I must say that I find it amazing that a modest sci-fi movie hit from 1994 has spawned now three television series, from the original Stargate SG-1 to Stargate Atlantis to the subject of today’s review Stargate Universe. While I enjoyed the original film, I can’t say that I was a huge fan of SG-1 and have not liked Stargate Atlantis at all. How will Stargate Universe stack up against the prior two series? For yours truly, it is easily the best of the bunch and well worth a look. Read the full story

Being one of the few people I know who is not a huge Star Wars fan, only seeing the original trilogy and The Phantom Menace, I was pretty bewildered when I heard that not only was there an animated film that was made to fit within the new trilogy, but there was an entire television series that predated the film… And this isn’t even that series! This is a new unrelated series that takes places throughout the Star Wars chronology at different times. Confused? Let’s see if it’s worth figuring out.

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It is incredible to consider that almost eleven years has passed since The Sopranos debuted on HBO.  Generally regarded as one of (if not) the best American television series in the history of the medium, it blazed a groundbreaking trail for subsequent edgy cable dramas like Mad Men, Rescue Me, and The Shield. Read the full story

Wow, has it really been 20 years since The Simpsons has been on the air? I can still remember when the Simpsons appeared as a regular short feature on the old Tracy Ullman show before the folks at Fox decided to make it into a 30 minute show. Now into their 21st season (and still going strong), The Simpsons 20th season has now made its way to Blu-ray and is the subject of today’s review. Read the full story

My Name is Earl was part of NBC’s comedy line-up from 2005 and was abruptly canceled in 2009, ending the show on a cliffhanger that unfortunately would never be concluded. With the final season, the question arises of does the season take a dive in quality, making it clear why NBC pulled the plug, or does it do the season justice. So is karma still a funny thing? Read the full story

As a life long resident of the Philadelphia area, I must say that I enjoy the TV series, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Yes it is crude and disgusting and often paints the City in a bad light and is filled with some of the dumbest and most disagreeable characters imaginable. However, regardless of how crude it can get, it is almost always hilarious. In keeping with the season, the gang is back with a Christmas special which arrived this week on Blu-ray. I was anxious to give it a spin. Read the full story

As I am sure anyone could glean from my prior review of the Star Trek films on Blu-ray, I am a real Star Trek fan, although I won’t go so far as to consider myself a Trekker or Trekkie or whatever the current nomenclature is these days. However, I am old enough to have watched all 3 seasons of the original series that ran on TV in the 1960′s and then again in syndication and loved when the first few films made it to the big screen. Read the full story

It may be hard to believe with the plethora of HD channels available now via DBS, cable cos and telecos, but there was a time during the first two years of HD broadcasts that there was almost no HD programming available to watch. There was only one HD cable channel, HBO, and the major broadcast networks, some of which had maybe one show in HD available each day or, in the case of PBS, ran nothing but a loop hour after hour. Even worse was Fox, which at the beginning, didn’t think that HD was even necessary, broadcasting in 480p widescreen which they believed the viewing audience would find to be good enough. Needless to say, those of us who were very early adopters of HD, were hungry for almost any kind of HD programming and would watch shows that we normally might not have given a second thought to just because they were in HD. Read the full story

I have been a huge fan of Torchwood since season one ran on HDNet back in 2007. Season one featured some incredible writing, making it one of the most original and interesting sci-fi TV series I have ever seen. Season two was even better, with better character development and stronger story lines. Torchwood is not a series that is afraid to take risks, such as killing off several central characters. Read the full story

As you may know, I had the pleasure of being able to review the Blu-ray releases of the first and second seasons of Dexter, one of the most original and intriguing shows in the history of television. Not being a Showtime subscriber, I was not able to catch the third season and I was anxiously waiting to receive the season 3 Blu-ray to see just what type of mayhem Dexter would get involved with next. Well, season 3 has arrived on Blu-ray and here is the review. Read the full story

 I would fail an administered polygraph test miserably if I said I have not been looking forward to this moment since 3:01 AM EST on December 16, 2006.  No, I am not talking about the second coming of Christ, but rather the greatest American hero of modern times…Jack Bauer in Hi-Def!  What exactly is so significant about 3:01 AM, December 16, 2006 you may ask?  Well it’s none other than the date and time I ventured out to Wal-Mart to get the impossible to find, at the time, Sony Playstation 3.  It was later that weekend that I was introduced to the world of Blu-ray and I have not looked back since, except to reflect on that magical moment of seeing the crystal clear blue Bahamian waters and the tiny goose bumps lavishly spread across Jessica Alba’s exotic tanned flesh in Into The Blue.  Ahhh (thoughts of serenity race throughout my brain and ricochet off my skull until)…the fingers snap…my attention is broke…back to the review I embark in discern. Read the full story

Time have really changed in regards to the standard TV fair seen during the summer months. It used to be that all we had in the summer was reruns of the previous season’s prime time shows. Now, in addition to those reruns and really cheaply produced “reality” programming, the cable networks have started to produce original programming for summertime viewing. Once of the leaders in this regard is TNT with their critically acclaimed and popular Closer series. Another strong effort in this category is USA Network’s Burn Notice, whose second season is now available on Blu-ray. I was never really impressed with the look of the show on USA’s HD channel. Will the Blu-ray be much of an improvement? Read the full story

I had previously reviewed Dexter – The First Season on Blu-ray in January and thoroughly enjoyed it. I was anxiously awaiting receipt of the second season of the series to see if they could match the originality and drama of the first season. So, when the set arrived this week from the folks at CBS, I couldn’t wait to pop in the discs and give them a spin. Is the second season of Dexter as good as the first, you bet it is. Even better. Read the full story

I’ve been a fan of South Park ever since a friend introduced me to the internet Christmas card that started it all. It was Santa versus Jesus and these short potty mouthed kids that somehow wormed their way under your skin. Pretty soon I was downloading the episodes and watching them on my computer. For some reason I can’t quite explain, I’ve very rarely watched an episode on Comedy Central. By the time things were getting tighter and riskier downloading the shorts, the single disc, 4 episode DVD’s began to arrive in stores. So, my South Park viewing moved from the PC to the DVD player. Read the full story

There are only so many hours in a day. That along with the fact that I do not subscribe to Showtime are two of the reasons I did not catch the first season of Dexter during its initial run. In addition, the subject matter of the series didn’t sound very appealing so I even missed its debut on CBS.  However, I just returned from a trip to Paris where adverts for Dexter appeared in every Paris Metro or RER station. In fact, there were so many adverts for Dexter that I half expected to see a poster for Dexter hanging in the Louvre. Therefore, I thought why not give this release a spin when I got back. I am glad I did. Read the full story

The arrival of Blu-ray and high definition home video has had an enormous effect on the documentary industry. Suddenly cinematographers can bring us to the most remote reaches of our globe and even beyond, and they can do so with such detail and sharpness it’s like opening a window to these once unreachable places. Wild China is a perfect example of this ability. With incredible HD equipment, this mini-series from the BBC brings the hidden realms of China into our living rooms. Read the full story

I was very disappointed when Fox announced the release of Prison Break Season 3 on Blu-ray with no word about including the incredible Season 2 on the Blu-ray format. I was one of the late bloomers who did not watch the first 3 seasons of Prison Break while it was airing live on television. I was too busy with my favorite TV show, 24, to pay any attention to Prison Break. When I first saw a commercial for Season 1 I thought how dumb…when they finally break out of prison then what…the show would be over. Wow! Was I ever wrong! It was during the recent writer’s strike that I was looking for something to watch on my favorite format…Blu-ray. I heard so many good things about the show Prison Break that I decided to give Season 1 a chance when I found a new Blu-ray set for a real attractive price on eBay. My wife had never really even heard of the show. We were both instantly hooked and glued to our television viewing seats that week, engrossed in the never-ending cliffhangers that Fox River’s criminal society provided us. Read the full story