Hey gang! First things first, and Rand has another of his promised Hanna-Barbera sets rated and reviewed for ya this morning. Birdman & The Galaxy Trio was another of the Saturday morning super hero adventure series, and like Space Ghost benefited from the designs of Alex Toth. Although Rand has some reservations on the handling of the material, the show scores points for being “a frequently great-looking show with fun stories from the golden age of Saturday mornings. Fans of this era should enjoy the set thanks to some classic design work and imaginative fantasy and science fiction stories”. So, strap on those wings and fly!

To far off imaginary lands now, for a quick word in favor of Bridge To Terabithia, the Disney/Walden book adaptation that came and went earlier this year. I just caught up with the DVD on Monday evening and, while I wasn’t expecting much, I have to say I was almost blown away by this very good little movie. As anyone who hasn’t read the book and been led by the special effects marketing would have expected, I was ready for a Narnia-styled rip-off, but it couldn’t have been further from that if it tried.

Director Gabor Csupo – yep, the very same – has created a very real world where the fantasy only plays a small part (albeit more than the original book, from what I understand) and the balance is delicately and expertly handled. He also elicits remarkably genuine performances from his cast, the two kids Josh Hutcherson and AnnaSophia Robb particularly, who really shine. Hutcherson especially reminded me of a young Henry Thomas from ET, and I wouldn’t have been surprised to see him in the Elliott role had that film been made today.

I won’t harp on about this one too much, but it came across as being heartfelt, authentic and having been made with real thought; the DVD’s extras, including a worthy featurette on the themes and inspirations for the book, a quick look at Weta’s digital effects, and two commentary tracks, emphasize just how much discussion went into even the simplest shots and ideas. For everything it shows, it knows just what not to show too, an achievement in pure restraint in this day and age which only lends more weight to its emotional moments.

This is true quality: a very fine movie, made by people who care and featuring solid performances from a largely child cast. The DVD (and Blu-Ray Disc) covers things more than adequately, with the two engaging and insightful commentaries being the standouts. Totally taking me by surprise, Bridge To Terabithia is a rare gem that, while it doesn’t quite qualify for a full review on this site, I very warmly recommend as something quite special.

And…finally! We’ve been keeping many of you on tenterhooks while we’ve been awaiting the final results of three recent giveaways in our Contest Corner. Well, apologies for this, but we’ve been dealing with distributor stock issues and wanted to wait to make sure the prizes were forthcoming before announcing the winners to save potential disappointment in the event they didn’t turn up! Well, we have everything in hand now and winners have been alerted, so look for your discs to be in the mail over the next couple of weeks. The winning names are… Casper: Maritza Robles, Phoenix AZ, and Mathew Gaastra, Decatur AL; 300: Tommy Sutanto, Los Angeles CA; and Darkwing Duck: Phil Anderson, Grand Rapids MI.

Congratulations and sincerest apologies once again for the long delay. In fact, as a thanks to the many of you who waited, we’re opening the Casper Contest again to give two more of you the chance to grab a set of Classic Media’s Volume 1 and Volume 2 collections!

Good luck! And stay tooned! – Ben.