Viewtopia 10/27/09: Top 5 DVDs of the Week (With Video!)

This week, Number Six is not a number, but a man in The Prisoner: The Complete Series, while Night of the Creeps finally staggers onto DVD in time for Halloween. Also, the Dude abides The Achievers: The Story of Lebowski Fans.

By Carl Davis

Published on: October 27, 2009

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The Prisoner: The Complete Series Five-Disc Blu-ray Set (1968)

"I am not a number, I am a free man!" shouts Number Six, the titular character played by Patrick McGoohan in one of the UK's greatest cult series. At the time, McGoohan was quite famous for portraying TV spy Danger Man (or Secret Agent Man, as he was known here in the U.S.). The Prisoner subverted McGoohan's popular image with a dark and twisted tale of an agent who's sick of cloak-and-dagger games and resigns. McGoohan's character (we never learn his name) is gassed, kidnapped and taken to the Village, an island whose inhabitants are all assigned numbers. Number Six must match wits with Number Two, all the while solving the mysteries of the Village and trying to regain his freedom and individuality. As a lasting testament to the ongoing popularity of the show, A&E has released the remastered Blu-Ray edition ahead of their November mini-series.

Extras include:
* Don't Knock Yourself Out documentary
* Audio Commentaries on select episodes
* "The Pink Prisoner"
* "You Make Sure It Fits!"
* Newly restored original edit of "Arrival" with optional music-only soundtrack
* Original edit of the "Chimes Of Big Ben"
* Trailers for all episodes
* Archive Textless Material, Including Title Sequences
* Commercial Break Bumpers
* Image Archive With Over 1200 Stills
* Production Paperwork Archive, Featuring Scripts, Call Sheets, and Press Releases

Orphan (2009)

Parenthood and all of the unknowns that it entails has been ripe horror fodder for decades from Rosemary's Baby to The Good Son. Director Jaume Collet-Serra's Orphan is the latest thriller to feature a murderous moppet and her understanding, yet unsuspecting family. Produced by Leo DiCaprio's Appian Way Productions and starring Vera Farmiga and Peter Sarsgaard Orphan's pedigree almost works against it, but Collet-Serra is never afraid to go there with the actors, which is especially true for newcomer Isabelle Fuhrman who plays the evil Esther. When the ironically named John (Sarsgaard) and Kate (Farmiga) suffer a miscarriage, they adopt Esther, an East European orphan with deadly results.

Extras include:
* Alternate ending
* Deleted scenes

Battlestar Galactica: The Plan (2009)

Battlestar Galactica is over! Well, at least Ron Moore's reimagined Syfy series is over, having aired it's series finale this past March. This doesn't mean that the franchise is over. Far from it, what with a prequel series, Caprica, slated for next year and a feature film based on the original 1970's series set to be directed by Bryan Singer, the public's hunger for all things Galactica seems unquenchable. This brings us to Battlestar Galactica: The Plan, which revisits key moments from the groundbreaking series from the eyes of the Cylons. If you don't know what a Cylon is, than skip this, but devotees will be rewarded with a rich backstory that fills in some of the gaps leftover from the series.

Extras include:
* Commentary with Director/Actor Edward James Olmos and Executive Producer/Writer Jane Espenson
* "From Admiral to Director: Edward James Olmos and The Plan"
* "The Cylons of The Plan"
* "The Cylon Attack"
* "Visual Effects: The Magic Behind The Plan"
* Deleted scenes

Night of the Creeps (1986)

After almost 25 years, Fred Dekker's beloved '80s cult classic Night of the Creeps is finally going to make its long-awaited DVD debut. Much like Phantasm II, Night of the Creeps has been a favorite among horror fans, with bootlegs openly traded among collectors. Night of the Creeps even served as inspiration for James Gunn's Slither even if the director didn't come right out and admit it. After a black and white prologue in which an alien experiment falls to Earth and infects a college student circa 1959, the film picks up some 25-years-later, when said college student is accidentally thawed out of suspended animation and attacks the girls of the Kappa Delta sorority house.

Extras include:
* Commentary with Writer/Director Fred Dekker
* Cast commentary
* "Birth of the Creeps"
* "Cast of the Creeps"
* "Creating the Creeps"
* "Escape of the Creeps"
* "Legend of the Creeps"
* "Tom Atkins: Man of Action"
* Deleted scenes
* Trivia Track
* Original Theatrical Trailer

The Achievers: The Story of Lebowski Fans (2009)

Much like the cults that surround films such as The Rocky Horror Picture Show, The Sound of Music and The Room, fans of the Coen Brothers 1998 comedy, The Big Lebowski, show a level of devotion unseen outside of organized religion or professional sports. Going beyond the usual line memorization and cosplay to holding annual conventions, called "Lebowski Fests," around the country and even the world. First-time-filmmaker Eddie Chung's heartfelt documentary The Achievers offers an inside look at the phenomenon and the fans behind it all.

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