"Actor: Jennifer Calvert"

• Proteus | DVD | (07/10/2002) from £17.82   |  Saving you £-14.83 (N/A%)   |  RRP £2.99

  A conventional but spirited monster-at-loose quickie, Proteus stars British hulk Craig Fairbrass (Beyond Bedlam) as an undercover cop marooned with a gang of panicky drug dealers (played by Americans no one has heard from since 1995) on an oilrig-cum-unethical-genetics research station where a shape-shifting creature is on the prowl, mostly impersonating human beings but occasionally appearing as a giant shark-person. The Thing-like creature absorbs personality traits from the victims it absorbs, so--in a gag reminiscent of the cancerous liver gambit from Forbidden World (1983)--it is finally defeated because it becomes a heroin addict. There is a neat joke about the way the towering hero is constantly beaten up by people far shorter than he is, and Fairbrass's fed-up mockney patter sometimes wrings a few laughs from lines like "f***ing typical--you can never find a mutated monster when you want one!" The sick humour and weird science that were the strengths of the original novel (Slimer, written by screenwriter John Brosnan and Leroy Kettle under the significantly initialled pseudonym Harry Adam Knight) is hammered out in favour of rubbery goop effects and familiar running-around waterlogged corridors being pursued by a red-filtered subjective camera. Doug ("Pinhead") Bradley shows up in old-age make-up as the evil industrialist behind the monster-making programme in the last reel, and effects man director Bob Keen stages an especially gross death scene for the villain as he chokes on a huge scaly tentacle in what looks like an outtake from a gay porn film. On the DVD: An extras-free package, full-screen transfer, and a lot of strange colour distortions that make some dark scenes look like photographic negatives. --Kim Newman

• Come Home Charlie and Face Them: The Complete Series | DVD | (30/04/2018) from £4.70   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £N/A

  Adapting R.F. Delderfield's classic story of love, lust, crime and betrayal, this mini-series centres around a young bank clerk whose yearning to escape the mundanity of small-town life in the 1930s is answered all too readily when he falls for an exotic beauty with dangerous intentions.First aired in 1990, Come Home Charlie and Face Them was the final project of North Wales-born actor and writer Alun Owen, a key figure in 1960s television drama whose credits include the Oscar-nominated screenplay for A Hard Day's Night and scripts for landmark anthology series Armchair Theatre.Charlie Pritchard is a bank cashier in a small Welsh seaside town; lodging with bank manager Evan Rhys-Jones, he forms a relationship with Ida, the banker's earthy, quietly determined daughter. Ida's simple appeal pales, however, beside the promise of passion embodied by the seductive Delphine who with her brother, Beppo, runs the lively Rainbow Café. Charlie and Delphine are irresistibly drawn together... but each for entirely different reasons.

• Stargate S.G - 1: Season 5 (Vol. 23) | DVD | (22/07/2002) from £5.92   |  Saving you £14.07 (70.40%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Stargate SG-1 is the TV spin-off from the 1994 big-screen movie. In the roles of Colonel Jack O'Neill and Dr Daniel Jackson respectively are Richard Dean Anderson and Michael Shanks. They're joined by Captain Samantha Carter (Amanda Tapping) and guilt-stricken former alien baddie Teal'c (Christopher Judge) to form the primary unit SG-1. With a seemingly endless network of Stargates found to exist on planets all across the known universe, their mission is to make first contact with as many friendly races as possible. Episodes on this DVD: "Summit", "Last Stand", "48 Hours" and "Proving Ground". In a daring Tok'ra mission, Daniel Jackson is sent to infiltrate and attend a Goa'uld "Summit" disguised as a manservant. With a lot of sneaking around and a little technobabble thrown in to explain how he isn't recognised, things come to a head with the unveiling of who the secret new baddies are and how they affect Daniel personally. In a direct continuation from "Summit", SG-1 make what they hope is a "Last Stand" against the System Lords. Similarly, the Tok'ra stand together on planet Revanna where O'Neill and Teal'c have a crash course in alien technology as they learn how to grow different types of tunnel from crystal. It's been a while since someone made the analogy of the Stargates operating like a telephone exchange. "48 Hours" traps Teal'c within the system, and the team have only two days to find a way to reconnect him. Unfortunately, this requires the aid of the Russians who are more than a little reluctant about giving up their private dialling device. This episode also features terrific cameos from the slithery Maybourne and Simmons (John de Lancie). Inevitably there needs to be a next generation of SG teams, so Jack and co take time out from their missions to train up some newbies. "Proving Ground" is all about who can make the grade, and in particular they have their eyes on the brilliant Jennifer and headstrong Elliot. The tension is really piled on in this show as layers of reality build to confuse the kids and the audience as to what's really happening to them. --Paul Tonks

• Earthsea | DVD | (02/05/2005) from £11.99   |  Saving you £8.00 (66.72%)   |  RRP £19.99

  Based on Ursula K. Le Guin's multiple award-winning classic tale comes this richly imagined epic mini-series. In the magical world of EarthSea the Amulet of Peace has ensured harmony between humans and dragons for centuries. But when the Amulet is broken and a piece of it disappears it's up to a neophyte wizard to restore balance and stop a nefarious king from conquering EarthSea's islands.

• Infinite Justice | DVD | (14/07/2008) from £5.38   |  Saving you £4.61 (85.69%)   |  RRP £9.99

  American investigative journalist Arnold Silverman is tracking the financial network of Al-Qa'ida. He has a personal cause. His sister worked on the 99th floor of the World Trade Center and her body was never found. When Kamal a British Pakistani studying at London University is reunited with an old school friend who has become a Muslim fundamentalist he follows him to Bosnia to support the Muslim cause. In his attempt to infiltrate the terrorist network Arnold travels to Pakistan where he meets and forms a bond with Kamal who takes him to interview a spokesman for Al-Qa'ida. Will he survive when his true motives are discovered...?

• Stargate S.G -1: Season 5 (Vol. 20) | DVD | (22/04/2002) from £11.45   |  Saving you £11.53 (136.29%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The opening episodes of the fifth season of Stargate SG-1 had a lot of story left over from the nail-biting Season 4 cliffhanger, so this year had to open with a two-part conclusion. "Enemies" is aptly named because the team are faced with their biggest nemeses of all, Apophis and the Replicators, while stuck in another galaxy 120 years away from Earth. The biggest interpersonal problem facing them, however, is a switch in allegiance by Teal'c. Continuing into "Threshold", it takes the wisdom of his old master Bra'tac to perceive that all is not as it seems. But after so many attempts, can the enemies ever truly be vanquished? At long last, Sam gets a sympathetic and revealing spotlight. We get to see some of her home life and who she is away from the science lab. In her garage she has a 1940 Indian motorcycle, a 1961 vintage Volvo and a Harley. These aren't the only things she tinkers with in "Ascension", however. In a case of torn loyalties, she's confronted by an imaginary friend/lover (Young Indiana Jones himself, Sean Patrick Flanery). And then Jack seems to experience something very similar when the team gains a "Fifth Man". Both these episodes' storylines are threatened by the poisonous introduction of Colonel Simmons (John de Lancie, Star Trek's Q). --Paul Tonks