My love from Doctor Who has been growing the more I watch the show.

Everyone knows the David Tennant Doctor, and so being a new fan I was confused why he was back for Specials that are releasing now. Is it set back in the original series time? What the hell is going on? Well I wasn’t expecting what I saw.

This series is its own unique little story. It kicks off with David Tennant as the Doctor. The Doctor does the usual thing when they are reborn with sussing out their new appearance. The Doctor is confused when he realises he is in an old face as that hasn’t happened before. This is the part that I understand is contentious with fans, as this isn’t supposed to happen supposedly.

But anyway, if you watched the David Tennant series, you will know that it ended with heartbreak. Donna had to be forced to forget all her adventures with the Doctor so she wouldn’t die from the chaos inserted into her brain. We discover Donna living a life as a fantastic mum and wife, and the Doctor happens upon her by chance. He tries to avoid her recognising him, but she is dealing with a feeling of emptiness, like something is missing.

Anyway, things kick off when aliens land on earth, and Donna and the doctor have to save the world.  The first special brings a cute little alien being hunted, and it takes an insane turn which flips the little story on its head. The best part is getting some more content with the excellent Doctor and companion. I’m not going to spoil it, I will just say I enjoyed the hell out of it as well as the other two specials.

David Tennant does a fantastic job of playing the Doctor. He hasn’t just totally fallen into the old character, instead he plays a Doctor that has been regenerated a few times. In many ways, he is as charming as ever, but he plays it a little more jaded in a way that is unique yet familiar. Catherine Tate as Donna is as charming and fun as ever.

One amazing thing with these DVD releases is the sheer amount of special features on the discs. The Doctor Who: 60th Anniversary Specials DVD is no exception. Each disc has one special and heaps of behind the scenes content. This makes for heaps of extra watching for the fans like me that want that little bit more.

Doctor Who: 60th Anniversary Specials are a cracking little story that leans into the latest Doctor in its own cool way. As a new fan of the show, I don’t have the hang ups on what should or shouldn’t happen in the lore. Instead I just enjoyed it for what was in front of me, and I enjoyed the hell out of it and look forward to watching it over and over again on DVD.

The post Doctor Who 60th Anniversary Specials (DVD) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Long time fans of Blackadder will know Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie are incredible at absurd and silly humour.

Then after watching Hugh Laurie with his serious drama movies, and Stephen Fry as a witty and incredibly smart man from his documentaries and QI, it’s easy to forget this.

I only discovered that the two had a sketch show embarrassingly recently. I saw some fantastic clips, but never a massive amount. Well this changed with the release of A Bit Of Fry And Laurie: The Complete Collection on DVD, and my life is the better for it!

A Bit Of Fry And Laurie is a show consisting of short skits.  The collection grabs all 4 seasons encompassing 26 episodes of their brilliance. There aren’t any special features I spotted, so you are unfortunately just left to watch this timeless and brilliant comedy.

Skits vary massively from the thought provoking to the absurd.

The best thing they do is break the fourth wall, but not in the usual way.

I mean they speak to the audience plenty in some skits but some of the best comedy is when they reference the skits. One of the early ones does this best where Stephen walks up to a counter and Hugh says he’s ugly. Then Stephen says no we weren’t going to do that skit, I didn’t like it. Then they return to their starting points and do a different skit.

There are heaps of jokes that crap on their skit ideas and it’s consistently brilliant.

Then on top of that is the brilliant variation between skits.

There are some with absurd physical humour that feel like they could nestle into a Monty Python collection perfectly. Then they have some clever musical pieces scattered throughout, and it’s at it’s best when they play with language for jokes. They can vary from longer skits that play on themselves, to clever bits where a critic criticises a skit, then a new critic criticises the critic, to simple gags that last a few seconds.

It’s hard to speak too much more to it, because each bit is it’s own thing and most of them are at their funniest the first time you watch it out of the blue. But the best part is most of the jokes are amazing watching and rewatching things, as you start to notice other clever bits, or gags that are played on later, making the earlier ones funnier on the second watch.

If you at all like British comedy, clever skits, or Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie, then this is a must add to your collection. A full rewatch has reminded me how brilliant they are, and it’s the perfect rewatch show for when you just want to relax and have a laugh.

The post A Bit of Fry and Laurie Complete Collection (DVD) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Stephen King is one of the most iconic and visionary horror writers of all time.

With his mind boggling creativity, some things have translated to the screen excellently. Others… not so much.  So an opportunity to check out the Stephen King Collection Limited Edition boxset was too great to pass up.

This collection comes equipped with 5 movies spanning 1993 to 2007, and Bag of Bones which is a mini series from 2011.  That’s a big ol box, and the quality inside is, well, mixed.

The first thing I wanted to find out was if The Mist still held up. 17 years since it released, and The Mist is still excellent. The acting and special effects are decent, but it’s the twists and turns that make The Mist excellent, with a BRUTAL ending.

So naturally I thought I would go check out Secret Window which was an okay movie when I last saw it. Turns out it is still just okay. Here is a case of decent acting, albeit hammy, and a reasonably predictable ending. There are som fun red herrings along the way.

And in these ways, I love movies from Stephen King’s work.

When one of them is great, there isn’t much that can top it. When they are average, the ideas and journey are still interesting. This collection has in it the excellent 1408 and The Mist, the okay-to-watch Secret Window and Bag of Bones, and then we get to the interesting Needful Things and Riding the Bullet.

Needful Things and Riding the Bullet are some of the best examples of how great an average movie based on Stephen King’s work can be.

Both of them are perfectly average movies on the whole, but they are interesting. The creativity of the source material oozes through making these great watches.  Not great movies, but great watches.

Stephen King Collection – Limited Edition doesn’t contain the best movies based on his work, but it does provide a really nice summary of movies based on his work.  From the excellent, to the not so great but interesting, it’s a damn fine collection.  The hard box is incredibly designed to look like it is worn at the edges and it keep tricking my eyes.  This really is a great addition to your shelf.

The post Stephen King Collection – Limited Edition (Bluray) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

I’m sure every kiwi has memories of watching Xena as a kid.

Well maybe not every kiwi, but every kiwi that is an old fart like me. The hammy acting, that bonkers iconic yell, the magical chakram, seared Xena and Lucy Lawless into the hearts and minds of so many. So given the chance to revisit the series with the latest DVD release, I was all in.

For anyone who doesn’t know, Xena – Warrior Princess is set in ancient Greece.

Xena used to be a warlord who did a whole lot of merciless killing. When the series kicks off she is trying to do good things to make up for it. She comes face to face with her mother who wants nothing to do with her, despite this a young woman Gabrielle tries to tag along with her. Gabrielle is from a small village and doesn’t want to live a bland life being married to a generic village man. Xena doesn’t want company, but Gabrielle follows along until Xena doesn’t really have a choice.

The whole series then follows this fantastic partnership as Xena finds her new calling as a warrior who does good in the world.

She comes across many ancient tribes, mythical creatures, and gods in her journey, but with all of this, we get a damn good character story of Xena. Her relationship with Gabrielle creates this amazing through-line for all of the stories, that is as endearing to watch now as it was in the 90’s.

Some of the CGI is certainly pretty well below average, but fortunately the series leans a lot into practical effects.  This means that the show is clearly dated, but it doesn’t become unwatchable. The DVD box set keeps the original screen size and everything, which is initially jarring as you have the black bars on the screen, but the show is that good that you will stop caring pretty damn fast.

The acting though is what makes the story so good.

Some of it is the cheesy 90’s fantasy type acting, which is as soap opera like, but man, it works so well. With actresses like Lucy Lawless and Renee O’Connor sitting centre stage, everything they are trying to do lands.  While Lucy Lawless starts off and finishes as a total badass, the change that Gabriella goes through from farm girl to total badass is the biggest feat, and she nails it.

The really awesome fight scenes really demonstrate the physical work put in by all the actors, but mostly with these two, and it just works so damn well 20-30 years later.

If you haven’t watched this incredible show, then you owe it to yourself to pick up this box set.

The acting rules, the action rules, the sets rule, the story rules, the CGI…  Xena – Warrior Princess is almost as good now as it was back then. Any nerd that enjoys a good fantasy show owes it to themselves to witness this gem, and any nerd who saw it a long time ago owes it to themselves to witness it again.

Xena – Warrior Princess: The Ultimate Collection is a DVD collection that should be in every collection.

The post Xena Warrior Princess Ultimate Collection (DVD) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

When Master of None was first released, I was apprehensive.

Like many, I loved Tom in Parks and Rec but I was nervous that Aziz Ansari’s humour may not translate. Watching Master of None, it became clear quickly that Aziz Ansari is so much smarter and funnier than I could have expected.

And now all three seasons are in one DVD collection to rewatch.

The series initially follows Dev, played by Aziz, who is a young man trying to make it in New York. It follows him as he awkwardly makes his way through life and makes it as an actor. In many ways, it is the classic sitcom where someone awkwardly makes their way through interactions, but it takes the awkwardness up to make the show feel so authentic and realistic.

A lot of the jokes are really focused on unfortunate moments and awkward thoughts and how Dev navigates around them.

The opening scene of episode 1 shows Dev having sex when the condom breaks. Unsure about whether pregnancy can occur without the finishing moments, they Google the answer there in bed. Unable to confirm a consensus, they go off at some awful hour of the night to get a pill for her. It’s the perfect example of something that touches on so many aspects of our daily lives and ruins such a fun moment for Dev.

The series shows daily interactions and how Dev reflects on his own life. One thing I like is that Dev and his friends are really likeable. Dev is a really nice guy with a diverse friend group. Every single one of them seems like they would be a delight to have in your life, and that just makes the show so much more enjoyable. Sure, annoying characters make jokes easier to hit, especially when the jokes are at the characters expense. Instead, the show comes more from a heartfelt place, and that makes the show a really nice watch.

Season 3 is a really interesting one. It is titled “Master of None Presents: Moments in Love,” and it radically changes the pace. It follows Denise, who is one of Dev’s friends, and her marriage and life with Alicia. The earlier seasons were about single life, and Aziz did say after his second season that he probably wouldn’t have enough content for season 3 unless he got married. Well, this change of pace suddenly makes sense, as he worked with Lena Waithe, who plays Denise. The season is way slower, and the jokes are more sparse, with the dramatic side ramped up. It’s brutal at times, but a really rewarding series if you can handle the slowed-down pace.

The DVD package just contains the show. I was really hoping for some awesome special features, but this one unfortunately doesn’t deliver. Regardless, the show is incredible and well worth watching and enjoying in one sweet package.

The post Master of None – Complete Series (Bluray) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Imprint has been doing an awesome job bringing movies to Blu-ray. Everything from older classics like War of the Worlds, to more recent movies that are old enough they are worth visiting or revisiting if you have had some time away from them.

After Dark: Neo Noir Cinema Collection One brings 6 noir style movies from the 90’s into a really interesting box set.

The box contains the movies Mortal Thoughts, Rush, One False Move, Flesh and Bone, Twilight, and After Dark, My Sweet. And yes the last one is After Dark, My Sweet. The use of that comma in the title makes it a pain to put in a list.

If you have watched a selection of these then you will understand that the movies are incredibly different. The connection of them being noir movies makes it a great bundle, but they all have different plots, different writing styles, different pacing, etc. As someone who has somehow never seen any of these flicks this was great. I was nervous I would be watching too much same same, turns out it wasn’t at all the case.

Take Mortal Thoughts for example. Bruce Willis and Demi Moore star in the gem. Bruce Willis plays the most asshole of asshole husbands. One day he winds up dead and his wife and her best friend are left dealing with the situation. The whole story is framed in the husbands wife (Demi Moore) telling the story to the cops. Initially the movie seems to just be showing the plot, but as it goes on you realize that some of the things you saw are her version of events, and some things aren’t quite right. It isn’t the greatest movie around, but some really solid performances make it a really good watch.

Flesh and Bone on the other hand is a more straightforward story. A young boy and his father are robbing a house when the family wakes up. They are forced to kill everyone but leaves a baby alive. The movie jumps  forward and that boy is working a normal day job when he meets a young woman. Their lives become even more entangled and a romance builds, the kicker, he is the young boy and she was that baby. It all crashes together when they run into his dad.

This movie is slower burn with some relaxed pacing that can be unnecessarily drawn out. Dennis Quade is half decent but Gwenyth Paltrow and Meg do awesome and really give the movie the strength it needed.

Rush on the other hand tells the story of an undercover officer who is trying to get to the bottom of the drug dealership in the town. He needs a new partner and so a young rookie joins him.

He takes her through the ropes of being an undercover narcotics cop and one day they are forced to do actual drugs. Apparently drugs are addictive as hell and so their lives become a bit more crazy and they are forced to make some less than ethical choices. This one has really weird pacing as it jumps through time, then slows the hell down. Again though the movie itself becomes really powerful thanks to the acting involved.

I won’t go through the plot of all 6 movies but as you should be able to tell, they are all very different stories. They are all in that kind of B grade tier of quality, but all elevated via some excellent acting. This is what makes the collection a really good one, these are gems I hadn’t seen but I am definitely glass I have now.

Each movie is in its own Blu-ray case and all of them slot into a nice hardcover box. Also included in the box is a great little book that gives some interesting insight into each movie. On top of this is the cool new special features. Some of the flicks have features with people involved in the movie, but recorded now so they have the benefits of insight. It’s a great touch for the collection.

After Dark: Neo Noir Cinema Collection One is a great Blu-ray collection of consistently good movies.

None of them are outstanding, but they are all really worth your while watching, and as a collection it couldn’t make for a better week of movie nights.

The post After Dark – Neo Noir Cinema Collection (Bluray) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

The year is 1993, National has won the tightly contested last first-past-the-post election, Jim Boldger dropped those immortal words Bugger the pollsters.

I mean this is despite them winning, just the pollsters had them predicted to win by more. Seemed like a weird take, maybe he should have done more to appeal to NZers to get more seats.

Anyway it wasn’t all bad, DB was a big enough beer that it was sponsoring the Black Caps, and there was that McD’s cheeseburger ad that looked like it was trying to seduce you. All of this and TV’s around the world were graced with the iconic Dr Quinn Medicine Woman.

Now nearly 30 years later you can pick up 42 discs of old west goodness, including all 7 seasons and the T2 TV movies.  Going in I remembered watching the show on TV as a kid and liking it enough, but wasn’t sure if it would stand up.

So what better way to find out than diving in head first.

Immediately from the outset, this is going to be an interesting recommendation. Straight off the bat get used to black bars.

I don’t know what you remember about TV in the 90’s but the 4:3 aspect ratio was a bit more square than current TV’s. The series on the DVD hasn’t been fancied up much, so you will notice some black bars down the side of the screen. The good news is it only takes a few seconds before you stop noticing it.

Now I know my editor is going to tease me for this, but the best news is that Dr Quinn is as iconic as she has ever been. If you are unaware of the series let me fill you in. Dr Quinn is living in the 1860’s. Her dad was a doctor and never had his son, so Michaela goes by Mike and follows in her father’s footsteps to become a doctor.

Given the time, lady doctors weren’t really a thing, so when Dr Mike’s dad died she decided to move from Boston to a small town in Colorado to create her own practice.

When she arrives they are all confused as to why she is a she.

They try to say she can’t take the job, but she sticks around to prove herself, and after some emergencies, she wins enough of the town over. Over the first season we see her successfully winning more of the townsfolk over and cementing her place as the local doctor. But just to make sure there is more chaos, a woman dies from a snake bite and asks Doctor Mike to take care of her 3 kids. Boom, she is now a mum, and a lady doctor in the Wild West.

So now we have the premise, the general gist of the show.  Basically it is an above average TV drama. Take acting for example, which can vary from top quality, to some soap opera level acting. Where it lands is a light hearted drama that is easy to watch, and easy to cringe at times.

Easy to watch is the best way to describe what is so good about Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman.

New people come to town, from snake oil salespeople, to bad men trying to be naughty, and this creates a nice chill way for conflict to arise, and to resolve it by the end of the episode. The main townsfolk stay and develop over the series, but this neat way to tidy  up loose ends makes the show so damn easy to binge and enjoy.

Now of course this is a show made in the early 90’s about a town in the 1800’s where it is surprisingly progressive.

Native Americans are in the area and there is all kinds of racism from townsfolk and the like. Dr. Mike and her family don’t like racism and treat them with respect, and some others have connections, which is nice. The Native Americans are kinda used as plot devices where they come in and disappear “as needed”, which isn’t ideal, but it’s pretty good for its time.

The 7 seasons and 2 movies in here makes this a really nice box set. Because the TV show is easy to watch, it makes for a chill show while the kids are still up, which is how I motored through a lot of the show. It might not be the best drama around but I ain’t watching Ozark while my 8 year old and 1 year old are up.

What this does fulfil is that early evening slot where you can watch, chill, and enjoy without having to think too much. And I am so damn in.

Dr Quinn, Medicine Woman: The Complete Collection is an incredible box set for a classic series. The show has aged in some ways, and is timeless in others. It’s just a damn good series that I enjoyed even more than I expected.

The post Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman: Complete Collection (DVD) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

What if anyone around you might be hiding inside a body?  What if your best friend Steve and his fiance Dave aren’t who they appeared to be?

No I am not talking about Lizard People, I am talking about Travelers.

Travelers opens with some intense cutscenes.

We see a bunch of people each living their last moments before they die.  Everything from a disabled library worker being attacked, someone having a cage fight, to a poor woman being hit by an abusive ex.  These ruthless scenes are followed with a screeching sound and then they get up seemingly unaffected and defusing the situation they are in.

After a bit of intrigue we discover they are Travelers.

People who have had their conscience sent back in time into bodies so they can stop a bunch of bad things happening and hopefully save the future.  I know a lot of this doesn’t sound original, but with it’s tweaks like consciousness going back and taking bodies that were just about to be abandoned, it is just original enough.

There are apparently thousands of these Travelers in the world but we don’t waste time with all of them and wondering what crises they might be averting.  We focus on our little team of 5.  They each go by their names which are numbers… because futuristic?  With one of them taking over the body of an FBI agent they start trying to save the days.

Early on we spend time as the people around these bodies try to understand the changes in their family and friends.  After all, the person never died for these people, their personalities just changed a bit.  Then over the two seasons we get to see the team of travellers grow and develop in the world they are in.

They deal with everything like the people around, to the challenges of not necessarily achieving the tasks they set out to do.

As the show progresses it becomes much more of a mission of the week type of show.  While this style of TV has fallen out of favour with many, it is a welcome change of pace.  Don’t get me wrong, I like a 17 hour movie broken into weekly episodes as much as the next person, but actually getting to enjoy closure at the end of most episodes is a really satisfying way to enjoy TV.

Over the top of this is an overarching story arc of what is going on and their own individual stories which advance throughout the series.

This combination of a compelling long story but with each episode getting its end makes the show super moorish.  It is the tamari almonds of TV.  The other thing that really helped the show is that it is a sci-fi budget where all the fancy sci-fi stuff happens inside people’s brains.  So the reduction of requiring special effects makes the show stand up better.  That and some consistently damn good acting.

The only issue with this DVD package is there are three seasons of this excellent show and the package is just Season One & Two.

I will now go find Season Three because if the first two are anything to go by, it will be a banger.

The post Travelers Season 1 & 2 (DVD Boxset) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

The first part of My Hero Academia Season 4 was extraordinary.

The darkest storyline yet with some truly harrowing scenes thanks to the dynamics of the league of villains and Overhaul.

It was action packed and I couldn’t stop watching until the end. If you were expecting this to keep up in Season 4 – Part 2, it has a different pace and tone.

This half of the season kicks off by tying off the loose ends from Part 1.

Once these are done we head back to UA to see the students that failed their Provisional Hero License having a second crack at it. This is what we will get a lot of in the season, more of our development time with the characters.

The bulk of the season is based around the school having their festival. Usually this involves multiple schools but due to the risks caused by the league of villains they decide to keep it to classes in the school.

As such class 1-A tries to put on something that will entertain the other classes to make up for bringing all that stress to the school.

Alongside this plot we have a new villain team by Gentle Criminal and his sidekick La Brava. These two commit non-violent crimes to build a social media following and device to interrupt the UA festival to boost their subscriber count.

Then we have the development of Eri who is perpetually sad thanks to her time at the hand of Overhaul, because you know, he was a dick. Mirio and Midoria try to bring some light to her life as they don’t want her to go down a dark path, so they decide to take her to the school festival.

So what we wind up with is a handful of side stories that all hit at this one event. It makes the story enjoyable and likely super important for the next series.

It is tough after watching the awesome that was Part 1 to slow it down, but we do get a lot of time developing aspects of our lesser characters like Kyoko who definitely deserves the screen time.

The limited edition package is awesome. The box is made to have space for the Part 1 Blu-Ray, the Part 2 Blu-Ray and a hardcover art book that sits in the middle. In the place where you will put Part 2 is a removable box which contains some awesome art cards, a 48-page keyframe collection, some stickers, guitar picks, and a 3” todoroki acrylic keychain.

It is a cool collection of stuff for any MHA fan.

Season 4 Part 2 might not be as strong as Part 1 but it still does a great job of giving us some more class time, a new short villain story, evolving Eri’s character while spending a lot more time developing their relationship with Midoriya and Mirio.

I suspect this relationship is gonna be important soon.

The post My Hero Academia Season 4 – Part 2 (Anime) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

It is so easy to get an isolated view of anime based on what you have experienced. I have enjoyed anime for years but was almost exclusively watching the Shonen genre which is targeted at teenage boys like Dragon Ball Z, Black Clover, and My Hero Academia.

But dig a little below the surface and there is a true array of genres that will cater to anyone with an open mind, and dig a little deeper and you will find the genius that is Makoto Shinkai.

Makoto Shinkai started off his unique creations with a 30 minute OVA Voices of a Distant Star which tells a short story of friends who are messaging each other. The kicker is one of those friends is in a mech suit travelling further away over the years throughout the galaxy as she takes part in fights which means it takes even longer for the messages to reach her friend on earth. It is a cracking short story that is light on anime tropes, and full of heart.

This is what you should come to expect from Makoto Shinkai. His movies over the years have dabbled with the classic tropes, but that is not what you should be here for. The stories told here are fascinating takes on relationships, usually framed in an interesting and unique world that only anime would produce.

If you haven’t seen much of Makoto Shinkai’s work then this collection is well worth having a look at. I had personally heard about a few of the movies but hadn’t actually seen one as they are not always the easiest to track down. This collection bundles seven of them in one box.

The movies included are The Place Promised in Our Early Days, Voices of a Distant Star, 5 Centimeters per Second, Children Who Chase Lost Voices, The Garden of Words, Your Name, and the 2020 release Weathering with You.

I won’t go into every movie because this will wind up being a 4000 word review, and you should be using the time to watch Makoto Shinkai’s movies, not reading an essay about why they are excellent. Instead I will touch on his two most recent releases to help explain why the series of movies are great.

Take Your Name, which tells the story of two people from different backgrounds who suddenly start swapping bodies. One is a girl who lives in a farming village near Tokyo who follows older traditions, and the other is a young man living in Tokyo with a more modern lifestyle. They then try to meet each other but have the issue of forgetting each other’s names. Some other stuff comes into play like time and a disaster which I don’t want to spoil, but it’s damn good.

Then there is the most recent release, Weathering With You. Here we meet a young man and woman in almost eternally raining Tokyo. It turns out Hina is a sunshine girl who can control the weather but only in a confined space. This delves deeper and we find out that Hina is supposed to sacrifice herself to stop the rain. All kinds of weirdness ensues and they find themselves trying to decide the best thing to do all the while being chased by the cops as they are too young to be out on their own.

The two examples above show how Makoto Shinkai can craft a movie that is a totally unique world, and yet spends the bulk of its time giving you a fantastic character story that is more about relationships than anything else.

If this has intrigued you, and it should, then I can’t recommend this collection of movies enough.  Going in intrigued and blind is the best way to tackle them and they don’t disappoint. Each movie has a selection of special features as well so you aren’t getting a budget version of the movies to cram them into a collection.

Fantastic stories, set in fantastic worlds, with excellent animation makes the Makoto Shinkai Collection a worthy addition to any blu-ray shelves.

The post Makoto Shinkai Collection (Anime) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.