I Am So Weak...

I've been spending far too much money on DVDs lately, and I'm having real difficulty finding the time to watch them all. So I was starting to form the notion in my head that, you know, maybe it's time to start engaging in a little self-denial. Yeah, I told myself, what I should do is ease off on the shopping a bit, at least until my finances are in a better state. After all, between household repairs and saving up for my vacation and Christmas shopping, the money is a little tight just at the moment. OK, sure, there are a few specific things coming out that I really do have to get (for some mildly idiosyncratic value of the words "have to"): the director's edition of Star Trek III, the expanded version of The Fellowship of the Ring, the third season of Buffy, the second season Farscape discs as they're released. But I really don't desperately need the entire Blackadder collection, or that cool anime series my friend just introduced me to, or any random movies that might pop into my head, no matter how good they might be. I can keep adding things to my wish list, I told myself, but let's hold off on everything but the can't-live-without items for the moment, shall we?

Yeah, like I ever listen to myself when I'm being the Voice of Reason.

The thing is, I just got this little ad-thingy from Columbia House, where they offer you subscriptions to various TV series on video or DVD. (Tangential rant: I love the whole subscribe-to-an-old-TV-series concept, but the way they print their advertising flyers really annoys me. You know, they make out like they're going to give you a free video or DVD! just because you're such a good customer or something, and it's only if you look at the fine print on page 6 that it tells you that what you're actually doing if you check, "Yes, please send me my free video or DVD!" is signing up to subscribe to the rest of the series. OK, yeah, I know what the deal actually is, because I've seen it before, and most other people probably do, too, but it still strikes me as fundamentally dishonest. End tangential rant.) Anyway, I figured, well, I'll take a look at it and see what they have. So I'm idly flipping through the little catalog dealy, and, I must admit, some of the options are a little tempting. Babylon 5? Well, I really do want to get that series on disc and watch it through properly from the beginning, but I'm pretty sure it'd be cheaper just to buy the boxed set(s). Lexx? Yes, tempting, but I'm not sure the quality episodes/lame episodes ratio is quite high enough to justify picking up the entire series (although I very well may end up doing so sometime, anyway). A few other midly interesting things, but nothing too... But wait! What's this? Alien Nation? They've got Alien Nation?! On DVD? Yes! Well, I'd heard somewhere that Columbia House might be bringing it out, but I wasn't sure if it was true or not, and Amazon didn't seem to have the show listed as available (at least, not the last time I checked).

Yes, you can see where this is going. Yes, I ordered it. I know, I know, the last thing I need is another bill every month for $20 plus Columbia House's exhorbitant S&H fees for a DVD that I may quite possibly never even get around to watching. But, man, it's Alien Nation! I loved that show! It was a terrific blend of buddy-cop show and social-commentary science fiction, intelligently written, well acted, and just a generally all around high-quality piece of TV. TV movies aside, it deserved a much longer run that it got, and, yeah, in my estimation, it's well worth owning on DVD.

I am so weak.

By the way, trivia fact for the day: Alien Nation's Gary Graham (who played the human detective, Matt Sikes) has shown up again on SF TV recently as the Vulcan ambassador to Earth in Enterprise. Now, I hate to admit this, because I dislike seeing actors becoming typecast, and I dislike even more the idea of contributing to the effect (not that that's usually much of a problem for me, since I'm so bad with faces that 9 times out of 10 I won't realize that Character X in TV Program Y was played by the same person who was Character Z in Movie W until it's been pointed out to me). But, honestly, I simply cannot look at Gary Graham's Enterprise character without seeing Matt Sikes in a Vulcan costume. Which is a deeply weird image, since Sikes is probably the most emotional, most irrational, most completely un-Vulcan-like person imaginable.

And soon I shall be able to view him on disc. Whoo-hoo!