Thursday, October 17, 2013

Death, Madeline, Wanted, Rogers and Rangers



One of the national parks my wife and I want to visit after I retire is Death Valley.  Described as the thriving land of extremes, its stark and barren beauty has drawn in millions of park visitors over the decades.  
 
Mill Creek Entertainment presents the national Park Exploration Series: Death Valley Blu-ray that offers a stunning virtual tour in high definition of the famous landmark. Valleys, mountains, dunes, and basins-they’re all here as the Blu-ray traverses the stark landscape sprinkled with wild flowers, a surprisingly large population of wildlife and even ghost towns.

Fans of the much beloved Madeline children series, popular with kids the world over for over 70 years, makes the transition from print to screen in two delightful DVD series that are comprised of the Madeline animated TV series episodes.

Bonjour Madeline introduces young viewers to Madeline and her friends in the pilot episode along with five additional adventures.

The second DVD episode selection offers The Adventures of Madeline in Paris.  Tour the City of Lights as Madeline, Genevieve and her friends tour the great city and take in all the sights.  

 Madeline creator Ludqwig Bemelman would be proud of this delightful animated series.

Long before Steve McQueen became a superstar movie actor he paid his dues playing bit parts in movies and TV series eventually winding up the star of the TV Western series Wanted: Dead Or Alive.

In the series (that lasted three seasons) McQueen played Josh Randall, the sawed off shotgun totting bounty hunter roaming the Wild West in search of bad guys, flirting with the ladies and upholding the law despite personal risk and profit.

Ninety two episodes follow his adventures that also guest starred some of the biggest names in movies and TV before they became famous.

Here’s just a partial list of future stars: DeForest Kelley, Martin Landau, James Coburn, Mary Tyler Moore and dozens more.

Five featurettes are included in the Complete Series DVD collection.  They include everything from the women in the series to the special gun Randall carried.  Four colorized episodes, a Photo Gallery and two McQueen movies are also included.

Hard to believe singer Kenny Rogers has been around as long as he has.  Now in his seventies, Kenny still belts out his songs.  He was at his most popular in the 1980s and 1990s releasing a string of number one hits few people have matched.  It seems where ever you looked Kenny was there: on the record shelves, in the movies and most particularly on TV.
The Kenny Rogers Christmas Special: Keep Christmas With You is one of his most famous specials and for good reason.

Big name singing stars were guests on the show such as Garth Brooks, Boyz II Men and Trisha Yearwood.  The spectacular special was filmed at the famous Grand Palace Theatre in Brandson, Missouri and featured a full choir and orchestra. 

In the early 1990s Sci-Fi TV was huge.  Star Trek, Babylon 5 and other lesser known series dominated the airways.  Everyone could not get enough of space adventures.

With the advent of computer generated special effects (while still in its infancy) TV shows could afford, relatively cheaply, to produce fantastic visual effects and strange alien worlds.

Space Rangers: The Complete Sci-Fi Cult Classic TV Series follows the adventures of Space Rangers (part Peacekeepers and Marines) who patrol space in order to ward off criminals and other space borne threats.  Based at remote forts all over the galaxy the Space Rangers must use their wits, skills and courage to face sometimes impossible odds to serve and protect.

Look for a few familiar faces of now well known TV show stars early in tier careers.