, another must say goodbye – though Jessi assures him they will always be connected.

Bonus Features
• Kyle XY: Future Revealed – A look at what would have happened in Season 4
• Deleted Scenes
• Audio Commentaries

TRAILER

Have you ever watched Kyle XY? Is it worth checking out on DVD?

Photo: Amazon

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Seth Green, Katee Sackhoff, Alyssa Milano, Bill Maher, and Paris Hilton all stopped by the Star Wars / Holiday themed party which meant it was just as quirky as the Family Guy itself. Check out the photos of the event courtesy of Fox.

“Family Guy: Something, Something, Something, Dark Side” arrives exclusively on two-disc Blu-ray (BD) with Digital Copy and DVD December 22 from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.

STAR WARS and all related character names and other properties are trademarks and/or copyrights, in the United States and other countries, of Lucasfilm Ltd. and/or its affiliates. TM & © Lucasfilm Ltd. All rights reserved. All other trademarks and trade names are properties of their respective owners.

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Long, long ago, Sarah Jane Smith was one of Doctor Who’s companions. Now she’s semi-retired, living in a lovely suburban neighbor and she’s teaching the local children how to fight off aliens. A good deal of the screen time is devoted to the four young teens who star in the series. There’s Luke, Sarah’s adopted alien son, his friend Clyde, smart-as-a-whip Maria and new girl Rani. Rani has a nose for news and that could spell trouble for the lot of them!

This season, Sarah and the kids face off against a creepy clown, take a trip through time, investigate the heavens and defend the Earth, once again, from the devilish Bane! There’s lots of fun and action and there are just enough scares to be exciting without giving younger viewers nightmares.

The DVD also includes interview with cast and crew, a gadget glossary, a fun quiz (you get to see a fun Easter egg if you get the answers right) and more.

Though Sarah Jane Adventures is likely too silly for the die-hard Doctor Who fan, it is the perfect beginner’s scifi show for the nine to thirteen year-old in your house.

Both the first and second season are currently available at Amazon.com.

Photo: Amazon

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The new movie is based on Cartoon Network’s popular animated series Ben 10 Alien Force. It’s all about a group of teens who chase down alien threats with the help of their own individual superpowers. Sixteen-year-old Ben Tennyson (Ryan Kelley) has a clever watch gizmo that lets him dial up a variety of alien alter-egos that he can transform into depending on the situation. The transformation sequences reminded me of Power Rangers but with a new level of sophistication since the monsters are digital as opposed to actors in a rubber suit. Ben’s un-transformations are particularly smooth and spectacular and that’s just a few of the large number of special effects you’ll find in the movie.

The Alien Swarm in the title is a nasty convention of nano-chips that attack like a swarm of bees but instead of stinging, they get under your skin and turn their human hosts into slave labor. Things get really sticky for Ben and his pals Gwen (Galadriel Stineman) and Kevin (Nathan Keyes) when an old friend returns and asks for help. Only trouble is, the feisty Elena (Alyssa Diaz) might be a spy for the other side or she might really be in trouble along with her kidnapped father.

The movie is loaded with action, high tech gadgets and snazzy boy toys including an apple green classic car that steals every scene she’s in. All of the actors do a fine job but I was completely drawn to Nathan Keyes’ Ryan — the moody badboy who looks too much like Jared Padalecki in his Gilmore Girls days. He has this cool power that allows him to change his arm (or his whole body) into what ever material he touches. Metal filing cabinet = fist of steel. Need a softer touch? A rubber tire = mallet hand. And since Kevin has a hair-trigger temper, the effect is called into play more than any other over the course of the film. I wonder what would happen if he invoked his power while eating a cheesesteak. . . could get messy.

Here’s the deal. If you were a fan of Power Rangers, Ben 10: Alien Swarm does them one better. The dialouge is delivered with broad strokes as is common in shows made for tweens and the teen angst abounds but there are a number of unexpected plot twists and high production values means it looks good at every turn.

The DVD, which streets today, is the same film Cartoon Network premiered on TV this past weekend. If you recorded it, I wouldn’t bother buying the DVD as the only special features are a very short “behind the scenes” promo and a music video. But, if you’ve got a young scifi fan on your holiday list, go for the disc — it’s worth it just to get the cool lenticular slip sleeve that shows Ben transforming into an alien beast.

Ben 10: Alien Swarm is available at Amazon and everywhere DVDs are sold as of December 1.

Photo: Cartoon Network

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Peter Davison

Davison stars in the latest BBC Video Doctor Who release, The Black Gaurdian Trilogy. This box set is made up of  ‘Mawdryn Undead,” “Terminus,” and “Enlightenment.”

The Doctor comes into the trilogy with two lovely companions, Tegan and Nyssa but they’re soon joined by Turlough (Mark Strickson), an alien who has been living his life among the humans at a UK boarding school.

As with all of these early Doctor Who releases, the joy is in seeing where we came from. The broad acting, the flat sets, the low-tech special effects (some of which were actually very high-tech at the time) are all part of the charm of the series. So I was very surprised to see that this set offered an upgrade — an option to turn on new CGI effects to replace the outdated ones.

Except in the case of cleaning up video and audio quality, I’m not a fan of upgrades, so I’m glad they give you the option of turning off the CGI effects if you want. I do appreciate the effort that went in to delivering a clean product. You won’t realize how great the film looks until you watch the special features which include un-enhanced deleted scenes and outtakes. These bits are seriously flawed with pops, vertical lines and faded colors.

The special features on this DVD set are plentiful to the point of “I can’t believe they bothered.” I’ll give the BBC credit for trying to preserve the history of Who but many of the included clips, such as the film edits which show the few seconds before and after the scene clapper, are tedious to watch. Same goes for many of the outtakes.

On the other hand, the featurettes are all interesting to watch. They’re filled with behind-the-scenes tidbits from people who were there. It’s obvious that everyone interviewed has fond memories of their time on the show and one actress even goes so far as to say that she’s proud to have Doctor Who on her resume.

A really rare treat is a clip from Russell Harty Christmas Party
that has Peter Davison singing in what the Brits call pantomime. (Please forgive me if I’m not using that word correctly.)

Davison, Strickland and several other actors and writers get in on the commentary. There’s also a “notes” track that allows you to switch on a trivia component that appears like closed captioning. I found this very enjoyable and made it so I could watch and hear the episode while still getting my production trivia fill.

The DVD also sports the usual photo galleries, extended and deleted scenes, and a DVD-Rom library of documentation from back in the day.

The most unusual special feature is a feature length edit of “Enlightenment” with 5.1 surround sound and CGI effects. Sort of their tribute to how the episode would have been if it had been filmed today.

Doctor Who: The Black Guardian Trilogy is another piece of the Who History puzzle. BBC Video has done an excellent job capturing what it was like to be a part of the Doctor’s 20th season. It’s the perfect gift for the Doctor Who fan on your holiday shopping list.

The DVD streeted early in November and is now available anywhere you buy DVDs.

For a more in-depth review, check out Judge James Stewart’s take at DVD Verdict.

Photo: Amazon

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