"Actor: Richard Biggs"

• Babylon 5 Movie Box Set - Thirdspace/River of Souls/A Call to Arms | DVD | (21/02/2005) from £44.29   |  Saving you £-9.30 (N/A%)   |  RRP £34.99

  Three full-length feature films from the popular 'Babylon 5' science fiction series. Third Space (1998) When a mysterious artefact found discarded in hyperspace is recovered and brought back to the station for analysis the crew aboard Babylon 5 face an unexpected threat. Sinister mind altering thoughts take hold through foreboding dreams of a towering structure and giant ships as questions fly surrounding the origin of their discovery. Scientists battle against the clock to

• Babylon 5: Season 3 | DVD | (10/11/2003) from £10.49   |  Saving you £44.50 (424.21%)   |  RRP £54.99

  Matters of Honour" launches the third series of Babylon 5 with the introduction of the White Star, a spacecraft added to enable more of the action to take place away from the static space station. Also introduced is Marcus Cole (Jason Carter) who, in another nod to The Lord of the Rings, is a Ranger not so far removed from JRR Tolkien's Strider. In "Voices of Authority" the show finds an epic scale as Ivanova seeks the mysterious "First Ones" for allies against the Shadows, and evidence is discovered pointing to the truth behind President Santiago's assassination. A third of the way through the series "Messages from Earth", "Point of No Return" and "Severed Dreams" prove pivotal, changing the nature of the story in a way previously unimaginable on network TV. Earth slides into dictatorship, the fascistic Nightwatch takes control of off-world security and Sheridan takes decisive action by declaring Babylon 5 independent. "Interludes and Examinations" presents the death of a major supporting character, while the two-part "War Without End" reaches apocalyptic dimensions in a complex tale resolving the destiny of Sinclair and the fate of Babylon 4 (dovetailing elegantly with the events of Year One's "Babylon Squared"), resolving a 1,000-year-old paradox and presenting a vision of a very dark future for Sheridan and Delenn. All this is trumped by the monumental "Z'ha'dum". In the preceding "Shadow Dancing", Anna Sheridan (Melissa Gilbert, Bruce Boxleitner's real-life wife) returns from the dead, no longer entirely human. In the mythologically resonant climax Anna invites Sheridan back to the Shadow homeworld with no hope of survival. Just as Gandalf fell into the abyss at Khazad-Dum, so Sheridan takes a comparable leap into the unknown on an alien world. On the DVD: Babylon 5, Series 3 presents all 22 episodes anamorphically enhanced at 16:9 for widescreen TVs. While not up to blockbuster movie standards these are the finest looking B5 discs yet. Likewise the remixed Dolby Digital 5.1 sound packs a considerable punch in the many action scenes while remaining clear and atmospheric throughout. Reasonable though unremarkable extras are in line with previous box sets, with detailed and informative commentaries by series creator J Michael Straczynski on episodes "Z'Ha'Dum", and the Hugo Award-winning "Severed Dreams". Actors Bruce Boxleitner, Jerry Doyle, Richard Biggs and Ed Wasser offer a more jokey and backslapping appraisal of "Interludes and Examinations". Introduction to Point of Return is essentially a six-minute trailer for the season, while Behind the Mask: Creating the Aliens of B5 offers make-up artist John Vulich, JMS, and producer John Copland reflecting on the creation of various races. Complementing this is a seven-minute look at Building a Better Narn. Designing Tomorrow: The Look of Babylon 5 focuses on the work of production designer John Iacovelli. Finally The Universe of Babylon 5 presents five short character profiles. The set offers an alternative French soundtrack and subtitles in English, English for the hard-of-hearing, French and Dutch. --Gary S Dalkin

• Babylon 5: Season 4 | DVD | (19/04/2004) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £54.99

  The fourth series of Babylon 5 begins on a high point with Centauri Prime in the grip of the insane Emperor Cartagia (Wortham Krimmer) and a run of six shows leading to the climax of the war against the Shadows in "Into the Fire". If this colossal narrative is resolved a little too easily and the ultimate aim of the Shadows turns out to be a tad disappointing, it's still one of the most powerful slices of space opera ever to grace the small screen. In the aftermath the sheer scale drops back a little but the pace never slows as the rest of the year plays out in one relentless cycle of conspiracy, betrayal and conflict, Babylon 5 siding with the rebel Mars colony against the totalitarian Earth regime. Meanwhile, Delenn finds herself increasingly in conflict with her own people and, paralleling her relationship with Sheridan, Garibaldi becomes involved with his ex-fiancée Lise Hampton (Denise Gentile); in addition, an intense platonic love grows between Ivanova and Marcus Cole. On an unstoppable wave fuelled by roller-coaster plot twists and spectacular action shows from "No Surrender, No Retreat"--when Sheridan avows to overthrow EarthGov--to "Rising Star"--when the aim is realised--this series of Babylon 5 achieved a consistent excellence rare in television. Yet within that run "Intersections in Real Time" stands out as a bold experiment; essentially a two-hand drama taking place entirely within one dimly lit room. Then in "The Deconstruction of Falling Stars", a descendant of humanity one million years hence reviews excerpts from the history of Babylon 5. In one sequence set in 2762 a Brother is devoted to the preservation of history some time after the "Big Burn". In a homage to Walter M Miller's SF classic A Canticle for Leibowitz, Sheridan and Delenn have themselves become the stuff of legend. --Gary S DalkinOn the DVD: All 22 episodes of Season 4 of Babylon 5 are presented on six DVDs. Anamorphically enhanced for widescreen TV, the picture is significantly stronger than on the original TV broadcasts, if not up to blockbuster movie standards. The remixed Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is punchy and richly impressive, if again not quite state-of-the-art. As with previous seasons the main extras are three commentaries. The first, by actors Bruce Boxleitner, Jerry Doyle, Peter Jurasik and Patricia Tallman, finds these leading cast members having a great time joshing around on Falling Towards Apotheosis and failing to say anything very interesting. Series creator and writer J Michael Straczynski and director Michael Vejar discuss The Face of the Enemy, the conversation tending towards a technical scene-by-scene analysis, while by far the most interesting commentary is J Michael Straczynski alone on The Deconstruction of Falling Stars. JMS covers many aspects of the show, going into depth explaining both his ideas behind the series and the practicalities of realising his vision. Celestial Sounds is an interesting but too-short five-minute look at the scoring process with composer Christopher Franke, complemented by a powerful six-minute musical suite. The package also includes a six-minute introduction, a three-minute gag reel and video data files of characters, organisations and places. An Easter egg offers a comparison between untextured and completed CGI models of Babylon 5 itself. There is an optional French soundtrack, plus English, English for Hearing Impaired, French and Netherlands subtitles. --Gary S Dalkin

• Babylon 5 : In The Beginning | DVD | (08/04/2002) from £11.12   |  Saving you £8.87 (79.77%)   |  RRP £19.99

  In the gap between seasons four and five of Babylon 5, fans suffering withdrawal symptoms were sated by this first TV movie. As a prequel to the series' timeline, creator J. Michael Straczynski had an awful lot of continuity to consider. Amazingly, there's only one inconsistency throughout (a matter of who met whom and when), making this an essential part of the overall storyline. The tale is told cleverly from the future as the remembrances of Londo (Peter Jurasik), who is now Emperor of a dying Centauri homeworld. He looks back at the beginnings of the Earth-Minbari war and links together many clues strewn throughout the shows' early years. We see exactly how Delenn contributed to the first blows, the death of dignitary Dukhat, and most importantly what really happened to Sinclair (Michael O'Hare) at the Battle of the Line. The FX showcased by the battle are genuinely spectacular, but overshadowed by the make-up department which had the thankless task of making everyone look younger. Their best success is on an uncredited Claudia Christian who appears as an 18-year-old Susan Ivanova dealing with the death of her brother. Being a prequel there's little in the way of a surprise finale, but there's plenty of intrigue along the way. --Paul Tonks

• Babylon 5: Season 5 | DVD | (17/01/2005) from £14.72   |  Saving you £40.27 (273.57%)   |  RRP £54.99

  A disappointment after the superb two previous seasons, the final run of Babylon 5 found Claudia Christian departed and Ivanova replaced by Captain Elizabeth Lochley (Tracy Scoggins), who in a soap-opera twist turned out to be Sheridan's first wife. Sheridan was promoted to President of the Interstellar Alliance and the action moved to a group of telepaths seeking sanctuary from the PSI-Corp on B5. Giving a prominent role to Patricia Tallman's Lyta Alexander, a love story for her was woven with the leader of the telepaths, Byron (Robin Atkin Downs). Meanwhile the aftermath of the Shadow War was explored as the origin of human telepaths became clear in "Secrets of the Soul," and the appearance of PSI-Corp's Bester (Walter Koenig) brought the plight of the refugees to a powerful close in "A Tragedy of Telepaths" and "Phoenix Rising." This was immediately followed by a rare episode not written by J. Michael Straczynski. Much was expected of "Day of the Dead," penned by Neil Gaiman, the British creator of DC's landmark Sandman comic and graphic novel series. Yet despite a change of tone including a guest appearance by Penn & Teller as 23rd-century comedy favorites Rebo & Zooty, the story proved an incongruous side trip into an unexplained twilight zone of fantasy. As usual the season picked up toward the end, with a string of fine political episodes leading to "The Fall of Centauri Prime" and the haunting "Objects at Rest," in which Sheridan and Delenn leave Babylon 5 for new quarters on Minbar. The final episode, "Sleeping in Light," was directed by J. Michael Straczynski and made an epilogue to the series. Set 20 years later, after all the sound and fury this quiet, elegiac tale is the apotheosis of the love story that proved the balance to the tragedy of the preceding darkness. A personal story resolved against a background of the epic, at once transcendent, deeply human, and profoundly optimistic, "Sleeping in Light" is as moving as any hour in the history of television drama and a thoroughly satisfying conclusion to one of the greatest series ever made. --Gary S. Dalkin

• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Enter Shredder | DVD | (22/07/2013) from £N/A   |  Saving you £N/A (N/A%)   |  RRP £9.99

  Get lean, mean, and green with the turtles team! Join Leo, Donnie, Ralph, and Mikey as they take to the streets of NYC, where every turn yields a new enemy. Get ready for non-stop battles against Kraang-droids, mechanical Mousers, a mutant alligator, and even the evil Shredder himself.

• The Order - Cremaster 3 | DVD | (19/01/2004) from £17.53   |  Saving you £-4.54 (N/A%)   |  RRP £12.99

  Performance art with Matthew Barney as the entered apprentice racing to the top of the Guggenheim Museum.