Sapphire and Steel: The Complete Series (Repackaged) [2008] [DVD]

With the sad demise of NETWORK DVD I thought I'd better try and pick up a few remaining titles before the usual scalp hunters moved in to hoard them and charge silly money .S&H was exactly as I remembered it, slow and spooky. If you're looking for action and monsters this is probably not the show for you.Dr Who it isn't.Joanna lumley is impossibly beautiful as Saphire and David McCullam is gruff as Steel, bringing with them of course some top of the range cult credentials.The stories do , it has to be said always seem to go on an episode or two to long but if atmosphere , good acting and shadows are your thing then you could do worse than assign Saphire and Steel.It also serves as a timely reminder to those of us of a certain age how far ITV have deteriorated in the intervening decades when you recall how S&H went out in two weekly prime time slots on the ITV network .A modern equivalent of this would never get past the bean counters sitting in the ITV bunker thesedays.... not when they can stick a couple more episodes of a soap or a game show on a week to mop up that advertising revenue instead.It's sad to recall that ITV made some wonderful family drama in the 70s and 80s , Catweazle , Dick Turpin , Worzel, Ghosts of Motley Hall and while I'm not advicating remakes the fact that there is no investment in modern equivalents of these is very sad for a once great major network.Arrived in excellent condition as advertised and ahead of time.Please remember heavy elements may not be used where there is life ....not even at ITV .Thank you.

Classic tv of a kind that ITV used to make. Originally planned for children but then shifted to an adult slot, but great viewing for discerning viewers of all ages.Time is like a corridor. Sometimes, things from outside the corridor want to get into it. They will trick those inside into helping them do so. And if they get in, then all of reality could be at threat.Two mysterious beings, from a mentioned group of many more, appear to deal with the situation whenever this happens. Steel, a brusque no nonsense tough man played by David Mccallum. Sapphire. An elegant and classy lady. Both have special powers. And their origins are shrouded in mystery. Played by Joanna Lumley.Over the course of six stories, they deal with threats to reality, In old houses, abandoned train stations and similar places. These are classic ghost stories.And they can be very scary with it. The limited budget and relatively cheap special effects means the show has to rely on the strength of the performing and the imagination of the writer to succeed, and it does this ever so well. The fourth story is probably the scariest bit of tv I have ever seen. Particularly the unforgettable horrifying ending to part three. This is not gory. It uses sound and the mind of the viewer fills in the rest.Along the way you do get to meet a couple more of sapphire and steels kind. Big strong black man Lead. And David Collings appears twice as the wonderfully fey technical expert Silver.The six stories run in varying lengths from four to seven episodes, and all the episodes are spread across six discs. The previous dvd release of the show wasnt of the greatest technical quality but this box set fixes all that.There are no subtitles and the only language track is in english.There are commentaries from the writer and members of the production staff on the first and last episodes, image galleries from all stories spread across the discs, plus one of various bits of publicity material.Further publicity material, plus designers plans and one script can be accessed as PDF files via opening the disc on a computer.The only other extra is a twenty eight minute long making of documentary. Featuring excellent contributions from the shows creator, the producer, plus David Mccallum and Joanna Lumley, it's a very good watch. I would have been interested in hearing from David Collings as well, but his absence is a minor complaint.You also get a very comprehensive booklet to go with it, that details the making of the show and the life of the characters in other media.So all in all this is a quality package for a quality bit of tv and well worth getting.

Strange series, its run cut short by early TV era in which it was made .If only USA size + team of busy writers at the helm! Half remembered from 4 yrs old. I found it fascinating, It had a certain Quality that defined it, created by the central two characters relationship and the sinister intensity of the 'Haunted' atmospheres of the Assignments. The 'Otherness' of these 2 non-human but human like classy characters hooked the viewer. The X Files focus was visceral /medical paranormal + ignored the psychic. Sapphire and Steel's focus is more on the mental, mind beyond category or physical world, Ghostly and bizarre paranormal, a kind of unknown science, ..so parapsychology area more. More subtle in its vaguer story exposition. See many books about hauntings.(Events such as: people staying a night at an out of the way hotel, that later they are told was torn down years before. People being seen a two locations at once. A pale apparition running across a dark road into traffic, but no body is ever found. ) It is Most Unfortunate that Sapphire and Steel could not explore more of these anomalies for us further(as I believe the text research material WAS available to dig into, decant and explore in the program.) The X-Files modified/utilised so made creature feature and Alien discourses around and about to make it's show vibrant. I do not know why S+S could not have had a good stab at the paranormal events we have stockpiled too and made them it's own? -oh well perhaps in a parallel universe they DID. So how do I get to THAT universe to watch the rest of it?? If it ran till at least1989 there , I would be thrilled !!

I had forgotten that I didn't really understand it when I first saw it as a youngster understand it more now loved it !!! McCallum is very good and so good looking

Was 9years old again, almost watched from behind sofa, bloody fantastic, thoroughly enjoying it

This box set was brilliant brought back some great memories of watching this when first aired.

Los "Generación X" recordamos mucho esta excelente y misteriosa serie de ciencia ficción británica. Lla podíamos ver en Monterrey en los años 80 por el canal 8, que retransmitía la señal del canal 13, antes de gobierno, que luego se llamó IMEVISIÓN y después sería TV Azteca. La barra de programas de dicho canal se llamaba "MIsterio en su casa" y pasaban estas series extrañas británicas, como Dr. Who (desde el 4to. Doctor). "Záfiro y Acero" no contaba con gran producción ni con grandes efectos especiales, pero las actuaciones y la atmósfera eran muy bien logradas. Las historias eran extrañas: Záfiro y Acero NO son humanos, son en realidad agentes interdimensionales. Su interacción con los humanos es extraña, fría y todo da un efecto inquietante y de ensueño. Es una gran serie del pasado, bien recopilada en estos discos. La mala noticia es que no tiene ningún tipo de subtítulo en ningún idioma, así que hay que fletarsela en inglés (británico, of course!). Para los entuasiastas de la ciencia ficción de antaño, este es un gran regalo. Recomendada.

Purchased this only because of David McCallum's fame, for me anyway. Was not disappointed. This is a television series, so each disc is one tale with 6 or more episodes per tale. Falls along the same low special effects as Peter Cushing's Island Of Terror but like Cushing's movie it's the creative story's building suspense that grasps you. I even had to FF through a few scary parts. I am not a horror junkie, but for those true junkie's that appreciate a goreless scary script, this is a needed addition to any suspense collection. Not a ghost story, not sci-fi, but a combination of both. Oh by the way, Joanna Lumley is the anchor to David McCallum. You can't have this TV series without these 2 great thespians.

Dit is niet te bevatten: je bestelt een DVD box in Nederland en ik krijg een box met NTSC codering opgestuurd die ik niet kan afspelen op mijn blu-ray spelers vanwege de regiocode (ondersteunen 2 in EUROPA!).Had ik dat in de USA besteld dan had ik begrepen, maar als je produkten in Europa verkoopt dan stuur je toch geen NTSC? In feite moet ik 0 sterren geven wegens niet afspeelbaar op mijn dvd-speler.

Otroligt tråkig!

Van deze serie was ik vroeger als kind bang. Ondanks dat hij nu niet meer eng is is de serie toch nog steeds leuk om naar te kijken.