"Actor: Leonard Hicks"

• Shadowzone | DVD | (17/06/2002) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £7.99

  After someone is killed in the subterranean project called Shadowzone a NASA captain is called in to investigate. In the project sleeping subjects are induced into a deep EDS state whereby they become portals to a parallel universe.

• Sebastiane | DVD | (18/06/2001) from £20.00   |  Saving you £-0.01 (N/A%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The first and only film shot entirely in subtitled Latin, Sebastiane is Derek Jarman's first work as a director (though he shared the job with the less well-known Paul Humfress) and is a strange combination of gay nudie movie, pocket-sized Ancient Roman epic and meditation upon the image of Saint Sebastian. It opens with the Lindsay Kemp dance troupe romping around with huge fake phalluses to represent the Ken Russell-style decadence of the court of the Emperor Diocletian in AD 303, then decamps to Tuscany as Diocletian's favourite guard Sebastian (Leonardo Treviglio) is demoted to ordinary soldier and dispatched to a backwater barracks because the Emperor (Robert Medley) suspects him of being a covert Christian. The bulk of the film consists of athletic youths in minimal thongs romping around the countryside, soaking themselves down between bouts of manly horseplay or sylvan frolic. It all comes to a bad end as the lecherous but guilt-ridden commanding officer Severus (Barney James) fails to cop off with Sebastian and instead visits floggings and tortures upon his naked torso, finally ordering his men to riddle the future saint with arrows, thus securing him a place in cultural history. The public schoolboy cleverness of scripting dialogue in Latin--a popular soldier's insult is represented by the Greek "Oedipus"--works surprisingly well, with the cast reeling off profane Roman dialogue as if it were passionate Italian declarations rather than marbled classical sentences. The film suffers from the not-uncommon failing that the best-looking actor is given the largest role but delivers the weakest performance: Treviglio's Sebastian is a handsome cipher, far less interesting than the rest of the troubled, bullying, awkward or horny soldiers in the platoon. Peter Hinwood, famous for the title role in The Rocky Horror Picture Show, can be glimpsed in the palace orgy. The countryside looks as good as the cast, and Brian Eno delivers an evocative, ambient-style score. --Kim Newman

• Star Trek 4 : The Voyage Home | DVD | (06/08/2001) from £10.50   |  Saving you £9.49 (90.38%)   |  RRP £19.99

  The most popular movie in the "classic Trek" series of feature films, Star Trek IV was a box-office smash that satisfied mainstream audiences and hardcore fans alike. The Voyage Home returns to one of the favourite themes of the original TV series--time travel--to bring Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Sulu, Uhura, and Chekov from the 23rd century to present-day (ie, mid-1980s) San Francisco. In their own time, the Starfleet heroes encounter an alien probe emitting a mysterious message--a message delivered in the song of the now-extinct Earth species of humpback whales. Failure to respond to the probe will result in Earth's destruction, so Kirk and company time-travel to 20th-century Earth--in their captured Klingon starship--to transport a humpback whale to the future in an effort to communicate peacefully with the alien probe. The plot sounds somewhat absurd in description, but as executed by returning director Leonard Nimoy, this turned out to be a crowd-pleasing adventure, filled with a great deal of humour derived from the clash of future heroes and contemporary urban realities, and much lively interaction among the favourite Trek characters. Catherine Hicks plays the 20th-century whale expert who is finally convinced of Kirk's and Spock's benevolent intentions. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

• Santa Claus Conquers The Martians | DVD | (16/10/2006) from £34.99   |  Saving you £-30.00 (N/A%)   |  RRP £4.99

  The children of Mars are growing tired of the regimented life on their planet desperate for some of the fun they see Earth children enjoying via the television. Martian sage Chochem advises the Martian council that what they need is a Santa Claus like figure but rather than find one of their own they decide to kidnap Earth's Santa along with two children. Can Santa Claus help the Martians and return to Earth to complete making toys for the children of his own planet?

• Star Trek 4: The Voyage Home (Special Edition) | DVD | (02/06/2003) from £9.98   |  Saving you £15.01 (150.40%)   |  RRP £24.99

  The most popular movie in the "classic Trek" series of feature films, Star Trek IV was a box-office smash that satisfied mainstream audiences and hard-core fans alike. The Voyage Home returns to one of the favourite themes of the original TV series--time travel--to bring Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Sulu, Uhura and Chekov from the 23rd century to present-day (i.e., mid-1980s) San Francisco. In their own time, the Starfleet heroes encounter an alien probe emitting a mysterious message--a message delivered in the song of the now-extinct Earth species of humpback whales. Failure to respond to the probe will result in Earth's destruction, so Kirk and company time-travel to 20th-century Earth--in their captured Klingon starship--to transport a humpback whale to the future in an effort to communicate peacefully with the alien probe. The plot sounds somewhat absurd in description, but as executed by returning director Leonard Nimoy, this turned out to be a crowd-pleasing adventure, filled with a great deal of humour derived from the clash of future heroes and contemporary urban realities, and much lively interaction among the favourite Trek characters. Catherine Hicks plays the 20th-century whale expert who is finally convinced of Kirk's and Spock's benevolent intentions. --Jeff Shannon

• Santa Claus Conquers The Martians | DVD | (28/10/2002) from £7.49   |  Saving you £-3.50 (N/A%)   |  RRP £3.99

  The Martians discover Earth's Christmas festival and the much loved Santa Claus. They are so envious that they kidnap him and take him to Mars. Earth has lost Father Christmas but for how long...?

• Star Trek 3 - The Search For Spock | DVD | (01/10/2001) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  The name says it all--Star Trek III: The Search for Spock--so you didn't think Mr. Spock was really dead, did you? When Spock's casket landed on the surface of the Genesis planet at the end of Star Trek II, we had already been told that Genesis had the power to bring "life from lifelessness". So it's no surprise that this energetic but somewhat hokey sequel gives Spock a new lease of life, beginning with his rebirth and rapid growth as the Genesis planet literally shakes itself apart in a series of tumultuous geological spasms. As Kirk is getting to know his estranged son (Merritt Butrick), he must also do battle with the fiendish Klingon Kruge (Christopher Lloyd), who is determined to seize the power of Genesis from the Federation. Meanwhile, the regenerated Spock returns to his home planet, and Star Trek III gains considerable interest by exploring the ceremonial (and, of course, highly logical) traditions of Vulcan society. The movie's a minor disappointment compared to Star Trek II, but it's a--well, logical--sequel that successfully restores Spock (and first-time film director Leonard Nimoy) to the phenomenal Trek franchise ... as if he were ever really gone. With Kirk's wilful destruction of the USS Enterprise and Robin Curtis replacing the departing Kirstie Alley as Vulcan Lt Saavik, this was clearly a transitional film in the series, clearing the way for the highly popular Star Trek IV. --Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com

• Star Trek 3: The Search for Spock -- Two Disc Special Edition | DVD | (13/01/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £17.99

  With hindsight, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock is the satisfactory middle instalment of a well-rounded trilogy that began with The Wrath of Kahn and ended with The Voyage Home (after which this crew really should have retired gracefully). But on its first release, few fans knew what to expect and initial impressions were disappointing. The biggest talking points were that the film was Leonard Nimoy's directorial debut and that his name wasn't in the opening credits. Naturally, the biggest question was just how would the loss of Spock affect the franchise? That question was neatly dodged and what audiences got instead was a tale of team-spiritedness, sacrifice and rebellion that ended on a question mark. In other words it was a fun ride without many answers. The centrepiece of the movie has to be stealing The Enterprise, a beautifully conceived sequence that remains at the heart of classic Trek's filmic storyline: sacrificing all for the sake of friendship, Kirk and co. set out to rescue their lost companion; this single action defines everything the characters had ever meant to each other, and has an effect on everything that followed. And if the loss of Spock had left audiences eager for more, that was as nothing compared to the loss of The Enterprise. On the DVD: Star Trek III on disc does not come in a new transfer as the previous two special edition DVDs, and you won't find any deleted or new scenes either. The extras package is fascinating, nonetheless, especially with the contributions from Nimoy. His fond reminiscences in the commentary track are priceless, with good support from writer-producer Harve Bennett, director of photography Charles Correll, and Robin Curtis (Saavik). The text commentary from the Okudas isn't as involving as the others, sadly, but this is made up for by the trivia dished out in documentaries covering: model-making, costume design, the science of Terraforming, and how to speak Klingon. The best inclusion is "Captain's Log" featuring interviews with an enthusiastic Nimoy, a sarcastic Shatner, an appreciative Curtis and the rarely seen Christopher Lloyd. --Paul Tonks

• Britannia Hospital | DVD | (19/07/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  A farce set in an old hospital that alarmingly resembles Britain at its most chaotic. Everything starts to go wrong when the medical administrators are faced with a threatened strike angry scenes and a Royal visit.

• Matinee Classics | DVD | (03/02/2003) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £15.99

  The Superman Cartoons of Max and Dave Fleischer: Max and Dave Fleischer were the animation team responsible for the onscreen antics of such favourite characters as Koko The Clown Betty Boop and Popeye. In 1941 they were hired by Paramount to bring the wildly popular comic book character of Superman to the screen in a series of animated cartoons. This special edition DVD collects for the 1st time the Fleischer Brothers' massively influential Superman short subjects in their en

• Santa Claus Conquers The Martians | DVD | (23/11/2009) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £4.99

  Santa Claus Conquers The Martians