The Other Sandy

Total: 13/52 videos

Wow, this was an even bigger epic fail than last year. Apparently there's nothing like making something a goal to get me to ignore it completely.

Stuff I watched in 2014:

( TV DVDs/Blu-rays )

( Feature Film DVDs/Blu-rays )

( Miscellaneous DVDs )

I thought there'd be more squeeing and flailing, but I guess the fandom is mostly dead now and there sure as heck hasn't been any publicity.

After so many years of legal issues that fans thought it was never going to happen, Kung Fu: The Legend Continues came out on DVD this week! Right now it's only available from Warner Archive on the official Warner Bros. site, but it's supposed to be more widely available starting on June 17.

::sigh:: I miss Peter so much.

Total: 35/52 DVDs

Oh, well. At least I hit my book goal. And on the plus side, I did watch more DVDs this year than last year, so I think I'll be trying this again.

Stuff I watched in 2012:

( TV DVDs )

( Feature Film DVDs/Blu-rays )

( Miscellaneous DVDs )

I finished watching The Professionals on DVD. Seasons 2 & 3 didn't really have any surprising guest stars, but season 4 featured Michael Praed from Robin of Sherwood as a student activist and Pierce Brosnan as an unnamed CI-5 radio operator.

Here's what struck me later. For a long time, Lewis Collins was utterly desperate to parlay his success from The Professionals into a gig as James Bond. He lobbied hard for it and even met with Cubby Broccoli at one point. He never got the part...but the guy who played an unnamed CI-5 radio operator in one episode of the TV show Collins starred in did. That's got to sting.

My New Year's resolution this year was to declutter my apartment. This project has been moving forward in fits and starts. Today, I took 2 big Container Store-sized bags of books to 1/2 Price Books to make room on the shelves for the bazillion books I've bought but haven't read yet...and came home with 6 movies and season 3 of House on DVD. Decluttering = fail.

But on the plus side, I've been looking for Series 7 on DVD for almost 8 years and there it was for only $3.98. And I do have some room on my video shelves because I decluttered my VHS tapes on my last trip to 1/2 Price Books.

For a time travel episode, it wasn't half bad.

( Spoilers )

Borders sent me a 40% off coupon for any DVD boxed set, good only yesterday and today. I was wracking my brain to come up with something, but I'd just bought the box sets for both Heroes and Supernatural, so I was stumped. Well, guess what came out today? Yes, I now have season 3 of Stargate Atlantis for cheap. Now that's timing.

When I asked a random Borders employee to open the locked case where they keep the box sets, he walked right up the the SGA cabinet without me even saying anything, pointed at the SGA set, and asked me if that's what I wanted. When I asked him how he knew, he said it'd been selling really well. Go, SGA!

Now I just need time to watch all these freaking DVDs. Stupid Spanish class.

"A Quinn Martin production." Hee.

There have been tons of old shows coming out on DVD lately. A friend of mine, who is as much of a TV addict as I am, won't buy any of them because she figures you can't go home again. I've been buying some series, but I checked The Streets of San Francisco out from the library because I figured this would be a 'can't go home again' series for me. I was wrong. I think I'm enjoying it more this time around.

I originally tripped over TSoSF in syndication when I was a teenager while going through a Michael Douglas phase. It took me awhile to get into it because I like buddy cop shows, but I wasn't really sure if Lt. Mike Stone (Karl Malden) and Insp. Steve Keller (Michael Douglas) even liked each other. It turns out that's because most of the character moments were edited out for commercials. The uncut DVDs restore all those bits and add a new dimension to Mike and Steve's personal and professional relationship (Mike comes off a lot more paternal in the uncut eps).

I also seem to have more patience for the slower eps than I did when I was younger. By and large, the writing is very good and the guest characters have more depth than on most shows today. The guest actors are also a who's who of established stars and people about to become ridiculously famous, including a pre-Hart to Hart Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers (but not in the same ep) and a pre-Starsky and Hutch David Soul and Paul Michael Glaser (again, not in the same ep).

The picture quality on the DVDs is very good, too. I don't think the eps were digitally remastered, but they have a much brighter and clearer picture than the murky ones I'm used to seeing in syndication. There's very little in the way of extras (mostly an obviously rehearsed interview of Karl Malden and Michael Douglas by Army Archerd done when the show first aired--they don't make 'em like that anymore).

This set covers the first half of season 1, so not much whumping yet (Steve will get his later, in spades if I remember correctly). And Steve Keller remains the only TV cop I've ever seen who actually sights down the barrel of his revolver before he fires. Why do I think that's so cool?

Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself liking this show even more now, and I may actually start buying it if I can find a good sale.