Library
Tom Phippen
Collection Total:
2065 Items
Last Updated:
Apr 19, 2014
1984 [1985]
Michael Radford
About A Boy
Nick Hornby
The Age of Capital, 1848-75
E.J. Hobsbawm
The Age of Empire, 1875-1914
E.J. Hobsbawm
The Age of Revolution: Europe, 1789-1848
Eric Hobsbawm
The Algebraist
Iain M. Banks
Animal Farm: A Fairy Story
George Orwell
Antic Hay (Flamingo Modern Classics)
Aldous Huxley
Apple Confidential: The Real Story of Apple Computer, Inc.
O. Linzmayer
Azumi 2 - Death Or Love
Azumi [2003]
Band of Brothers
Stephen E. Ambrose
Battle Royale
Koushun Takami Yuji Oniki
Battle Royale - Two Disc Special Edition [2001]
Kinji Fukasaku With the Japanese currently leading the way in thought-provoking cinematic violence, it's only fitting that Kinji Fukasaku's Battle Royaleis being touted as A Clockwork Orangefor the 21st century. Based on the novel by Koshun Takami, the film opens with a series of fleeting images of unruly Japanese schoolkids, whose bad behaviour provides a justification for the "punishments" that will ensue. Once the prequel has been dispensed with, the classmates are drugged and awaken on an island where they find they have been fitted with dog collars that monitor their every move. Instructed by their old teacher ("Beat" Takeshi) with the aid of an upbeat MTV-style video, they are told of their fate: after an impartial Lottery they have been chosen to fight each other in a three-day, no-rules contest, the "Battle Royale". Their only chance of survival in the "Battle" is through the death of all their classmates. Some pupils embrace their mission with zeal, while others simply give up or try to become peacemakers and revolutionaries. However, the ultimate drive for survival comes from the desire to protect the one you love. Battle Royaleworks on many different levels, highlighting the authorities' desperation to enforce law and order and the alienation caused by the generation gap. Whether you view the film as an important social commentary or simply enjoy the adrenalin-fuelled violence, this is set to become cult viewing for the computer-game generation and beyond.

On the DVD:Battle Royalecomes out fighting in a special edition format only a few months after the initial DVD release became cult viewing. But don't get too excited about the new cut of the film, only a few additional scenes have been added and the alternate ending simply offers a series of Requiem sequences. Disc 2 contains a whole heap of behind-the-scenes footage and interviews, unfortunately many of these tend to repeat material. The Q&A with the cast (in full costume) and the director is repeated in the Tokyo Film festival. The special effects comparison feature is a case of "spot the difference" the S-FX hardly being in the Star Warsleague and the instructional video on how to direct a film proves that the DVD makers have tried to grasp irony and failed. The disc also includes trailers and text filmographies for "Beat" Takeshi and director Kinji Fukasaku along with a written statement by the master of extreme cinema. Lacking in commentary and substance this DVD is redeemed by a superior sound and visual print to its predecessors. —Nikki Disney
Battle Royale 2 - Requiem [2003]
The Bear and the Dragon
Tom Clancy
Berlin: The Downfall, 1945
Antony Beevor
Blackadder: Complete Series 1-4
Follow the progress of Rowan Atkinson's irredeemably wicked Edmund Blackadder throughout history in this complete box set of all four series—from the snivelling War of the Roses-era creep in the Shakespearean parody that was the first series, to his final and unexpectedly noble demise in the trenches of the First World War in Blackadder Goes Forth. In between, of course, we see Edmund at the court of giggly Queen Elizabeth I in Blackadder II, now transformed into the Machiavellian cad audiences came to love so well (thanks to a character overhaul from writing team Ben Elton and Richard Curtis and Rowan Atkinson’s note-perfect performance). Then in Blackadder IIIhe's still scheming, but this time has moved a little down the social ladder as butler to the congenitally stupid Prince Regent on the cusp of the 18th and 19th centuries. In all four generations Blackadder is accompanied (or should that be hampered?) by his faithful yet terminally stupid servant Baldrick (Tony Robinson); and if that wasn't bad enough he also has to put up with the incompetence, pomposity and one-upmanship of a host of other contemporary hangers-on wonderfully played by regular costars Hugh Laurie, Tim McInnery, Stephen Fry, Miranda Richardson and Rik Mayall. Taken as a whole this sharp, cynical, occasionally satirical, toilet humour-obsessed and achingly funny saga deserves to stand alongside Fawlty Towersas one of the best ever British sitcoms. —Mark Walker
Blazing Saddles [1974]
Mel Brooks
Blood Sugar Sex Magik
Red Hot Chili Peppers With valuable assistance from producer Rick Rubin, the Peppers find just the right blend of punk, funk, and hip-hop. Even with a running time of 74 minutes, this 1991 breakthrough has continuity and cohesion both within and across the 17 cuts. Riding Flea's surging bass, Anthony Kiedis delivers his explicit lyrics with a rapper's flair, extolling the virtues (and outlining the dangers) of sex and drugs. Plaintive ballads such as "Breaking the Girl", "I Could Have Lied", and the hit "Under the Bridge" give the album depth and provide contrast to the raw energy of "Mellowship Slinky in B Major", "Funky Monks", and "Give It Away". Rubin masterfully fuses John Frusciante's raunchy guitar with the irresistible grooves. —Marc Greilsamer
The Blues Brothers, The / Blues Brothers 2000 [1980]
John Landis The Blues Brothers: John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd—as "legendary" Chicago brothers Jake and Elwood Blues—brought their "Saturday Night Live" act to the big screen in this action-packed hit from 1980. As Jake and Elwood struggle to reunite their old band and save the Chicago orphanage where they were raised, they wreak enough good-natured havoc to attract the entire Cook County police force. The result is a big-budget stunt-fest on a scale rarely attempted before or since, including extended car chases that result in the wanton destruction of shopping malls and more police cars than you can count. Along the way there's plenty of music to punctuate the action, including performances by Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Cab Calloway and James Brown that are guaranteed to knock you out. Keep an eye out for Steven Spielberg as the city clerk who stamps some crucial paperwork near the end of the film.

The Blues Brothers 2000: It's hard to ignore the sad and conspicuous absence of the late John Belushi, but this long-delayed sequel still has Dan Aykroyd to keep the music alive. Once again, Elwood's trying to reunite the original Blues Brothers Band, and this time he's got a strip-joint bartender (John Goodman) and a 10-year-old orphan named Buster (J Evan Bonifant) joining him at centre stage. It's a shameless clone of the first film, and nobody—especially not Aykroyd or director John Landis—seems to care that the story's not nearly as fun as the music. Of course there's a seemingly endless parade of stunts, including a non-stop pileup of police cars that's hilariously absurd, but what really matters here—indeed, the movie's only saving grace—is the great line-up of legendary blues musicians. Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Junior Wells, Eric Clapton, BB King, Jonny Lang, Eddie Floyd and Blues Traveler are among the many special guests assembled for the film, and their stellar presence makes you wonder if the revived Blues Brothers shouldn't remain an obscure opening act. —Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com
Brave New World (Flamingo Modern Classics)
Aldous Huxley
Brave New World Revisited (Flamingo Modern Classics)
Aldous Huxley
Breaking Point (Tom Clancy's Net Force S.)
Tom Clancy Steve Pieczenik
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Complete Season 1
Joss Whedon Vampire-slayer Buffy Summers moves to Sunnydale, a Californian community located above the "Hellmouth", a phenomenon which explains the local graveyard's overpopulation of vampires and other supernatural beings. Angel, a mysterious loiterer, starts flirting with Buffy and gives her helpful tips on how to cope with the local nasties. However, he turns out to be a vampire, which complicates the future of their relationship. Buffy makes friends with school outcasts Willow, a computer nerd, and geeky Xander. But she excites the enmity of high-school princess Cordelia. The season's prime villain is the Master, a Nosferatu-looking vampire lurking under the town. Giles, Buffy's mentor, looks things up in books and demonstrates the exact same look of puzzlement actor Anthony Head used to demonstrate in those horrifying instant coffee ads. —Kim Newman
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Complete Season 2
Joss Whedon After the first season of Buffy The Vampire Slayerbecame a ratings success the show was renewed with a bigger budget and twice as many episodes. Seeds are sown through the early episodes for many of the stunning plot developments later in the season: there's a slow burn for the relationships building between Buffy and Angel (no surprise), Giles and Jenny (nice surprise), and Xander and Cordelia (huge surprise). Most importantly, we're introduced to important semi-regulars Spike and Drusilla ("School Hard"), Oz ("Inca Mummy Girl") and fellow Slayer Kendra ("What's My Line Part 1"). Their appearances tackle youth issues such as sibling rivalry, sexual maturity and rejection.

But nothing that came before it prepared audiences for the latter half of season 2. In the extraordinary double act of "Surprise" and "Innocence" every aspect of the show grows up in a big hurry: the result of Buffy sleeping with Angel is a series of tragedies everyone is powerless to predict or prevent, a piece of powerful storytelling conveyed with pared-down dialogue and remarkable performances from the young cast. All of these threads are tied together then torn apart by the two-part finale "Becoming". With a cliffhanger ending to rival The Empire Strikes Back, the second chapter of Buffy The Vampire Slayercloses in tantalising style leaving everything at stake. —Paul Tonks

On the DVD:The computer-animated menu opens this gorgeous box set in style with a tour through a dark and oppressive cemetery, a lavish display of graphics that's all the more impressive when compared to the uneventful DVD for the first season. Most of the extra features are concentrated on the last disc, which includes the obligatory biographies, trailers and TV spots that add little value to hardcore fans but serve as a good introduction to the world of Buffy for non-adepts. The three featurettes are captivating: "Designing Buffy" offers a wealth of information about the set designs, and even includes a walk through of Buffy's home;"A Buffy Bestiary" features every monster from the second season, and "Beauty and the Beats" explores the make-up artistry and special effects. There are also brief cast interviews, in which James Masters ("Spike") reveals his American accent. All in all the extras make a worthy accompaniment to the spectacular season 2 episodes, though one might regret that Joss Whedon did not offer a commentary on the double bill season finale "Becoming". —Celine Martig
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Complete Season 3
Joss Whedon Action-packed Season Three develops major characters and plot lines brewing over the last couple of years. The Mayor, this season's major baddie, wants to become an invincible demon by slaughtering everyone at Sunnydale High's graduation ceremony but he's going to torture them all by giving his speech first. Bad-girl vampire-slayer Faith wants to get one over on Buffy and becomes even more rotten. Angel comes back from hell but isn't sure what to do about his girlfriend. Willow meets her evil gay vampire duplicate from another dimension. Xander loses his virginity but still has to contemplate his essential uselessness. Cordelia gets less whiny and has to work in a dress-shop when her father becomes bankrupt. Giles wears tweed and drinks tea, though it is revealed that he used to be a warlock and in a punk band. Besides the soap opera, there are monsters, curses and vampires (inevitably). —Kim Newman

On the DVD:The DVDs are presented in a standard television 4:3 picture ratio and in a clear Dolby sound that does full justice both to the sparkling dialogue and to the always impressive indie-rock and orchestral scores. Special features include an overview of Season Three by its creator Joss Whedon, and by writers Marti Noxon, David Fury, Doug Petrie and Jane Espenson and documentaries on the weapons, clothes special effects of the show and the speech/verbal tone which makes it what it is-"Buffyspeak". The episodes "Helpless", "Bad Girls", "Consequences" and "Earshot" have commentaries by, Fury, Petrie, director James Gershman and Espenson, in which we find out some fascinating details about the way the scripts mutate and about the particular illuminations added to scripts by actors' performances. After complaints about the Season 2 DVD packaging, the disc envelopes include a protective coating. —Roz Kaveney
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Complete Season 4
Joss Whedon In its fourth season, Buffy the Vampire Slayerhad to change its formula radically. Two major characters—the vampire-with-a-soul Angel and Cordelia, the queen bitch of Sunnydale High—had gone off to be in their own show, Angel, and soon after the start of the season Willow's werewolf boyfriend Oz left when Seth Green needed to concentrate on his film career. Buffy and Willow started college, where they met new characters like Riley, the All-American Boy with a double life, and Tara, the sweet stuttering witch; but Xander and Giles found themselves at something of a loose end. Several characters were subjected to the radical re-envisioning possible in a show that deals with the supernatural: the blond vampire Spike came back and soon found himself with an inhibitor chip in his head, forced into reluctant alliance with Buffy; the former vengeance demon Anya became passionately smitten with Xander.

Not all fans were happy with the central story arc about the sinister Dr Walsh (Lindsay Crouse) and her Frankensteinian creation Adam, though Crouse's performance was memorable. The strength of Season Four was perhaps most in impressive stand-alone episodes like the silent "Hush", the multiple dream sequence "Restless" and the passionate, moving "New Moon Rising", in which Oz returns, apparently cured, only to find that Willow is no longer waiting for him. This was one of the high points of the show as a vehicle for intense acting, perhaps only equalled by "Who Are You?", in which the evil slayer Faith takes over Buffy's body and Sarah Michelle Gellar gets to play bad girl for once. —Roz Kaveney

On the DVD:BuffySeason 4 was a hit and so is this sublime box set. The commentaries for "The Initiative", "This Year'sGirl", "Superstar" and "Primaveral" are all well above average, but are nothing compared to "Hush" and "Restless" where Joss Whedon gives out all the information and insights any fan would dream of. The four featurettes included are a pleasure to watch, especially the evolution of the sets for the show. The scripts, trailers and cast biographies complete the set and make for a decent addition to your Buffy archive. The soundtrack is in 2.0 Dolby surround, but the image is as grainy and dark as the previous seasons on DVD. —Celine Martig
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Complete Season 5
Joss Whedon The fifth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayeris about illusions and the truth that they often reveal; suddenly Buffy has a younger sister, has always had a younger sister. Michelle Trachtenberg as the moody, gawky Dawn achieves the considerable triumph of walking into an established stock company of well-known characters—Xander, Willow, Giles and so on—with the perfect assurance of a long-term member of the cast. Of course, nothing is as it seems; even Glory, the mad brain-sucking beauty in a red dress who is the villain of the year, turns out to be even more than she seems. Sarah Michelle Gellar as Buffy manages to convey heartbreak, self-involvement and real heroism as her relationship with her emotionally dense soldier boyfriend Riley hits the shoals and the blonde vampire Spike starts to show an altogether inappropriate interest.

This season is also about the hard truth that there are some enemies it is impossible to fight. Even being around Buffy and Dawn is dangerous for their friends, as Glory and her minions proceed by a process of elimination. The eventual confrontation, when it comes, is genuinely shocking. Meanwhile, the vampire Spike's obsessed desire for Buffy takes them both to some very strange places and Willow and Tara have their love tested in the most gruelling of ways. And in the quietly upsetting episode "The Body", the cast produce their most impressive performances yet as they have to deal with another enemy they cannot fight. —Roz Kaveney
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Complete Season 6
Joss Whedon The sixth series of Buffy the Vampire Slayerfollowed the logic of plot and character development into some gloomy places. The year begins with Buffy being raised from the dead by the friends who miss her, but who fail to understand that a sacrifice taken back is a sacrifice negated. Dragged out of what she believes to have been heavenly bliss, she finds herself "going through the motions" and entering into a relationship with the evil, besotted vampire Spike just to force her emotions.

Willow becomes ever more caught up in the temptations of magic; Xander and Anya move towards marriage without ever discussing their reservations; Giles feels he is standing in the way of Buffy's adult independence; Dawn feels neglected. What none of them need is a menace that is, at this point, simply annoying—three high school contemporaries who have turned their hand to magical and high-tech villainy. Added to this is a hungry ghost, an invisibility ray, an amnesia spell and a song-and-dance demon (who acts as rationale for the incomparable musical episode "Once More With Feeling").

This is a year in which chickens come home to roost: everything from the villainy of the three geeks to Xander's doubts about marriage come to a head, often—as in the case of the impressive wedding episode—through wildly dark humour. The estrangement of the characters from each other—a well-observed portrait of what happens to college pals in their early 20s—comes to a shocking head with the death of a major character and that death's apocalyptic consequences. The series ends on a consoling note which it has, by that point and in spite of imperfections, entirely earned. —Roz Kaveney
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Complete Season 7
Joss Whedon The seventh and final series of Buffy the Vampire Slayerbegins with a mystery: someone is murdering teenage girls all over the world and something is trying hard to drive Spike mad. Buffy is considerably more cheerful in these episodes than we have seen her during the previous year as she trains Dawn and gets a job as student counsellor at the newly rebuilt Sunnydale High. Willow is recovering from the magical addiction which almost led her to destroy the world, but all is not yet well with her, or with Anya, who has returned to being a Vengeance demon in "Same Time, Same Place" and "Selfless", and both women are haunted by their decisions.

Haunting of a different kind comes in the excellent "Conversations with Dead People" (one of the show's most terrifying episodes ever) where a mysterious song is making Spike kill again in spite of his soul and his chip. Giles turns up in "Bring on the Night" and Buffy has to fight one of the deadliest vampires of her career in "Showtime". In "Potential" Dawn faces a fundamental reassessment of her purpose in life.

Buffywas always a show about female empowerment, but it was also a show about how quite ordinary people can decide to make a difference alongside people who are special. And it was also a show about people making up for past errors and crimes. So, for example, we have the excellent episodes "Storyteller", in which the former geek/super villain Andrew sorts out his redemption while making a video diary about life with Buffy; and "Lies My Parents Told Me", in which we find out why a particular folk song sends Spike crazy. Redemption abounds as Faith returns to Sunnydale and the friends she once betrayed, and Willow finds herself turning into the man she flayed. Above all, this was always Buffy's show: Sarah Michelle Gellar does extraordinary work here both as Buffy and as her ultimate shadow, the First Evil, who takes her face to mock her. This is a fine ending to one of television's most remarkable shows. —Roz Kaveney
The Burning Red
Machine Head
By the Way
Red Hot Chili Peppers The problem Anthony Kiedis and his supremely dysfunctional musical family faced when beginning work on their eighth album, By the Way, wasn't so much how to top (or even compare) to the critical and commercial euphoria of 1999's superb Californication, but more how to avoid the comedown that followed their other highpoint—Blood Sex Sugar Magik—where One Hot Minuteturned into several long years that nearly finished them. They decided, it seems, to just shut their eyes, press pedal to metal and continue as before. It's worked magnificently—no small thanks to the canny production of Rick Rubin again and the cohesive gelling Frusciante back into what has now emerged as a tight, focused unit (despite the album being, as ever, about five songs too long—"Midnight" and "Minor Thing" for instance). Minor quibbles though, for when the Chili Peppers are average, they still tower over most other bands.

"By The Way", by far not the best cut here (those would be the quite wonderful "Tear" and widescreen "Don't Forget Me"), picks up where Californicationleft off, but is not representative of an album that frequently revisits the sunshine harmonies of "Road Trippin'" and desolate landscape of "Scar Tissue". Endlessly surprising and hugely engaging, the Chili Peppers have opened their eyes and found themselves with a another great record on their hands, solidifying both themselves as a group and their position as one of the world's best rock bands. —Ben Johncock
Californication
Red Hot Chili Peppers Following a string of unsatisfactory replacements (including former Jane's Addiction alum Dave Navarro), Californication—the band's seventh album—saw them reunited with both errant guitarist John Frusciante (hauled out of a long and debilitating heroin addiction) and producer Rick Rubin, whose mixture of commerical nous and sonic smarts helped make 1991's Blood Sugar Sex Magiktheir breakthrough set. It's a welcome reunion: Frusciante's playing, in particular—tight, yet lyrical—fits these songs like a second skin, lending them a sensual sort of ease that is perfectly in keeping with the reckless hedonism of their lyrics. The songs themselves are much the same mixture of adrenalised swagger and high-tensile funk as ever. And typically, there are two or three fillers here ("Emit Remmus", "Purple Stain") which probably should have been left on the shelf. Ultimately, though, it's their ballads ("Road Trippin'", the moody, desolate "Scar Tissue") which really demonstrate their strengths, both as songwriters and arrangers—and reveal, albeit briefly, the hearts this crew normally take such pains to conceal. —Andrew McGuire
The Call of Cthulhu: And Other Weird Stories (Penguin Modern Classics)
H.P. Lovecraft
The Cardinal of the Kremlin
Tom Clancy
The Catcher in the Rye
J.D. Salinger
The Chrysalids
John Wyndham
Churchill's Bodyguard
Tom Hickman
Citizen Kane : Special Edition [1941]
Orson Welles The most acclaimed film in cinema history, Citizen Kanereceives extra bolstering each time it tops a "greatest films ever" list. As a piece of filmmaking it ticks all the right boxes: a precociously talented director and lead actor in Orson Welles, Gregg Toland's innovative cinematography, a strong screenplay by Welles and Herman J Mankiewicz, rich scoring from Bernard Herrmann, and so on. For its time, it was technically groundbreaking, and laid out a blueprint for Hollywood filmmaking that's still influential. But, most importantly, as a viewing experience it's still one of the most mesmerising and beautiful films in existence. From its opening scenes—Kane's eerie Gothic mansion, his lone figure muttering the word "Rosebud" as he dies, journalists discussing the newsreel footage of his obituary—Kane lays out an enigma: who exactly was this man? Looping flashbacks build up a portrait of a contradictory figure who, despite living in the public eye, remained a mystery at heart.

A testament to the corrupting influence of money, fame and the media and at its centre the tale of a man in search of love, Citizen Kaneis a personal tragedy on an epic scale. Technically, it's a lesson in filmmaking in itself whose daring aesthetics nonetheless remain unobtrusive. It's doubtful that a debut director will ever be given such free reign by a studio again and even if this happened, it's doubtful that such a masterpiece would be created.

On the DVD:Citizen Kanein this DVD special edition is beautifully remastered and comes with a feature illustrating the before and after of the restoration process. A 50-minute documentary, "Anatomy of a Classic", hosted by Barry Norman, delves into the making of the film as well as trying to deal with some of the myths that surround it, like the (untrue) rumour that Welles ran over both time and budget. Film historian Ken Barnes takes over for a commentary and Welles himself is featured in his controversial 1938 radio broadcast of The War of the Worldsand 1945 broadcast of The Happy Prince. A photo gallery, extensive cast and crew profiles, breakdown of all the films expenses and trailer round off this admirable package.—Laura Bushell
City of Evil
Avenged Sevenfold
The Complete Robot (Robot Series)
Isaac Asimov
The Confusion
Neal Stephenson
Coupling: Complete Series 1
Martin Dennis Couplingis a witty, instantly addictive series that charts the tangled sex lives of a close-knit group comprising "exes and best friends": womaniser Jack, hapless nice guy Steve, "strange and disturbing" Jeff, uninhibited Susan, neurotic Sally and manipulative Jane. The obvious frame of reference is Friends(Steve and Susan are the Ross and Rachel equivalent), but this series also echoes Seinfeldin its coinage of catchphrases and plot lines (in episode one, Steve tries to dump Jane, who refuses to accept). But it's no mere British clone of US sitcoms: Couplinghas its own fresh and provocative take on relationships. At one point, a furious Susan discovers that Patrick not only had a videotape of the former couple having sex, but that he also taped over her. —Donald Liebenson
Coupling: Complete Series 2
Martin Dennis Steven Moffat's second series of Coupling, first broadcast in 2001, is a brilliant consolidation of all those neuroses, small deceits, obsessions and personality tics that struck such a resonant chord when Steve, Susan and their four friends were first unleashed on us. Comparisons with Friendsitself are tiresome and lazy: Couplingis an intrinsically British comedy that picks apart the trivial and the mundane in everyday relationships and takes them on surreal journeys, leaving the participants hilariously bemused and rarely any wiser.

Its success is due to the magical combination of Moffat's very funny scripts and the talents of six extremely likable actors, including Jack Davenport (Steve) and Sarah Alexander (Susan). But it's Richard Coyle's Jeff, whose sexual fantasies and putting-your-his-in-it propensities exert a compelling fascination, who really keeps you watching through your fingers as you hold your hands to your face in disbelief.

Breasts, bottoms and pants are the basis for most of the conversational analysis when these friends get together as a group, as couples, as girlfriends or as mates, invariably becoming metaphors for the state of a relationship or situation. Individual viewpoints and terrors are explored through respective memories of the same event and what-if scenarios. Chain reactions inevitably ensue, fuelling comedy that is based almost entirely on misunderstanding.

On the DVD:Coupling, Series 2on disc is presented in 16:9 anamorphic video aspect ratio, together with a crisp Dolby Digital stereo soundtrack; Mari Wilson's sensuous version of "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps" for the theme tune deserves a special mention. Extras include disappointing interviews with writer Steven Moffat and Jack Davenport, which are mainly an excuse to repeat several major scenes from the series in full. The "Behind the scenes" feature is also a let-down: it's just a not very funny record of a cast photo shoot. —Piers Ford
Coupling: Complete Series 3
Martin Dennis The third series of Coupling, first aired in 2002, takes fans of the BBC's comedy of sex, manners and modern relationships into new realms of engaging surrealism, leaving those irritating comparisons with Friendstrailing in its wake. The men are constantly in pursuit of a basic grasp of the "emotional things" that make women behave the way they do. The women analyse everything to death. But thanks to Steve Moffat's scripts, tighter and quirkier than ever, these characters are living, breathing human beings rather than cynical ciphers for comedy stereotypes.

The performances are as strong as you'd expect from an established team, with actors such as Jack Davenport (the ever-perplexed Steve), Ben Miles (unreconstructed chauvinist Patrick), Sally Alexander (dryly intelligent Susan) and Kate Isitt (neurotic Sally) wearing their roles like second skins. But in the surreal stakes, it's Richard Coyle as Jeff, wondering aloud what happens to jelly after women have finished wrestling in it, and Gina Bellman as Jane, musing on the importance of a first snog in identifying what men like to eat, who really raise the laughter levels. All things considered, this is superior comedy for all thirtysomethings—genuine and putative. —Piers Ford
Coupling: Complete Series 4
Coupling Season 4: feel free to insert your own "four-play" joke, or for that matter, your own "insert" joke. Sex is still topic 1 for the intertwined group of "exes and best friends", but in this pivotal season there are momentous "relationship issues" that will upend all their lives (insert your own "upend" joke while you're at it).

Susan is pregnant, inspiring in Steve nightmares about his own execution and unflattering comparisons of the birth process to John Hurt's iconic gut-busting scene in Alien. Missing in action is the Kramer-esque Jeff (although he makes something of a return in the season finale). Joining the ensemble is Oliver, who is more in the Chandler mode as a lovable loser with the ladies. These inevitable comparisons to "Sein-Friends" are no doubt heresy to Coupling's most devoted viewers. Indeed, this series does benefit from creator and sole writer Steven Moffat's comic voice and vision. He provides his ever-game cast some witty, funny-‘cause-it's-true dialogue, as in Oliver's observation that "Tea isn't compatible with porn". This Britcom is also less inhibited in language and sexual situations than its American counterparts. In the cleverly-constructed opening episode, in which the same "9-1/2 Minutes" are witnessed from three different perspectives, Sally and Jane can do what was left to the imagination when Monica and Rachel offered to make out in front of Joey and Chandler. The birth of Susan and Steven's baby ends the six-episode season on a satisfying and surprisingly moving grace note. A bonus disc takes viewers behind the scenes with segments devoted to bloopers and interviews with cast and crew. —Donald Liebenson
The Critic - The Complete Series
To quote New York movie critic Jay Sherman, voiced to Master Thespian perfection by Jon Lovitz, "it stinks" that The Criticlasted all but two seasons. "I used to have a show on ABC," Sherman bitterly remarks at one point, "for about a week." The show, created by Al Jean and Mike Reiss of Simpsonslegend, fared no better when it moved to Fox, and little better when re-run on Comedy Central. But it did garner a devoted following, and thanks to DVD and the Internet, "the last hope of fading stars" (according to one of the ten "Webisodes" contained in this three-disc set), Jay Sherman lives! Television's saddest sack is the host of a TV review show, Coming Attractions. He must deal with the slings, arrows, and outrageous misfortunes heaped upon him by his ex-wife, adoptive WASP parents, and ratings-desperate Ted Turner-esque boss. On the movie front, The Criticis no less inside than the similarly ill-fated Action, but its hilarious parodies of classics and contemporary blockbusters, from the musical "Apocalypse Wow" to "Dennis the Menace II Society," make it much more accessible to any multiplex-goer.

The Critictook particular glee in zinging Howard Stern, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Woody Allen and Soon-Yi. (We pause to praise the show's unsung heroes, Maurice Le Marche and Nick Jameson, who provide uncanny celebrity impersonations each episode). Some references have a longer shelf life than others. Conan O'Brien, at the time a fledgling talk-show host, certainly got the last laugh on a spied newspaper headline, "Conan Replaced by Dancing Chicken." And the series' best episode, in which Jay reunites an estranged Roger Ebert and the late Gene Siskel, plays now as a touching tribute to the original Thumb and Thumber. The Criticis poised for discovery. Is it too much to hope that, as with Family Guy, voluminous DVD sales may spark interest in creating new episodes? —Donald Liebenson
Crome Yellow (Vintage Classic)
Aldous Huxley
Cryptonomicon
Neal Stephenson
Curtains
John Frusciante
Darkness at Noon (Vintage Classics)
Arthur Koestler
Dawn Of The Dead - Uncut [1980]
George A. Romero The quite terrifying and gory Dawn of the Deadwas George Romero's 1978 follow-up to his classic 1968 Night of the Living Dead. But it is also just as comically satiric as the first film in its take on contemporary values. This time, we follow the fortunes of four people who lock themselves inside a shopping centre to get away from the marauding dead and who then immerse themselves in unabashed consumerism, taking what they want from an array of clothing and jewellery shops, making gourmet meals and so on. It is Romero's take on Louis XVI in the modern world: keep the starving masses at bay and crank up the insulated indulgence. Still, this is a horror film after all and even some of Romero's best visual jokes (a Hare Krishna turned blue-skinned zombie) can make you sweat. —Tom Keogh
Dawn of the Dead [2004]
Zack Snyder Are you ready to get down with the sickness? Movie logic dictates that you shouldn't remake a classic, but Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Deaddefies that logic and comes up a winner. You could argue that George A. Romero's 1978 original was sacred ground for horror buffs, but it was a low-budget classic, and Snyder's action-packed upgrade benefits from the same manic pacing that energized Romero's continuing zombie saga. Romero's indictment of mega-mall commercialism is lost (it's arguably outmoded anyway), so Snyder and screenwriter James Gunn compensate with the same setting—in this case, a Milwaukee shopping mall under siege by cannibalistic zombies in the wake of a devastating viral outbreak—a well-chosen cast (led by Sarah Polley, Ving Rhames, Jake Weber, and Mekhi Phifer), some outrageously morbid humor, and a no-frills plot that keeps tension high and blood splattering by the bucketful. Horror buffs will catch plenty of tributes to Romero's film (including cameos by three of its cast members, including gore-makeup wizard Tom Savini), and shocking images are abundant enough to qualify this Dawnas an excellent zombie-flick double-feature with 28 Days Later, its de facto British counterpart. —Jeff Shannon
The Day of the Triffids
John Wyndham
The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
Carl Sagan
The Devils of Loudon
Aldous Huxley
The Diaries of Samuel Pepys - A Selection (Penguin Classics)
Robert Latham Samuel Pepys
Divide and Conquer (Tom Clancy's Op-centre S.)
Tom Clancy Steve Pieczenik Jeff Rovin
Doctor Strangelove [1963]
Stanley Kubrick Arguably the greatest black comedy ever made, Stanley Kubrick's cold war classic is the ultimate satire of the nuclear age. Dr Strangeloveor How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, to give it its full title, is a perfect spoof of political and military insanity, beginning when General Jack D Ripper (Sterling Hayden), a maniacal warrior obsessed with "the purity of precious bodily fluids", mounts his singular campaign against Communism by ordering a squadron of B-52 bombers to attack the Soviet Union. The Soviets counter the threat with a so-called "Doomsday Device," and the world hangs in the balance while the US president (Peter Sellers) engages in hilarious hot-line negotiations with his Soviet counterpart. Sellers also plays a British military attaché and the mad scientist Dr Strangelove; George C Scott is outrageously frantic as General Buck Turgidson, whose presidential advice consists mainly of panic and statistics about "acceptable losses". With dialogue ("You can't fight here! This is the war room!") and images (Slim Pickens's character riding the bomb to oblivion) that have become a part of our cultural vocabulary, Kubrick's film regularly appears on critics' lists of the all-time best. —Jeff Shannon, Amazon.com
Dogtanian - One For All And All For One
Dogtanian - The Complete Second Series
Dogtanian And The Three Muskehounds - Episodes 1 To 9 [1991]
Dogtanian And The Three Muskehounds - Episodes 10 To 15 [1991]
Dogtanian And The Three Muskehounds - Vol. 3 [1991]
Dogtanian And The Three Muskehounds - Vol. 4 - Episodes 21 To 26 [1991]
Don't Make Me Think!: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability
Steve Krug
Donnie Darko (film only) [2002]
Richard Kelly Donnie Darko is a thought-provoking, touching and distinctive offering from relative newcomer, Richard Kelly (II). It's 1988 in small-town America and Donnie, a disturbed teenager on medication and undergoing psychoanalysis for his blackouts and personality disorders, is being visited by a being in a rabbit suit whom he calls Frank. It's this anti-Harvey that saves Donnie from being crushed to death when an airplane engine falls from the sky onto his house. This is the beginning of their escalating relationship, which, as Donnie follows Frank's instructions, becomes increasingly violent and destructive. Added to this is Frank's warning of the impending apocalypse and Donnie's realisation that he can manipulate time, leading to a startling denouement where nearly everything becomes clear.

"Nearly everything", because Donnie Darko is a darkly comic, surreal journey in which themes of space, time and morality are interwoven with a classic coming-of-age story of a teenage boy's struggle to understand the world around him. The film leaves the viewer with more questions than it answers, but then that's part of its charm. Performances are superb: Jake Gyllenhaal underplays the mixed-up kid role superbly and Donnie's episodes of angst positively erupt out of the screen. There are also some starry cameos from Mary McDonnell as Donnie's long-suffering mother, Patrick Swayze as Jim Cunningham, the personal-development guru with a terrible secret, and Noah Wyle and Drew Barrymore as Donnie's progressive teachers. Undoubtedly too abstruse for some tastes, Donnie Darko's balance of outstanding performances with intelligent dialogue and a highly inventive story will reward those looking for something more highbrow than the average teenage romp. —Kristen Bowditch
Double Wonderful
John Swartzwelder Comedy western novel by John Swartzwelder, the author of "The Time Machine Did It", and 59 episodes of The Simpsons.
Dream Theater - Live At Budokan
A treasure-trove for Dream Theater fans, Live at Budokanpresents an entire three-hour performance at Tokyo's famed Budokan arena on April 26, 2004, along with a bonus disc rich in supplementary material. Disc 1 finds the metallic progressive-rock quintet at its awe-inspiring best, plowing through its catalogue of dramatic epics and jack-hammer instrumentals, including five of the seven songs from 2003's Train of Thought. Disc 2 features an extended drum solo from percussionist extraordinaire Mike Portnoy; gear tours from guitarist John Petrucci and keyboardist Jordan Rudess (fascinating for lay people and downright revelatory for musicians); and a half-hour documentary on DT's 2004 stint in Japan punctuated by tantalizing snippets of band rehearsals. The shooting and editing for the concert are a music lover's dream, with lengthy shots that linger on the performances of individual band members. Disc 2 takes this even further with a multi-angle sequence of the 12-minute "Instrumedley".

Production values are extremely high: it's a widescreen presentation shot on high-def video and nicely mixed for multichannel Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound (with a thinner, collapsed version of the same for Dolby 2.0). —Michael Mikesell
Dream Theater - Metropolis 2000 - Scenes From New York
Amid the lo-fi wasteland of the 1990s, Dream Theater were an unashamedly unhip throwback to the glory days of progressive rock; and in their 1999 album Scenes from a Memorythey even dared to exhume that once-extinct species, the concept album. In 2000 the band took Sceneson the road, and the resulting concert footage is a testament both to their musical creativity and the fanatical loyalty of their audiences.

Filmed on a sweltering August evening in New York, this was the last time the band played the album right through, using an on-stage narrator and even bringing on a Gospel choir for the grand finale. But the heat of the night is nothing to that generated by the blistering performances from a group of unrepentant musos who like nothing better than to play in complex time signatures and thrash out lengthy riffs at dizzying speed.

Those not already converted will doubtless be puzzled by the sight of five hairy blokes earnestly expounding a quasi-operatic story of dying and "learning to live", while drummer/director Mike Portnoy’s decision to intercut film snippets of the album's story with the concert footage seems redundant. But fans of this band, and anyone who yearn for the classic days of Rush, Genesis and Yes, will have nothing to complain about here: don’t believe the music press, prog-rock is alive and well.

On the DVD:here’s a disc that’s going to make this band's audience very happy indeed. Aside from the main concert itself there are five additional tracks—and this being Dream Theater, they are all pretty substantial, climaxing with the epic "A Change of Seasons". Then there’s a fun 25-minute behind-the-scenes documentary with crew and fans waxing enthusiastic about the band, and even more additional concert footage. The whole band gather to provide a concert commentary, which ordinarily might seem an odd thing to do, but this is prog-rock after all. A picture gallery of tour photos rounds out the extras. Sound is unfussy Dolby stereo.—Mark Walker
Eyeless in Gaza (Flamingo Modern Classics)
Aldous Huxley
Fahrenheit 451 (Flamingo Modern Classics)
Ray Bradbury
Family Guy Presents Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story
Family Guy, Series 1 [1999]
Family Guy shouldn't work at all. Even by the witless standards of modern television, it is breathtakingly derivative: does an animated series about the travails of a boorish, suburban yob with a saintly wife, a hopeless son, a clever daughter and a baby sound familiar at all? Even the house in Family Guy looks like it was built by the same architects who sketched the residence of The Simpsons.

However, Family Guy does work, transcending its (occasionally annoyingly) obvious influences with reliably crisp writing and the glorious sight gags contained in the surreal flashbacks which punctuate the episodes. Most importantly, the show's brilliance comes from two absolutely superb characters: Stewie, the baby whose extravagant dreams of tyrannising the world are perpetually thwarted by the prosaic limitations of infanthood, and the urbane family dog Brian—Snoopy after attendance at an obedience class run by Frank Sinatra. Family Guy does not possess the cultural or satirical depth of The Simpsons—very little art in any field does. But it is a genuinely funny and clever programme. —Andrew Mueller
Family Guy, Series 2 [1999]
The second series of Seth MacFarlane's animated sitcom Family Guy continues with its own brand of acerbic pop-culture satire mixed with gleefully tasteless comedy. Even though the chaotic Griffin household bears more than a passing resemblance to The Simpsons, and their neighbours are uncannily like those from King of the Hill, the show's combination of extended flashbacks, surreal fantasy sequences and delightful non sequiturs ("Math, my dear boy, is nothing more than the lesbian sister of biology") refreshes the familiar formula. And any show that features Adam "Batman" West guest starring as the demented Mayor of Quahog must score points for bizarre originality.

Highlights of the 15 episodes here include Peter discovering his feminine side ("I Am Peter, Here Me Roar"), Stewie and Brian on an eventful road trip ("Road to Rhode Island"), Peter annexing his neighbour's pool and inviting the world's dictators round for a barbeque ("E Peterbus Unum") and, as a bonus episode, the irreverent "When You Wish Upon a Weinstein", which was deemed "too offensive for TV". It may be lowbrow scatological farce, but unlike its big-screen live-action cousins (think Farrelly Brothers), Family Guy is always warm-hearted and never vicious.

On the DVD: Family Guy, Series 2 is spread across two discs that boast Dolby 5.1 sound but standard 4:3 picture. There's no "Play All" facility (something else this release has in common with The Simpsons on DVD) and there are no extras other than the "bonus" episode. —Mark Walker
Family Guy, Series 3 [1999]
The third season of Seth MacFarlane's Family Guy finds television's most dysfunctional cartoon family even more animated than usual. As MacFarlane himself noted, he was inspired to go for broke, thinking that the series—already juggled like a hot potato in the US TV schedules (at one point, it aired opposite the mighty Friends)—had been cancelled. Just as This Is Spinal Tap walked the fine line between "clever and stupid", so Family Guy gleefully mocks the line between "edgy and offensive".

Like The Simpsons, Family Guy lends itself to multiple viewings to catch each densely packed episode's way-inside "one-percenter" gags (so-called by the creators because that is the percentage of the audience who will get them), scattershot pop-culture references, surreal leaps and gratuitous pot shots at everyone from, predictably, Oprah, Kevin Costner and Bill Cosby to, unpredictably, Rita Rudner. Also like its Springfield counterpart, this series benefits from a great ensemble voice cast, with surprising contributions from a no-less-stellar roster of guest stars. —Donald Liebenson
Fear Will Drag You Down
Shadows Fall
Fever Pitch
Nick Hornby
The Fifth Head Of Cerberus (Millennium SF Masterworks S)
Gene Wolfe
Finding Nemo [2003]
Andrew Stanton A delightful undersea world unfolds in Pixar's animated adventure Finding Nemo. When his son Nemo is captured by a scuba diver, a nervous clownfish named Marlin (voiced by Albert Brooks) sets off into the vast—and astonishingly detailed—ocean to find him. Along the way he hooks up with a scatterbrained blue tang fish named Dory (Ellen DeGeneres), who's both a help and a hindrance, sometimes at the same time. Faced with sharks, deep-sea anglers, fields of poisonous jellyfish, sea turtles, pelicans and much more, Marlin rises above his neuroses in this wonderfully funny and thrilling ride—rarely do more than 10 minutes pass without a sequence appearing that's destined to become a theme-park attraction. Pixar continues its run of impeccable artistic and economic successes (Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Monsters, Inc). Supporting voices here include Willem Dafoe, Geoffrey Rush and Allison Janney. —Bret Fetzer
Finding Serenity: Anti-Heroes, Lost Shepherds and Space Hookers in Joss Whedon's Firefly
Jane Espenson
Firefly - The Complete Series [2003]
Much praised and much missed after its premature cancellation, Fireflyis the first SF TV series to be conceived by Joss Whedon, creator of Buffyand cocreator of Angel. Set five centuries in the future, it is a show where the mysterious personal pasts of the crew of the tramp spaceship Serenitycontinually surface. In fact, it's a Western in space where the losers in a Civil War are heading out to a barren frontier. Mal Reynolds is a man embittered by the war, yet whose love of his comrades perpetually dents his cynicism—even in the 14 episodes that exist we see him warm to the bubbly young mechanic Kaylee, the preacher Book, the idealistic doctor Simon, even to the often demented River, Simon's sister, the psychic result of malign experiments.

Fireflyis also about adult emotional relationships, for example Kaylee's crush on Simon, the happy marriage of Mal's second officer Zoe and the pilot Wash, the disastrous erotic stalemate between Mal and the courtesan Inara. Individual episodes deal with capers going vaguely wrong, or threats narrowly circumvented; character and plot arcs were starting to emerge when the show was cancelled. Fortunately, the spin-off movie Serenityis planned; and in the meantime, what there is of Fireflyis a show to marvel at, both for its tight writing and ensemble acting, and the idiocy of the executives who cancelled it.

On the DVD:Fireflyon DVD is presented in anamorphic 1.78:1 with Dolby Surround Sound. It includes commentaries on six episodes by various writers, directors, designers and cast members as well as featurettes on the conception of the show and the design of the spaceship Serenity, four deleted scenes, a gag reel, and Joss Whedon singing the show's theme tune, more or less. One of the things that emerges from all of this is how committed to the project everyone involved with it was, and is—unusually, you end up caring as much for the cast and crew as for the characters. The discs have subtitles in English and Spanish and the option of listening to the soundtrack dubbed into Spanish or French. —Roz Kaveney
Forward the Foundation
Isaac Asimov
Foundation (The Foundation Series)
Isaac Asimov
Foundation and Chaos (Second Foundation Trilogy S.)
Greg Bear
Foundation and Earth
Isaac Asimov
Foundation and Empire (The Foundation Series)
Isaac Asimov
Foundation's Edge
Isaac Asimov
Foundation's Fear (Second Foundation Trilogy S.)
Gregory Benford
Foundation's Triumph (Second Foundation Trilogy S.)
David Brin
Futurama: Season 1
Set in the year 3000, Futuramais the acme of sci-fi animated sitcom from Simpsonscreator Matt Groening. While not as universally popular as The Simpsons, Futuramais equally hip and hilarious, thanks to its zippy lateral-thinking contemporary pop cultural references, celebrity appearances (Pamela Anderson and Leonard Nimoy are among a number of guest stars to appear as disembodied heads in jars) and Bender, a distinctly Homer Simpson-esque robot. Part of Futurama's charm is that with decades of sci-fi junk behind us we've effectively been living with the distant future for years and can now have fun with it. Hence, the series stylishly jumbles motifs ranging from Lost in Space-style kitsch to the grim dystopia of Blade Runner. It also bridges the gap between the impossible dreams of your average science fiction fan and the slobbish reality of their comic reading, TV-gawping existence. Groening himself distinguishes his two series thus: "The Simpsonsis fictional. Futuramais real."

The opening series (premiered in 1999) sees nerdy pizza delivery boy Fry transferred to the 31st century in a cryogenic mishap. There, he meets the beautiful, one-eyed Leela (voiced by Married with Children's Katey Sagal) and the incorrigible alcoholic robot Bender. The three of them join Fry's great (x30) nephew Professor Farmsworth and work in his intergalactic delivery service. Hyper-real yet strangely recognisable situations ensue—Fry discovers he is a billionaire thanks to 1,000 years accrued interest, Leela must fend off the attentions of Captain Kirk-like Lothario Zapp Brannigan, and Fry accidentally drinks the ruler of a strange planet of liquid beings. —David Stubbs

On the DVD:As with the earlier Fox release of The Simpsons, Season 1this otherwise excellent three-disc set is let down by clunky menu navigation. There are way too many copyright warnings, no "Play All" facility, and you have to click back and forth to begin each new episode or find the additional features. By way of compensation, the menus look great and there's a goodly selection of extras on each disc. The entertaining commentaries are by Matt Groening and various members of his creative team, including producer David X Cohen and John DiMaggio (the voice of Bender) and Billy West (Fry). There are a handful of deleted scenes for certain episodes, plus the script and storyboard for the very first episode and an interactive stills gallery. The 4:3 picture is pin-sharp as is the Dolby 2.0Surround.—Mark Walker
Futurama: Season 2
Matt Groening's second series of the 31st century sci-fi sitcom Futuramamaintained the high scripting standards of the first as well bringing improved digital animation. Couch potato Fry now seems thoroughly reconciled to his new existence, transported 10 centuries hence to "New New York" and working for Professor Farnsworth's delivery service. He's surrounded by a cast of freaks, including the bitchily cute Amy (with whom he has a romantic brush) and Hermes, the West Indian bureaucrat. Most sympathetic is the one-eyed Leela (voiced by Katey Sagal). Like Lisa Simpson, she is brilliant but unappreciated; she finds solace in her pet Nibbler, a tiny creature with a voracious, carnivorous appetite. By contrast, Bender, the robot, is programmed with every human vice, a sort of metal Homer Simpson with a malevolent streak.

In one of the best episodes, Bender is given a "feelings" chip in order to empathise with Leela after he flushes Nibbler down the toilet. Elsewhere, Fry falls in love with a Mermaid when the team discover the lost city of Atlanta, Fry and Bender end up going to war after they join the army to get a discount on gum, and John Goodman guest stars as Santa Claus, an eight-foot gun-toting robot. Brimful with blink-and-you'll-miss-them hip jokes (such as the sign for the Taco Bellevue hospital) and political and pop satire, Futuramaisn't a stern warning of things to come but rather, as the programme-makers put it, "a brilliant, hilarious reflection of our own materially (ridiculously) over-developed but morally under-developed society."

On the DVD:Futurama's four-disc package presents the show in 4:3 with a Dolby Digital soundtrack. Among the many extras here are audio commentaries, storyboards, trailers, mock ads for "Soylent Chow" and "Human Rinds" and deleted scenes, including one from "Bender Gets Made" in which he seeks to evade the Robot Mafia by changing his identity. —David Stubbs
Futurama: Season 3
Good news, everyone, the third series of Futuramais just as funny as ever—irreverent, boundlessly inventive, warmhearted and chock full of in-jokes, sight gags and fleeting references to all manner of pop culture icons and obscure genre classics. In fact, if the show has a problem it's this very fecundity: it's all so lovingly crafted that scarcely a frame goes by without something both funny and clever going on: when a horse wins a race by a quantum fraction, Prof Farnsworth fulminates "You changed the result by observing it!"

Recurring minor characters (Elzar the chef, the robot mafia, the mutants in the sewers) pop up unexpectedly throughout, providing another wink to dedicated fans; like Red Dwarf, this is a show that loves the genre it sets out to spoof. Shame, then, that the show has had a troubled broadcast history and never quite found the mainstream appeal of its stablemate The Simpsons.

This year, Fry and the Planet Express team find themselves stranded on a planet of unfeasibly large women ("Amazon Women in the Mood"), standing in for psychotic Robo-Santa ("A Tale of Two Santas", with John Goodman reprising his evil robot) and variously falling in love with each other and sundry other humans, aliens, man-bots, fem-bots, virtual reality constructs and even the Planet Express ship itself.

On the DVD:Futurama, Series 3comprises 22 episodes on four discs (see below for complete episode list). As with previous series DVDs the animated menus are a treat and there's a selection of bonus features including deleted scenes, storyboards, selected episode commentaries, animatics, "How to draw" tips and more. Best of all, though, each disc now has a "Play All" facility for the first time. Sheer heaven. —Mark Walker
Futurama: Season 4
No more good news everybody—this fourth series of Futuramais the show's last. By turns frenetic and far-sighted, Matt Groening's futuristic comedy provided belly-laughs for self-confessed SF nerds, but somehow failed to connect with a broader audience, even though it was often funnier and sharper than stablemate The Simpsons. So now bid farewell to the Planet Express team—Fry, Leela, Zoidberg, Bender, Amy, Hermes, Prof Farnsworth—as well as to kindly Kif, cloned Cubert, megalomaniac Mom, mutants in the sewer, the cast of robo-sitcom All My Circuits, swashbuckling space lothario and William Shatner wannabe Zapp Brannigan, Elzar the four-armed chef, and all the other characters that made Futuramasuch a unique experience.

This fourth and final year has all the elements that fans enjoyed so much—but also those elements that partially explain its cancellation. Recurring characters are great if you've watched the show before, as are the in-jokes; and the many parodies of classic science fiction are fine for the initiated, but risk leaving other viewers out in the cold. The show's strengths and perceived weaknesses are exemplified in the episode "Where No Fan Has Gone Before", in which the original cast of Star Trekplay themselves: hilarious for Trekkers, but not really for anyone else. Elsewhere we find Leela discovering her real parents aren't aliens at all but in fact live in the sewers; Kif getting pregnant; Fry discovering the fossilised remains of his faithful pet dog; and Bender being converted to steam power. Despite some ups and downs, it's still the funniest animated show on TV. Those responsible for cancelling it can bite my shiny metal …

On the DVD:Futurama, Series 4DVD box set includes a "Play All" function on each disc. Multifarious extras include cast and crew commentaries, deleted scenes, animatics, galleries and Easter eggs. —Mark Walker
Hackers and Painters: Essays on the Art of Programming
Paul Graham
Hana-Bi [1998]
'Beat' Takeshi Kitano The ideal starter movie for those who wish to familiarise themselves with the work of the paradoxical Japanese auteur, Hana-Bi(the word means "fireworks" in Japanese) is an echtexample of "Beat"'s Takeshi Kitano's distinctive brand of existential crime thrillers. Like Violent Cop, Boiling Point, Sonatineor his LA-set Brother, Hana-Bijuxtaposes shocking bursts of violence with reflective moments of lyricism, setting up a slap-caress-slap rhythm that's as disquieting as it is addictive.

Kitano himself plays weary Tokyo cop Nishi, an impassive-faced detective in hock to yakuzamobsters, toughened by a career in violence (at one point he takes out an attacker's eye with a chopstick, an assault so swiftly edited one barely has time to register it). Nishi's Achilles-heel is his love for his wife Miyuki (Kayoko Kishimoto) who is dying of cancer, following their late daughter to the grave. When Nishi leaves a stakeout to attend to her in hospital, a colleague, Horibe (Ren Osugi) is paralysed in the ensuing shootout. Nishi, guilt-stricken, goes on the run with Miyuki, taking her to beauty spots to enjoy simple pleasures like kite-flying and picnics before she dies, although the yakuzaare never far behind. Meanwhile, Horibe takes up painting, and discovers in the process a calming new vocation (the na&239;ve, disturbing and strangely beautiful images are by Kitano himself, painted after he had his own near-fatal experience in a motorcycle accident).

The cumulative effect is a profoundly moving and enigmatic movie, one that discreetly withholds many of the narrative crutches—backstory, motivation—you would expect from a conventional Hollywood movie with the same story. It's not surprising Kitano is so drawn to characters teeming with contradictions, given that his own career seems so bi-polar on paper: he started out a television presenting clown, and his move into glowering policiers represented an image volte-face as surprising to Japanese audiences as it would be if Dale Winton had started making Scorsese-style gangster movies. His comic sensibility shines through in spots in Hana-Bi, even more so in the broad comedy Kikujiro. Considered by many critics Kitano's best film, Hana-Bi^'s power is augmented by Hideo Yamamoto's lapidary cinematography, and Jo Hisaishi's lush, string-laden score. —Leslie Felperin
The Handmaid's Tale (Contemporary Classics)
Margaret Atwood
Hidden Agendas (Tom Clancy's Net Force S.)
Tom Clancy Steve Pieczenik
High Fidelity
Nick Hornby
His Dark Materials Gift Set: "Northern Lights", "The Subtle Knife", "The Amber Spyglass" (His Dark Materials S.)
Philip Pullman
The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy
Douglas Adams
How Mumbo-jumbo Conquered the World: A Short History of Modern Delusions
Francis Wheen
How to Be Good
Nick Hornby
Hypnotize
System of a Down The second in System Of A Down’s projected 2005 two-album set picks up where its predecessor Mezmerizeleft off, melding together bug-eyed political rage, complex prog-metal, and incomprehensible lyrical absurdities and packaging them all together in one of the ugliest sleeves ever seen in Christendom.

Mind you, to be aesthetically pleasing is not System’s way: "She’s On Heroin" and "Stealing Society" are lurid snapshots of society at its most grotesque, schizophrenic canvases of thrash metal and dizzying Cossack rhythms as warped and twisted as the drug addicts and insane dictators they inevitably depict. A bizarre highlight comes in the shape of "Victim Of Obscenity", where frontman Serj Tankian chants "Banana banana banana terracotta/ Banana terracotta pie". As with Mezmerize, Hypnotizefinds guitarist Daron Malakian handling many of the vocal duties: he takes the lead on "Kill Rock’n’Roll", declaring "I felt like the biggest asshole/When I killed your rock’n’roll", and again on the uncharacteristically slow, emotive "Lonely Day". If anything, though, this is a heavier, more bewildering work than its predecessor. An album to sort out the men from the boys – Louis Pattison
I Am Legend
Richard Matheson It seems strange to find a 1954 vampire novel in Millennium's "SF Masterworks" classic reprints series. I Am Legend, though, was a trailblazing and later much imitated story that reinvented the vampire myth as SF. Without losing the horror, it presents vampirism as a disease whose secrets can be unlocked by scientific tools. The hero Robert Neville, perhaps the last uninfected man on Earth, finds himself in a paranoid nightmare. By night, the bloodthirsty undead of small-town America besiege his barricaded house: their repeated cry "Come out, Neville!" is a famous SF catchphrase. By day, when they hide in shadow and become comatose, Neville gets out his wooden stakes for an orgy of slaughter. He also discovers pseudoscientific explanations, some rather strained, for vampires' fear of light, vulnerability to stakes though not bullets, loathing of garlic, and so on. What gives the story its uneasy power is the gradual perspective shift which shows that by fighting monsters Neville is himself becoming monstrous—not a vampire but something to terrify vampires and haunt their dreams as a dreadful legend from the bad old days. I Am Legend was altered out of recognition when filmed as The Omega Man (1971), starring Charlton Heston. Avoid the movie; read the book. —David Langford
I Robot (Collector's Two Disc Edition) [2004]
As paranoid cop Del Spooner, Will Smith displays both his trademark quips and some impressive pectoral muscles in I, Robot. Only Spooner suspects that the robots that provide the near future with menial labor are going to turn on mankind—he's just not sure how. When a leading roboticist dies suspiciously, Spooner pursues a trail that may prove his suspicions. Don't expect much of a connection to Isaac Asimov's classic science fiction stories;I, Robot, the action movie, isn't prepared for any ruminations on the significance of artificial intelligence. This likable, efficient movie won't break any new ground, but it does have an idea or two to accompany its jolts and thrills, which puts it ahead of most recent action flicks. Also featuring Bridget Moynahan, Bruce Greenwood, and James Cromwell. —Bret Fetzer
The Incredibles (2 Discs) [2004]
After creating the last great traditionally animated film of the 20th century, The Iron Giant, filmmaker Brad Bird joined top-drawer studio Pixar to create this exciting, completely entertaining computer-animated film. Bird gives us a family of "supers," a brood of five with special powers desperately trying to fit in with the 9-to-5 suburban lifestyle. Of course, in a more innocent world, Bob and Helen Parr were superheroes, Mr. Incredible and Elastigirl. But blasted lawsuits and public disapproval forced them and other supers to go incognito, making it even tougher for their school-age kids, the shy Violet and the aptly named Dash. When a stranger named Mirage (voiced by Elizabeth Pena) secretly recruits Bob for a potential mission, the old glory days spin in his head, even if his body is a bit too plump for his old super suit.

Bird has his cake and eats it, too. He and the Pixar wizards send up superhero and James Bond movies while delivering a thrilling, supercool action movie that rivals Spider-Man 2for 2004's best onscreen thrills. While it's just as funny as the previous Pixar films, The Incredibleshas a far wider-ranging emotional palette (it's Pixar's first PG film). Bird takes several jabs, including some juicy commentary on domestic life ("It's not graduation, he's moving from the fourth to fifth grade!").

The animated Parrs look and act a bit like the actors portraying them, Craig T. Nelson and Holly Hunter. Samuel L. Jackson and Jason Lee also have a grand old time as, respectively, superhero Frozone and bad guy Syndrome. Nearly stealing the show is Bird himself, voicing the eccentric designer of superhero outfits ("No capes!"), Edna Mode.

Nominated for four Oscars, The Incredibleswon for Best Animated Film and, in an unprecedented win for non-live-action films, Sound Editing.

The Presentation
This two-disc set is (shall we say it?), incredible. The digital-to-digital transfer pops off the screen and the 5.1 Dolby sound will knock the socks off most systems. But like any superhero, it has an Achilles heel. This marks the first Pixar release that doesn't include both the widescreen and full-screen versions in the same DVD set, which was a great bargaining chip for those cinephiles who still want a full-frame presentation for other family members. With a 2.39:1 widescreen ratio (that's big black bars, folks, à la Dr. Zhivago), a few more viewers may decide to go with the full-frame presentation. Fortunately, Pixar reformats their full-frame presentation so the action remains in frame.

The Extras
The most-repeated segments will be the two animated shorts. Newly created for this DVD is the hilarious "Jack-Jack Attack," filling the gap in the film during which the Parr baby is left with the talkative babysitter, Kari. "Boundin'," which played in front of the film theatrically, was created by Pixar character designer Bud Luckey. This easygoing take on a dancing sheep gets better with multiple viewings (be sure to watch the featurette on the short).

Brad Bird still sounds like a bit of an outsider in his commentary track, recorded before the movie opened. Pixar captain John Lasseter brought him in to shake things up, to make sure the wildly successful studio would not get complacent. And while Bird is certainly likable, he does not exude Lasseter's teddy-bear persona. As one animator states, "He's like strong coffee; I happen to like strong coffee." Besides a resilient stance to be the best, Bird threw in an amazing number of challenges, most of which go unnoticed unless you delve into the 70 minutes of making-of features plus two commentary tracks (Bird with producer John Walker, the other from a dozen animators). We hear about the numerous sets, why you go to "the Spaniards" if you're dealing with animation physics, costume problems (there's a reason why previous Pixar films dealt with single- or uncostumed characters), and horror stories about all that animated hair. Bird's commentary throws out too many names of the! animators even after he warns himself not to do so, but it's a lively enough time. The animator commentary is of greatest interest to those interested in the occupation.

There is a 30-minute segment on deleted scenes with temporary vocals and crude drawings, including a new opening (thankfully dropped). The "secret files" contain a "lost" animated short from the superheroes' glory days. This fake cartoon (Frozone and Mr. Incredible are teamed with a pink bunny) wears thin, but play it with the commentary track by the two superheroes and it's another sharp comedy sketch. There are also NSA "files" on the other superheroes alluded to in the film with dossiers and curiously fun sound bits. "Vowellet" is the only footage about the well-known cast (there aren't even any obligatory shots of the cast recording their lines). Author/cast member Sarah Vowell (NPR's This American Life) talks about her first foray into movie voice-overs—daughter Violet—and the unlikelihood of her being a superhero. The feature is unlike anything we've seen on a Disney or Pixar DVD extra, but who else would consider Abe Lincoln an action figure? —Doug Thomas
Infinite Loop: How the World's Most Insanely Great Computer Company Went Insane
Michel S. Malone
Inside of Emptiness
John Frusciante
Island (Flamingo Modern Classics)
Aldous Huxley
IV: Constitution of Treason [Limited]
God Forbid
Jester Race, the/Black Ash Inheritance
In Flames
The Junk Food Companion: The Complete Guide to Eating Badly
Eric Spitznagel
Lord of the Flies
William Golding Lord of the Flies , William Golding's classic tale about a group of English schoolboys who are plane-wrecked on a deserted island, is just as chilling and relevant today as when it was first published in 1954. At first, the stranded boys cooperate, attempting to gather food, make shelters, and maintain signal fires. Overseeing their efforts are Ralph, "the boy with fair hair," and Piggy, Ralph's chubby, wisdom-dispensing sidekick whose thick spectacles come in handy for lighting fires. Although Ralph tries to impose order and delegate responsibility, there are many in their number who would rather swim, play, or hunt the island's wild pig population. Soon Ralph's rules are being ignored or challenged outright. His fiercest antagonist is Jack, the redheaded leader of the pig hunters, who manages to lure away many of the boys to join his band of painted savages. The situation deteriorates as the trappings of civilization continue to fall away, until Ralph discovers that instead of being hunters, he and Piggy have become the hunted: "He forgot his words, his hunger and thirst, and became fear; hopeless fear on flying feet." Golding's gripping novel explores the boundary between human reason and animal instinct, all on the brutal playing field of adolescent competition. —Jennifer Hubert
The Man in the High Castle (Penguin Modern Classics)
Eric Brown Philip K. Dick
Metropolis Part 2: Scenes From a Memory
Dream Theater There's always been an element of slightly camp theatricality about progressive rock—witness Peter Gabriel dressing up as a giant hogweed—so the idea of a progressive musical isn't too much of a stretch. Dream Theater's Metropolis Pt 2: Scenes from a Memorytakes the progressive rock staple of a concept album in a stagy new direction. You know they're up to something when the booklet divides the album into "Act One" and "Act Two", the lyrics are told from the point of view of a cast of characters, and the band credit themselves as "The Orchestra". In the hands of almost anyone else this would seem risibly pretentious, but Dream Theater somehow manage to carry it off (just) by virtue of their uniquely heavy metal slant on the old progressive format. Their blistering, even-louder-than-Metallica riffing takes the dainty edge off the proceedings (most of the time) as the story of dying and "learning to live" unfolds.

Both their fans and the band seem to agree that 1992's Images and Wordsis their finest work to date, so it's only fitting that the plot here is an extension of the track "Metropolis, Part 1" from that album. The extraordinary virtuoso musicianship of the band is, of course, abundantly on display again (amateurs can only shake their heads in despair when players this good let rip), and James LaBrie sings all the "roles" with real gusto. With a new keyboard player to fill the talent gap left by the departure of Kevin Moore, and studio production that rightly gives all the individual instruments their due, Dream Theater seem finally to have found their musical feet again. —Mark Walker
Mezmerize
System Of A Down The first instalment of a projected two-album set, Mezmerize sees System Of A Down, an American band of mostly Armenian heritage, further distilling their unique formula of thrash metal, socio-political rage, and Eastern European vocal melody into ever-more fiendishly complicated and white-knuckle exhilarating forms. Moreso even than 2001's Toxicity, this is a album of intense complexity: crammed with whiplash-inducing tempo-changes and a schizophrenic mood that sees sing-a-long, poppy choruses segued effortlessly into breakneck speed-metal, it's as bewildering on first listen as it is addictive after three.

Like Rage Against The Machine, SOAD are a fiercely moral band, but they never let their message stagnate through po-faced delivery: see, for instance, "Cigaro"—ostensibly a song about abuse of power, but one which opens with frontman Serj Tankian yelping "My cock is much bigger than yours!" Musically, too, they're not without an occasional lightness of touch: see the excellent "Radio/Video", riding along on a bouncy ska rhythm. But it's perhaps inevitable that Mezmerize should climax on a note of epic disgust, in the shape of "Old School Hollywood" and "Lost in Hollywood" - two songs that rage against the glossy materialism of their Los Angeles hometown, taking down a regiment of Z-list celebrities and "maggots smoking fags on Santa Monica boulevard" in a firestorm of righteous fury. —Louis Pattison
The Midwich Cuckoos
John Wyndham
Night Moves (Tom Clancy's Net Force S.)
Tom Clancy Steve Pieczenik
Night Of The Living Dead [1968]
George A. Romero
Nineteen Eighty-four (Essential.penguin S.)
George Orwell
Notes From a Small Island
Bill Bryson Bill Bryson is an unabashed Anglophile who, through a mistake of history, happened to be born and bred in Iowa. Righting that error, he spent 20 years in England before deciding to repatriate: "I had recently read that 3.7 million Americans according to a Gallup poll, believed that they had been abducted by aliens at one time or another, so it was clear that my people needed me." That comic tone enlivens this account of Bryson's farewell walking tour of the countryside of "the green and kindly island that had for two decades been my home."
Octavarium
Dream Theater Prog rockers Dream Theater tallied 16 years as a band with the release of Octavarium, but in listening you're apt to suspect otherwise. As a collective they remain as tight as they were on 2003's obsessively dark Train of Thought(like all music-school outfits, they've exacted an all-for-one formula that doesn't allow a single player more than his share of swagger), but a post-hardcore edge—call it a leap into 2005—has invaded their pledge of allegiance to theatrical heavy rock. Hear it on "I Walk Beside You" and "The Answer Lies Within," both of which, at under five minutes, play like charming haikus from a band known for its epic poetry, and also on the orchestra-backed 20-plus-minute final cut, which skips around from Pink Floyd to Rush to Black Sabbath influences, stopping off every so often at a place fans of My Chemical Romance might find familiar. As with all the band's discs, guitars loom large and both doom and redemption seem no further than the next twisted verse. What's changed is Dream Theater's commitment to carrying on their reputation as underground progressive rock's classicists, and it seems well-timed. —Tammy La Gorce, All Music Guide
The Office - Series 1 and 2 [2001]
Ricky Gervais Stephen Merchant It feels both inaccurate and inadequate to describe The Office as a comedy. On a superficial level, it disdains all the conventions of television sitcoms: there are no punch lines, no jokes, no laugh tracks and no cute happy endings. More profoundly, it's not what we're used to thinking of as funny. Most of the fervently devoted fan base that the programme acquired watched with a discomfortingly thrilling combination of identification and mortification. The paradox is that its best moments are almost physically unwatchable.

Set in the offices of a fictional Slough paper merchant, The Office is filmed in the style of a reality television programme. The writing is subtle and deft, the acting wonderful and the characters beautifully drawn: the cadaverous team leader Gareth, a paradigm of Andy McNab's readership; the monstrous sales rep, Chris Finch; and the decent but long-suffering everyman Tim, whose ambition and imagination have been crushed out of him by the banality of the life he dreams uselessly of escaping. The show is stolen, as it was intended to be, by insufferable office manager David Brent, played by cowriter Ricky Gervais. Brent will become a name as emblematic for a particular kind of British grotesque as Alan Partridge or Basil Fawlty, but he is a deeper character than either. Partridge and Fawlty are exaggerations of reality, and therefore safely comic figures. Brent is as appalling as only reality can be. —Andrew Mueller

On the DVD: Series 1 is tastefully packaged as a two-disc set appropriately adorned with John Betjeman's poem "Slough". The special features occupy the second disc and consist of a laid-back 39-minute documentary entitled "How I Made The Office by Ricky Gervais", with cowriter Stephen Merchant and the cast contributing. Here we discover that Gervais spends his time on set "mucking around and annoying people", and that actress Lucy Davis (Dawn) is the daughter of Jasper Carrott; as well as seeing parts of the original short film and the original BBC pilot episode; plus we get to enjoy many examples of the cast corpsing throughout endless retakes. There are also a handful of deleted scenes, none of which were deleted because they weren't funny.

Series 2 is a single-disc release, but the extra features are enjoyable nonetheless. Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant feature in a gleefully shambolic video diary—highlights of which include Gervais flicking elastic bands at his cowriter and taping their editor to his swivel chair. The ubiquitous Gervais also mockingly introduces some outtakes (mostly of him corpsing throughout dozens of takes) and a series of deleted scenes, notably of Gareth arriving in his horrendous cycle shorts. —Mark Walker
The Office - The Christmas Specials [2003]
The two-part conclusion to The Office bids farewell to David Brent and his long-suffering co-workers in a surprisingly poignant not to say dignified manner. Supposedly accompanied by the fly-on-the-wall documentary crew three years after his highly undignified exit from Slough-based paper merchants Wernham Hogg, the first part reveals Brent as a travelling salesman by day and D-list "celebrity" by night, enduring humiliating club appearances organised by his clueless manager. But Brent can't keep away from his old stamping-ground in Slough, especially with the imminent prospect of the annual Christmas party. As much to spite suave rival Neil as anything else, Brent is on an agonisingly painful hunt for a date to bring along.

Back at Wernham Hogg, lovelorn Tim has to endure not only the officious behaviour of Gareth, now his manager, but also a cheerless existence bereft of Dawn, who is living in Florida with boorish fiancé Lee. Matters are brought to a head for all concerned—including Lee and Dawn, flown over specially for the occasion—when they finally gather in the office for the party.

As ever the script is full of priceless one-liners (witness big Keith's chat-up spiel, as he promises "at least one orgasm" to any woman), and the show is peppered with those direct appeals to camera (Tim's weary "I don't believe he just said that" look, Brent's desperate self-justificatory "Eh?"), as well as achingly effective silences that simultaneously enhance the fly-on-the-wall conceit and heighten the comic effect. Without descending into the sentimental or the trite, somehow The Office closes for business on a genuinely heartwarming note.

On the DVD: This single disc has good, if unexceptional, bonus features. There's a behind-the-scenes documentary in similar format to those on the previous releases, a commentary from Stephen Merchant and Ricky Gervais on Episode 2, a funny and deservedly self-congratulatory featurette on the Golden Globe Awards ceremony, the full video of David Brent's single "If You Don't Know Me By Now" plus a recording session for "Freelove Freeway" (with Noel Gallagher on backing vocals). —Mark Walker
Origin of Symmetry
Muse Pomposity, bombast, pretension and prog-rock: they're four crimes that blight the landscape of modern music and Origin Of Symmetry—the second record by Teignmouth angst-rockers Muse—is guilty of every single one. But the truly astonishing thing about this record is the way it twists every one of these cardinal musical sins into spectacularly silly and starkly individual strengths. Where their debut album Showbizwas rightly dismissed as little more than Radiohead-lite, here Muse sound defiantly like their own band: on "New Born", they're torn somewhere between the purity of front man Matt Bellamy's angelic vocal tones and the corruption of a huge, dirty, distorted bass riff that electrifies the sound into crackling life; on the fraught, operatic "Bliss", they sound like an unholy—but very welcome—cross between synth-heavy Krautrock legends Tangerine Dream and youthful choirboy angst-peddlers JJ72; and even a wonderfully dippy take on the Nina Simone-popularised jazz standard "Feeling Good" is carried off with the requisite deadpan countenance. Bellamy's impassioned voice, in particular, is on spectacular form, soaring skywards until it cracks into a beautiful falsetto reminiscent of Jeff Buckley's greatest vocal moments. So gloriously overblown, it deserves to be huge—Origin Of Symmetryis a fascinating, flamboyant and satisfyingly individual album. —Louis Pattison
The Outer Limits - The Original Series - Vol. 1
Paper Prototyping: Fast and Simple Techniques for Designing and Refining the User Interface
Carolyn A. Snyder
Peep Show Series 1
Peep Show Series 2
The Perennial Philosophy
Aldous Huxley
Plot Against America
Philip Roth
Point Counter Point (Flamingo Modern Classics)
Aldous Huxley
Politika (Tom Clancy's Power Plays S.)
Tom Clancy Martin Harry Greenberg
Polysyllabic Spree
Nick Hornby
Prelude to Foundation (The Foundation Series)
Isaac Asimov
The Princess Bride
William Goldman
Rainbow Six
Tom Clancy
Red Dwarf: Series 3
Ed Bye The third series of Red Dwarfintroduced some radical changes—all of them for the better—but the scripts remained as sharp and character-focussed as ever, making this a firm candidate for the show's best year. Gone were the dull metallic grey sets and costumes, gone too was Norman Lovett's lugubrious Holly, replaced now by comedienne Hattie Hayridge, who had previously played Hilly in the Series 2 episode "Parallel Universe". New this year were custom-made costumes, more elaborate sets, the zippy pea-green Starbug, bigger special effects and the wholly admirable Robert Llewellyn as Kryten.

The benefits of the show's changes are apparent from the outset, with the mind-bending hilarity of "Backwards", in which Kryten and Rimmer establish themselves as a forwards-talking double-act on a reverse Earth. After a modest two-hander that sees Rimmer and Lister "Marooned", comes one of the Dwarf's most beloved episodes, "Polymorph". Here is the ensemble working at its best, as each character unwittingly has their strongest emotion sucked out of them. Lister loses his fear; Cat his vanity; Kryten his reserve; and Rimmer his anger ("Chameleonic Life-Forms. No Thanks"). "Body Swap" sees Lister and Rimmer involved in a bizarre attempt to prevent the ship from self-destructing. "Timeslides" delves deep into Rimmer's psyche as the boys journey haphazardly through history. Finally, "The Last Day" shows how completely Kryten has been adopted as a crewmember, when his replacement Hudzen unexpectedly shows up.

On the DVD:Red Dwarf, Series 3two-disc set maintains the high standard of presentation and wealth of extra material established by its predecessors. Among other delights there are the usual "Smeg Ups" and deleted scenes, plus another fun commentary with the cast. There's a lengthy documentary, "All Change", specifically about Series 3, a tribute to costume designer Mel Bibby, Hattie Hayridge's convention video diary, and—most fascinating—the opportunity to watch "Backwards" played forwards, so you can finally understand what Arthur Smith's backwards-talking pub manager actually says to Rimmer and Kryten in the dressing room. —Mark Walker
Red Dwarf: Series 4
Ed Bye By the end of this fourth year, Red Dwarfhad completed its metamorphosis from a modest studio-bound sitcom with a futuristic premise to a full-blown science-fiction series, complete with a relatively lavish (by BBC standards) special-effects budget, more impressive sets and more location shooting. Despite the heavier emphasis on SF, the character-based comedy remained as sharp as ever. Witness the Cat's reaction to Lister's pus-filled exploding head; Kryten's devastatingly sarcastic defence of Rimmer; or, the classic scene that opens the series, Lister teaching Kryten to lie.

In "Camille", Robert Llewellyn's real-life wife plays a female mechanoid who transforms into something else entirely, as does the episode, which by the end becomes a delightful skit on Casablanca. "DNA" comes over all SF, with lots of techno-speak about a matter transmogrifier and a RoboCophomage—but in typical Dwarffashion, turns out to be all about curry. "Justice" sees Rimmer on trial for the murder of the entire crew, while Lister attempts to evade a psychotic cyborg. Holly gets her IQ back in "White Hole", but wastes time debating bread products with the toaster. "Dimension Jump" introduces dashing doppelganger Ace Rimmer for the first time—he was to return in later series, with diminishingly funny results. Here his appearance is all the better for its apparent improbability. Finally, "Meltdown" goes on location (to a park in North London) where waxdroids of historical characters (played by a miscellaneous selection of cheesy lookalikes) are at war. Only intermittently successful, this episode is really memorable for Chris Barrie's tour-de-force performance, as Rimmer becomes a crazed, Patton-esque general.

On the DVD:Red Dwarf, Series 4, like its predecessors, comes as a two-disc set complete with full cast commentary for every episode, an extensive retrospective documentary (mostly featuring the cast reminiscing), deleted scenes and lots of other fun bits of trivia. —Mark Walker
Red Dwarf: Series 5
It's brown alert time all over again for Red Dwarffans with the fifth season of the much-loved sci-fi/comedy series. Episode-wise, it's business as usual for the crew of the Red Dwarf—that is, if one considers encountering an alien squid that squirts a despair-inducing hallucinogen ("Back to Reality", later voted the best episode of the series by viewers and Stephen Hawking!), evil (and not particularly bright) versions of the crew ("Demons and Angels"), a virus that causes insanity ("Quarantine"), and a trip to a moon created entirely from the mind of the insufferable hologram Rimmer ("Terrorform") business as usual.

In short, it's six hilarious episodes, highlighted by the typically terrific writing of creators Rob Grant and Doug Naylor (who also direct two episodes). As with the previous deluxe DVD releases, Series Vfeatures a wealth of supplemental features, the most intriguing of which is a look at the failed attempt to recreate the show in America (with U.K. cast member Robert Llewellyn and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's Terry Farrell as Cat). Also included are cast and fan commentaries, featurettes on the show's "science" and villains, special effects tests, blooper reels, and a sampling of Grant and Naylor's BBC 4 radio sketch "Dave Hollins, Space Cadet", which served as the inspiration for Red Dwarf. Dedicated DVD owners will also be rewarded by Easter eggs lurking throughout the menus. —Paul Gaita
Red Dwarf: Series 6
Series 6 is possibly the most eagerly awaited of the Red DwarfDVD sets, due to its acclaimed third episode, "Gunmen of the Apocalypse", which earned the program an International Emmy Award in 1994. However, the five other episodes in the series have their own share of absurd laughs, and the two-disc set features enough supplemental features to keep even the most demanding RDfan happy. The crux of series 6 is that the Red Dwarfhas been stolen (no thanks to Lister, who can't remember where he left it), and the crew must recover it; their pursuit brings them in contact with brain-consuming aliens ("Psirens", with guest star Jenny Agutter), a polymorph that turns Rimmer and Cat into their alternate identities from Series V ("Emohawk—Polymorph II"), the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse tricked out as gunslingers ("Gunmen of the Apocalypse"), an army of Rimmer clones ("Rimmerworld"), and finally, their own future selves, who turn out to be particularly awful (worse than the present-day ones, that is), and cause a cliffhanger ending that just might spell the end for the Red Dwarf crew.... In short, series 6 more than earns its popular status among Red Dwarf's fanbase, thanks to its sharp writing (sadly, it would be the last series to feature scripts by co-creator Rob Grant) and energetic performances. And the double-disc set matches the quality of the programs with some terrific extras, including commentaries by the RD crew and fans (the latter on "Gunmen of the Apocalypse" only), and featurettes on composer Howard Goodall and series director Andy de Emmony; these are rounded out by the usual collections of "smeg-ups" (bloopers), deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes footage, and another episode of the "Dave Hollins, Space Cadet" radio sketch that inspired the show. And again, the most patient of viewers will find Easter eggs on the menus (happy hunting). —Paul Gaita
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Live At Slane Castle [2003]
Red Rabbit
Tom Clancy
The Rediscovery of Man (S.F.Masterworks S.)
Cordwainer Smith
Revolution In The Valley: The Insanely Great Story of How the Mac Was Made
Andy Hertzfeld
Riddley Walker
Will Self Russell Hoban
Ring (1998) [2000]
Hideo Nakata A major box office hit in the Far East, Hideo Nakada's Ringis a subtly creepy Japanese ghost story with an urban legend theme, based on a series of popular teen-appeal novels by Susuki Koji. Far less showy than even the restrained chills of The Blair Witch Projector The Sixth Sense, Ringhas nevertheless become a mainstream blockbuster and has already been followed by Ring 2and the prequel Ring 0. A Hollywood remake is in the works.

Investigating the inexplicable, near-simultaneous deaths of her young niece and three teenage friends, reporter Asakawa (Nanako Matsushima) learns of a story about a supernaturally cursed video-tape circulating among school kids. As soon as anyone has watched the tape, allegedly recorded by mistake from a dead TV channel, the telephone rings and the viewer has exactly a week to live. Those doomed are invisibly marked, but their images are distorted if photographed. Inevitably, Asakawa gets hold of the tape and watches it. The enigmatic collage of images include a coy woman combing her hair in a mirror, an old newspaper headline about a volcanic eruption, a hooded figure ranting, people crawling and a rural well. When the phone rings (a memorably exaggerated effect), Asakawa is convinced that the curse is active and calls in her scientist ex-husband Ryuji (Hiroyuki Sanada) to help. He watches a copy of the video a day after Asakawa is exposed and willingly submits himself to the curse. Even more urgency is added to their quest when their young son is unwittingly duped, apparently by the mystery woman from the tape, into watching the video too, joining the queue for a supernatural death.

On the DVD:For a film made in the digital era, the letterboxed (16:9) print is in mediocre state, with a noticeable amount of scratching, though the Dolby Digital soundtrack is superb, making this a film that's as scary to listen to as it is to watch (the squeamish might find themselves covering their ears rather than their eyes in some scenes). Otherwise, there are trailers for the first two Ringfilms and Audition, 10 stills, filmographies for the principals, a review by Mark Kermode, blurb-like extracts from other reviews and the ominous option of playing Sadako's video after a solemn disavowal of responsibility from the distributors! —Kim Newman
Scum of the Earth
Arthur Koestler
The Second Coming of Steve Jobs
Alan Deutschman
Second Foundation (The Foundation Series)
Isaac Asimov
Serenity: Based on the Screenplay by Joss Whedon ("Serenity" S.)
Keith R.A. DeCandido
Serenity: The Official Visual Companion
Joss Whedon
Shadows Are Security
As I Lay Dying
Shadows Collide With People
John Frusciante Rather than dwell once more on John Frusciante's problematic narcotic history, it's far healthier to report that Shadows Collide—the fourth solo album from the Red Hot Chili Peppers' guitarist—sports a thoroughly clean bill of health. Unencumbered by narrow rock strictures, Frusciante seems to have excused himself from the Chili's staple funk-punk approach (his recent listening preferences span early OMD, Van Der Graaf Generator, Roy Wood and Steeleye Span) and Shadows Collideis all the better for the change of scenery. Yes, there are nods to the parent band ("Song to Sing When I'm Older") and both Flea and Chad Smith are participating guests of honour, but this is Frusciante's show.

While there are interludes of electronic Eno-esque oddity (the squall of static and synth choirs on "00Ghost27") this is mostly strident, neo-psychedelic rock begging comparison, vocally and musically, with some of Grant Hart's post Husker Du solo work; a song such as "Carvel" apes the pre-Gillan pomp-opera approach of early Deep Purple. Elsewhere, fascinating treatments (the electric seabird guitars on "Second Walk", the spin-dry vocal oscillations on "Regret") abound and Frusciante's love of the mellotron (flutes, choirs et al) lend proceedings an alluring antique appeal. Think of this as a spiritual halfway house between Candy Apple Greyand In the Court of the Crimson King. —Kevin Maidment
Shaun Of The Dead [2004]
It's no disparagement to describe Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright’s zombie-rom-com Shaun of the Deadas playing like an extended episode of Spaced. Not only does the movie have the rather modest scope of a TV production, it also boasts the snappy editing, smart camera moves, and deliciously post-modern dialogue familiar from the sitcom, as well as using many of the same cast: Pegg’s Shaun and Nick Frost’s Ed are doppelgangers of their Spacedcharacters, while Jessica Stevenson and Peter Serafinowicz appear in smaller roles. Unlike the TV series, it’s less important for the audience to be in on the movie in-jokes, though it won’t hurt if you know George Romero’s famous Dawn of the Deadtrilogy, which is liberally plundered for zombie behaviour and mythology.

Shaun is a loser, stuck in a dead-end job and held back by his slacker pal Ed. Girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield) is exasperated by his lack of ambition and unceremoniously dumps him. As a result, Shaun misses out on what is apparently the end of the world. In a series of beautifully choreographed and edited scenes, including hilarious tracking shots to and from the local shop, he spectacularly fails to notice the death toll and subsequent zombie plague. Only when one appears in their back garden do Shaun and Ed take notice, hurling sundry kitchen appliances at the undead before breaking out the cricket bat. The catastrophe proves to be the catalyst for Shaun to take charge of his life, sort out his relations with his dotty mum (Penelope Wilton) and distant stepdad (Bill Nighy), and fight to win back his ex-girlfriend. Lucy Davis from The Officeand Dylan Moran of Black Booksfame head the excellent supporting cast. —Mark Walker
A Short History of Nearly Everything
Bill Bryson
Shrek 1 & 2 Box Set
Both of the hit animated movies in one package.

Full of verve and wit, Shrek is a computer-animated adaptation of William Steig's delightfully fractured fairy tale. Our title character (voiced by Mike Myers) is an agreeable enough ogre who wants to live his days in peace. When the diminutive Lord Farquaad (John Lithgow) evicts local fairy tale creatures (including the now-famous Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio and the Gingerbread Man), they settle in the ogre's swamp and Shrek wants answers from Farquaad. A quest of sorts starts for Shrek and his new pal, a talking donkey (Eddie Murphy), where battles have to be won and a princess (Cameron Diaz) must be rescued from a dragon lair in a thrilling action sequence. The story is stronger than most animated fare but it's the jokes that make Shrek a winner. The PG rating is stretched when Murphy and Myers hit their strides. The mild potty humour is fun enough for the 10-year-old but will never embarrass their parents. Shrek is never as warm and inspired as the Toy Story films, but the realistic computer animation and a rollicking soundtrack keeps the entertainment in fine form. Produced by DreamWorks, the film also takes several delicious stabs at its cross-town rival, Disney. —Doug Thomas

In Shrek 2, the newlywed Shrek and Princess Fiona are invited to Fiona's former kingdom, Far Far Away, to have their marriage blessed by Fiona's parents—which Shrek thinks is a bad, bad idea, and he's proved right: the parents are horrified by their daughter's transformation into an ogress, a fairy godmother wants her son Prince Charming to win Fiona, and a feline assassin is hired to get Shrek out of the way. The computer animation is more detailed than ever, but it's the acting that make the comedy work—in addition to the return of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, and Cameron Diaz, Shrek 2 features the flexible voices of Julie Andrews, John Cleese and Antonio Banderas, plus Jennifer Saunders as the gleefully wicked fairy godmother. —Bret Fetzer
The Simpsons - Series 6 (Limited Edition Homer Boxset)
The classic to clunker ratio is still extraordinarily high, though The Simpsons' sixth season could give some devoted viewers pause. The show that takes cheeky delight in mooning television convention gives us "Another Simpsons Clip Show" and its first season-ending cliffhanger, "Who Shot Mr. Burns?" And, as does Bart in "A Star Is Burns," we should all feel a little dirty at the "cheap cartoon crossover" appearance of Jay Sherman (Jon Lovitz), designed to give a boost to the ill-fated animated series The Critic. But this is just beard-stroking tongue-clucking regarding a season that delivered episodes that rank in the hallowed The Simpsons pantheon, among them, "Homer Badman," in which lust for a gummy Venus de Milo, peeled from the behind of an unwitting babysitter, makes Homer the object of feminist protest and tabloid TV fodder, and "Homer the Great," in which Homer is discovered to be the Chosen One to lead the secret society, "The Stonecutters" ("Who holds back the electric car/Who made Steve Guttenberg a star?/We do!"). Several episodes take their inspiration from classic films and books: Hitchcock's Rear Window ("Bart of Darkness"); Michael Crichton's Westworld and Jurassic Park ("Itchy and Scratchy Land"); and Stephen King and Ray Bradbury ("Treehouse of Horror V").

This season's roster of guest voices is also especially impressive, including Winona Ryder as "Lisa's Rival," Meryl Streep as Rev. Lovejoy's bad-seed daughter ("She's like a Milk Dud," a smitten Bart laments. "Sweet on the outside, poison on the inside"), the late Anne Bancroft in "Fear of Flying"; Patrick Stewart in "Homer the Great"; Mel Brooks and Susan Sarandon in "Homer vs. Patty and Selma," and Mandy Patinkin as Lisa's future fiancée in the surprisingly moving "Lisa's Wedding." There has, of late, been a feud a-brewin' between fans of The Simpsons and Family Guy. Which show is funnier? Has The Simpsons lost it? Is Family Guy a Simpsons-wannabe? Hey; Can't we all just laugh along? Best to just marvel at another exemplary Simpsons season that, to quote Homer in "Lisa's Rival," delivers it all: "The terrifying lows, the dizzying highs, the creamy middles." —Donald Liebenson, Amazon.com
The Simpsons: Complete Season 1
David Silverman Wesley Archer From practically the first episode, broadcast in 1989, The Simpsons impacted on planet TV like a giant multi-coloured meteor. With a claim to being the defining pop cultural phenomenon of the 1990s—hip, fast, sharp and primary—there was nothing even in rock & roll to match this. The Simpsons is possibly the greatest sitcom ever made. Although the animation was initially primitive, never before had cartoon characters been so well drawn. There had been loveable middle-aged layabouts on TV before, but Homer Simpson successfully stole their crown and out-slobbed them all in every department ("The guys at the plant are gonna have a field day with this," he grumbles in "Call of The Simpsons" as he watches scientists on a TV news item who can't decide whether he is incredibly dense or a brilliant beast). However, in this first series he isn't quite yet the bloated man-child he would become in later series; instead he's a growling patriarch with a Walter Matthau-type voice. His sensible half Marge's croak, meanwhile, has yet to settle down, while the vast cast of minor Springfield characters have yet to find their place. Bart, however, was a smash from the start: dumb as Homer but spiky-haired and resourceful, he sets out his manifesto in "Bart the Genius"; while "Moaning Lisa" spotlights his over-achieving sister and is a good early example of the series' clever handling of melancholy bass notes.

Throughout its life there's always been confusion as to whether The Simpsons is a show for kids or adults, but with allusions in these first 13 episodes to Kubrick, Diane Arbus, Citizen Kane and (in a very satisfyingly anti-French episode) Manon des Sources, it should already have been clear that this was a programme for all ages and all IQs from 0 to 200. Dysfunctional they may have been, but the Simpsons stuck together, and audiences stuck with them into the 21st century. —David Stubbs

On the DVD: The packaging is good but the 13 episodes are spread very thinly here, with just five each on discs one and two . The commentary track is intermittently interesting though a tad repetitive, as creator David Groening is joined by various other members of the team. The third disc has some neat extra stuff, including outtakes, the original Tracey Ullman Show shorts and a five-minute BBC documentary, but is again fairly brief. The menu interfaces are pretty clunky, annoyingly forcing you to watch endless copyright warnings after each episode and with no facility to "play all". The content is wonderful, of course, but three discs looks like overkill. —Mark Walker
The Simpsons: Complete Season 2
First aired in 1990-91, the second series of The Simpsons proved that, far from being a one-joke sitcom about the all-American dysfunctional family, it had the potential to become a whole hilarious universe. The animation had settled down (in the first series, the characters look eerily distorted when viewed years later), while Dan Castellaneta, who voiced Homer, decided to switch from a grumpy Walter Matthau impression to a more full-on, bulbous wail. The series' population of minor characters began to grow with the inclusion of Dr Hibbert, McBain and attorney Lionel Hutz, while the writers became more seamless in their ability to weave pastiche of classic movies into the plot lines. While relatively "straight" by later standards (the surreal forays of future seasons are kept in check here), Season Two contains some of the most memorable episodes ever made, indeed some of the finest American comedy ever made.

These include "O Brother, Where Art Thou?", in which Homer is reunited with, and ruins the business of, his long-lost brother ("He was an unbridled success—until he discovered he was a Simpson"), "Dead Putting Society", in which Homer lives out his rivalry with neighbour Ned Flanders through a crazy-golf competition between the sons ("If you lose, you're out of the family!") and one of the greatest ever episodes, "Lisa's Substitute", which not only features poor little Lisa's crush on a supply teacher voiced by Dustin Hoffman but also Bart's campaign to become class president. "A vote for Bart is a vote for anarchy!", warns Martin, the rival candidate. By way of a retort, Bart promises faithfully, "A vote for Bart is a vote for anarchy!". —David Stubbs

On the DVD: The Simpsons, Season 2, like its DVD predecessor, has neat animated menus on all four discs as well as apparently endless copyright warnings, but nothing as useful as a "play all" facility. The discs are more generously filled than Season 1, however, and each episode has an optional group commentary from Matt Groening and various members of his team. The fourth disc has sundry snippets including the Springfield family at the Emmy Awards ceremony, Julie Kavner dressed up as Bart at the American Music Awards and videos for both "Do the Bartman" and "Deep, Deep Trouble" (all with optional commentary). There are two short features dating from 1991: director David Silverman on the creation of an episode and an interview with Matt Groening. TV commercials for butterfinger bars, foreign language clips and picture galleries round out the selection. Picture is standard 4:3 and the sound is good Dolby 5.1. —Mark Walker
The Simpsons: Complete Season 3
First broadcast in 1991 the third series of The Simpsons contains a clutch of candidates for "Best Simpsons Episode Ever". Homer is on such appallingly good form throughout this series that a reasonable case can be made for asserting that he has superseded the importance of his Greek namesake in the annals of culture and civilisation.

The opening "Stark Raving Dad", for instance, features a guest appearance by an un-credited Michael Jackson, who plays an obese white inmate whom Homer meets while confined to a mental institution. Other standout episodes include "Like Father, Like Clown", in which Krusty reveals he is estranged from his Rabbi father; this is The Simpsons at the height of its powers, mature, ironic, erudite and touching while bristling with slapstick and Bart-inspired cheek. "Flaming Moe's" features Aerosmith and sees Homer invent a cocktail which desperate, sleazy bartender Moe steals from him. "Radio Bart" is another demonstration of the series' knack for cultural references, parodying the Billy Wilder movie Ace in the Hole. Finally, there's "Brother Can You Spare Two Dimes", in which Danny DeVito reprises his role as Homer's brother, regaining the fortune Homer lost him by inventing a Baby Translator.

Immensely enjoyable at anything from a primary to a doctoral thesis level, this third year of the show demonstrates conclusively that The Simpsons is quite simply, and by a large margin, the greatest television programme ever made. —David Stubbs
The Simpsons: Complete Season 4 [1990]
By its fourth series, The Simpsons had come far enough for Lisa to make a self-referential joke about Dustin Hoffman's and Michael Jackson's pseudonymous guest voice appearances in series 2 and 3, respectively. In this series, no less than Elizabeth Taylor (in two episodes), Bette Midler and even the reclusive Johnny Carson blessed The Simpsons with their iconic presences. Awhile back, US magazine Entertainment Weekly ranked the top 25 Simpsons episodes. Five gems from series 4 cracked the top 12, including the (debatable) choice for No. 1, "Last Exit to Springfield". Other episodes that loom large in the Simpsons legend are "Mr Plow" (you know the jingle: "Call Mr Plow / That's my name / That name again is Mr Plow"), "Marge vs. the Monorail", featuring a Music-Man-style extravaganza, and "A Streetcar Named Marge", the episode that outraged New Orleans residents, who heard their fair metropolis referred to as "a city that the damned call home".

The Simpsons smartly subverts traditional family sitcom convention, but anyone who thinks the show doesn't have a heart is advised to watch "I Love Lisa" and "New Kid on the Block", two fourth-series gems that absolutely nail the agony and ecstasy of unrequited crushes ("You won't be needing this", a heartbroken Bart fantasises his babysitter saying while dropkicking his heart into a wastebasket in "New Kid"). While the Simpsons' celebrated ensemble gets all the glory, we must pause now to praise the peerless writing staff, among them George Meyer, Al Jean, Jon Vitti, John Swartzwelder, David Silverman and Conan O'Brien. One can only marvel in astonishment at the alchemy that went into creating, week after week, such essential episodes as "Kamp Krusty", "Streetcar", the profane and profound "Homer the Heretic" and "Lisa the Beauty Queen" (and that's just disc 1!). The animators, too, rose to the occasion, particularly in "Itchy & Scratchy: The Movie", with its dead-on, ultra-violent sinking of the seminal Disney cartoon "Steamboat Willie". Another benchmark in The Simpsons' rise to the TV pantheon is its very first clip show. What Homer says about donuts in "Monorail" holds true as well for The Simpsons itself: is there anything this show can't do? —Donald Liebenson
The Simpsons: Complete Season 5 [1990]
Sixteen seasons (and counting) of pop culture-rocking brilliance, the first four of which have already been gloriously archived on DVD. But in the words of Krusty the Clown: "What has The Simpsons done for me lately?" Well, how about all 22 episodes of season 5, each accompanied by commentary, deleted scenes, and other encyclopedic extras that hopelessly devoted Simpsons fans crave, no, demand? Season 5 is perhaps not as classics-packed as the third or fourth seasons, but no self-respecting Simpsons fan should be without the episodes "Homer's Barbershop Quartet", featuring George Harrison, "Cape Feare", one of Sideshow Bob's (and guest voice Kelsey Grammer's) finest half-hours, "Rosebud", "Springfield (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling)" and "Bart Gets Famous", with the Springfield-sweeping catchphrase "I didn't do it". Plus, the star power this season is impressive: Michelle Pfeiffer as Homer's comely, donut-loving co-worker in "The Last Temptation of Homer", Albert Brooks as a self-help guru who unleashes "Bart's Inner Child", Kathleen Turner as the creator of Malibu Stacy in "Lisa vs. Malibu Stacy", and, as themselves, the Ramones ("Rosebud"), James Woods ("Homer and Apu"), Buzz Aldren ("Deep Space Homer"), and even Robert Goulet ("Springfield").

But it is the writers and the core ensemble cast who exhibit, to quote "Deep Space Homer", "the right... What's that stuff?" Series milestones include the first appearance of yokel Cletus in "Bart Gets an Elephant" and Maggie's infant nemesis, The Baby with One Eyebrow in "Sweet Seymour Skinner's Badasssss Song" which also happens to be The Simpsons' 100th episode. Add in a very good "Treehouse of Horror" episode, (which outs Ned Flanders as the Devil and Marge as the head vampire), and one Emmy-nominated musical extravaganza ("Who Needs the Quick-E-Mart" from "Homer and Apu"), and you have a Simpsons season that's not just great, it's DVD-box-set great. —Donald Liebenson
Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence
Dream Theater Never a band to do things by halves, Dream Theater's Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence is a two-disc extravaganza with a title track that clocks in at a prog-tastic 42 minutes. Following very much in the style of their previous studio release Scenes from a Memory, the "Six Degrees" piece, which occupies the entire second disc, is divided into eight movements beginning of course with the now-obligatory "Overture". It's all good, meaty stuff, but the quasi-symphonic structure isn't really justified by the music, which alternately noodles and thrashes about in a somewhat haphazard manner; while singer James LaBrie's elliptical storytelling struggles to make an impression over the rest of the band's stunningly virtuosic onslaught. The other disc has five chunky shorter pieces (averaging about 10 minutes each) which hearken back to the grungier sound of their Awake album. Guitarist John Petrucci dominates proceedings here perhaps more than he should, and only fearsome drummer Mike Portnoy can compete in the sheer volume and notes-per-second competition. The result is an album that fulfils all the fans' expectations of what this band do best. Despite the "progressive" tag, Dream Theater have, it seems, found a formula and they're sticking to it.—Mark Walker
A Sphere in the Heart of Silence
John Frusciante/Josh Klinghoffer
Spirited Away [2003]
Hayao Miyazaki
Spongebob Squarepants - The Movie
Stalingrad
Antony Beevor
Stamping Butterflies (Gollancz SF S.)
Jon Courtenay Grimwood
Stand By Me [1986]
System of a Down
System Of A Down Waaaargh! East-European death-metal in the area! System Of A Down, a collection of Los Angeles-based ex-pat Armenians with a serious fetish for beefing up the black-humoured urgency of the Dead Kennedys into a breed of music so heavy that it attracts small planets as satellites, rather elude the grace of a subtle introduction. Fortunate, then, that an introduction to them is all that you need;System Of A Downis a near-perfect example of late-1990s metal at its most ridiculous, and of course, heavy metal has always thrived on being the most absurd of all art-forms. "Suggestions", for example, encapsulates many great metal moments; bowel-emptying, mountain-sized riffage twinned with lyrics that crossbreed J.R.R. Tolkein with Karl Marx, sung in a mixture of graveyard-friendly goth baritone and genitals-in-a-vice falsetto. Elsewhere, "Suite-Pee" and "War?" (answer in the affirmative, of course) provide some ass-kicking highlights. Truly, this is a killer album. —Louis Pattison
The System of the World
Neal Stephenson
This Is Serbia Calling: Rock 'n' Roll Radio and Belgrade's Underground Resistance (Five Star Fiction S.)
Matthew Collin
The Time Machine Did It
John Swartzwelder * * * * * Humor/mystery novel by the writer of 59 episodes of The Simpsons.
To Kill a Mockingbird
Harper Lee
To Record Only Water for Ten Days
John Frusciante John Frusciante's first two solo efforts, 1995's Niandra Ladies And Just A T-shirtand 1997's Smile From The Streets You Hold, are obscurities, but To Record Only Water For Ten Days—a title that presumably refers to the artistic strictures involved in such a project—is likely to receive a much higher profile. He is, after all, the guitarist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. That said, his third solo album is a relatively stripped-back affair, not far removed from a bunch of demo recordings. Taking the idea of a solo album literally, Frusciante is responsible for everything here, playing guitar over drum machines and adding occasional keyboards to the 15 songs, presumably hoping to emulate Bill Callahan's excellent Smog. Opener "Going Inside" promises to make this an entertaining ride, given its typically incandescent fretwork, but the project soon becomes a little one-dimensional, hampered by Frusciante's sub-J Mascis yelp. —Mike Pattenden
Tom Clancy's Net Force
Tom Clancy Steve Pieczenik
Tom Clancy's Net Force 5: Point of Impact
Tom Clancy Steve Pieczenik
Train of Thought
Dream Theater With commendable dedication to duty, very little has changed in the peripheral progressive-metal world of Long Island's Dream Theater, but times surely have. Thus, while Train of Thought, the band's eighth studio album since debuting with 1989's When Dream and Day Unitecan hardly be categorised as a stylistic derailment from the combo's grandiose gameplan, it is a record likely to be greeted with rather more of a cordial reception in these muso-friendly times. Afterall, while progressive rock is never going to be as fashionable again as it was in the good old days of Tarkus and Uncle Rick Wakeman, the classical rock bombast of Muse and the hysterical heavy-metal immodesty of the Darkness has thrown a commercial lifebelt to prog rock's more twiddly practioners. To this end, it's hard not to be seduced by the 11 minutes of "This Dying Soul", which at times comes across as a rap-metal version of Richie Blackmore's Rainbow with a piano solo in the middle, or the similarly lengthy and wholly instrumental "Stream of Consciousness" (perhaps a posh way of saying "jam session"), a sonic joust between John Petrucci's screeching fretwork and Jordan Rudess's antique synths. Wholly American in its self-awareness—lyrics about religious fundamentalism and getting along with the family just wouldn't sound right coming from a band domiciled in Weston-super-Mare—Train of Thoughtmight just find a whole new wave of music fans waking up to the existence of "Dream Theater. —Kevin Maidment
Tremors 2 - Aftershocks [1996]
When a remote Mexican oilfield comes down with a nasty case of Graboids (for the uninitiated: giant carnivorous worms with tunnelling abilities that put Bugs Bunny to shame), it is up to those veteran monster exterminators Burt and Earl to save the day—and accumulate some much-needed payola in the process. But this time, the slimy critters may have a few new tricks up their ... um, sleeves. Although denied a chance to appear in the cinema, this unjustly neglected direct-to-video sequel delivers the same winning mixture of cornpone and gore that made the original Tremorsa cult classic. Although Kevin Bacon is missing, Michael Gross and the wonderful Fred Ward reprise their roles from the first film. A hoot-and-a-half for horror and SF fans, Tremors 2has some genuine scares and a welcome sense of humour. The DVD, presented in 1.85:1 widescreen format, has trailers for both movies but no other extra features. —Andrew Wright
Tremors 3 - Back To Perfection [2001]
Brent Maddock
Tremors 4: The Legend Begins [2003]
S.S. Wilson
Tremors [1990]
The Twilight Zone - Complete Season One Limited Edition
The Twilight Zone - Season 2
The Twilight Zone Companion
Marc Scott Zicree
The Ultimate Collection
Who The Ultimate Who Collectionkicks off with the three-minute pop gems of their early days such as "I Can't Explain", "Substitute" and the definitive anthem of the time "My Generation". "I Can See For Miles" heralds the band's coming of age preceding songs like "Magic Bus" and the classics from Tommyincluding "See Me, Feel Me" and of course "Pinball Wizard". Further highlights on disc one are "Summertime Blues" from the Live at Leedsalbum where Roger has never sounded in finer voice, and perhaps one of the best rock moments ever "Won't Get Fooled Again".

Disc two includes less well known hits but does boast the best bits from their film Quadrophenia. Still as powerful without the visuals, they attack "Love Reign O'er Me" like they really mean every single note and word. During the 70s they toned down the raw rock they captured at the turn of the decade and embraced the pop sensibility of their youth, settling for a handsome blend of very British guitar pop and solid power chords best defined by "You Better You Bet". Unlike the Beatles or Rolling Stones, The Who's image has remained anti-establishment despite being no less gentrified than their wrinkly peers, probably due to their music sounding as angsty and passionate now as it did over 30 years ago. —David Trueman
Uzumaki [2000]
Higuchinsky
Wallace And Gromit - 3 Cracking Adventures
Nick Park A Grand Day Out

Nominated for an Academy Award in 1990, the first short-film adventure of Wallace and Gromit was this 24-minute comedy, created by clay animator Nick Park over a six-year period at the National Film & Television School in London, and at the Aardman Animation studios that Park boosted to international acclaim. In their debut adventure, Wallace and his furry pal Gromit find themselves desperate for "a nice bit of Gorgonzola", but their refrigerator's empty and the local cheese shop is closed for a holiday! Undeterred, Wallace comes up with an extreme solution to the cheese shortage: since the moon is made of cheese (we all know that's true, right?), he decides to build a rocket ship and blast off for a cheesy lunar picnic! Gromit's only too happy to help, and before long the inventive duo is on the moon, where they encounter a clever appliance that's part oven, part robot, part lunar skiing enthusiast ... well, you just have to see the movie to understand how any of this whimsical lunar-cy can make any sense! It's a grand tale of wonderful discoveries, fantastic inventions—and really great cheese! 

The Wrong Trousers
Clay-animation master Nick Park deservedly won the 1993 Academy Award for Best Animated Short for this 30-minute masterpiece, in which the good-natured inventor Wallace and his trusty dog, Gromit, return for another grand adventure. It all begins on the morning of Gromit's birthday, when Wallace gives his beloved pooch the gift of his latest invention—a pair of mechanical "techno-trousers" that can be programmed to take Gromit out for "walkies" while Wallace sits comfortably at home. Gromit's not exactly thrilled with the new gadget, and things go from bad to worse when Wallace rents a room to a new boarder—a rather suspicious-looking penguin—to offset his rising expenses. As it turns out, the penguin's a notorious thief, and the amazing techno-trousers provide a foolproof method of pulling off a diamond heist! It's Gromit's big opportunity for canine heroics, and The Wrong Trousersturns into one of the funniest, most inventive caper-comedies ever made, with an action-packed climax on a speeding miniature train. Will the notorious "Feathers" wind up in jail where he belongs? Will Gromit finally get his due recognition? Watch this amazing marvel of clay animation to see why Wallace and Gromit have become global celebrities—this is comedic ingenuity at its finest. 

A Close Shave
Hot from the international triumph of The Wrong Trousers, clay animator Nick Park knew that his third Wallace and Gromit film was going to have to be the biggest and best adventure yet for the mild-mannered inventor Wallace and his perceptive pooch Gromit. With the ambitiously zany plot of A Close Shave, Park and his fellow animators rose to the occasion and their film won the 1995 Academy Award (Park's second Oscar) for Best Animated Short. This time out, Wallace and Gromit have teamed up to provide a window-washing service, and that's how Wallace meets the lovely Wendolene Ramsbottom, a wool-shop owner whose malevolent dog Preston turns out to be the mastermind of a sheep-napping scheme! Of course, no Wallace and Gromit adventure can be without a grandiose gadget, so Wallace's latest invention is the Knit-O-Matic, a yarn-making machine capable of shearing a whole flock of sheep just a bit too efficiently! When the villainous Preston gains control of the mechanical knitting marvel, Gromit must race to the rescue, and A Close Shavereaches new heights of clay-animation mastery. Every shot is a testament to Nick Park's patience, his clever ingenuity, and his film-making flair. The movie's so technically impressive, in fact, that the whole world wondered where Park could go next. It was no surprise, therefore, to find him making the transition to the big screen with Chicken Run. —Jeff Shannon
We (Penguin Twentieth Century Classics S.)
Clarence Brown Evgenii Zamiatin
The Who — The Kids Are Alright Special Edition (2 discs) [1979]
Devotees of the Who, who haven't availed themselves of Jeff Stein's thrilling, self-mocking 1979 documentary The Kids Are Alright, shouldn't wait another minute now that the film has been painstakingly—perhaps heroically—restored to its theatrical-release length from original elements. The sound is clearer than on previous video releases, images are once more crisp and colour-rich, and adjustments in tape speed make the band sound like themselves again, particularly in vintage television performances and filmed club dates from as far back as the band's sonically thrilling, early R&B period. Special features are extensive, including, among many other delights, multiple-angle footage, an insightful interview with Roger Daltrey, a feature about the film's restoration, and a mesmerising, isolated John Entwistle audio track. —Tom Keogh
The Will to Death
John Frusciante
Willy Fog - Complete Collection
The ZEN of CSS Design: Visual Enlightenment for the Web
Dave Shea Molly E. Holzschlag