"Actor: Avery Brooks"

• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Complete Series | DVD | (07/02/2017) from £39.99   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Season 6 | DVD | (08/12/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £84.99

  Deep Space Nine's sixth series began ambitiously with a six-part story arc devoted to the Dominion War. This was a brave move in many ways, but a sensible one too. Whereas other SF shows wouldn't commit to showing the impact of war (Babylon 5), here there were numerous visible sacrifices. Characters were frequently kidnapped and held prisoner, allowing screen time for other members of the ever-growing cast (at its peak there were as many as 18 individuals with speaking roles per episode). This year also introduced the idea of Starfleet Intelligence and its sinister Section 31; alliances were built only to crumble almost immediately; Sisko led a suicide mission and at long last his destiny as the Emissary took a serious turn. Amid all this sturm und drang the writers felt it necessary to inject some levity. In fact, there was so much comedic sidetracking this year it actually seemed sometimes as if they were afraid of the series’ dark tone. Witness: Quark undergoing a temporary sex change, leading a Magnificent Seven-style band of Ferengi (with a cameo from Iggy Pop), Morn's non-speaking character being sorely missed, the blend of Troi and Guinan into 60's crooner Vic Fontaine and, in one fan favourite episode ("Far Beyond the Stars"), Sisko having visions of himself and the crew as 1950s staff writers on pulp magazine Incredible Tales. There were also cute reconciliations amongst Worf's extended family (leading to Trek's first cast wedding), and even the revelation of Bashir's genetically enhanced origins quickly became a subject for easy jokes. Any of these events would have been satisfactorily cute if the war had ended and the show had moved on. But confusing the viewer, every so often the battle would be rejoined mid-episode. The clinching proof that no grand design was really at work was in the sudden and brutal dispatch of Dax. Actress Terry Farrell gave sufficient forewarning of having had enough of the show, but specifically asked not to be killed off. Despite all the jarring humour scattered about after the strong opening, the show seemed unable to avoid reverting to shock tactics for its finale. All of which hardly made the promised final year seem a particularly enticing prospect. --Paul Tonks

• Star Trek - Alternate Realities Collection | DVD | (06/04/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £34.99

  Available for the first time on DVD is a collection featuring the bizarre and strange of episodes of Star Trek! See your favorite characters behaving contrary to type in familiar but odd circumstances in Star Trek: Alternate Realities a 4-disc collection that includes 20 episodes selected from all five Star Trek television series plus exclusive special features. Episodes Comprise: 1. Mirror Mirror - (The Original Series) 2. Crossover - (Deep Space Nine) 3. Through The Looking Glass - (Deep Space Nine) 4. Shattered Mirror - (Deep Space Nine) 5. In A Mirror Darkly (Part 1) - (Enterprise) 6. In A Mirror Darkly (Part 2) - (Enterprise) 7. The Alternative Factor - (The Original Series) 8. Parallels - (The Next Generation) 9. The Enemy Within - (The Original Series) 10. Turnabout Intruder - (The Original Series) 11. Frame of Mind - (The Next Generation) 12. Shattered - (Voyager) 13. Yesterday's Enterprise - (The Next Generation) 14. The Inner Light - (The Next Generation) 15. The Visitor - (Deep Space Nine) 16. Before And After - (Voyager) 17. Timeless -(Voyager) 18. Course: Oblivion - (Voyager) 19. E2 - (Enterprise) 20. Twilight - (Enterprise)

• The Big Hit | Blu Ray | (07/05/2007) from £8.99   |  Saving you £11.00 (122.36%)   |  RRP £19.99

  THE BIG HIT follows the professional and romantic misadventures of Mel (Mark Wahlberg), a beleaguered hitman

• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Season 7 | DVD | (22/12/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £84.99

  The seventh and final series of Deep Space Nine came down to loose ends, tying some existing ones together and allowing others to unravel. Symptomatic of the unwillingness to let DS9 go was the immediate arrival of a replacement Dax, though poor Nichole deBoer as Ezri Dax had to have known she'd already missed the boat. Her appearance encouraged last-minute romances to blossom, with Bashir finally getting some action, Odo finally getting together with Kira and Sisko finally proposing to Kassidy. Another contributing cute factor were numerous trips to the Holosuite wherein the all-knowing Vic Fontaine dished out philosophical advice. That was when the crew weren't in there to play baseball against the Vulcans or when Nog wasn't commiserating about the loss of a leg. Oh yes, and don't forget the war! There was an early announcement that the show would attempt a 10-part resolution to the Dominion War, but viewers could be forgiven for forgetting all about it with so much sentimental distraction. When the horrors of war did resurface, they at least injected a few surprises into the mix. Odo and his ambiguously "evil" Founders were hit with a melting disease, prompting a backstabbing race for the power of developing and owning a cure. The original baddie Cardassians finally settled on the Federation's side. Contrary to these interesting twists, however, were the unexpected turns taken by matters relating to Sisko's spiritual destiny. Suddenly the mystery of the wormhole and an entire religious belief system was reduced to the problem of translating correctly the words of a sacred book. The struggle to join with some evil aliens significantly diluted the attempt at resolving what had begun seven years before in the show's pilot episode. Ultimately, Sisko's destiny, as with all those who'd followed him to the open-ended climax, was to be decided elsewhere. In a move that was either bold and daring--or possibly born of desperation for not having thought things through properly--the show's storylines were to be continued in a series of spin-off books. --Paul Tonks

• Africa's Elephant Kingdom | DVD | (16/09/2012) from £10.78   |  Saving you £2.21 (20.50%)   |  RRP £12.99

  In all the world over there is nowhere else like this. Here in Kenya sky and forest water and grass give life and protection to all. For these are the wild lands....the kingdom of the elephants. Africa's Elephant Kingdom is the gripping story of an extended elephant family that must embark upon a life and death journey across the vast African plains. Through devastating drought to torrential rains they persist simply but nobly bringing the audience face to face with the extraordinary joys and sorrows of elephant life.

• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Season 5 | DVD | (27/10/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £84.99

  Deep Space Nine's fifth series was a turning point from which there was no going back. Character and information overload took over, and the complicated twists and turns in the build up to war either hooked viewers securely, or sent them away with a headache. The Klingon faction instigated by Worf's arrival was occasionally played for laughs, but mostly their hard-headed personalities made all efforts at diplomacy moot. In the opening episode a chilling possibility is proposed as to why might be: have the Changelings infiltrated already and replaced key personnel? Some fans saw this as a flawed X-Files-style development. Nevertheless it sowed a seed of insidious suspicion from here on, affecting all the principal casts' relationship with one another, even allowing Odo and Quark an opportunity to confess a degree of friendship. Expanding on the new theme of duplication, the crew also made numerous trips to their Mirror Universe counterparts. As well as new uniforms and the milestone 100th episode, Nana Visitor and Alexander Siddig comically got to disguise the arrival of their child during filming. More laughs came from the fan favourite "Trials and Tribble-ations" with CG allowing Sisko and crew to interact with Kirk and a cameo from Leonard Nimoy. Avery Brooks began taking a backseat as of this year, partly a result of the now-overcrowded cast. Although Sisko's destiny would be foreshadowed by his first vision and the introduction of the Pah-wraiths, the Captain was in an increasingly sulky mood. Brooks only directed one episode, allowing room for regulars LeVar Burton and Rene Auberjonois to do more behind the camera. Joining them were Alexander Siddig, Michael Dorn and even Andrew Robinson. Available space started to seem hardly deep enough. --Paul Tonks

• What We Left Behind: Looking Back at Star Trek: Deep Space Nine | DVD | (06/08/2019) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Season 1 | DVD | (24/03/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £84.99

  Of all the spin-off TV incarnations of Star Trek, Deep Space Nine had the hardest job persuading an audience to watch. By all accounts, Gene Roddenberry had concerns about the idea before his death in 1991. It took two more years to develop, and when it finally aired in 1993 reasons for that concern were evident right away. The show was dark (literally), characters argued a lot, no one went anywhere and the neighbouring natives were hardly ever friendly. Yet for all that the show went against the grain of The Great Bird's original vision of the future, it undeniably caught the mood of the time, incorporating a complex political backdrop that mirrored our own. In the casting, there was a clear intent to differentiate the show from its predecessors. Genre stalwarts Tony Todd and James Earl Jones were considered for Commander Sisko before Avery Brooks. The one let down at the time was that Michelle Forbes did not carry Ensign Ro across from TNG, but when the explosive Nana Visitor defiantly slapped her hand on a console in the pilot episode, viewers knew they were in for a different crew dynamic. In fact, the two-part pilot show ("The Emissary") is largely responsible for DS9's early success. Mysterious, spiritual, claustrophobic, funny and feisty, it remains the most attention-grabbing series opener (apart from the Classic original) the franchise has had. The first year may have relied on a few too many familiar faces--like Picard, Q and Lwaxana Troi--but these were more than outweighed by refreshingly detailed explorations of cultures old and new (Trill, Bajoran, Cardassian, Ferengi). As it turned out, Deep Space Nine was the boldest venture into Roddenberry's galaxy that had been (or ever would be) seen. On the DVD: Star Trek Deep Space Nine, Series 1's hour of special features is split between seven featurettes that really would have worked better edited together. Covering the show's origins and most aspects of Year One's production design, they all crib from interviews with actors and crew from the 1992 shoot (exclusively so in the 10 "Hidden Files"). Other interviews conducted in 1999 and 2002 tend to be more revealing, although the solo section on Major Kira is curiously lacking in recent input. While the designers describe their work with passion, creators Michael Piller and Rick Berman come off as stiff and lacking in knowledge. Hopefully this is something that will improve through the next six box sets. The interactive CD-ROM to build a DS9 database on your PC is something that will become more involving, too. Obviously the most important thing is the episodes themselves, and despite the lack of a commentary to enhance the best of them, sound in 5.1 and the crisp full-frame picture do them ample justice. --Paul Tonks END

• Combat Zone | DVD | (28/01/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  A tough realistic war film that centers around a small platoon at a remote firebase in Vietnam. The platoon are sent relentlessly on search and destroy missions. On one particular mission the Platoon move into a village catching and killing a band of Viet-Cong they then destroy the arms cache. As the Platoon moves out of the village they discover they are surrounded by a battalion. They make for a rendezvous point where they will be lifted out by helicopter they manage to fight their way to the helicopter pick-up point most of the platoon are now dead and the handful of men left become trapped at the bottom of the ravine.

• American History X | UMD | (30/01/2006) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

• The Greatest Places | DVD | (24/05/2004) from £6.45   |  Saving you £3.54 (35.40%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Witness the greatest collection of diversity ever produced. 'The Greatest Places' is an amazing film that takes you on a journey to seven of the most geographically dynamic locations on Earth.

• The Greatest Places | DVD | (24/05/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Witness the greatest collection of diversity ever produced. The Greatest Places is an amazing film that takes you on a journey to seven of the most geographically dynamic locations on Earth. From the mighty Amazon river to the harsh ice-covered island of Greenland IMAX cameras travel to these natural phenomena and capture each location's unique beauty. You Will travel to such places as: Amazon Greenland Iguazu Namib Okavango Tibet Madagascar

• The Big Hit --Superbit | DVD | (14/10/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  The criminal anarchy is hilarious when a foursome of full-time hit men looking to score some extra cash kidnap the boss' god-daughter. And when beleaguered wise guy Mel is set up to take the fall underworld antics and domestic absurdities collide for a working weekend no one will soon forget...

• Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Complete Seasons 1-7 | DVD | (27/09/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  For the very first time ever all seven seasons of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine adventures from Captain Ben Sisko and the crew in one very special limited edition box set!