Corner Gas Season 1

Let's all visit the tiny prarie town of Dog River, Sascatchewan, where, as the theme says, "there's not a lot goin' on."

I dare you to name three great canadian comedies. Can't ? Well, how about 2 ? Still can't ? Well, don't feel bad. There aren't any great canadian comedies....aside from Red Green, that is. Corner Gas is the exception to the rule. In the small town of Dog River, there's the only gas station for miles, Corner Gas. And in the attached building right next door, there is the Ruby diner. Other than a small bar elsewhere in town, the diner and the gas station is pretty much it. The town is inhabited by the sheriff, Davis, and his deputy, Karen. Next, there's Brent Leroy (series creator Brent Butt) who runs the Corner Gas gas station after his dad retires, and his best friend, the dimwitted Hank, the on again off again town mechanic. There's Brent's mom and dad, Emma and Oscar. Lacey runs the Ruby (inherited from her aunt) and Wanda, the sharp tongued woman who works at the gas station.

Corner Gas can be a bit hard to describe. I'd say it's like Seinfeld....only funny. If you like Red Green or shows like that, then you'll like Corner Gas. To most, the show could be a bit boring at times as there's really no explosions, car chases, or shoot-outs. But if you have a sense of humour of any kind, you'll love it.

The first (of six) seasons comes to dvd in a 2 dvd set. Disc one has.....

Episode One - Ruby Reborn
Dog River is in for a change when the local diner/coffee shop gets a new owner in the form of Lacey, the niece of the deceased owner.

Episode Two - Tax Man
Hank helps Brent's dad stay one step ahead of a tax auditor and everyone gets a lesson in proper article use.

Episode Three - Pilates Twist
Lacey tries to offer a Pilates class, but no one seems interested. In fact, Wanda, the worker at the gas station is downright mad. Brent's dad, Oscar, is worried about being buried in a cheap quality coffin.

Episode Four - Oh Baby!
The town takes a keen interest when Brent agrees to babysit Wanda's six year old son.


Episode Five - Grad '68
Karen, the deputy, tries to crack a high profile case of graffiti where someone in Dog River's past spray painted Grad '68 on the local water tower.

Episode Six - World's Biggest Thing
Dog River tries to attract tourists with a giant landmark while Oscar struggles to stop a love-struck admirer from ruining his marriage.

Episode Seven - All My Ex's Live In Toronto
Hank and Oscar try to protect Lacey from her ex-fiance while the Dog River police track down a fugitive.

Disc Two has......

Episode Eight - Cousin Carl
Brent tries to prove his prodigal cousin is a dork while Dog River puts on it's annual talent show.

Episode Nine - Cell Phone
Brent and Davis get in a war over who has the smallest cell phone.

Episode Ten - Comedy Night
Lacey asks Brent to join her book club and helps him humiliate an annoying comedian from out of town.

Episode Eleven - Hook, Line, And Sinker
On a fishing trip, Karen doesn't sleep with Hank, while the entire community of Dog River enjoys a very public battle of wits between Brent and Lacey.

Episode Twelve - Face Off
The Dog River hockey team takes it's goalie Brent for granted and turns to an unlikely hockey expert for help.

This is a great show. One of my absolute favourites. For extras, episode 1 and 10 have commentaries from Brent Butt, the creator, and David Story, the director.

As to the picture quality....the picture can be a bit dark at times, especially during inside scenes. But I'm pretty sure that it was just my tv. When I adjusted the brightness, it seemed fine. The quality is definately better than the reruns on WGN.

One of my favourite things about the set, setting aside the actual episodes, the first season's insert isn't your average insert advertising other dvds or tv shows. Corner Gas's first season set has an insert made to look just like a menu from The Ruby diner and each feature is made to appear as an item choice.

If you're any kind of fan of canadian comedies or just comedies in general, I completely recommend picking up the first season of Corner Gas on dvd. Though, I do have one warning. At the american amazon.com, the set runs 40 dollars, while at the canadian amazon.com (where I got my set from), the same set goes for only 16 dollars. Go figure ! Definatey get it from the canadian amazon.com. The same goes for the rest of the show's five sets. So....

Picture quality - 9/10
Audio - 10/10
Extras - 8/10

All in all, I wish that they had included commentaries for every episode. There was certainly the space. But aside from that, this is one of the best tv dvd sets I've seen in a while.

Zathura DVD Review

My dad just found a copy of the special editon of Zathura at a garage sale for, like, two bucks. I had seen bits and pieces of the movie before, so I wasn't expecting much.....and I was right. Now, don't get me wrong. It wasn't a bad movie. The Zorgons were really cool looking baddies, and the effects were great (especially the out of control robot) but Jumanji was a much better movie. Zathura, if you don't know, is the sequal to Jumanji. It doesn't really seem like it, aside from the same idea of a magic game that takes you to different enviroments. But the book that the movie is based on takes place when the two brothers find the Jumanji game and take it home. The Zathura game is hidden inside the Jumanji one, and that is the one that the brothers play. Like I said, Zathura is an alright movie, but I much prefer Jumanji. The characters were a lot more believable to me. And other than the lizard-like Zorgon, Zathura didn't really have any characters to like or even care about. All in all, if you like Jumanji, I'd at least rent Zathura. Then, buy it if you want to watch it again.

Pinocchio Blu-ray

I just got the blu-ray of Pinocchio. I haven't watched it yet, but from the quality of Sleeping Beauty on blu-ray, I just know that it will be amazing. Though, I could do without the Megan Martin music video. She was in Camp Rock and since I am older than 2, I know that it sucks. The only good thing about CR is Demi Lovato. One of the hottest Disney girl ever. Alyson Stoner, Selena Gomez, Kimberly J. Brown, Olesia Rulin, Vanessa Hudgens,....and Demi Lovato !

Why ?!

I love dvds, as do we all. Crystal clear widescreen picture, commentaries, behind the scenes featurettes ; everything that a real movie fan could want. I remember exactly when I got started with the whole dvd world. April 4th, 2000. It was an RCA dvd player (which still works.) Of course, I had to get a dvd to go with it. So, I picked one of my favourite movies ; the first Highlander film. The director's cut, of course. It was (and still is) great. It has a commentary by the director and the producer. Not the best commentary I've ever heard, but definately fun to listen to. There is also production photos, but I've never really cared for stuff like that. Oh, and there was a trailer for the movie. Where was I ?.....oh, right. The dvd player. When I got the dvd player, it came with a form that you could filled out and send in to get five free movies. The ones offered with the player I bought were....Get Shorty, Analyze This, The Mask, Jackyl, and Fools Rush In. Except for Mask and Analyze, not too much worth watching more than once.

But onto the main reason for this post......

You buy a dvd of a movie that you really love and have been wanting for a while. Now, either the dvd has little or no features, but you're happy because you like the movie alot. Then, a little while later, you hear about a new special edition of that same movie and, because you're a huge fan of the movie, you buy that edition because it has a commentary and maybe a behind the scenes featurette. A few years later, maybe more maybe less, goes by and you hear that the movie is coming to blu-ray. Great ! You think that your favourite movie is going to have just amazing picture and sound quality as well as commentaries, featurettes, games, etc. So, when the blu-ray comes out, you go out and buy it. But when you're looking at the box, you see that the blu-ray is not the special collector's edition that you had before, but is, in fact, pretty much barebones with only a trailer as an extra.

Excuse me ? I spent 20 some odd dollars on your movie, then another 20 or so dollars for the special edition, then around, maybe, 30 dollars for the blu-ray. But the blu-ray doesn't have any of the features that you love. It may or may not have new, blu-ray exclusive features, but you're so mad that that doesn't count. The regular dvd you have is loaded with features, and maybe only a single disc release. Blu-ray has a far greater amount of storage space so, if a normal, lowly dvd have a ton of features, why can't the blu-ray at least include all the normal dvd's extras ? Doesn't make much sense to me.

First Review - Adventures Of Robin Hood

For my first article, I'd like to talk about a somewhat good dvd set. It's called Adventures Of Robin Hood : The Complete First Season. AORH is a show that aired from 1955 to 1960. You're all familiar with the story of Robin Hood, so I won't bore you with that. What I will do is just talk about the set its self. The set comes from the budget dvd house, Mill Creek Entertainment. I don't have too much experience with this company, but they seem alright. The show is black and white, as was typical of the period, and is originally from england. Each disc of the 3 disc set is packed with episodes, so the quality is somewhat hit or miss. But don't get me wrong. The episodes, for the most part, are totally watchable. Though, if you're a little hard of hearing, you'll probably have to turn the sound up a bit, as it tends to fall on the soft side.

The sources that Mill Creek used to make the set are from all over the place. So, some episodes are almost perfect, while others are a bit fuzzy....but still watchable. A bit of fun to note : on several of the episodes, Mill Creek put some of the sponsor commercial spots that the american tv stations would tack on to the episodes to sell different products such as Wildroot Creme, an old hair care product. (that is still available, by the way) I love old commercials like this. They're really fun to watch. That's why I like retrojunk.com so much.

Later seasons of the show, you'll see a lot of great guest stars come in. Patrick Troughton (Doctor Who number 2) and Donald Pleasence (Doctor Loomis - Halloween, Ernst Stavro Blofeld - You Only Live Twice (James Bond movie.)

All in all, this is a great show to pop into the dvd player on a rainy day and you need some cheering up. Sure, most of it is really corny and hammy and doesn't seem that much better than a really bad high school play, but it's a really fun show. If you like Robin Hood movies/stories and are also a fan of old tv shows, this is one of the best "bad" shows you could hope to find. The sets of this show shouldn't be all that hard to find. You'll, in fact, probably find them in the 5 dollar bin at Walmart. That's where I got mine. I did see the first season set at Best Buy, but is was something like 12 dollars. Definately try to find it in the 5 dollar bin if you can.