IMAGINATIONLAND!! FIVE DAYS!! STARGATE!! STAR TREK!! TWILIGHT ZONE!! PRISONER!! BULLSHIT!!...

I am – Hercules!!

South Park’s hilarious Imaginationland trilogy was all the talk here on the Coax side of the site for about a month late last year, but is this DVD worth the $14.99? Well, bear in mind that this is an “uncensored” director’s cut of the trilogy that adds material and improves upon the version created last fall, as writer-director Trey Parker was desperately completing episodes literally 12 hours before they aired. On this version, Jesus is identified immediately as a product of the imagination just as the boys arrive in Imaginationland. The terrorists die just as the wall containing the dark imaginary creatures is breached. The Jason Voorhees liberating Strawberry Shortcake’s eye is now more graphic. Extras include: * Two sets of storyboards: “Fuck Me, It’s A Leprechaun” (2:15) and “What Is This Place?” (1:41), a series of drawings that unfurl as the episode soundtrack plays. * Two single-episprequels to “Imaginationland”: “Woodland Critters Christmas” and “ManBearPig.” * “Audio Commentary With Matt & Trey.” Stone and Parker bill this as the longest commentary they ever recorded, and it’s quite the document. . Learn that Stone and Parker wanted to do something about terrorists attacking our imaginations for a long time, but couldn’t during the middle of an ordinary run of episodes because the animation would have to be so complex. . Learn that the boys did indeed contemplate releasing the episodes as a second “South Park” feature. . Learn that “Harry Potter” and “Narnia” were key inspirations. . Learn that the boys are big fans of “24” and “Battlestar Galactica” and those shows inspired the multiepisode storyline. . Learn that the ending, with Imaginary Kyle sucking Imaginary Cartman’s balls, was one of the first things they came up with. . Learn that the boys contemplated ripping the project into two separate episodes, one about Imaginationland and one about Kyle sucking Cartman’s balls. . Learn that the opening bit about the Leprechaun disappeared from the story for a good while. (They also contemplated just doing an episode about a leprechaun who gets bitten by a werewolf AND a vampire AND a zombie.) . Learn that they decided to hold these mostly written episodes for a coming season, but abandoned that plan when they realized how much better the liked the Imaginationland ideas than the other ideas they were working on. . Learn they thought about making it a one-parter, a two-parter, a five-parter and a seven-parter. . Learn that Trey loved “Sixth Sense” but classifies “Unbreakable” and “Signs” as “dogshit movies” he considers inferior to “Apocalypto.” . Learn that they have to turn in every episode by 8 a.m. PT the day the show airs. . Learn that the dark side of Imaginationland was supposed to be revealed at the end of part one, but the boys decided at 4 a.m. the day of airing that they just couldn’t get it done in time, necessitating a hasty last-minute rewrite and re-edit. . Learn that the terrorists got into Imaginationland through an old Soviet stargate left over from the Cold War, though this was never depicted or mentioned in the episode. . Learn that though “Gladiator” and “300” inspired Cartman’s field-of-wheat dream, Parker hated “300.”

A sci-fi version of “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” -- from the producers of SciFi’s “Flash Gordon” and the veteran TV writing team of Craig W. Van Sickle and Steve Long Mitchell (“The Pretender,” “She Spies”) – “Tin Man” is a six-hour miniseries about a hot Kansas waitress who finds herself transported to an alternate dimension called “The O.Z.” It stars Zooey Deschanel as “DG,” Kathleen Robertson (who looks a lot like a brunette Kristen Bell) as the witchy “Azkadelia,” Richard Dreyfuss as the wizardly “Mystic Man,” Raoul Trujillo as the furry and cowardly “Raw,” Alan Cumming as the brains-challenged “Glitch,” and Neal McDonough as the hard-hearted title character. The reviews were not the greatest. Why SciFi continues to greenlight stuff like “Tin Man” and “Flash Gordon” instead of Ron Moore’s “Galactica” prequel “Caprica” or a sequel to the superb “Lost Room” quite vexes the imagination. (For the record, if anybody decides to stick the arresting Deschanel in “Caprica” or “The Other Lost Room,” you’ll hear few complaints coming from my direction.) Entertainment Weekly gave “Tin Man” a “C-plus” and said:

… Robertson's heaving bodice is her most expressive aspect; this miniseries needed a villain with a wicked sense of humor, but she and the rest of Tin Man are dour and punitive. There's violence and torture courtesy of Azkadellia's Nazi-like ''Longcoat'' brigade. And there's the overworked theme of abandonment …

TV Guide said:

… more of a lavishly quirky curiosity than a keeper. …

USA Today gave it two and a half stars (out of four) and said:

… Ambitious and intriguing though it may be, Tin Man is simply too long, too grim and too determined to impose a Lord of the Rings universe-saving quest on top of a simpler, gentler story. No offense to Kansas, but any Oz film that makes you long for Dorothy to get back to that farm is a film in serious need of lightening up.

The New York Times said:

… A big, sonorous dungeons-and-dragons affair that seems at every moment to call attention to its epicness, “Tin Man” would have benefited above all from more minimizing. It runs over three nights and is too long by a few hours. …

The Los Angeles Times said:

… To say that "Tin Man" is not as good as its near-perfect models is not to damn it, even faintly. Like Sci Fi's "Flash Gordon" update -- which the Halmis also produce and which it resembles far more than it does "The Wizard of Oz" -- it's a good-looking, entertaining fantasy adventure, with a cast that is easy to spend time with. I can see where Deschanel's sleepy delivery (quite like her sister Emily's, over on Fox's "Bones") might not work on everyone, but I find her excellent company, and Alan Cumming is sweet in the Ray Bolger mode as the Scarecrow-substitute, Glitch. …

The Washington Post said:

… If the filmmakers had themselves a heap of fun putting this mishmosh together, that doesn't come through in the finished work. The pacing is largely funereal, with characters such as that meanie-Queenie not having much to do but stand around posing. In the crucial role of DG, however, Zooey Deschanel (daughter of gifted director and cinematographer Caleb Deschanel) is saucy and captivating and has seductively expressive eyes. …

The Chicago Tribune said:

… "Tin Man's" heart is in the right place, even if the execution of the story evokes, from time to time, creakiness of the metal man's limbs. Among the more winning aspects about this fanciful mini-series are its propulsive plot and the way it rearranges key elements of Baum's tale. If it's not as complex or slickly executed as the most ambitious cable fare, "Tin Man," which arrives as the TV season heads into its rerun-filled doldrums, provides a colorful, imaginative, popcorn-friendly serial -- with all the flying monkeys you could ever want. …

The Chicago Sun-Times said:

… The dialogue is utilitarian, except when it's "Dungeons and Dragons" cliche, like: "We're travelers of the realms seeking a warm meal and a cold cup of grog. ... May your hearth be warm." Puke. The actors look rushed to stay on production schedule. The direction and camera shots are workaday. The pace of "Tin Man" reminds me of tortured, role-playing video games … at six hours, it feels four hours too long. So if you're interested, record it and watch it on fast-forward. You can hit pause for the evil flying monkey boobs.

The San Diego Union-Tribune said:

… the only magical thing about “Tin Man” is its amazing ability to make six hours pass like six days. … Neither the scripts nor the colorless directing do the actresses any favors, but without an empathetic heroine to love and a fire-breathing villainess to loathe, “Tin Man” is just a rattletrap special-effects vehicle on its way to nowhere. Feel free to let it wheeze on down the road without you.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer said:

… As long as we get a good time out of it, darkness is a welcome guest and the first night of this miniseries keeps that end of the bargain, starting with our introduction to DG (Zooey Deschanel). … Night two, the tale loses its spirited humor and tumbles into the minutiae of DG's obscure past. "Tin Man" is an example of what happens when a story that should be told in two nights, and four hours, is stretched out to three and six. …

The San Jose Mercury News said:

… there is a distinct lack of emotional oomph emanating from this dark, disjointed and humorless miniseries, which too often seems preoccupied with special-effects magic and oh-aren't-we-clever twists on Baum's characters. As a result, you might want to take a pass on this particular Oz fest. …

The Knoxville News Sentinel said:

… can never truly stand on its own. In attempting to do something different with a classic, "Tin Man" has virtually lost its soul. The miniseries has no fun with its situation and no spark of playfulness. Instead, it's merely stark, moody and cold. And when that can be said of "Oz," then why bother?…

The Boston Globe said:

… a dour retelling of the L. Frank Baum story, and it just keeps sinking further and further into pointless thematic complexity and visual density. A test of viewer endurance, this effects-bound miniseries is a hollow tin man in need of a beating heart.

The Hollywood Reporter said:

… while the preening and the chewed scenery from the cast are at times glorious to behold, there is no substance to wrap our heads around, no one to really root for. It's just a peculiar, occasionally arresting and wholly funky attempt to bring a measure of contemporary fantasy/sci-fi hip to a tale we want to be neither hip nor self-aware. But trust me that the thing is every ounce a thinly veiled "Wizard of Oz" update. If it only had a brain, a heart and the nerve. …

Variety said:

… a bit of a mess. Sci Fi has done well with minis in December, but despite the intriguing concept three consecutive nights of this adventure falls several Yellow Bricks shy of a load. … does weave in an endless assortment of puns and knowing asides, including a few that appear directly aimed at Friends of Dorothy. Ultimately, though, that's small compensation for embarking on this extended journey. … if it only had a brain.

A five-hour British miniseries about the disappearance of a young wife and mother outside London, the BBC/HBO co-production "Five Days" takes place over days 1, 3, 28, 33 and 79 of the mystery. It stars both Oscar nominee Janet McTeer (“Songcatcher”) and Edward “The Equalizer” Woodward. Entertainment Weekly gave it an “A-minus” and said:

Busy and gripping … The sheer number of plotlines can be overwhelming, but the images - flowers dropped on the side of the road, a dusty van sliding away — are relentlessly riveting. And the series only gets better from here. …

The New York Times said:

… riveting because it weaves the most familiar milestones of a major homicide investigation — the news conferences, police interrogations and family meltdowns — into a less predictable and intricately layered narrative that averts clichés without diluting the suspense. …

The Los Angeles Times said:

… may still be ranked as one of the fall season's best series. … The strength of the series lies not in the whodunit elements -- it isn't hard to work out who's behind it, even if it isn't immediately apparent why -- but in its eye for local details and small human gestures. Screenwriter Gwyneth Hughes insists on the mundane underpinnings even of extraordinary human affairs …

The Boston Globe said:

… "Five Days" is like a deluxe installment of "Without a Trace." The miniseries is five hours long - one hour a week through the end of October - and so it's able to go five times as deep into the mystery of a missing mother of three. It has all the detail, and all the character depth, that an hourlong TV procedural can't possibly muster. … Written by Gwyneth Hughes, the script perhaps reaches too far and falls short. The whole is somehow less than the sum of its parts. And yet "Five Days" rewards with enough gripping moments to make it worth investigating.

Variety said:

Halfway through the premiere of "Five Days" -- a missing-person mystery, told over five distinct days in hourlong, once-a-week installments -- it's easy to become bored and irritated. By the end of night one, however, the show grows intriguing, and the second and third episodes are more engrossing. Then episode four begins to drag, and the fifth hour feels like filler until the inevitable reveal, which, alas, isn't equal to the build-up. HBO and the BBC can afford to gamble on this sort of collaboration, but stretching over five weeks simply injects too much stuffing into this character-laden souffle. …

The Hollywood Reporter said:

… an extraordinary, wrenching mystery … The fact that this is shot in southeast England and everyone has a British accent makes the HBO original no less immediate and relatable, with the tables turning and the subplots growing more deliciously convoluted with each passing installment. … holds you in its thrall from beginning to end, and the twists along the way are seemingly endless. A riveting ride, indeed. …

“Li’l Bush” is on Comedy Central, which also gave us “That’s My Bush” six years ago. It’s an animated sitcom, from writer-producer Donick Cary (“The Simpsons,” “Complete Savages”) about the current Bush Administration as filtered through “Muppet Babies.” Entertainment Weekly gave it a “D” and said:

… a juvenile pile of manure aching to hit the conservative pundit fan. …

Time said:

… Lil' Bush is too lame to be taken seriously, or, more important, taken humorously. …

The New York Times said:

Too lil’, too late. … if you think the moment has passed for a show about pint-size, foul-mouthed versions of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald H. Rumsfeld and Condoleezza Rice getting into all kinds of mischief, you’re not alone.… The central conceit of “Lil’ Bush” — its conception of the president as a supremely self-confident grade schooler who can get away with anything because, well, he’s just a little kid — is a good one. But almost nothing else about this new version is funny, and it doesn’t help that the creators have responded to the challenge of expanding the show by making it more edgy, or, to use the traditional term, tasteless. …

The Washington Post said:

… aims for the political satire of "The Daily Show" and the crude-but-smart humor of "South Park" but fails to live up to both standard-bearers. Most of the political jokes sound like rejects from a Jon Stewart news segment, and the gross-out humor comes across as strictly immature. … not ready for prime time. …

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette said:

… If "South Park" traffics in occasionally brilliant satire, "Lil' Bush" is far more juvenile humor. … "Lil' Bush" may not stand the test of time, but in the here and now it's a perfectly amusing, albeit childish, half-hour political comedy. …

Variety said:

… possesses all the finesse of Gallagher with a watermelon. Attempting to ape the irreverence of "South Park," this pint-sized animated version of the Bush gang wears out its welcome rapidly, pushing buttons even some Bush bashers will likely find juvenile, bordering on tawdry. The odd clever line slips in almost by default, but frankly, this series merits the sort of approval rating that should make the producers envy even its real-life inspiration. …

The Hollywood Reporter said:

… archly hilarious … If you're one of the 30% who still approves of the job Bush is doing as president, you might not think "Lil' Bush" is all that funny. For everyone else, it is a nonstop hoot that might help take a little of the sting out of the current administration. …

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