Home Movie Reviews

The DVD is a good buy, not great, but the movie is well worth the price.

The DVDs not only provide a superior copy of the original series, but also contain a number of excellent features, including additional interviews and a wealth of other goodies. I had rewatched much of the series on video, but I found the color somewhat off. The DVD is a great improvement.

There are so many things to praise about this series. It isn't perfect, and not all will agree with the emphases. The interpretation follows fairly consistently that of James McPherson and Shelby Foote who saw slavery as the root cause of the war, unlike previous generations of historians who out of a respect to Southerners (I'm a Southerner, for the record, though I now live in Chicago) de-emphasized slavery and identified the cause of the war more with states's rights than slavery. But what can't be argued is the brilliantly vivid way that Burns and his collaborators manage to bring back to life a time long past. There are countless photographs and not just those by "Matthew Brady" (most of the photographs attributed to Brady where taken by his assistants, primarily Alexander Gardner, who deserves the reputation that Brady has), but from all over the United States. All the disparate elements are blended seamlessly to produce a nearly unblemished surface.

The quality of the voice-overs was, at the time of this series release, utterly unprecedented. A host of well-known individuals were used in the readings, but the principle ones were Sam Waterson as Abraham Lincoln, Julie Harris as Mary Chestnut, Jason Robards as Ulysses S. Grant, Morgan Freeman as Frederick Douglas, Garrison Keillor as Walt Whitman, journalist Charley McDowell as Private Sam Watkins, George Plimpton as George Templeton Strong, and a host of others. My favorite may be playwright Arthur Miller, who marvelously provides the gruff voice for the remarkable statements by William Tecumseh Sherman.

But despite all this excellence, one person managed to steal the whole show: Shelby Foote. It is simply shocking that amidst all these riches that many of the greatest moments of the show consisted of a lone Southern historian reflecting on the meaning of the war. Foote, although well known for his monumental narrative history of the war, was more or less an unknown. But the series made him a media star, a role that he refused to take on or exploit. Of the ten greatest moments on the series, perhaps seven of them involve Foote, whether explaining that the Civil War was the central event of American history, that it made us a nation (before the war people would say "the United States are" but afterwards they say "the United States is"), or eloquently talking of the brilliance of Nathan Bedford Forrest, or stating that Gettysburg was the cost the South had to pay for having Robert E. Lee lead the Army of Northern Virginia. He was partly his Southern drawl, partly his remarkable ability to distilling a point to its essence, and partly his mastery of words.

The great thing about this series is that even if you have read such classics as Douglas Southall Freeman's LEE'S LIEUTENANTS and his four-volume biography of Lee, McPherson's BATTLE CRY OF FREEDOM, and Foote's THE CIVIL WAR, Burn's documentary will make the war come alive in a completely new and exciting way. This set will therefore be essential viewing for all serious students of the Civil War, as well as nearly anyone even remotely curious about American history, or, for that matter, great television.

Shelby Foote is featured in the series, and he's worth the cost of the set. His trilogy of Civil War books might be the best history of the war ever written, and to hear him tell the stories was a real treat.

Burns uses the music popular at the time; the voices of actors, quoting the participants in the war; sound effects; still photos and sketches; stories told by historians and some reenactment film to tell the story of this bloody war. He includes some amazing statistics, letters and exerpts from diaries written at the time and other quotes to tell the story.

While there is no doubt in my mind that this movie is an example of the best work that either Johnny Depp or Leonardo DiCaprio have ever done, the directing, screenwriting and production of this movie failed to maintain the true heart of the story; the feelings of Gilbert for his family and his town, and the ultimate sadness of being a thirty-something living in the small town in which he was born.

Read the book. Watch the movie if you are interested in Depp or DiCaprio, but the *heart* of this story is entirely in the original work.

There's not much for special features, unfortunately.

Three years later, we meet Sisko as a Commander about to assume the position of command of a former Cardassian space station Terok Nor -now renamed Deep Space Nine. Starfleet needs Sisko there to help prepare the Bajoran's for entry into the Federation. And a bitter single father soon discovers, his newest mission to aid the Bajor may have been written in the stars centuries before he was born.

DS9's first season, like TNG before it, had many high and low points. The 2-hour opener was a better pilot than TNG, and featured a better theme music. Almost from the start, this spin-off was going to way different from TNG. Where everyone on Enterprise were a happy family and conflict free, DS9 introduced conflict galore. Sisko and his first officer, Bajoran Major, Kira, butted heads from day one. And instead of solving that right away, it would take years for them both to come to an understanding.

Political intrigue and religion would be the series bread and butter over seven years and while it would take most of the first season to introduce these concepts, it still had a handful of stories that introduced you to the characters that populate this show. The first season would also feature a few familiar characters that were first introduced on TNG. The biggest, of course, was Colm Meany's Chief Miles O'Brien. Meany, a part of the Trek franchise since TNG opener, brought Miles over to become Chief of Operations. The Klingon sisters of Lursa and B'Etor -who were involved in several plots to take over their homeworld - visited DS9 in "Past Prologue" and popular character of Q would visit with Vash (TNG's Captain's Holiday" and "Q-Pid") in "Q-Less". "Battle Lines" would kill off the spiritual leader of the Bajoran's, and the late Brian Keith shines in the allegory episode "Progress". Even Majel Barrett's mostly annoying character of Lwaxana Troi would show up in "The Forsaken".

But perhaps, the highlight of season one is "Duet", a tightly plotted tale of culpability. Guest star Harris Yulin shines as a coward who personalized the guilt of an entire race. It was, perhaps, Nana Visitor finest hour as Kira, who realizes for the first time in her life that not all Cardassians need to be punished for their 60 year enslavement of the Bajoran's.

With the season finale, "In the Hands of the Prophets", the series long-overdue conflict between the tolerant Federation and the deeply spiritual Bajorans comes forward in a tale of intrigue, murder and philosophy. With this episode Oscar wining actress Louise Fletcher begins her recurring role of Vedek Winn, and chews the scenery and steals every scene she's in.

Over all, the first season was uneven, much like TNG. Still, with a last two episodes, the series proved it could be different and still be entertaining and keep with in Roddenberry's vision of a peaceful Federation.

But season two would begin to blur the lines...

To be continued.

DS9 had hard and high expectations. It was the first spin off of the Star Trek The Next Generation. When the show premeired it had to compete against TNG for fans and sometimes ratings. A lot of trekkies were skeptic about the whole idea of life on a space station and were scared to see something else besides a crew of the Enterprise. I think thats what made the show so great,it's orignality.

Avery Brooks was awesome as Commander Sisko. Season one developed him very well as we saw a man trying to turn his life around. I thought he was brillant in "Emmisary" and after I saw the pilot I knew this show would last. Commander Sisko is one of the most underrated characters in Star Trek. Avery Brooks played him to absolute perfection. He's a great actor and a great man. You'll love the way they develop his character in season one.

It was good to see Colm Meaney on the show. Give credit to the producers for putting Miles O'Brein on the show. He was always a key character to the show. You always knew the chief was going to get it fixed. He reminded me a lot of Scotty in what they did with him.

Nana Visitor was great as Major Kira. It was cool how they put a Bajoran on the station and how they made it a co-op leadership thing. To this point in Star Trek all we knew about the Bajorans were Ensign Ro and the Maquis. They developed the race well and once again it all starts in season one.

Rene Auberjonois as Odo was one of the coolest characters ever in tv. Star Trek executives made a smart move and made him a shapeshifter. Then they did a really smart move and modeled him after the T-1000 from T2. It was brillant. He was orignal and cool looking. Props to Rene for wearing all that make up. He played the character great.

Armin Shimmerman as Quark was great. Once again DS9 developed a race the Ferengi that not a lot was known about. Quark was the comic relief to the show and Armin hit a home run with the role. Quarks one of the funniest and most loveable characters to ever come out on a sci-fi show.

Terry Farrel as Lt.Dax was awesome. The whole idea of the trill was a cool addition. I love how they developed Dax and Siskos friendship from what it had been. Terry was hot on the show. It was sad what they did with her in the later seasons, but she remains one of my favorite Star Trek characters ever.

Alexander Siddig was great as Bashir. They started Bashir as kind of the hopeless romantic who is out to show what he can be. He wanted to practive frontier medicine. Once again I like how they developed his character. He was a great addition to the show and Star Trek universe.

DS9 was a great show. This is the shows humble beginnings. It had to compete against the highly rated TNG and it easily holds it own. It might be a little darker than some trekkies like it, but me as a casual Star Trek fan love it. I think DS9 was a great show and this is something all Star Trek fans should own. People who don't like Star Trek might like DS9 becaue it's not the Enterprise, but an original and fantastic show setting place in the same time period and the same Star Trek universe.

I have to say it was not easy choosing from the 1,000 cartoons made between 1930 and 1990 to be on this initial DVD set, but what was chosen represents animation history at its finest, rivaling only Disney.

I can still tell some visual difference between the pre-1948 shorts (which WB sister company Turner still owns) and the post-1948s (still owned by WB outright) in terms of graininess, but the transfer on DVD is better than what I have ever seen on TV, video, or LaserDisc. And all of them with their original credits (no altered "dubbed versions" or "credit-less Blue Ribbons" here, thank God). Even the print of "Fast And Furry-ous" (the debut of Road Runner) looks as though it was made yesterday instead of 1949 (when compared to the murky time-compressed PAL transfer we've all seen on Cartoon Network).

And I don't care what anyone else may complain about, Bosko IS represented in this set, in the form of the very first WB cartoon, "Bosko The Talknik Kid" (shown in abbreviated form on the "Toonheads: Lost Cartoons" special on disc three [which itself includes some rare stuff you'll have to see for yourself] and in its entirety at the very end of the box set).

The supplements are just as valuable...the trailers for the compilation films (though out of focus for the final 30 seconds of the second one, but considering this came off of a recently discovered reel, we are fortunate that they exist at all), the Camera One "Termite Terrace" special, storyboards, interviews (including the final appearance of Chuck Jones introducing the box set, made just before he passed on), and the aforementioned "Toonheads" special.

I do wish other landmark cartoons such as "What's Opera, Doc", "The Wild Hare", and other important shorts were included. Still, whatever is missing is made up for in other content.

Please get this DVD...you will not regret it.

Th-th-th-th-th-that's all folks!!!!

The original LOONEY TUNES gang is back, and boy do they look terrific. Warner Home Video has compiled a terrific selection of 56 animated gems starring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky, Pig, Elmer Fudd, along with dozens of other characters, and added hours and hours of bonus features and documentaries. This is sure to become a perennial in anyone's serious DVD collection.

Best of all, the cartoons have been GORGEOUSLY restored. Restoration means bringing something back to its ORIGINAL form, and that's what Warner Bros. has lovingly done here. The glorious Technicolor imagery is mind-boggling, the animation art is sharp and clear. So sharp and clear that you see can even see the dust that was on the original cels these cartoons were painted on.

THAT'S restoration.

Thank heavens Warner didn't go the route that Disney did with SLEEPING BEAUTY and monkey around with these images, wiping out all traces of the original cel animation and making them look like CGI. No, it's beautiful old-style animation, and each cartoon has been restored to look as they did when they first hit theater screens decades ago.

Each cartoon on this collection is an American classic in its own right. Happily these classics have not been tampered with, but are presented with the utmost respect and attention for the masterpieces they truly are.

Coming on the heels of the less-than-stellar Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and the resignation of Harve Bennett as producer of the feature films, Paramount turned to actor/producer Leonard Nimoy and director/screenwriter Nicholas Meyer (Time After Time, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan) to save the foundering franchise and give fans something worthy of a 25th-anniversary celebration. After looking at various options, they decided on a Star Trek version of the end of the Cold War.

The Undiscovered Country (the title is a Shakespearean reference to death and was Meyer's first choice for the title of Star Trek II) capitalizes on the similarities of the U.S.-Soviet standoff to the long-standing not-quite-war between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. Fittingly, the film begins with a bang when, in a Chernobyl-like accident, the Klingon's main energy production source on the moon of Praxis explodes.

The explosion sends both literal and political shock waves across the galaxy. The physical subspace wave buffets the USS Excelsior, now commanded by former Enterprise helmsman Hikaru Sulu (George Takei). Capt. Sulu, in the tradition of good Starfleet captains, offers assistance but is rebuffed by the Klingon High Command.

Nevertheless, three months later, Sulu's former shipmates, including Capt. Kirk (William Shatner), Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy (the late DeForest Kelley), Capt. Montgomery Scott (James Doohan) and Cmdrs. Uhura (Nichelle Nichols) and Pavel Chekov (Walter Koenig) are summoned to a top secret level meeting. "The Klingon Empire," they are told by Starfleet's commanding admiral, "has less than 50 years to live." Praxis' explosion has depleted the ozone layer of the Klingons' homeworld and polluted the atmosphere. Heavy expenditures on weapons and bases has weakened the Klingon economy and the cleanup is beyond their means. A special envoy has been appointed by the Federation to begin negotiations with Chancellor Gorkon, leader of the Klingon High Council. To the shock of Kirk and his officers, that envoy is Enterprise first officer Spock (Leonard Nimoy).

And when Kirk is assigned to escort Gorkon's ship into Federation space for a summit on Earth with the Federation president (That 70's Show's Kurtwood Smith), he's shocked and angry. Not only are the senior officers due to retire in a few months, but Kirk is still bitter about his son's death at the hands of the Klingons several years before. But the good captain has been issued his orders, and like it or not, he will do his duty.

Little does he know that a massive conspiracy to undermine the peace negotiations is underway, planned by those in the Federation and the Klingon Empire who have a lot to lose if peace breaks out. And soon, Kirk and the Enterprise crew are caught in a web of deceit and intrigue that will place their lives in jeopardy....and shatter the last best hope for galactic peace.

The film features a fine performance by Sex in the City's sultry Kim Catrall as Lt. Valeris, Spock's full-Vulcan protege with a hidden agenda of her own, as well as a wonderfully over-the-top appearance by Christopher Plummer as a dastardly, Shakespeare-quoting Klingon general. The Undiscovered Country also acknowledges the legitimacy of Star Trek: The Next Generation, and with an appearance by ST-TNG actor Michael Dorn as Col. Worf (the grandfather, one surmises, of the Enterprise-D's Lt. Worf, Dorn's "regular" role), the two generations are bridged on the silver screen. ("Unification, Parts I and II," guest starring Leonard Nimoy, had aired a few weeks before the film's premiere and included a few subtle references to its storyline.)

Star Trek VI's home video, laserdisc and first DVD releases contain the longer edited-for-home-viewing version which includes two deleted scenes featuring Rene Auberjonois (who would later be cast as Odo in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) as Col. West. Paramount has released a barebones DVD since 1998, but a 2-disc Collector's Edition is forthcoming.