"Actor: Alex King"

• Joe 90 - Vol. 2 | DVD | (30/09/2002) from £14.83   |  Saving you £1.16 (7.82%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Joe 90 was Gerry Anderson's penultimate puppet show of the 1960s, following Captain Scarlet (1968) and preceding the little-known The Secret Service (1969). In 2112 professor Ian McClaine has invented the BIG RAT (Brain Impulse Galvanoscope, Record and Transfer), a machine for copying knowledge and experiences from person to person. WIN (World Intelligence Organisation) uses this to prime their top undercover agent before sending him into the field on missions which range from foiling international terrorists to recovering a nuclear weapon from beneath the polar ice. So far so good, but in perhaps the most mind-boggling concept ever to reach children's TV, that agent is McClaine's nine-year-old adopted son, Joe. Somehow even as it stays true to the Gerry Anderson techno-fantasy formula of secret organisations, gadgetry, and action-packed adventure full of spectacular explosions and violent death, Joe 90 remains blithely unconscious of its own implications. The missions are as globe-trotting as anything in Anderson's classic Thunderbirds series, and sometimes Joe does save lives, performing a risky brain operation or rescuing trapped astronauts. Yet even then his criminally irresponsible father brainwashes the lad each episode before placing him in a highly dangerous adult situation. Though the production values remain way ahead of anything else being done on British TV at the time, the question remains how did this ever seem like a good idea? On the DVD: Joe 90, Volume 2 contains the second set of six 25-minute episodes presented, as usual with Gerry Anderson DVDs, behind a lovingly crafted menu. As expected the 4:3 picture quality is superb and the mono sound is full, detailed and without a trace of distortion. There are also several pages of character biography and background information on the show, a photo gallery and a variety of other extras. --Gary S Dalkin

• Small Time Obsession | DVD | (05/03/2007) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

  Erroneously labelled a "gangster film", the independently made British film Small Time Obsession is in fact a thought-provoking essay on generation gaps and loyalties. London's Polish District is the setting, where four long-term friends are used to filling time and their pockets with petty crime. Michael (Alex King) has come to realise he has increasingly less in common with the others, and also with his parents who own a delicatessen. Life's big decisions elude Michael. His exclusively Polish-speaking father wants him to take over the family business, his greyhound Bullitt is starting to win prizes at the track and he's also secretly in love with Ali (Juliette Caton). Unfortunately she's already spoken for by tough guy Chris (Jason Merrells). This love triangle hardly has time to sort itself out since Chris is inadvertently embroiling them all in more Big Time crime. Although the circumstances inevitably lead to bouts of violence , what's refreshing here is that character relationships genuinely resonate with believability. First time writer/director Piotr Szkopiak tells the story with several shades of sympathetic subtlety, sensitively portraying the problems of a generation torn between inheriting their parents' displaced traditions and "fitting in".On the DVD: In this anamorphic widescreen presentation the dirty grey backdrop of London seems to rise up and swamp the characters. A 14-minute documentary ("Behind the Obsession") talks about those locales and how the director and distributor marketed the film. As well as a trailer, the extras package includes numerous text pages devoted to: cast and crew biographies, Production Notes, Locations, Media Reviews and the Polish Community. --Paul Tonks

• Joe 90 - Vol. 4 - Episodes 19 To 24 | DVD | (11/11/2002) from £14.83   |  Saving you £1.16 (7.82%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Joe McClaine is a seemingly ordinary 9 year old boy. However his father has developed a marvellous method of transferring special brain patterns into his son's mind that allows Joe to acquire incredible skills. Soon Joe becomes an agent for the World Intelligence Network and uses his extraordinary enhancements to serve justice around the world... Another stunning Supermarionation series from the Gerry Anderson team that brought you 'Thunderbirds' 'Captain Scarlet' and 'Stingray'

• Bill And Ted's Excellent Adventure / Van Wilder: Party Liaison / Slackers | DVD | (04/10/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Bill And Ted's Excellent Adventure: Bill and Ted are two cool dudes, but to their teacher they are high school no-hopers. They fantasise about forming a band called 'Wyld Stallyns' - one day they'll put themselves together and learn to play guitar. But unless Ted achieves the seemingly impossible and passes a history presentation, he will be shipped off to military school. End of friendship. ; A figure from the future appears in the nick of time, providing a time-travelling phone booth...

• Joe 90 - Vol. 3 - Episodes 13 To 18 | DVD | (11/11/2002) from £17.79   |  Saving you £-1.80 (-11.30%)   |  RRP £15.99

  Joe McClaine is a seemingly ordinary 9 year old boy. However his father has developed a marvellous method of transferring special brain patterns into his son's mind that allows Joe to acquire incredible skills. Soon Joe becomes an agent for the World Intelligence Network and uses his extraordinary enhancements to serve justice around the world... Another stunning Supermarionation series from the Gerry Anderson team that brought you 'Thunderbirds' 'Captain Scarlet' and 'Stingra

• The Infiltrator | DVD | (29/07/2002) from £10.32   |  Saving you £-7.33 (N/A%)   |  RRP £2.99

  A Jewish journalist infiltrates a neo-Nazi group to shed light on their organised racist atrocities. Based on a true story.