'Back to the Future' Ride, 'Dynasty,' 'Hawaii Five-O' on DVD
Burbank, California—It was Back to the Future at Universal Studios Hollywood in Universal City, California, where the powers that be have decided to close the popular attraction on Sept. 3, replacing it next year with a ride based on Fox's animated television show The Simpsons. The theme park is also giving away a 1981 DeLorean (less than 10,000 cars were made.)
According to Universal, the Back to the Future motion simulator, which combines sharp jolts with an Omni-max 70 millimeter short film, has been experienced by 61 million visitors since it opened in 1993. Back to the Future co-creator and writer Bob Gale and Christopher Lloyd, who played Doc Brown, gave a fond farewell to the attraction, which puts the rider in an eight-seat convertible DeLorean as a time travel vehicle.
Gale—recently tapped by Marvel Comics to write new stories for The Amazing Spider-Man—and Lloyd, who arrived via the famous "flux-capacitor" DeLorean, were good sports, playing along with the park's version of Doc Brown. Everyone laughed when things went explosively awry and Doc exclaimed: "Great Scott!" just like in the movies, which remain Hollywood's most fun, exciting and original modern movie trilogy.
Judging by the number of people gathered for the event, not including DeLorean enthusiasts, the theme park is missing an opportunity to retrofit this thematic ride based on a profitable series—though a posted disclaimer referred to event coverage as possible material for a future DVD release, so at least someone at Universal understands the value of bringing Doc and company back in the future.
Home Entertainment
Before Doc first stepped into the DeLorean, another doctor, Nicholas Toscanni (James Farentino), zipped around Denver, Colorado, in one of those stainless steel beauties during the second season of ABC's Dynasty, available on DVD Aug. 14 ($42.99). Of course, Farentino's Italian stallion psychiatrist is not what most remember about the show's sophomore season.
That would be the entry of Alexis Carrington (Joan Collins) as the show's resident bitch. Within these 22 episodes, six discs cased in plastic with no features or printed material, Miss Collins as Alexis begins her makeover and takeover of the show, causing marital strife, miscarriage—remember the skeet shooting scheme?—and Cecil Colby's heart attack during sex. For the record, gay Steven, whose lover was killed in the first season, tries to be straight with Heather Locklear in cut-offs as trashy Sammy Jo Dean, while Fallon's still a viper, Blake goes blind and Krystle wrestles with Alexis in their first physical fight of the series.
Brain damage, car bombs and Alexis's Arabian ex-lover Rashid—the second season pumps out the subplots but it isn't anywhere near as interesting as the first. Dynasty does not age well, even for those who relish the camp. Costumes, sets and cast are gorgeous but the stories are so sudsy—faked illness, quick divorce, questionable paternity—that it seems destined for the endless parade of long-lost adult children and infamous alien abduction of later seasons. Dynasty became tedious—here are its origins as merely ludicrous.
The 1969-1970 season of the crime drama Hawaii Five-O ($54.99) is never ridiculous, which is part of its appeal, though it does tend to overplay the mad scientist cliché. This CBS series holds up nicely, with the inimitable Jack Lord as Steve McGarrett, head of an elite police unit investigating the mob, murder, assassination attempts, communist spies—Red Chinese Wo Fat appears again—with help from Danno (James MacArthur) and Chin Ho (Kam Fong).
This is a TV DVD done right, except for the lack of printed material. Included are seven discs, separately housed in three snap cases inside a box for a total of 1,226 minutes of tight plots and action in the nation's 50th state, where the entire series was filmed. Episode descriptions, printed with original air dates on the back of each case, pitch subtle distortions of the actual episode, so it's best to rely on teasers, included for each episode (with an optional play all feature), tools the first season edition lacked.
The DVD provides a crisp picture quality of an engrossing drama that's as relevant as ever—with bands of terrorists ("Savage Sunday"), criminal activists ("King Kamehameha Blues") and one of the season's best episodes, "Sweet Terror" (air date: 11/5/69), with Theodore Bikel as an agent of communist China trying to destroy Hawaii's sugar cane. The moral certainty of Hawaii Five-O is a stark change from the mumbling characters on today's grimy TV crime dramas. Turn up Morton Stevens's exciting opening theme for 25 gripping episodes of classic TV drama.
$
RELATED ARTICLES
• Review - 'Dynasty' Season One on DVD
• 4/22/05 - 'Dynasty' Cast & Crew Remember First Season
• 3/9/07 - Scott Holleran: 'Hawaii Five-O' Season One on DVD
• 11/18/03 - Interview: Bob Gale on 'Back to the Future'
• 8/4/06 - Scott Holleran: 'Back to the Future' Returns to Hollywood
• Scott Holleran Column Index
RELATED LINKS
• DVD: Dynasty - Season Two
• DVD: Hawaii Five-O - Season Two
• Universal Studios Hollywood Web Site
• 'Back to the Future' Fan Site
According to Universal, the Back to the Future motion simulator, which combines sharp jolts with an Omni-max 70 millimeter short film, has been experienced by 61 million visitors since it opened in 1993. Back to the Future co-creator and writer Bob Gale and Christopher Lloyd, who played Doc Brown, gave a fond farewell to the attraction, which puts the rider in an eight-seat convertible DeLorean as a time travel vehicle.
Gale—recently tapped by Marvel Comics to write new stories for The Amazing Spider-Man—and Lloyd, who arrived via the famous "flux-capacitor" DeLorean, were good sports, playing along with the park's version of Doc Brown. Everyone laughed when things went explosively awry and Doc exclaimed: "Great Scott!" just like in the movies, which remain Hollywood's most fun, exciting and original modern movie trilogy.
Judging by the number of people gathered for the event, not including DeLorean enthusiasts, the theme park is missing an opportunity to retrofit this thematic ride based on a profitable series—though a posted disclaimer referred to event coverage as possible material for a future DVD release, so at least someone at Universal understands the value of bringing Doc and company back in the future.
Home Entertainment
Before Doc first stepped into the DeLorean, another doctor, Nicholas Toscanni (James Farentino), zipped around Denver, Colorado, in one of those stainless steel beauties during the second season of ABC's Dynasty, available on DVD Aug. 14 ($42.99). Of course, Farentino's Italian stallion psychiatrist is not what most remember about the show's sophomore season.
That would be the entry of Alexis Carrington (Joan Collins) as the show's resident bitch. Within these 22 episodes, six discs cased in plastic with no features or printed material, Miss Collins as Alexis begins her makeover and takeover of the show, causing marital strife, miscarriage—remember the skeet shooting scheme?—and Cecil Colby's heart attack during sex. For the record, gay Steven, whose lover was killed in the first season, tries to be straight with Heather Locklear in cut-offs as trashy Sammy Jo Dean, while Fallon's still a viper, Blake goes blind and Krystle wrestles with Alexis in their first physical fight of the series.
Brain damage, car bombs and Alexis's Arabian ex-lover Rashid—the second season pumps out the subplots but it isn't anywhere near as interesting as the first. Dynasty does not age well, even for those who relish the camp. Costumes, sets and cast are gorgeous but the stories are so sudsy—faked illness, quick divorce, questionable paternity—that it seems destined for the endless parade of long-lost adult children and infamous alien abduction of later seasons. Dynasty became tedious—here are its origins as merely ludicrous.
The 1969-1970 season of the crime drama Hawaii Five-O ($54.99) is never ridiculous, which is part of its appeal, though it does tend to overplay the mad scientist cliché. This CBS series holds up nicely, with the inimitable Jack Lord as Steve McGarrett, head of an elite police unit investigating the mob, murder, assassination attempts, communist spies—Red Chinese Wo Fat appears again—with help from Danno (James MacArthur) and Chin Ho (Kam Fong).
This is a TV DVD done right, except for the lack of printed material. Included are seven discs, separately housed in three snap cases inside a box for a total of 1,226 minutes of tight plots and action in the nation's 50th state, where the entire series was filmed. Episode descriptions, printed with original air dates on the back of each case, pitch subtle distortions of the actual episode, so it's best to rely on teasers, included for each episode (with an optional play all feature), tools the first season edition lacked.
The DVD provides a crisp picture quality of an engrossing drama that's as relevant as ever—with bands of terrorists ("Savage Sunday"), criminal activists ("King Kamehameha Blues") and one of the season's best episodes, "Sweet Terror" (air date: 11/5/69), with Theodore Bikel as an agent of communist China trying to destroy Hawaii's sugar cane. The moral certainty of Hawaii Five-O is a stark change from the mumbling characters on today's grimy TV crime dramas. Turn up Morton Stevens's exciting opening theme for 25 gripping episodes of classic TV drama.
$
RELATED ARTICLES
• Review - 'Dynasty' Season One on DVD
• 4/22/05 - 'Dynasty' Cast & Crew Remember First Season
• 3/9/07 - Scott Holleran: 'Hawaii Five-O' Season One on DVD
• 11/18/03 - Interview: Bob Gale on 'Back to the Future'
• 8/4/06 - Scott Holleran: 'Back to the Future' Returns to Hollywood
• Scott Holleran Column Index
RELATED LINKS
• DVD: Dynasty - Season Two
• DVD: Hawaii Five-O - Season Two
• Universal Studios Hollywood Web Site
• 'Back to the Future' Fan Site
