DVD goodness and TV randomness

[abby82]

Amazon is having a Valentine's Day sale and included is the final season of Veronica Mars. I blind bought the first two seasons over Christmas after watching the 3rd season on CW and enjoyed them imensely. Looks like I'll be able to complete another TV series in my collection. Gilmore Girls is also a part of the sale. Now I'm all about the complete series multiple season box sets. I have Homicide: Life on the Streets (watched), Six Feet Under (have not watched), and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (have not watched) and was jonesing for the annoucement of a Gilmore Girls especially since it would be a great way to catch up on the seasons I've yet to see. However the series set is awful. The paper dolls/doll carrying case design doesn't jive with the entire feel of the series and the box simply would not fit in my bookcase. Therefore it looks like I'm gonna go the individual box set route and pick up the first season in the sale. The show goes on sale several times during the year both online and in the stores so acquiring the rest of the sets at a leisurely pace shouldn't be a problem. The main problem now is where am I going to put them. The book case I have set aside for my TV show DVDs is completely full. The X-Files, Hercules, Smallville, 24, and the He-Man/She-Ra sets take up a lot of space. The series set of Slings & Arrows is also coming out, next week I believe. I blind bought the second season because Geraint Wyn Davies was in it and not only was he hilarious in it but the series itself was a laugh riot. It's very reasonably priced but I'll more than likely wait on that one.

I received my Criterion collection box set of post war Kurosawa films. I can't wait to start them. I remember seeing No Regrets for Our Youth in my postwar Japanese film class at UT and it became one of my favorite movies.  I've really become captivated by the work of Setsuko Hara. She mostly worked with Ozu but seeing her play a slightly different role than the type she usually does is a real treat. Now why has no one released Mizoguchi's Sisters of the Gion.

So I was flipping channels on TV and I came across Dr. Who on BBC America. I'd never seen an episode before but it's kind of hard not to come across Dr. Who fandom online so I figured I'd settle in and watch an episode since it was just starting. I enjoyed it. It was the Runaway Bride episode which was quickly followed by the first episode in which the Doctor meets his next assistant Martha I believe. That one was very enjoyable too. I think BBC America is airing an episode featuring witches and Shakespeare tonight so I think I might settle in and watch it.

And since I'd just enjoyed Dr. Who I figured that the TV gods were smiling down on me when I came across a just started episode of Flash Gordon. I'd heard that it was kind of hokey but I've always wanted to watch it but never really had a chance. Unfortunately it was late and I doze off but what I did see I liked. Although I have to say that the actor playing Ming is overacting which is unfortunate because I really enjoy him as the dad in Life with Derek which is a Canadian family show that airs on the Disney Channel. I really enjoy that show and I try to catch it when I can. There's a Forever Knight connection in that show with the mom being played by the same actress who played Christy Black, the singer, in the season 3 episode "Strings" and Catherine Disher did a guest stint as a science teacher (hee!) who Casey lies to to get a science project extension because she was unable to complete it before the due date. I liked how her character wasn't the gullible teacher buying into the lies but instead turned the tables on Casey.

Oh but back to Flash Gordon. I was delighted to see that the writer of the episode was Gillian Horvath who did a wonderful job as a writer in Forever Knight. She wrote the Janette back story episode A Fate Worse Than Death, Father's Day which was rich with the volatile relationship between Nick and LaCroix and features the wonderful line about LaCroix not wanting a "new one" but "that one" when Nick leaves them, she wrote Queen of Harps that featured a young idealistic mortal Nick and revealed the events that sent him to the Crusades and quite possibly planted the seed for his disenchantment with the Church, Black Wing early in season 3, the wonderful Fever complete with a plague that killed vampires and featured a nice confrontation between LaCroix and Natalie, and finally Francesa which is quite possibly the first Forever Knight episode I ever saw and featured Nick's talk with Natalie about the alluring appeal of taking someone's blood.