Outcasts out on BBC DVD & Blu-ray

Following a successful run earlier this year on BBC, Outcasts, a well made British sci-fi drama mini-series receives a DVD & Blu-ray release on 4th April.

A fleet of anti-matter transporters leave planet Earth amidst growing fears for the dying planet and seek out a new life-supporting planet.  Some arrive safely on the planet Carpathia and begin a new life based on a society free from war.  The new settlers build the town of Forthaven and begin their new life full of optimism and hope but there is trouble ahead.  They soon find out there is more to Carpathia than they can understand and the strange ‘happenings’ begin to threaten their peace and faith.

A diverse group of individuals led by President Tate (Liam Cunningham – Harry Brown) and his core team of Stella (Hermione Norris-Spooks), Cass (Daniel Mays-Ashes To Ashes) and Fleur (Amy Mason-Being Human) left their old lives behind in extraordinary circumstances. Promised a second chance at life, the group settled alongside expeditionaries Mitchell (Jamie Bamber-Law and Order) and Jack (Ashley Waters-Bullet Boy) creating a society, far away from Earth… and their pasts.

The arrival of the last known transporter signals fresh hopes and dreams. Will Stella’s husband and daughter be on board? Why does Tate seem anxious about one particular passenger, Julius Berger? And will the transporter land safely and bring a fresh hope or will it bring another threat?

Outcasts features a cast of established actors and dynamic young stars and seeks an answer to the critical question: how do you create a new and better world?

Outcasts is released on April 4th 2011 by BBC on 3 disc DVD & Blu-ray (aprox.450 minutes).
The DVD includes bonus material: Reaching out to the stars: Hear from the creator, producer, director and cast from the series, Forthaven – Set Tour.

Doctor Who: The Ark with William Hartnell

Featuring William Hartnell as the first Doctor and packed with wealth of un-missable extras, Doctor Who: The Ark is now available on BBC DVD.

Materialising in what appears to be a jungle on Earth, the Doctor, Steven and Dodo soon realise that things are not what they seem: the sky is made of steel, and the jungle merely a colossal life chamber in a craft that has embarked on the most important expedition in the history of mankind.

It is ten million years in the future, and the Earth is soon to be engulfed by the Sun in a catastrophic explosion. A gigantic space ark has been launched, taking the last humans to a new life on the distant planet of Refusis, serving the Guardians of Earth are the Monoids, mute reptilian aliens.

But the Ark’s mission of deliverance is threatened by the arrival of the time travellers; Dodo inadvertently passes her cold to the Guardians – to them, it is a long-forgotten virus against which they have no defence. It is not long before people start to die and the TARDIS crew are on trial for their own lives.

Doctor Who: The Ark DVD

4 x 25 mins approx monochrome episodes with mono audio.

• Commentary – stereo. With actor Peter Purves and director Michael Imison, moderated by Toby Hadoke.

• All’s Well’s That Ends Wells (dur. 13’ 14”) – just how much were ‘The Ark’ and many other of Doctor Who’s adventures through time and space inspired by the work of writer H.G. Wells? With writers and historians Matthew Sweet, and Dominic Sandbrook, author and critic Kim Newman, literary editor Graham Sleight and the Open University’s Dr. Anthony Keen.

• One Hit Wonder (dur. 4’ 33”) – the Monoids only appeared in one Doctor Who story, possibly with good reason. What gives certain monsters an enduring popularity, destined to return over and over, whilst others are doomed to appear only once? With author Jacqueline Rayner, writers and historians Dominic Sandbrook and Matthew Sweet, and author and critic Kim Newman.

• Riverside Story (dur. 20’ 17”) – Hammersmith’s Riverside Studios played host to the creation of many Doctor Who stories in the sixties. Matthew Sweet takes actor Peter Purves back to the studio that once also contained the Celestial Toyroom, the Plains of Troy and the planet Refusis to talk about the creation of ‘The Ark’. Also featuring director Michael Imison.

• Photo Gallery (dur. 3’ 26”) – production, design and publicity photos from the story.

Buzzin Media Free Competition

PLEASE NOTE: THIS COMPETITION HAS NOW CLOSED

Enter our free competition for the chance to win a copy of the Doctor Who: The Ark DVD .  Just answer this simple question:

Q: Who played the original TV Doctor Who?

a: William Hartnell
b: Tom Baker
c: Jon Pertwee

Submit your entries to comps@buzzinmedia.co.uk with the subject line: ‘The Ark’ (other subject lines will not be entered) with your full name, address & contact number.

This Buzzin Media Competition ends on 15th March, 2011.

The editor will randomly choose 3 winners. The editor’s choice is final.

And there I was, hoping that now all the Lost survivors are back on the island, we would have less of the highly confusing, jumping around in time and place storylines!!! How wrong can you be?

I think I managed to get my head around last night’s voyage in time and space….Locke managed to stop the erratic time shifts which has left the group of survivors stuck in their current time frame – which is when the Dharma Initiative were still working on the island. Faraday see’s a young red haired girl who, I am guessing, is a young Charlotte – thus confirming her story of Faraday warning her to leave the island when she was a child.

Forward 3 years and the survivors are all living a fairly pleasant life with Sawyer (LaFleur) and Juliet in love and looking very happy and content – all of which I’m sure is about to be obliterated by the arrival of Kate and co.

Now I have some questions, was it just the survivors who appeared on the island in the white flash who located the exact position in time to find Sawyer etc and did the rest of the passengers (including Locke and Ben) on the plane crash into the islands current time thus being separated from eachother by about 30 years?

Once the survivors are re-united, will they still have the option of returning home via the submarine which hasn’t yet been destroyed, or is this impossible or unfeasible because of the time difference?

If Amy was able to give birth successfully on the island, what has happened subsequently to stop women being able to give birth there?

When will they encounter the young Ben who must be around at that time?

Annoyingly we have to wait for 2 weeks to find out what happens next – WHY!!!!

I’ll take back what I previously said about ITV not being able to produce good sci-fi drama’s because I have become quite attached to this one.

Sanctuary is apparantly the first web series to be made into a full-blown television series which has expanded on the 8 webisodes released in 2007.  As this last episode of the series ended with a ‘to be continued’ tag, hopefully we will get a second series.

Of course the series ended on a cliffhanger with Magnus and her team being tricked into retrieving a vial of  ancient vampire blood only to have it stolen by her daughter Ashley who is somehow being controlled by the Sanctuary’s dreaded enemies.

Can’t wait to find out what happens next…

Oh dear, ITV just can’t make family sci-fi shows as good as BBC One can it?

All the misleading hype about this actually revealing who the next Doctor would be turned out to be just that – misleading hype!

On top of that the show wasn’t even that great….sorry but the Cybermen have had much scarier episodes and last years (sorry, 2007’s) Christmas special was so much better, it had it’s nail biting moments, a few scary bits, one-liner’s delivered with that cheeky David Tennant grin and…Kylie, everything that The Next Doctor didn’t and everything you would hope to see in a special.

Let’s hope the next one ‘Planet of the Dead’ showing at Easter on BBC One is MUCH better than this, especially as we only have David Tennant for 4 more shows.

Doctor Who Confidential – BBC One, Saturday 5.35pm

We didn’t have too long to wait after ‘The Next Doctor‘ to find out who the 11th Doctor would actually, really be….would it be Neil Morrissey, Ralf Little (fingers crossed because he would be brilliant) or even Alex Kingston?

It’s going to be….Matt Smith…unfortunately I haven’t watched anything he has been in so I will withhold any opinion I have until 2010 when I actually get to see him try and fill David Tennant’s shoes.

Big shoes to fill, Tennant has got to be my favourite Doctor yet but Mr Smith does have a unique look about him that makes be think he could be okay. Having a years notice gives us all time to warm to the idea I suppose.

Are you keeping up with Kirill?

Watch the previous episodes

Kirill episode one and episode two

Kirill – episode three

Kirill – episode four

Or see the latest show, episode five below

Kirill is an internet based sci-fi project launched by MSN.

Watch Kirill episode one and episode two

and Kirill – episode three

Or go ahead and view the latest episode, below

Kirill follows the story of a fugitive desperately trying to deliver an urgent message.

One huge problem…time is about to run out!

If you haven’t already watched Kirill episode one and episode two, catch up now.

Watch Kirill – Episode Three below

Kirill is the first Internet Only Science Fiction Series

Kirill is the first Internet Only Science Fiction Series.

‘Three scientists have vanished.

Two bloggers are under siege.

One man has an urgent message to deliver.

None of them are safe…!’

Kirill is an internet based sci-fi project launched by MSN. It follows the story of a fugitive desperately trying to deliver an urgent message. One huge problem…time is about to run out!

Each episode will take you off to other blogs and video sites to gather more information about the storyline…but that is as much as I can gather for the moment as the whole thing is purposely shrouded in suspence building secrecy.

Apparently Kirill is intended to be a prequel to a much bigger drama that Digital Studios are hoping to launch early next year.

This story is divided into a series of episodes – each one available to view online only.

You can start watching the first two episodes now.

Kirill – Episode One

Kirill – Episode Two

Kirill – Episode 3 will be available tomorrow