Home Media Magazine - February 24, 2008 - (Page 20) TV DVD Edited by John Latchem www.homemediamagazine.com STONE COLD’S LEGACY REVEALED By John Latchem Adapting Austen By John Latchem creenwriter Andrew Davies, who penned the popular 1995 adaptation of Pride and Prejudice starring Colin Firth, has returned to the Austen fold with two new versions of Austen classics. His version of Sense & Sensibility streets April 8 (prebook March 4) as a two-DVD set at $34.98 from BBC Video. “Jane Austen has a large, built-in fan base,” said Burton Cromer, BBC Worldwide SVP of consumer products. “Pride and Prejudice is one of the best-selling costume dramas on TV ever.” Not wanting to feel left out of an Austen blitz that includes theatrical projects Becoming Jane (on home video from Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment) and The Jane Austen Book Club (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment), British broadcasting networks BBC and ITV began preparing new adaptations of four of Austen’s novels. In addition to Sense & Sensibility, the new adaptations include Persuasion, recently released on DVD by BBC Video, as well as Northanger Abbey (also written by Davies) and Mansfield Park, both on DVD from WGBH Boston. All four, as well as Pride and Prejudice and the 1996 TV adaptation of Emma starring Kate Beckinsale, comprise The Complete Jane Austen Marathon on PBS’ “Masterpiece” (formerly “Masterpiece Theater”). Sense & Sensibility airs in two parts starting March 30 and concluding April 6. The Sense & Sensibility DVD set includes a commentary, a behind-thescenes featurette and interviews. Also included with the Sense & Sensibility DVD is the new biopic S Miss Austen Regrets, a 90-minute drama starring Olivia Williams as Jane Austen. BBC decided against a separate release for Miss Austen Regrets on the assumption it wouldn’t have much appeal beyond diehard Austen fans. “Miss Austen Regrets wasn’t based on a book, and we thought it might get more attention if it was included with something people would want,” Cromer said. A three-disc set of Sense & Sensibility, Miss Austen Regrets and Persuasion is offered at $49.98. BBC is working with A&E, the distributor for the Pride and Prejudice and Emma DVDs, for in-store promotional opportunities such as Jane Austen endcaps. However, Austen adaptations are nothing new to British TV. BBC has a complete Jane Austen collection comprised of adaptations from the 1970s and 1980s, Cromer said. He said the popularity of costume dramas ebbs and flows, and the current Austen trend indicates the genre is alive and well. “I think sometimes people just really need a place to which they can escape to feel safer than today,” Cromer said. “These costume dramas feel very simple compared to all the horrible things we face today.” As for non-Austen titles, Cromer is excited about the BBC miniseries Cranford, based on stories by Elizabeth Gaskell, which streets May 20 (prebook April 15) as a two-DVD set at $34.98. Cranford also is available as part of the $79.98 Elizabeth Gaskell Collection that also includes North and South and Wives and Daughters. hile it may not have all his pivotal matches, the recently released The Legacy of Stone Cold Steve Austin three-DVD set may be the most comprehensive retrospective on Austin’s professional wrestling career yet assembled. “It kind of really fills in the gap of all the other DVDs I’ve done,” said the Texas-born Austin. Earlier DVDs, covering his career in World Wrestling Entertainment, include ’Cause Stone Cold Said So, Hell Yeah: Stone Cold’s Saga Continues, Austin 3:16 Uncensored, Austin vs. McMahon, Stone Cold Steve Austin: What? and The Stone Cold Truth. But the $34.95 Legacy set from WWE Home Video, distributed by Genius Products, goes back even further, with the retired Austin guiding viewers through his tour of three pro wrestling organizations. The story begins with his early 1990s stint in Ted Turner’s World Championship Wrestling (WCW), where he describes himself as “a decent mechanic in the ring but certainly not a star,” to the cult favorite Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), known for its brutal, hardcore style. Such a compilation would’ve been impossible a decade ago, when wrestling promotions were highly territorial. That this DVD exists is another facet of the legacy of Stone Cold, whose career coincided with a unique confluence of events fueled by the bitter rivalry between the WWE and WCW, known as the Monday Night War. In the late 1990s, Austin’s popularity and famous feud with WWE chairman Vince McMahon helped propel the WWE back into dominance of pro wrestling. As a result, McMahon bought out WCW and, later, ECW, to form the world’s largest pro wrestling archive. “If I had stayed in WCW … I would have been just some other guy in the ring,” Austin said. “As it happened, I got fired, and WWE gave me an opportunity.” Austin’s keys to success are echoed in his advice to newcomers: “Don’t pretend to be anything that you’re not.” For Austin, that meant avoiding the traditional wrestling role of good guy or bad guy, finding tremendous success as a beer-guzzling anti-hero. “I want to be remembered as that guy who brought on the gray area into a black and white business … the bad guy that everyone ended up loving,” Austin said. “I had one of the best runs in the history of the business, and I’m quite proud of it.” W COM I NG UP I ANCHOR BAY EN- I KULTUR INTERNATIONAL March 25 has $26.99). Streeting April 8 (prebook Feb. 26) is Matlock: TERTAINMENT March 25 The Catherine Tate Show: Series 2 (DVD $29.99). Season One (seven-DVD set $54.99) and Perry Mason: releases Tripping the Rift: The Movie (DVD $26.97). 50th Anniversary Edition (four-DVD set $54.99). I HISTORY CHANNEL SPECIAL ‘LIFE AFTER PEOPLE’ RUSHED TO DVD A&E Home Video will release the highly rated History Channel special Life After People on DVD March 18 at $24.95. The program explores the potential future effects on the planet Earth if the human race were to suddenly disappear. The street date coincides with the same-day release of Warner Home Video’s postapocalyptic thriller I Am Legend. Life After People attracted 5.4 million viewers to its January premiere, setting a History Channel record. – John Latchem I LIONSGATE May 6 (prebook April 9) releases Speed Racer: The Next Generation — The Beginning (DVD $19.98) and Oprah Winfrey Presents: Mitch Albom’s For One More Day (DVD $19.98). I HBO VIDEO March 11 (prebook Feb. 5) has Def Comedy Jam: D.L. Hughley (two-DVD set $19.97). I SONY PICTURES HOME ENTERTAINMENT has changed the release date for My Boys: The Complete First Season (three-DVD set $39.98) to June 24. I KOCH ENTERTAINMENT May 13 (prebook April 15) offers The Chase: Season One (two-DVD set $29.98) and Twelfth Night (DVD $24.98). I PARAMOUNT HOME ENTERTAINMENT Feb. 26 offers The Fugitive: The First Season Vol. Two (four-DVD set $42.99). Due March 4 is The Love Boat: Season One Vol. One (three-DVD set $39.99) and MTV’s Human Giant: The Complete First Season (two-DVD set I WALT DISNEY STUDIOS HOME ENTERTAINMENT March 18 has Greek: Chapter One (three-DVD set $29.99). — John Latchem 20 Home Media Magazine February 24–March 1, 2008 http://www.homemediamagazine.com
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.