HOME VIDEO: ‘Walker, Texas Ranger’ and ‘Killer Meteors’

With the theatrical release of Chris Nolan’s THE DARK KNIGHT coming July 18th, home video distribs are gearing up to get the most mileage out of the release with a number of releases of their own. Most out this week are animated and from Warner Bros. The exception is 20th Century Fox’s re-release of the camp classic BATMAN: THE MOVIE (1966), the feature film spinoff of the infamous ’60s TV series starring Adam West and Burt Ward.

Check out Batman fist fighting a plastic shark while dangling from a helicopter before employing explosive shark repellent. Take that Jackie Chan.

Fox has put out BATMAN: THE MOVIE on DVD and Blu-ray so you now have the option to watch Burt Ward prance around in green underwear in high-definition.

Paramount sends out a double helping of roundhouse kicks with the release of season five of WALKER, TEXAS RANGER and the first six seasons packaged in a box set. There were eight seasons total.

I have never watched a single episode in its entirety. In the ’90s I was too busy discovering Hong Kong action cinema to notice or care about what was going on in American TV. I lost track of Chuck following the release of FIREWALKER in 1986 but a healthy chunk of my fellow Americans did not. WALKER remained one of the most popular programs on network TV throughout its run and received numerous Emmy Awards. I’m willing to bet a large chunk of the show’s audience was made up of kids who grew up watching the show, sometimes with their family. For me it was AIR WOLF, the A-TEAM and KNIGHT RIDER. Every generation has its cheeseball action series to fondly look back on.

Apologies to fans of the show but I cannot take it seriously enough to highlight a real clip. Instead, I recommend a compilation of Conan O’Brian’s WALKER, TEXAS RANGER lever gag.

Anime fans may want to check out SAMURAI 7: THE COMPLETE SERIES, Funimation’s box set release of a 26-episode series based on Akira Kurosawa’s jidai geki masterpiece SEVEN SAMURAI (1954). They have a nice little web site set up with a trailer, pics and more details.

In Hong Kong, Joy Sales releases onto VCD DREADNAUGHT and THE KILLER METEORS, two Golden Harvest kung fu classics. DREADNAUGHT is a highly recommended title starring Yuen Biao that has previously been released to DVD by Deltamac, Megastar, Tai Seng, and Hong Kong Legends. The latter two can still be found at HKFlix. Dragon Dynasty has plans to release DREADNAUGHT in what will undoubtedly end up being the preferred release but it’s anyone’s guess as to when it will see the light of day.

THE KILLER METEORS (1976) is a far more rare title that has never been given an official release on DVD as far as I know. It stars Jimmy Wang Yu and Jackie Chan in one of his lesser early kung fu roles. In his biography Chan states that he wishes the film had never been released and it looks like his wish is getting ignored once again.

Our new Home Video Releases index has been updated with 94 titles from 20th Century Fox.

Next Week

• BAT WITHOUT WINGS (DVD – Image)
• BATMAN BEGINS (Blu-ray – Warner)
• BATMAN BEGINS [Limited Edition] (Blu-ray – Warner)
• BATMAN BEGINS [Limited Edition] (DVD – Warner)
• BLOOD BROTHERS (DVD – First Look)
• FEARLESS [Director's Cut] (DVD – Universal)
• THE LEGEND OF THE SHADOWLESS SWORD (DVD – Entertainment in Video)
• THE SHEPHERD [UK Version] (DVD – Sony Pictures)
• SHOGUN ASSASSIN 5: COLD ROAD TO HELL (DVD – AnimEigo)
• TROY [UK Version] (DVD – Warner)

Tags: 20th Century Fox, DVD, Funimation, Joy Sales, Paramount