Here are some TV movies and a TV series that are new to DVD.
"Spenser: The Movie Collection" (Ryko; not rated but with violence, nudity, language; $59.95, four discs). "Spenser: For Hire" was a 1980s TV show based on Robert B. Parker's "Spenser" detective novels, about a tough-guy, wisecracking Boston private investigator.
Five years after the show finished its three-season run, Robert Urich, as Spenser, and Avery Brooks, as his pal Hawk, reprised their characters in a TV movie. That film's success brought three sequels, and all four are in this box set.
Urich and Brooks are great together, and the stories are interesting enough. But the law of diminishing returns is in force, as each entry is a bit weaker than the one before. Still, fans will enjoy this collection.
Barbara Williams plays Spenser's psychiatrist girlfriend Susan Silverman in the first two films; Wendy Crewson takes over the role in the second two. And Parker himself co-wrote the first two films.
— "Spenser: Ceremony" (1993) takes Spenser into Boston's underbelly as he meets up with sleazeballs while searching for a teenage runaway who has become a hooker. (Be advised that this one is the European theatrical cut, which includes graphic nudity in a strip-club sequence).
— "Spenser: Pale Kings & Princes" (1994) finds Spenser and Hawk in a small New England town looking into a reporter's murder, where they find a Colombian drug lord and tight-lipped cops.
— "Spenser: Judas Goat" (1994) has Spenser hired by a tycoon to find out who killed his family in a car bombing, which leads him to racist assassins who have targeted a controversial African leader.
— "Spenser: A Savage Place" (1995) starts off with a murdered TV-news cameraman, which prompts Spenser's old flame, an investigative TV reporter, to hire Spenser as her bodyguard. As you might guess, this one has both the expected action and a domestic crisis when Spenser's girlfriend gets jealous.
Extras: Full frame, a text essays for each film, chapters.
"Fantastic Four: The Complete Animated Series" (Marvel/Buena Vista, 1994-95, not rated, $49.99, four discs). This is a pretty corny cartoon adaptation of the comic, starting with a two-part original story about how the Thing, the Human Torch, Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman gained their super powers.
The animation is stilted and redundant, and the dialogue is flat — but fans probably won't care. And in keeping with the spirit of the show, creator Stan Lee gives energetic, campy introductions, and is also interviewed about the comic and the show. (This new DVD set is, of course, in preparation for the movie's release this week.)
Extras: Full frame, 26 episodes, interview with Stan Lee, episode introductions by Stan Lee, optional English subtitles, chapters.
E-mail: hicks@desnews.com