Alaskans: The Complete Series (1959 - 1960/Warner Archive Blu-ray Set)/Beyond Terror (1980/Cauldron Blu-ray*)/Chronicles Of Riddick 4K (2004/Universal/Arrow 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray set + Blu-ray Set*)/Top Line (1988 aka Alien Predator/Cauldron Blu-ray/*all MVD)

4K Ultra HD Picture: B Picture: B (Riddick 1080p: B-) Sound: B-/B-/B/B- Extras: D/C+/C+/C+ Main Programs: C+/C+/C-/C+

PLEASE NOTE: The Alaskans Blu-ray set is now only available from Warner Bros. through their Warner Archive series and can be ordered from the link below.

Here's a new block of cult action releases upgraded, restored and reissued....

The Alaskans: The Complete Series (1959 - 1960) was the second TV show Roger Moore had the lead in (despite the plural title) after a decent-but-short run on British TV in Ivanhoe, which only lasted so long as this show had, but Hollywood and its U.K. counterpart knew Moore could be a big star. MGM gave him key turns in films with Elizabeth Taylor and Lana Turner, while Warner took him on here.

Moore plays Silky Harris, joined by buddy Reno McKee (Jeff York) trying to see who they can cheat out of the gold boom going on all over the place in the Yukon, with tough showgal Rocky Shaw (Dorothy Provine, really good here) in some interesting casting that leads to some good moments here and there. Each tale is about 53 minutes long and all is professionally handled, but it is nothing to outstanding despite trying to be a bit different from the Westerns all over TV at the time.

Dating it more than its mono sound or for some, the black and white filming, is easily the bad 'Hollywood Indian' appearances by bad actors and stuntmen who look about as Native American as a Martian. What also makes this a curio are some of the guest cast including John Dehner, Frank DeKova, Frank Ferguson, Ruta Lee, Claude Akins, Paul Wexler, Richard Collier, Jesse White, Lee Patterson, Richard Webb, Milton Parsons, Ned Glass, Julie Adams, Mary Windsor, Ray Teal, Lee Van Cleef, Alan Hale Jr., Pippa Scott, Dick Sargent, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Madlyn Rhue, Warren Stevens, Leo Gordon, Harry Strang, Werner Klemperer, Diane McBain, Frank Cady, Gerald Mohr, Troy Donahue, Harold J. Stone, Lee Bergere, Bart Braverman, Jerry Paris, Robert Lowery, Arthur Franz, Leonard Strong, Ted White and Simon Oakland.

The bigger a fan of old movies and TV you are, the more you get out of it. Moore stayed at Warner a bit longer to play Brett maverick's cousin Beau during a contract dispute on the original Maverick series, but he was soon Simon Templar on the huge international hit series The Saint for the rest of the 1960s, then became James Bond and the rest is history. Still, it is interesting to see him and so many others before they hit it big or just continued to have long careers. Nice the show has been restored and reissued in such a great set.

There are sadly no extras.

Tomas Aznar's Beyond Terror (1980) starts as a rather violent film about a gang of thieves on bikes (even part of a cycle of such post-Easy Rider/counterculture films that would include Verhoeven's Spetters) that can be shocking even by today's standards and it is enough so to be an exploitation film. Then it takes a late twist to be a supernatural film and that works to some extent, reenforcing that this is more of a product of the 1970s and late 1970s than anything else. The actors are also not bad, but it also wants to provoke the audience sexually.

That it is as organized a film as it is for taking on B-movie material on a unrated level is somewhat impressive, but it also means the film has uneven results and some parts work better than others. As is the case with most such low budget films, that also works against it in some parts, but not others where it just plays out naturalistically resulting in a more effective, believable film in those moments.

Cheers to the cast of mostly unknowns doing a good job and going all in on their work here. Some actors would not feel comfortable doing some of this, but they meld better together than many larger-budget films I have suffered through recently with name actors. Also, versus the four films on the recent Severin Danza Macabra Volume Three Blu-ray set with four outright gothic horror films, this was as good as any of them.

Thus, all serious film fans should consider seeing this one once if it is their kind of filmmaking. Films from Spain do not always get seen, seen as much as they should or restored like this one. It was never officially released in the U.S. market, something great labels like Cauldron keep correcting and it is a great thing happening at this time in film history that is not being celebrated enough. Beyond Terror is no longer beyond viewer's abilities to catch!

Extras include a reversible cover, while the disc adds a solid feature length audio commentary track by Kat Ellinger who is really going deep into genre on these films that are under-studied in a good way and an Image Gallery.

David Twohy's The Chronicles Of Riddick 4K (2004) is the second of what is about to become four films with Vin Diesel (taking a break form the overkill, auto-pilot, money machine of Fast & Furious) and we have covered the first two films a few times starting with these older Blu-ray releases at this link:

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/8358/Pitch+Black+++The+Chronicles+of+Riddick+(Univer

As I said in my earliest coverage...

''Now escaped, Riddick (Diesel) continues to dodge ruthless bounty hunters and finding himself in the middle of some kind of civil war, which could alter or destroy the human race as they know it. Will he use his talents to help or is the situation beyond him? The idea is that his character is very able-bodied and if he helps anyone, it will not be under simple circumstances because of the dangerous killer he is. However, writer/director David Twohy's screenplay is shockingly silly and juvenile versus the original film and previous work Twohy has done.''

That was also from the Director's Cut then, but in retrospect, it was also Diesel killing his chance to be a multi-billion dollar action star to this day and not just a face of an endless, tired car franchise. Fans will be happy with this set, but it is overkill for the rest of us.

Extras are many and (per the press release) include 4K ULTRA HD LIMITED EDITION CONTENTS

• Brand new 4K restorations by Arrow Films of the Theatrical and Director's Cuts of the film, approved by David Twohy

• Original DTS-HD MA 5.1 surround audio on both cuts, plus remixed Dolby Atmos for the Theatrical Cut

• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing on both cuts

• Reversible sleeve featuring newly commissioned artwork by Dan Mumford

• Illustrated collectors' booklet featuring new writing on the film by Walter Chaw, original production notes and the 'Chronicles Compendium', an overview of the characters and planets featured in the film

DISC ONE

• 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible) of the Theatrical Cut from the original negative

• Ambition on Another Scale: Chronicling a Blockbuster Sequel, a brand-new feature-length documentary on the film, featuring interviews with writer-director David Twohy, actors Keith David and Linus Roache, storyboard artist Brian Murray, concept artist Matt Codd, miniature effects artist Ian Hunter and digital matte artist Dylan Cole

• Realizing Riddick, a new interview with Twohy on the creation of the character

• Back to Black, a new interview with Murray on his continuing work within the Riddick saga

• Chronicles of a Cult Film Celebrity, a new interview with David on the role of Imam

• Theatrical trailers

DISC TWO

• 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible) of the Director's Cut

• Archive audio commentary by David Twohy and Vin Diesel

• Archive audio commentary by Twohy and co-stars Karl Urban and Alexa Davelos

• Archive introduction by Twohy

• Creation of New Mecca, an archive featurette focusing on the world and characters of Helion Prime

• Riddick Rises, an archive featurette focusing on the prison planet of Crematoria

• Keep What You Kill, an archive featurette focusing on the world of the Necromongers

• Visual Effects Revealed, an archive featurette focusing on the VFX

• Interactive Production Calendar, a series of short, candid videos filmed throughout shooting

• Production Vignettes, a series of short behind-the-scenes segments

• Three deleted scenes

• Virtual Guide to the Chronicles of Riddick, a series of short animated segments explaining the world of the film

• Toombs' Chase Log, a short film narrated by Nick Chinlund in character

• A guided tour of the set by Vin Diesel, along with 360-degree panoramic views of eight sets from the film

• On-set interviews with Twohy, Diesel, Dench, Urban, Colm Feore, Alexa Davelos, Thandiwe Newton and producer Scott Kroopf

• Promotional interviews with Twohy, Diesel, Newton, Urban, Davelos and Feore

• Easter egg

DISC THREE (LIMITED EDITION EXCLUSIVE)

• 4K (2160p) UHD Blu-ray presentation in Dolby Vision (HDR10 compatible) of the Theatrical Cut in the alternate 1.78:1 aspect ratio

• Escape from Butcher Bay, a compilation of cutscenes from the acclaimed tie-in video game

• and The Lowdown, a television special produced to promote the film's original release

The regular Blu-ray set has the same extras minus the 4K parts and with the Limited Edition goodies while supplies last.

Nello Rosatti's Top Line (1988 aka Alien Predator) has a later lead role by Franco Nero, who is still working in movies now, long after going from solid supporting work into the 1960s to becoming a leading man by the end of that decade. By the time he made this film, he was still doing lead roles, as well as TV and key supporting work in other films. As you can tell from the alternate title, this winds up a sci-fi/horror film after many parts of action, mystery, suspense and even comedy. The problem is it gets sloppy a little, it throws in too much we've already seen, can be derivative and the ending is a little odd.

However, Nero is still able to carry the film, even as his character has a knack for losing clothing more than once in the beginning of several chase scenes. Though credited as 'Deborah Barrymore' and not to be confused with Drew, it is really Roger Moore's daughter Deborah Moore who more than holds her own here, in one of the best parts of the film. George Kennedy shows up with a barely believable accent and is not in the film enough, but there are plenty of fights and the like. The limited budget shows in the visual effects, but it is well shot.

No masterwork of genre cinema, it is still an interesting curio, nicely restored and those interested will want to see it.

Extras include a reversible cover with alternative are, while the disc adds Black Top! An Interview with Franco Nero

• The Strange Case of Ted Archer: An interview with Eugenio Ercolani

• Alien Terminated: The Alien theories of Top Line by parapolitics researcher Robert Skvarla

• In depth audio commentary by film historian Eric Zaldivar including audio interviews from cast members, Deborah Moore and Robert Redcross, with additional insight on Italian cult films with actors Brett Halsey and Richard Harrison.

Now for playback performance. The 2160p HEVC/H.265, 2.35 X 1, Dolby Vision/HDR (10; Ultra HD Premium)-enhanced Ultra High Definition image on Riddick 4K was shot on 35mm photochemical Eastman Kodak negative film in the Super 35 format with a ton of older CGI digital visual effects that were NOT 4K, so they got very creative in this transfer where the filmed sequences would be 4K easily, but they had to tweak the weaker digital work. This is as good as the film will ever look, which only says is much since I was never impressed with its look and thought it was not quite as good as Pitch Black. However, this is still better than the 1080p 2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image on the new Blu-ray, which improves on the other previous releases.

The sound on both sets and cuts have been upgraded to lossless Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 mixdown for older systems) for the Theatrical Cut and it opens up the original 5.1 soundmaster (here in a DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 5.1 lossless mix on both sets and versions) but does not outdo it as is the case in many such upgrades of later digital surround films. You can now hear and choose for yourself.

The 1080p 1.33 X 1 black & white digital High Definition image transfers on all The Alaskan episodes hardly show the age of the materials used, as the original 35mm camera negatives (et al) have been preserved really well and apparently are 4K scans. The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mix are more aged and sometimes limited, but the shows sound as good as they ever will, so you'll really be able to appreciate the series in ways no one but those who saw film prints before can.

The 1080p 1.66 X 1 digital High Definition image transfers on both Beyond Terror (from a new 4K scan) and Top Line (from a new 2K scan) can show the age of the materials used in parts with some lightness, a little more active grain and very minor flaws, but color is really good in both cases, as is detail and depth considering the limited budgets and how they may have been stored. Terror has a lossless Spanish 2.0 Mono, while Top Line has a DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) 2.0 Mono lossless mix, both sounding as good as they ever will.

To order The Alaskans: The Complete Series Warner Archive Blu-ray set, go to this link for it and many more great web-exclusive releases at:

https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/ED270804-095F-449B-9B69-6CEE46A0B2BF?ingress=0&visitId=6171710b-08c8-4829-803d-d8b922581c55&tag=blurayforum-20

- Nicholas Sheffo