Once in a lifetime, there comes a motion picture that changes the whole history of motion pictures. A picture so stunning in its effect, so vast in its impact that it profoundly affects the lives of those who see it. That picture might well be MONTY PYTHON & THE HOLY GRAIL, featuring the entire Python gang in this hilarious retelling of the Knights of King Arthur and their quest for the Holy Grail.
DISC DETAILS & BONUS MATERIALS
4K ULTRA HD DISC • Feature presented in 4K resolution with Dolby Vision • English Dolby Atmos + English 5.1 + English Mono • Special Features: o Near-Theatrical Version of the Film (in HD resolution) – Experience a slightly shorter version of the film, as seen on VHS! o ‘Tis But A Tribute – 50 Years of Monty Python and the Holy Grail – Over 25 comedy luminaries share their memories of, affection for, and continued fascination with the film
BLU-RAY DISC™ • Feature presented in HD resolution • English 5.1 & Mono • Special Features: o Audio Commentary with Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones o Audio Commentary with John Cleese, Eric Idle, and Michael Palin o 2015 Tribeca Film Festival Q&A with Terry, Terry, Mike, John, and Eric! o Outtakes and Extended Scenes with Introduction by Terry Jones o Lost Animations with Introduction by Terry Gilliam o Quest for the Holy Grail Locations with Michael Palin and Terry Jones o Lego Knights: The Knights of the Round Table in LEGO o Special Japanese Version o How to Use Your Coconuts (An Educational Film) o BBC Film Night on Location o Three Songs to Sing-Along o Photo Gallery o Original Theatrical Trailer
CAST AND CREW Written and Performed By: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin Producer: Mark Forstater Executive Producer: John Goldstone Directed By: Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones
SPECS Run Time: Approx. 92 minutes Rating: PG 4K UHD Feature Picture: 2160p Ultra High Definition, 1.66:1 4K UHD Feature Audio: English Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Compatible) | English 5.1 DTS-HD MA | English Mono DTS-HD MA
Abu Dhabi, UAE – June 4, 2025 – Warner Bros. Discovery is continuing the fun-filled anniversary year for the beloved Tom and Jerry by celebrating Cheese Day on June 4th. Making history to begin the celebration, Warner Bros. World™ Yas Island, Abu Dhabi in partnership with Fatafeat, Discovery’s largest Arabic food network, together, officially broke the GUINNESS WORLD RECORD™ Title for the Longest Cheese Board/Platter. The record-breaking event took place recently at Warner Bros. World™ Abu Dhabi, the region’s largest indoor theme park and home to iconic WB characters and was inspired by the beloved classic cartoon Tom and Jerry, celebrating 85 years of the iconic duo with a themed experience titled Tom & Jerry’s Big Cheese Adventure.
Spread at an impressive 30 meters in length, the cheese board featured a rich variety of cheeses—approximately 345 kilograms in total—alongside artfully arranged fruits, crackers, and breads. Approximately 80% of the items on the board were cheese, staying true to the theme, while the remaining 20% included delicious pairings such as fruit and crackers. After the event, all food items were donated to Grace Conservation (Hifz Al Naema), who distributed them to families.
Celebrating the official Guinness World Records™ title for the Longest Cheese Platter/Board, VP, Marketing, Local Brands & Franchise Management, CEE & MENAT, Grigory Lavrov said, “Tom and Jerry is one of the most beloved franchises in the Middle East and for us in Fatafeat it was a true honour to be a part of its 85th anniversary celebration. We were excited to bring together Fatafeat chefs and leave our mark in history by breaking a Guinness World Records™ title. This initiative proves once again that great stories and great characters live and thrive for decades; for us in WBD, it’s imperative to find new approaches to the popular IP and keep it fresh while strengthening the connection with viewers and fans. I believe we also managed to find a unique angle to the project, blending global and local in a way only WBD can do. I would also like to express an enormous gratitude to our partners in Warner Bros World Abu Dhabi, who embarked on this journey with us and were supportive all along the way.”
Don Strickler, General Manager at Warner Bros World™ Abu Dhabi, adds: “We are incredibly proud to have partnered with Fatafeat to achieve this GUINNESS WORLD RECORD™ title as it is a truly momentous occasion to celebrate the enduring appeal of Tom and Jerry’s 85th anniversary. This partnership perfectly embodies our commitment to bringing beloved stories to life through unique and engaging experiences for families at Warner Bros. World™ Abu Dhabi”.
This milestone moment also marks the launch of a five-episode Fatafeat series, Tom and Jerry’s Big Cheese Adventure, premiering on June 4, 2025, at 13:30 PM KSA time, which documents the entire journey of the record attempt. The series blends exciting challenges at the park with nostalgic recipes recreated from the Tom and Jerry cartoon.
Fans can also catch the Tom and Jerry stunt airing daily on Cartoonito at 09:30 from June 2 to 15—bringing a double dose of laughter and mischief to morning screens. In addition, Tom and Jerry Cheese Day will be celebrated on the Cartoonito MENA YouTube channel, featuring cheese-themed content and a playful twist on Fatafeat cooking episodes, reimagined under our Cartoon Network menu branding.
Eight Fatafeat chefs and one host brought their creativity, teamwork, and culinary skills to this massive feat. Over the course of 4 hours, they worked together to assemble the record-breaking cheese platter, all while entertaining a crowd of food lovers and families. The host of the event, Chef Firas Kazma, kept the atmosphere lively with real-time commentary, behind-the-scenes stories, and spontaneous interviews that added energy and excitement to the experience.
The participating chefs included:
Chef Sumaya Obaid
Chef Marwan Sardouk
Chef Hanan Oudahou
Chef Soul Abu Zahr
Chef Kholoud Sohel
Chef Mahmoud Salah
Chef Ali Sayed
Chef Chahrazad
Viewers can watch the record-breaking event series Tom and Jerry’s Big Cheese Adventur” airing June 04, 2025, at 13.30 pm KSA time on Fatafeat, available on beIN channel 251, STC TV channel 54, TV by e& channel 401, and OSNtv channel 25. For those who prefer to stream, they can watch the show on discovery+ via JawwyTV and OSN+.
To keep the celebration going, fans can now tune into a digital takeover through June across Tom and Jerry’s social and digital platforms, featuring a livestream showcasing a curated lineup of beloved classics, highlighting iconic moments and unforgettable chases that have delighted fans for generations.
Fans of all ages looking to bring home a piece of the iconic duo can pick up the Tom and Jerry 85th Anniversary Kids Collection DVD, featuring thirty beloved shorts. Features shorts including many fan favorite guest characters: Nibbles Mouse, Little Quacker, Spike and Tyke, Muscles Mouse, Uncle Pecos, and more.
This summer, Tom and Jerry will make a special appearance in an animation-themed episode of Super Mega Cakes on Food Network! Legendary chef and artist Duff Goldman will push his skills and talent to the next level, going up against six teams of the USA’s best cake artists!
Those looking for a game to play can check out this fall a range of new offerings, including the Paws & Blast Mobile Game. Throughout China, gamers will also be able to check out Eggy Party x Tom and Jerry, Acecraft x Tom and Jerry, and Fat Goose Gym x Tom and Jerry.
June 4th not only marks what has to be Jerry’s favorite holiday, Cheese Day, but also comes with the launch of new Kawaii-style animated shorts, Tom and Jerry Gokko. Beginning this July, across Tom and Jerry’s social channels, viewers will enjoy tuning into the all-new short,s with a new short debuting each week. Those wanting a sneak peek can check out a teaser trailer now across all Tom and Jerry social channels.
New York, NY— June 4, 2025 — Scrooge McDuck is starring in all-new adventures from Marvel Comics! Following last year’s acclaimed Uncle Scrooge & the Infinity Dime one-shot, the first-ever Uncle Scrooge Marvel comic, the legendary adventurer is back to take things to the level with a solo four-issue limited series this August—UNCLE SCROOGE: EARTH’S MIGHTIEST DUCK!
Announced last week at D23.com, Uncle Scrooge & the Infinity Dime scribe and superstar Marvel writer Jason Aaron returns to craft another fantastic Uncle Scrooge saga that expertly blends the wonderful world of Uncle Scrooge with epic Marvel Comics superhero storytelling. An extravagance of all-star artists including Giuseppe Camuncoli, Mahmud Asrar, and Ciro Cangialosi will join Aaron. UNCLE SCROOGE: EARTH’S MIGHTIEST DUCK kicks off in August and today, fans can behold the covers for the first two issues. The covers show how some of the industry’s biggest talents—from Gabriele Dell’Otto to Mark Brooks—bring this beloved comic book icon to life, Marvel style!
In UNCLE SCROOGE: EARTH’S MIGHTIEST DUCK, the planet has been conquered by alien invaders known as the Connoisseurs, nefarious hoarders of the rarest antiquities from throughout the cosmos. As they tear the Earth apart, pillaging its fabled treasures, only the world’s greatest adventurer can stop them. But Scrooge McDuck is facing a battle unlike any he’s ever fought, trapped inside his mind, fighting to preserve his most precious memories.
“Scrooge McDuck is one of the greatest heroes in the history of comics, bar none,” Aaron said. “It was a thrill to get to write him in the pages of Uncle Scrooge & the Infinity Dime, as we took him on a journey across the multiverse. With this new series, I knew we’d have to go bigger, not just by incorporating more Marvel artists into the mix, but by sending Scrooge on the most epic story of his career, as he fights to save the one thing more precious to him than gold or any exotic treasure: his own memories of a life of adventure.”
UNCLE SCROOGE: EARTH’S MIGHTIEST DUCK #1 (OF 4) Written by JASON AARON Art by GIUSEPPE CAMUNCOLI, MAHMUD ASRAR, CIRO CANGIALOSI & MORE Cover by GABRIELE DELL’OTTO Virgin Variant Cover by GABRIELE DELL’OTTO Variant Cover by MARK BROOKS Variant Cover by J. GONZO Variant Cover by CHRISSIE ZULLO On Sale 8/13
UNCLE SCROOGE: EARTH’S MIGHTIEST DUCK #2 (OF 4) Written by JASON AARON Art by ARIO ANINDITO & MORE! Cover by GABRIELE DELL’OTTO Variant Cover by DAVID LOPEZ Variant Cover by PACO MEDINA Variant Cover by FRANCESCO MOBILI On Sale 9/17
The Night Eaters: Book 3 – Their Kingdom Come By Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda Abrams ComicArts/314 pages/$34.99
The dynamic duo of Marjorie Liu and San Takeda produce gorgeous stories like clockwork, be it the sprawling horror fantasy Monstress or the recently completed The Night Eaters. Begun in 2023, the first two installments – The Night Eaters #1: She Eats the Night and The Night Eaters #2: Her Little Reapers – set everything up for this lengthier (and pricier) conclusion.
I somehow missed book one and read book two as a judge for the Ringo Awards last summer. Here I am, less than a year from reading it, and I felt hopelessly lost at first. This, and Monstress to be honest, seriously need recaps before starting the next installment. Thankfully, the cast of characters to track is manageable.
Twins Milly and Billy have been trying to make a go of their Los Angeles restaurant. In the first book, on an annual visit from their parents Ipo and Keon, are talked into purchasing the creepy house next door, and things begin to unravel. The Ting twins accidentally open a portal to a parallel magical realm, and as magic seeps into our world, the apocalypse can’t be far behind.
Book one provided a lot of Ipo’s backstory, beginning with her arrival in Hong Kong in 1956. She, in many ways, is the focal point of the entire trilogy. Ipo has suffered much, seen too much, and has cased herself in a hard shell, a cigarette forever dangling from her thin lips. She is also the source of much of the humor found in the first two installments.
There’s a lot less time for funny stuff in volume three as the very fate of the world is at stake. A warlock, Pal Ming has begun hunting the twins, who have developed their own powers. At the same time, the otherworldly Yaom has possessed a quarter of LA with its parasitic creatures worming their way into every living being.
Across nine chapters, there are moments of spectacle, but more importantly, there are long sections where people interact and actually speak with one another. We learn about these major and minor characters, and there’s some gentle humor, but more importantly, some fine human moments.
The finale works, for the most part, but isn’t strong enough given the hundreds of pages building up to this moment. But, there is a definitive ending so it works well to resolve the major threads.
Takeda’s watercolor art continues to be stunning, subtle in detail and muted in tone, creating a unique atmosphere that clearly has become her trademark. I do wish, though, Chris Dickey’s fine lettering were just a wee bit larger.
If you enjoy the pair’s work, you will want to most definitely want to read this.
The single-name thing seems to have leapt from Eurocomics and landed on North American shores – well, we’ve always had it in other fields, like music (Cher! Madonna!), but comics-makers are embracing it as well. I may be concerned that our Strategic Name Reserve is in danger of being depleted – there aren’t that many regular forenames, though if we allow variants and standard nouns, we’re in much better shape – but I am still not, despite all my demands, the High Lord of All English Usage, so all I can do is Canute it up here.
I don’t know what arbitration mechanism is available if there’s, say, a Belgian who goes by “Greg” and a North American who does the same – it seems like the kind of thing that could easily happen – but, again, I have not been granted the awesome power I keep asking for, so I guess it’s not my problem.
In any case, Belgians, the name Greg has officially been claimed (by a guy from Chicago, as I understand it), so you snoozed and I suppose you lost. The name Fake has also been claimed (by a guy from Manzanillo, Mexico), but that’s probably less in-demand. And they have teamed up, like Hawk and Animal of the Legion of Doom, over the past few years to make a comic called Santos Sisters.
The first collection of that comic was published a couple of months ago, under the fairly obvious title Santos Sisters, Vol. 1. From online descriptions – not the book itself – I learn that Fake is the writer and Greg is the artist. The book collects the first five issues of the series, plus a few odds and ends, though not the covers of those five issues, which seems like an odd and unusual choice. The back cover also gives, for what might be the first time: their fabulous superhero origin. (They found medallions on the beach that granted them superpowers from a goddess, Madame Sosostris.)
Santos Sisters is basically a mash-up of vaguely ’90s superhero elements – more early-Image than anything else, big bulky guns and all – with Archie-style storytelling, all in a mildly mocking tone that regularly spells things incorrectly in dialogue, I think deliberately. Alana and Ambar are sisters – we can call their last name Santos, but that’s probably not right – who are probably in their early 20s, since they seem to live in an apartment, but they get up to Archie-ish teen hijinks with boyfriends and dates.
Alana is the serious one, Betty-coded, with lighter skin, smaller breasts and the blue outfit. Ambar is the party girl in red, Veronica-coded and always ready for action of whatever type. They fight crime in the Southern California city of Las Brisas, the kind of place that has a vibrant downtown and a beach and is close enough to ski slopes for a day trip – a location designed for comics stories.
Their stories are short, in that Archie style. Sometimes about battling some supervillain threatening Las Brisas, but as often watching “Boozy Bees” on TV, or squabbling about dating two guys at once, or going camping in the mountains, or aiding Don Quixote (?!) who has randomly arrived in town (??!?). The word “random” is appropos much of the time, as are “quirky” and “slightly silly.” Again, it’s all starting from the premise “what if these Archie-style girls were Image-esque superheroines?”
Their powers are not deeply defined: they have costumes, of course, which manifest when they call on the goddess. They’re probably resistant to harm, since that’s pretty standard, and they do seem to glow when in costume. They definitely fly, and manifest big guns (most of the time) or big swords (once in a while, I suppose for a change of pace) with which to battle their enemies. But it’s not like Alana channels the power of ice and Ambar fire, or one of them turns into an armadillo and the other an ocelot, or their necklaces generate pulsing colorful forcefields in the shape of household objects, or anything like that. They just chase bad guys, squabble among themselves, and shoot their guns to mow down the henchmen. (Major villains get fisticuffs, or talked down, or some other less-lethal activity, so they can return in later stories.)
It’s a fun premise, and hasn’t worn out its welcome yet. It probably will, since it’s not a hugely durable or extensible premise, but a hundred and fifty pages doesn’t get us there. Greg draws it all in that Archie look, and is good at both the heavy-lidded women and the dim-bulb men. Fake’s stories are varied and goofy in interesting ways – there are twenty-two different stories here, and none of them are repetitive or rely on the same ideas. Again, I’m sure that will come: the premise isn’t that deep. But I’d expect probably another book this size of similar stories, then maybe one big all-the-villains-team-up epic, before it hits the wall of ennui.
Three years ago, when I saw the first collection of John McNamee’s Pie Comics – it’s called Goldilocks and the Infinite Bears; it’s funny; you should read it – I thought the strip might have ended, and was mildly sad that only the first of the strip’s three collections were available in my library’s app.
Well, sometime over those three years, a second Pie Comics collection popped up there – yclept Just Act Normal – and I just noticed and read it. In possibly even better news, McNamee has started posting to Tumblr
again, with a half-dozen new cartoons this year after a six-year silence.
So the TL;DR for those of you with short attention spans: McNamee is quirky and funny, he’s got a great semi-stick-figure style – a little in the Tom Gauld vein, which is high praise – and there’s the promise of more stuff from him, too. This book is good; the first book is good. (I can’t figure out what the third book’s title is, and suspect it may be a mirage – on the other hand, the book I read, which clearly has Just Act Normal on its pages, has Book Learnin’ as a header/title in the Hoopla app, so maybe that‘s the title of his third book?)
McNamee has the kind of art that’s instantly readable and is much harder to do than it looks. (The fewer the lines, the tougher it is.) And his jokes are wry, sarcastic, modern, and true – he got his start at The Onion, which gives you a sense of the comic sensibility and tradition he mostly works in.
There are no continuing characters; it’s mostly four-panel bits, different every time. You can jump in anywhere. So you might as well.
Daisy Ashford was real. She was born in 1881, and wrote a cluster of stories in her youth: weird, oddball things with eccentric spelling and an often-shaky grasp on how people actually lived and talked to each other, all bathed in the sunny happiness of a coddled girl of the Victorian age. After she grew up, she rediscovered those stories, and some of them were published around 1919 with the help of J.M. Barrie. There have been periodic revivals and rediscoveries since then; a movie of her most famous “novel,” The Young Visiters, was made by the BBC about twenty years ago. (I know I saw it, but it must have been before the life of this blog.)
Daisy Goes to the Moon is about Daisy, but not by Daisy. Matthew Klickstein wrote a short novel in Daisy’s style – which seems to me to be the opposite of the point of juvenilia, frankly – and it was published in 2009, full of 1950s imagery and ideas. And now Rick Geary, master of both whimsy and Victoriana, has turned Klickstein’s story into a short graphic novel, full of authentically Daisy-esque spelling and moderately appropriate Daisy-esque situations and comments.
(Daisy herself died in 1972 at the age of 90, so she’s no more going to complain about what people have done to her memory than Shakespeare is.)
This begins with Daisy about the age of nine, when she wrote her most famous works, and dressed up in the usual Victorian-girl look, down to the big bow in her hair. She’s sitting under a tree, Alice-like, when a “rokit” lands nearby. It’s piloted by Mr. Zogolbythm (Mr. Z), a tall, skinny man all in black who comes from the moon, to which he proceeds to whisk Daisy for an adventure.
The story continues somewhat episodically, somewhat along the lines of the usual tour-of-the-future style for utopian works. Daisy experiences the high-tech of the moon – including a “so-you-can-hear-and-read-too” device implanted in her brain to allow her to understand moon language – flees Moon Monsters and creatures from other planets, shops for shoes and goes to an automat, and so on.
Soon, though, another character pops up: Mr. Blahdel (Mr. B) an American time-traveler from the 1950s, lugging a TV that’s missing an important part. B and Z have some mostly minor disagreements, which lead to further adventures when they dispute over the navigation of a spaceship. We also descend into metafiction when Daisy finds a book written by her sister Angie, which retells the first half of the story badly – the bratty Angie has followed Daisy (somehow; this isn’t clear) to the Moon.
And, of course, in the end Daisy gets back home safe and sound, and declares that to the best place to be.
Geary’s art is as detailed and energetic as always; quirkiness and whimsy typically brings out some of his best work, and that’s the case here. I might think that was an odd project, but it’s done as authentically and honestly as it could be, and this is a fun, amusing story.
New York, NY— May 15, 2025 — Next month, IMPERIAL, a four-issue event series by visionary writer Jonathan Hickman and superstar artists Iban Coello and Federico Vicentini, kicks off a galaxy-spanning conflict, boldly transforming the cosmic landscape of the Marvel Universe. The highly anticipated series sets the stage for a new line of intergalactic storytelling, starting with five IMPERIAL WAR one-shots that spotlight individual characters and groups as they navigate the startling developments and explosive conflicts sweeping the stars.
These key chapters of the overarching IMPERIAL narrative will each be co-written by Hickman with the first two hitting stands in August: IMPERIAL WAR: BLACK PANTHER #1 by award-winning writer Victor LaValle (Wolverine: Sabretooth War) and acclaimed artist CAFU (Venom) and IMPERIAL WAR: PLANET SHE-HULK #1 by rising superstar Stephanie Phillips (Phoenix) and extraordinary artist Emilio Laiso (Godzilla Vs. X-Men).
The Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda is under fire from all sides in IMPERIAL WAR: BLACK PANTHER! Blamed for the assassinations that have started an all-out galactic war, T’Challa will first need to survive a brutal assault from the World-Breaker Hulk and Amadeus Cho before he can even think about hunting down the true culprit! And all while his spacecraft spirals towards certain doom! Sounds like another day at the office for the Black Panther!
“Working with Jonathan Hickman on an interstellar epic—who wouldn’t be thrilled by that idea? I’m excited to start working on the Intergalactic Empire of Wakanda because there’s not enough stories about Black folks in outer space. There could always be more. By the time I’m done, T’Challa and Shuri will have constellations named after them, in some distant galaxy,” LaValle said.
Then, a brutal war of succession ignites in IMPERIAL WAR: PLANET SHE-HULK! Left behind on New Sakaar to keep the peace, Jen Walters discovers that in this savage realm, what’s needed isn’t a litigator, it’s a liquidator! Fortunately, She-Hulk is accomplished at being both!
“She-Hulk’s voice just came naturally to me from the first line—she’s so sharp, funny, and confident,” Phillips shared. “It’s been incredible getting to bring her story to life as part of IMPERIAL and see what this talented lineup of creators is building together.”
IMPERIAL WAR: BLACK PANTHER #1 Written by VICTOR LAVALLE & JONATHAN HICKMAN Art by CAFU Cover by FRANCESCO MORTARINO On Sale 8/20
IMPERIAL WAR: PLANET SHE-HULK #1 Written by STEPHANIE PHILLIPS AND JONATHAN HICKMAN Art by EMILIO LAISO Cover by FRANCESCO MORTARINO On Sale 8/27
The publisher calls this book “Hellboy meets Redwall,” which hits the major touchpoints, as far as that goes. Yes, fighting supernatural monsters. Yes, medieval times. Yes, anthropomorphic characters. But it’s much more authentically medieval than a reader would expect, in quirky and unusual ways, much more inspired and growing out of actual research than it is a story stuck into that world for vague coolness reasons.
First and most important is that William of Newburgh – “Newbury” is a variation creator Michael Avon Oeming decided to use here – is an actual 12th century monk, and this collection of ghost-fighting stories about a raccoon and his rabbit brother is actually based on the writings of the real person.
Now, Oeming clearly fictionalized some things to turn the historical record The History of English Affairs – an actual book written by the real William covering the period known as The Anarchy when King Stephen and Empress Matilda battled for control of the country (and Normandy) after the unexpected death of Henry I and his heir – into William of Newbury, the collection of the first four comic-book issues of the anthropomorphic William’s adventures. But the bones of the story seem to be much closer to the original than I would have expected.
(For one change, I’m pretty sure the historical human William didn’t have a semi-reformed thief sidekick, Winnie, whom he was teaching to read.)
The four issues tell a continuous story, but each issue is basically one event – each works as an individual issue or story. There’s an encounter with the supernatural each time, plus complications and larger issues.
The supernatural elements are explicitly based in the medieval worldview. The dead do rise, because they are tormented by devils of Satan. The land of faerie exists, and is made up of fiends who want to torment and tempt Christians.
William, despite the Hellboy comparison and Oeming’s moody Mignola-esque art, is not going to punch any of these creatures. He is going to talk at them, to call on the angels and saints, to use the power of God to force the devils and faeries to leave and the dead to lie still. He has a staff with a cross on it, which he brandishes at the arisen dead – who are nasty and violent and murderous and tossing hellfire at times, too – but what will stop them is not anything violent, but the power of God, possibly channeled or empowered by William’s faith.
(It does work consistently, as we see. Punching would not. This is not a world in which punching evil has any effect.)
The other major theological point, which is an important undertone throughout and becomes central in the fourth issue, is that William and his brother Edward were almost kidnapped by the faeries as children, and that means their souls were stolen and they are doomed to oblivion after death. (Not even hell, as they understand it: their souls are gone, so they will just die.) There’s a hint at the end that this may not be entirely true, and it may be theologically suspect as well – can an immortal soul be stolen? do these pagan spirits have the power to destroy something made by God? – but that, as they say, is probably for the next volume of William of Newbury stories.
William himself is a fascinating, quirky character: devout, scholarly but muscular in his faith, devoted to doing good as he sees it and using his abilities to help those around him. But also scattered and often cheated in everyday things, not necessarily that good at the rough-and-tumble of life – which is understandable for a monk. I think there will be more of these stories, and I hope so: I don’t know how much more of William’s writings Oeming still has to work from, but there’s enough material here for at least another couple of stories of this length.
Frank Herbert didn’t necessarily intend to create a large, enduring legacy like Dune became. But once the novel finally arrived in the mid-1960s, it was immediately embraced and spawned several sequels until Herbert’s death. His son Brian, in concert with Kevin J. Anderson, has been keeping the flames burning bright with a series of prequels and sequels that further the ideas first presented sixty years ago.
Herbert thought on a grand scale, his history spanning tens of thousands of years, so HBO Max’s Dune: Prophecy is set 10,000 years before events found in Dune (and therefore, the first two Denis Villeneuve film adaptations). While drawing material from Herbert and Anderson’s Sisterhood of Dune, it charts its course, focusing on the evolution of the female-centric Bene Gesserit.
Legendary Entertainment is used to thinking in grandiose terms given their work with Godzilla and King Kong, and here, plans for the TV tie-in began in 2019, well before the first feature film was released. The six-episode first season aired last winter and is now available on 4K Ultra HD from Warner Home Entertainment.
There are timeframes running in parallel, tracing the relationship between two sisters: Valya Harkonnen (Jessica Barden) and Tula Harkonnen (Emma Canning) as they leave home for training in the mystic order. As adults, the two (Emily Watson and Olivia Williams respectively) contend with changes within the order, including a threat in the form of Desmond Hart (Travis Frimmel), who is the fly in the Sisterhood’s ointment, immune to Vialya’s Voice, a power that compels people to do her bidding. The emperor has no use for the Bene Gesserit and wants them eradicated.
As one would expect, the two timelines are populated with friends, kin, and enemies, sometimes making it hard to track who is who and who is out to get whom. Still, there are many familiar terms and images, notably the Sandworm of Arrakis. Despite the ten-thousand-year difference, it still looks and feels like Villeneuve’s Dune. There are enough intriguing details and character moments to make each episode interesting and keep you coming back.
In the hands of showrunner Alison Schapker, the stories have some pleasant, compelling moments and fun characters. The series boasts an attractive and talented cast, which connected with the audience, leading to a second season being commissioned before the first season was completed airing last December.
The series is available as either 4K or Blu-ray without a combo pack or digital code. The HVEC/H.265 encoded 2160p transfers in 2.00:1 is rich in visual detail, nicely capturing the color palette, and looks fabulous on a home screen. It pairs quite well with the immersive Dolby Atmos audio track.
Alas, being a repackaging of the series, the Special Features are drawn mainly from the Inside the Episode packages that accompany most Max productions. Disc One also offers up Entering the Dune Universe (2:58) and Houses Divided (2:47). Disc Two provides us with Truth or Lie (5:38) and Expanding the Universe (2:32) while Disc Three has Behind the Veil (34:45) and Building Worlds – Home Entertainment Exclusive (HD; 13:04) is another production design focused featurette. One wishes the features were as rich in detail as the episodes themselves.
We use cookies to improve your experience on our site. By using our site, you consent to cookies.
Cookie Preferences
Manage your cookie preferences below:
Essential cookies enable basic functions and are necessary for the proper function of the website.
Name
Description
Duration
Cookie Preferences
This cookie is used to store the user's cookie consent preferences.
30 days
These cookies are needed for adding comments on this website.
Name
Description
Duration
comment_author_url
Used to track the user across multiple sessions.
Session
comment_author
Used to track the user across multiple sessions.
Session
comment_author_email
Used to track the user across multiple sessions.
Session
WP Consent API is a plugin that standardizes the communication of accepted consent categories between plugins.
Name
Description
Duration
wp_consent_{category}
Stores your consent preference for a specific cookie category (e.g., functional, marketing). It ensures consistent consent management across WordPress plugins supporting the WP Consent API.
30 days
Statistics cookies collect information anonymously. This information helps us understand how visitors use our website.
Google Analytics is a powerful tool that tracks and analyzes website traffic for informed marketing decisions.
Used by Google Analytics to determine which links on a page are being clicked
30 seconds
_ga_
ID used to identify users
2 years
_gid
ID used to identify users for 24 hours after last activity
24 hours
_gat
Used to monitor number of Google Analytics server requests when using Google Tag Manager
1 minute
__utmt
Used to monitor number of Google Analytics server requests
10 minutes
__utmb
Used to distinguish new sessions and visits. This cookie is set when the GA.js javascript library is loaded and there is no existing __utmb cookie. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to the Google Analytics server.
30 minutes after last activity
__utmc
Used only with old Urchin versions of Google Analytics and not with GA.js. Was used to distinguish between new sessions and visits at the end of a session.
End of session (browser)
__utmz
Contains information about the traffic source or campaign that directed user to the website. The cookie is set when the GA.js javascript is loaded and updated when data is sent to the Google Anaytics server
6 months after last activity
__utmv
Contains custom information set by the web developer via the _setCustomVar method in Google Analytics. This cookie is updated every time new data is sent to the Google Analytics server.
2 years after last activity
__utmx
Used to determine whether a user is included in an A / B or Multivariate test.
18 months
_ga
ID used to identify users
2 years
_gac_
Contains information related to marketing campaigns of the user. These are shared with Google AdWords / Google Ads when the Google Ads and Google Analytics accounts are linked together.
