Friday, May 02, 2008

DVD Updates- The Invaders

Exciting news. Occasionally I post about DVD's that I am waiting for. There are several on my list that are finally being released.

First and foremost, the first season of the short-lived, but cult favorite The Invaders. The premise was that architect David Vincent (played by Chicago-born actor Roy Thinnes) is travelling late one night and decides to pull over in an abandoned town to get a few hours of sleep. He witnesses the landing of an alien spaceship, and soon discovers that society has been infiltrated by these invaders. The first season (there were only two seasons, from 1967 to 1968) was realeased in England last year, and will be released here in the States later this month, on May 28.

Another Roy Thinnes project, Journey To The Far Side of The Sun, which was also known as "Doppelganger," will be released next month. This movie was produced by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, who produced the puppet science fiction series "Thunderbirds Are Go" and the British import UFO. The premise of this movie was that a space mission is sent to the far side of the sun, where it is discovered that there is a mirror image earth on the other side.

This movie was released a few years back and quickly went out of print. I loved the movie as a kid, and can't wait to Netflix it to see if it was as fun as I remember it.

Also being released next month by those wonderful patron saints of the neglected art movie, Criterion, is Before The Rain. Released in 1994, Before the Rain is set in the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia during the time of the war in Bosnia. As the war threatens to spill over into Macedonia, a love triangle forms. I've never seen this one, and look forward to finally getting to see it.

And speaking of Criterion, if anybody has a spare hundred dollars or so laying around, I've got a birthday coming up; I'd love to get Criterion's collection of Cassavettes' independent films.... ; )

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is pennies okay?

SkylersDad said...

Journey to the far side of the sun was awesome!!! I didn't think it was ever released.

MacGuffin said...

I've got the Criterion Cassavettes set. It's a beautifully presented collection.

Distributorcap said...

i remember watching the invaders as a kid with my father..... he loved sci fiction (still does) and we would watch all of them -- star trek, etc.

Johnny Yen said...

Suzel-
I'll take it any way I can get it.

Skyler's Dad-
Actually it was a few years back, but quickly went out of print. Used copies of the dvd were going for about $100.

Macguffin-
Thanks for the tip. I look forward to seeing them.

There was just a bio published of him, wasn't there? I admire the way he used his career of playing second banana roles to finance his labors of love, these little films. He's often called "the father of independent cinema" these days. On the other hand, he was a raging alcoholic, and died relatively young of cirrohsis of the liver.

Distributorcap-
I was pretty much alone in loving this stuff in my house. I remember watching the original Star Trek, The Invaders and The Time Tunnel on our big old black and white Zenith television.