THE SARAH JANE ADVENTURES: THE COMPLETE FOURTH SEASON
BBC Worldwide DVD
Who will protect the Earth from invading aliens? In The Sarah Jane Adventures, it’s a sweet but canny middle-aged journalist, Sarah Jane Smith (Elisabeth Sladen), and her three teenage sidekicks: brave and foolhardy Clyde (Daniel Anthony), kind and clever
Rani (Anjli
Mohindra), and earnest but alien-forged genius Luke (Tommy Knight), who is Sarah’s adopted son. With an extraterrestrial supercomputer, a robot dog, and sonic
lipstick,
this quartet defends our blue planet from aliens of all colors, textures, and viscosity. Though some of the six episodes of The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Complete Fourth Season seem like ideas that were pulled out of the Doctor Who wastebasket (such as aliens that feed on dreams or excitement), others are unusually strong for this kid-centric spinoff. “The Vault of Secrets” owes a bit to The Matrix for its flat- voiced men in black, but the zippy plot and the welcome return of the planet-killing Androvax and his darting reptilian tongue overcome such familiar elements. While “Death of the Doctor” may be a bit too concerned with mortality to appeal to its young target audience, the appearance of the current Doctor (Matt Smith) and a Doctor’s companion from long ago (Katy Manning) give this episode an added
punch for older fans. But the best of the season spotlights Clyde and Rani to great effect: the two teens wake to find themselves in an eerie empty London. The relationship between the two, with
its underlying
attraction and reluctance, is well played by Anthony and Mohindra and provides a richness of character often lacking from this show. Even though the episode delves into adolescence and emotional confusion, it takes the show a step beyond TV for kids.
MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000:
VOLUME XXII Shout! Factory DVD
Mighty Jack and Time of the Apes were born in Japan as innocent TV series, disfigured into TV movies for American audiences, then re-purposed as fodder for glorious new entertainments. Here, for your viewing pleasure, are four films that would never have existed if cinema had any kind of immune system. Riffing on them with extreme prejudice are Joel, Mike and their robot pals Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot. Laugh amongst yourselves.
TRANSFORMERS PRIME: DARKNESS RISING
Shout Factory DVD
Transformers Prime deepens the epic mythology of both the
Autobots and
Decepticons, while starting fresh for a new generation of fans. Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Arcee, Ratchet, Bulkhead, and many others are back to “roll out” against Megatron’s latest attempt to conquer Earth.
And
Megatron proves to be more powerful than ever, having acquired a rare element that allows him mastery over life
itself. ‘Team Prime’ may be few against the Decepticon hordes, but they find increased strength via bonds forged with three human teenagers. Make no mistake, Transformers Prime delivers heavy metal action, and nail-biting suspense - but it also takes the human drama to levels as yet unseen by the franchise.
PORKCHOP
Independent Entertainment DVD
Get ready for some serious partying, mayhem and gore ‘80s style in this deranged satire and celebration of classic slasher cinema! A group of young campers head into the wilderness for a weekend of sex, booze and silliness at an abandoned summer camp - only to be picked off one by one by a blood-thirsty, chainsaw- wielding psychopath wearing a pig’s head mask. Who will survive? The cheerleader? The slut? The nerd and his anatomically correct talking robot? Loaded with boobs, blood and ‘80s synth-pop, PORKCHOP reminds us it’s still not safe to go back in the woods.
THE GRAVEYARD EXAMINER • DEC 6 - DEC 12, 2011 13
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