This release of the BBC/Discovery Channel co-production Blue Planet, paired with the blockbuster series Planet Earth, features everything included in the prior release of each series, plus additional bonus materials that allow viewers to explore the wondrous creatures found deep in the Amazon, a shark-infested underwater volcano in the Cocos Islands, a winter estuary made visually stunning by the tide, and the many wonders of Antarctica.

Warner Bros.' Ghost Ship failed miserably in theaters despite an ensemble cast and promising story line. Although the movie itself is a bit predictable and far-fetched, Warner did a decent job creating a DVD that will appeal to fans of the horror genre. First off, the holographic packaging is amazing and completely eye-grabbing. The picture, presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, is pristine. The English 5.1 Dolby Digital soundtrack showcases the range of sounds found in the film, from eerie winds to bloodcurdling screams. Yet the list of extras doesn't quite meet this same over-the-top level. The audio commentary staple is lacking, and since Ghost Ship is produced by The Matrix's Joel Silver and Cast Away's Robert Zemeckis, it would have been enlightening to hear how this power team managed the gore-fest known as Ghost Ship. But the disc does boast of some nifty extras, especially the gruesome featurette ,"A Closer Look at the Gore." The film is so laden with blood, trauma, and total body destruction, it's fascinating to see exactly how they sliced bodies in half or how that eyeball popped out. Then there's "Max on Set: Ghost Ship," a standard behind-the-scenes promotional feature filled with the cast and crew, such as stars Julianna Marguiles and Gabriel Byrne, which is decent but boring compared to the too-short "Gore." The "Secrets of the Antonia Graza" game is an exasperating puzzle that reveals even more mysteries about the ship. To finish, there's the "Designing Ghost Ship " feature, a piece on visual effects, and a Mudvayne music video.

One would expect Jurassic Park, Steven Spielberg's phenomenally successful dinosaur adventure, to be an almost flawless DVD, and this Universal edition is generally very satisfying. The picture quality is certainly outstanding, bringing out Spielberg's use of color and detail perfectly, while the widescreen format ensures that the dinosaurs are no less terrifying at home than in the cinema. The Dolby 5.1 sound (a DTS edition is also available) is better still, with every roar and rumble bellowing out in crystal clarity. This DVD has clearly been designed with love and attention; even the menu screen is an amazing work of CGI art. Amongst the huge range of features are standard fare such as production notes, biographies, and trailers for Jurassic Park: The Lost World and Jurassic Park III (the latter is totally unrevealing). Footage of early pre-production meetings illustrate Spielberg's desire to make the dinosaurs as frightening as possible, while "Raptors In the Kitchen" shows how Phil Tippett's animatics technique helped to shape the look of the film before CGI was introduced into the equation. A messy but interesting storyboards section includes an omitted scene and the original ending for the film, and the "Foley Artists" feature provides fascinating insight into how the film got some of its Oscar-winning sound. Obviously this DVD will be popular with kids, and it is at kids that the fun and quite thorough "Dinosaur Encyclopaedia" is aimed. The location scouting footage, DVD-ROM features, and production photographs are all moderately interesting, but the best of the extra features is probably "The Making of Jurassic Park." Fifty minutes long and narrated by James Earl Jones, this is a detailed and authoritative documentary, although it does concentrate almost solely on the special effects side of the film, even incorporating footage of the original puppet dinosaurs before Spielberg opted for full-blown CGI creations. The glaring absence from this disc is a commentary by Spielberg himself, which would surely have been revealing, and would have made it an exceptional rather than very good DVD. Nevertheless, Jurassic Park fans will probably be delighted to have this edition in their home libraries.