Hey, that kid from 90210 is in a Direct to Video movie. The only thing that Kelly Reyes (Melissa Keller) has ever thought about was playing beach volleyball.  Then one day when a mysterious reporter named Holden (Brian Austin Green) comes into her life, strange events start to happen to her, as well as to the people around her.  As Kelly becomes skeptical of Holden, she still must maintain focus and prepare for the biggest match of her life.  Is she being paranoid, or is there something darker to this mystery man? Check out the clippage and the full press release.

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The fifth and final magical season of I DREAM OF JEANNIE is here July 8.  In the show’s final season, watch as Jeannie (Barbara Eden) and her master, Tony (Larry Hagman), finally say "I Do" in one of television’s most memorable weddings.  This time watch as Jeannie is crowned Queen of her own country, Dr. and Mrs. Bellows meet Jeannie as Major Nelson’s fiancee, and Tony’s house gets a ‘mad’ makeover!  Making her final appearance, Jeannie’s wicked twin sister tries to wreck the newlyweds’ marriage, while Dr. Bellows’ nephew discovers Jeannie’s secret and Tony becomes the spokesperson for his own canned chili.  Plus Dr. Bellows finally catches Major Nelson, an astronaut with a genie!  With 26 hilarious episodes featuring such guest stars as Farrah Fawcett, Jim Backus, Dick Wilson, Jackie Coogan and Dick Van Patten, the complete fifth and final season will have fans forever dreaming of Jeannie.  Take a look at some clippage after the break.

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I apologize for being a little lax on updating this weekly column, but I’ve been busy putting the final touches on the upcoming EM Book. But wow, what a way to come back. The folks at Fox Home Vide are bringing a slew of their Horror classics to Blu-ray (or as they call it Boo-ray, cute) September 9th. It seems weird that they don’t release these titles on, oh, I don’t know…Halloween?  They are bringing out the complete Omen Collection - which includes the bad 2006 remake with the goofy (not scary) looking kid (Damn you Fox! I just bought that collection off of Amazon last week) and the Russian Horror series Night Watch and Day Watch. I don’t know if I would classify those two as horror, even though it is about things that go bump in the night.  We may try and convince Fox to let us do a giveaway. These are some great titles. Check out the full press release after the break, jump, whatever…. 

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The Dead Zone has been one of the most consistently intelligently written fantasy/science fiction series on television during its run. The story of John Smith [Anthony Michael Hall], who came out of a six-year coma with heightened psychic abilities, has mixed mythology eps dealing with Smith’s efforts to prevent Armageddon with standalone eps that dealt with his using his ability to save lives, reunite loved ones and other smaller arcs that were treated as no less important.

The final season of the series was moved to Montreal, bringing in a wealth of new guest-stars [like ReGenesis’ Maxim Roy and Brothers’ & Sisters’ Tom Skerritt – along with returnees like Jennifer Finnegan, as Smith’s equally psychic friend, Alex Sinclair. Two deaths in the premiere set in motion arcs that find Smith and Sarah Bannerman [Nicole De Boer] and now Vice-President Greg Stilson [Sean Patrick Flanery] in oddly affecting relationships, while J.J. [now portrayed by Connor Price] deals with tragedy, discovers girls and learns that the VP cheats at cards. Finally, everything comes to a truly unexpected head in the finale, Denouement.

Overall, the final season of The Dead Zone is a delight. It echoes the show’s first season in many ways – including a second coma for Smith! The writing is consistently above average and there are yet new ways shown for Smith to have visions – some quite staggering in their intensity and length. I didn’t find any of the eps to be below average, which is unusual, and many were excellent – especially the premiere, Heritage, and the finale, Denouement. While the entire cast is excellent, Connor Price deserves kudos for coming into the series for its last season and seeming like he’d always been there.

Features: Audio Commentaries for Heritage – by Executive Producers Lloyd Segan and Scott Shepherd, Connor Price [J.J.] and John L. Adams [Bruce]; Re-Entry – by Executive Producer/Series Co-Creator Shawn Piller and Writers Sam Ernst and Jim Dunn; Numb – by Executive Producer/Series co-Creator Shawn Piller and Writer Dana Greenblatt, and Denouement – by Executive Producers Lloyd Segan, Scott Shepherd and Shawn Piller, and Connor Price [J.J.]; A New Home For The Dead Zone – a Featurette detailing how the series was moved to Montreal, and All Aboard: Filming The Dead Zone on a Train – behind the scenes on the episode Switch.

Grade: The Dead Zone: The Final Season – A-

Grade: Features: A

Final Grade: A-

Anchor Bay Entertainment is known for finding film oddities that are worth bringing back to new audiences and putting together packages that reward the viewer for buying them. In large part responsible for making the films of Mario Bava and Dario Argento available to North American audiences once again, Anchor Bay has repackaged five of Argento’s [“the Italian Hitchcock”] films [Do You Like Hitchcock?, Phenomena, Tenebre, The Card Player, and Trauma] in a cool “steelbox” edition. Individual reviews are separated by photos of their original DVD releases.

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We have ten copies of A Shot of Love with Tila Tequila: The Complete Uncensored First Season."  Sixteen straight guys and sixteen lesbians vie for the heart of cyber-hottie Tila Tequila… but it all starts off as a secret. When the two groups learn about one another’s presence, a full-on battle of the sexes is launched. The prize up for grabs is Ms. Tila Tequila, the hottest thing to hit the internet since Google. With more than two million friends online, she’s the most popular girl in the history of MySpace. Having spent the past four years focused solely on building her music/modeling/MySpace career, Tila is finally ready to get serious about finding someone to get serious with. The only catch… she isn’t sure if she wants a relationship with a man or a woman. It won’t be easy: Tila may be a tiny, small-town girl from Texas, but she knows how to get what she wants. Pair that with very eligible bachelors and amazing lesbians all living together under one roof… Let the jealousy, hookups, and fun begin! A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila: The Complete Uncensored First Season – comes to DVD on April 15th!  MTV’s scandalous and exciting series is now available in a three disc set, completely unrated and with tons of footage that is TOO HOT FOR TV!   Take a shot and buy it on DVD April 15th from MTV and Paramount Home Entertainment.”  To win, post a comment letting us know what your favorite MTV show is, 10 winners will be selected at random. This contest will run June 3 to June 16.  On the 16th shoot an email to contests at eclipsemagazine.com with your User ID, Full Name and Address.

In January, 1967, a new science fiction series called The Invaders premiered on ABC [“In Color”]. The show ran for two seasons and vanished. In its short run, it influenced a lot of writers – echoes of the series can be seen in one-season wonders like Dark skies and long-running hits like The X-Files.

The series revolved around architect David Vincent [Roy Thinnes], who had pulled off the main road after too many hours without caffeine to take a nap. He was awakened by an eerie sound and watched as a UFO landed scant yards from where he was parked. The basic premise of the series was that Vincent had to find proof of the aliens’ existence so the world could be alerted to its danger. The problem was that the aliens could assume human form – only deformed pinkie fingers were a sign of their otherness.

The first season DVD set includes all seventeen episodes. Shot in producer Quinn Martin’s trademark quasi-documentary style [like his best-known hit, The Fugitive], The Invaders was written and performed without resorting to colloquialisms, making it seem timeless [even some of the ‘60s fashions have been back a time or two]. Roy Thinnes does a marvellous job of making Vincent’s growing paranoia palpable, and the show’s plots felt very real.

The show had an all-star selection of guest-stars to add to its impact – J.D. Cannon, Ellen Corby, James Daley and Diane Baker appeared in the premiere alone. Others to guest star include Roddy Macdowall, Laurence Naismith, Suzanne Pleshette, Arthur Hill, Louise Latham, Jack Lord and Diana Hyland [and that’s just in the first half-dozen eps!].

Besides crackerjack writing and the all-star guest starring cast, the series also had extremely good effects for the time. Both the UFOs in flight and the alien immolations hold up pretty well when compared with similar work being done today.

Features include: The Extended, 60-Minute Version of the Series Premiere; A New Interview – and Episode Introductions By – Roy Thinnes; Commentary on The Innocents by Series Creator Larry Cohen, and Network Promotional Spots.

Grade: The Invaders: The First Season – A

Grade: Features – B

Final Grade: A-

I’ve been meaning to catch Rescue Me for awhile now. And never could find the time to watch, I have no idea when it airs.  But a lot of folks that I know really like it.  And I like Denis Leary well enough and love Gina Gerson - nice to see she’s working. I’m going to have to put Season One in my Netflix Que. Check out the release below and some clippage.

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Ummm….When I first saw that headline, I was like yeah! Get Smart, finally on DVD. Yes, I know you can get the over priced Time Life set, but I was looking forward to watching the original series again. I never really got into it as a kid, but maybe I’ll appreciate it now.  Digging further into the press release, imagine my disappointment to see it was for the 1995 version of the show. Scary.  The DVD streets June 3.  Here’s some clippage and the full press release.

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Normally I don’t care about or understand the Pokemon craze. But this bit of news does give me the opportunity to mention I was almost trampled a couple of years ago at Nintendo’s E3 Pokemon exhibit. They were giving away some Pikachu key chains and the crowd went NUTS. Anyhoo,  the folks at Viz Media have a a new Pokemon movie coming out - In Pokémon: The Rise of Darkrai. 

In Pokémon: The Rise of Darkrai, young hero Ash may think he’s seen everything when it comes to Pokémon, but is he ready to face the mysterious Darkrai in his latest awesome adventure? While touring Alamos Town - home of the Space-Time Tower - with the beautiful Alice, Ash and his friends discover that the town’s special garden has been decimated! Baron Alberto, a dashing but arrogant fellow, immediately blames the destruction on Darkrai. As if it just overheard the accusation, Darkrai appears and confronts our heroes! Who is Darkrai? Is it a friend… or an enemy in disguise? And as a battle between Legendary Pokémon Dialga and Palkia rages directly above Alamos Town, and threatens to tear a hole in the space-time continuum, will Ash and his friends survive this showdown and learn Darkrai’s true nature?