Behind the Story (SD, 85 min) — This six-part anniversary retrospect is easily the centerpiece of the entire collection, covering all the major aspects of the film. The documentary commences with interviews of producer Howard Gottfried and director Sidney Lumet about Paddy Chayefsky's script, influences and origins, and how Lumet became involved ("The World and Words of Paddy Chayefsky"). This is followed by a look at casting and the characters, where Faye Dunaway, Ned Beatty, Kathy Cronkite and Lance Henriksen do most of the talking ("The Cast, The Characters"). To speak Chayefsky's Oscar-winning dialogue, Lumet enlisted a powerhouse cast list, including Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Finch (as 'the mad prophet of the airwaves' Howard Beale), Robert Duvall, Ned Beatty and Beatrice Straight. Five of them would be nominated for Academy Awards, three would win. Comprises of 20 short/animated films from the Columbia Pictures library, presented in high definition: Sidney Lumet's Network is unquestionably one of the most prophetic American films from the last thirty years. It accurately predicted that the world of television was bound for a massive makeover and that eventually the news networks will begin creating their own news while comfortably manipulating the public. The extras also include a photo gallery of the show’s production and commentaries on some of the episodes by writer and broadcaster Tim Worthington. Though not connected with the show (and by his own admission, not born at the time of its release), Worthington’s enthusiasm and knowledge of the show is palpable and infectious. He discusses such aspects as the design of the title sequence; the ‘care and attention’ paid to the visual composition; why the show is ‘important’; and compares his commentary to others and his wish to be different and informative. For the most part, he succeeds, much as The Owl Service itself mostly succeeds as an evocative, atmospheric and intriguing drama, one that offers plenty to enjoy for modern audiences just as it did for those over fifty years ago.

As with all biopic films, The Social Network must be taken with a pinch of salt. It is based on the book, The Accidental Billionaires, by Ben Mezrich, which itself can be taken with the same. And with director David Fincher giving his own interpretation of the screenplay such as the emphasis on the situations that take place, the major events that affected the outcome, or indeed bypassing whole occurrences in favour of drama, the result is a story that, whilst having a basis in fact, has more in tune with fantasy than truth. As a piece, The Owl Service maintains a sense of tragic inevitability and largely maintained ambiguity throughout its eight episodes. It somewhat botches these aspects with an abrupt and overly convenient finale, but there is enough unsettling atmosphere, interpersonal and social tensions and echoes of folklore to let this time capsule resonate for a time in the memory. Description: Michael Gough turns in a memorable performance as a demented professor in this cult favourite B-movie that takes a skewed look at the King Kong story, transposing the action from New York to London. Also starring teen heartthrob Jess Conrad, Konga is featured here as a High Definition remaster from original film elements in its original theatrical aspect ratio. It's all the more remarkable, then, that Paddy Chayefsky's marvelous script for Network is so frighteningly prescient. After all, in 1976, when the film was released, the evening news was still a nightly tradition for most adult Americans, and the three broadcast networks ruled the airwaves with iconic anchors like Cronkite, Smith, Chancellor and Brinkley. It would be four to five more years until shows like Entertainment Tonight started cropping up in syndication, slowly blurring the line between news and entertainment, and 24 hour news networks like CNN appeared on the horizon, needing, well, 24 hours of content to fill their broadcasting day, thereby creating a whole new market for shows which blended elements of news and entertainment. It seemed to happen almost overnight, seen now from the distance of that quarter century, but Chayefsky obviously saw it coming well before it dawned on the rest of us, and Network was his brilliantly acerbic warning shot across the bow. Unfortunately, too few of us heard, refusing to believe that things could get as bad as Network portrayed them, however satirically. How terribly, terribly wrong we were.

The Social Network Audio

Notable guest stars over the series’ run included Christopher Lee, Joan Collins, Peter Cushing, Ian McShane ( Deadwood, American Gods), Sarah Douglas ( Superman II), David Prowse ( Star Wars), Brian Blessed ( Flash Gordon), Angus MacInnes ( Star Wars, Rogue One), and many others. For for US fans of Space: 1999, none of these Blu-ray releases has been ideal. For one thing, the UK sets are Region B only. Yet they included significant bonus material not found in the Shout! Factory set. Meanwhile, that US set is Region A and it includes some new extras, but Shout! unfortunately created their own 5.1 mixes for all the episodes—rather than simply utilizing the 5.1 mixes from the UK sets—and they’re not particularly good. (Specifically, the audio in the surround channels is very low. And for some reason the Shout! BDs don’t let you switch from 5.1 to mono with your remote.) So what’s a self-respecting US Space: 1999 fan to do? Well, I’m very pleased to say that I’ve finally got a good answer to that question… Interview (SD, 14 min) — This vintage segment from the TV show 'Dinah!' shows an interview with Paddy Chayefsky by Dinah Shore. It's an interesting discussion about writing the script, his inspirations and intentions. Network' comes to Blu-ray with a terrific 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 encode (1.85:1) that retains Owen Roizman's intentional look and feel. The photography commences rough and bleak, but as the story progresses, it seems to mature and appear more elegant. The high-def transfer displays this subtle development beautifully. The film opens with an average picture that would be acceptable for its age and period. Slowly, the fine details of hairs, clothes, and the random items which clutter network offices are sharply defined and distinct. Facial complexions are naturally textured and reveal every wrinkle in the actors' faces. A thin veil of grain washes over the image for an appreciable cinematic quality, and dimensionality improves along with the story. Tune In Next Tuesday - presented here is a visual essay by Dave Itzkoff, author of Mad as Hell: The Making of Network and the Fateful Vision of the Angriest Man in Movies. In English, not subtitled. (48 min).

Cinematographer Owen Roizman ( The French Connection, The Exorcist) utilized light in a variety of different ways to give the film the desired by director Lumet visual style. It is broken into three phases -- naturalistic, realistic, and commercial -- each with different and constantly evolving tonalities.You’d be hard pushed to tell this was an up-scale, with staples like skin texture and clothing weaves being very prevalent. Paperwork, computer consoles and screen text, notepad drawings, litigation papers: all are clean, clear, and precise. Few films resonate with audiences for several generations after their release quite like Sidney Lumet's 'Network.' The film perfectly captures a human attribute born out of modernity which seems universally relevant no matter the age of moviegoers. And today, possibly more than ever, Paddy Chayefsky's eloquent, sharply-written and provocative script still speaks to us with such eye-opening accuracy and insight. 'Network' displays an alien reality with ferocity and urgency, imitating the speed at which the world of TV production moves. People speak at full tilt in a foreign language while major decisions are made within moments, and money is always at the heart of every matter. The only difference between a board meeting and a terrorist organization talking distribution rights is the scenery. Description: John Alderton stars as a progressive teacher in charge of a classful of unruly pupils in the feature film version of one of television's all-time-great sitcoms! Created by comedy giants John Esmonde and Bob Larbey – and co-starring the complete line-up of classic characters from the TV series – Please Sir! is featured here as a brand-new High Definition remaster from original film elements in its original theatrical aspect ratio.

The Owl Service maintains a sense of tragic inevitability and largely maintained ambiguity throughout its eight episodes. It somewhat botches these aspects with an abrupt and overly convenient finale, but there is enough unsettling atmosphere, interpersonal and social tensions and echoes of folklore to let this time capsule resonate for a time in the memory. There are a few sequences where the political statements feel a bit dated now, but the dialog is sharp and very witty. The technical jargon also does not alienate, it gives one a real sense of the language and rhythm of work TV professionals are used to. Now then, I mentioned that this is a true Ultimate Edition release with substantial extras carried over from both the Network UK BD sets and also the more recent Shout! Factory BD set. So let’s break down the contents of Imprint’s new box set disc by disc (note that some of the special features listed in HD have been upsampled from SD)…Tune in Next Tuesday – a visual essay by Dave Itzkoff, the author of Mad as Hell: The Making of Network and the Fateful Vision of the Angriest Man in Movies Bernard Hedges manages to convince the other staff at Fenn Street Secondary Modern that it's a good idea to take rowdy class 5C on a two-night stay at a country summer camp. It doesn't take long, however, before 5C start wreaking havoc – with both the camp and the snobbish pupils of an upper-class boys' school who are also staying there!