DVD

Hard as it may be to believe, it's been 35 years since Ashley J. Williams (Bruce Campbell) and his four doomed friends first journeyed to that isolated cabin in the woods in Sam Raimi's gore-splattered 1981 shocker The Evil Dead, and unwittingly unleashed an ancient evil on the world. Since then the character of Ash has developed a cult fanbase that has followed him through two equally iconic sequels (1987's Evil Dead II and 1992's Army of Darkness) and a host of comic book adventures (which continue to this day).

Not only have science fiction writers and filmmakers adopted the word ‘robot’ from Czech playwright Karel Capek’s 1920s play R.U.R, they’ve also ‘borrowed’ on numerous occasions’ science fiction writer Issac Asimov’s ingenious ‘Three Laws of Robotics’. First appearing in his 1942 story Runaround, the laws are as follows: (1) A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm; (2) A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law, and (3), A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Following a rather hit-or-miss fourth season (or the 'gas-leak year' as it's referred to here), show creator Dan Harmon returned to the fold for this latest batch of 13 episodes, and in the process brought Community back to its geek-friendly best.

Thanks to interest in the Apollo missions and the success of long running series like Doctor Who, ‘science’, both fact and fantasy, had become a popular subject with TV audiences during the late sixties and early seventies. Actor turned writer Richard Carpenter saw the possibilities with the genre, firstly with his highly successful ‘time travel’ series Catweazle and later with The Boy from Space, a serial he penned for the BBC Schools department.

Stan Winston’s 1988 creature-feature Pumpkinhead (aka Vengeance the Demon) remains a personal favourite of this reviewer - and inot just because it gave us a fantastically realized monster. I also admire it’s inventive new twist on the ‘teens in peril‘ story and the authentic sense of place the film creates.

Unless another cache of missing episodes turns up we're now in the home stretch of classic Doctor Who DVDs. This Patrick Troughton four-parter from 1967 marked the second appearance of the Cybermen and helped cement the 'base under siege' style of production. The two surviving episodes have been lovingly restored for this DVD and joined by two gorgeous new animated reconstructions of the missing episodes. The typically superb collection of extras include commentaries, info-text on the two surviving episodes, a half-hour Making of… doc and a photo gallery.

A companion piece of sorts to The Wicker Man, this provocative 1970 BBC Play for Today production is a creepy piece of English Gothic focusing on folk rituals in an insular village. While it was originally shot in colour, the only surviving print is an off-air black-and-white 16mm telerecording, which served as the basis for this DVD release. Regardless of this the 1.33:1 transfer seems fine on a technical basis and the lack of colour isn't really that much of an issue. Extras take the form of an interview with screenwriter James Bowen, the 1937 archival short Around the Village Green and a booklet containing essays about the main feature and the accompanying short.