Dunyayi Kurtaran Adam "Turkish Star Wars"
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Region Free

A couple weeks back in my “Wish List” column I gave a short list of films that I had been waiting for to come out on DVD. This week I thought, what about the films and TV shows that are out there somewhere on DVD just not released in this country?

I was looking for trailers on Youtube a couple of weeks ago and came across an old trailer for a film that I never got a chance to see. Mark L. Lester’s ‘Class of 1999’ is the story of a recent parolee, Cody Culp (Bradley Gregg), who returns to school to discover that the teachers have been replaced by sadistic “terminators”. As I typed that sentence I can’t believe that I still wanted to see the film. Call it morbid curiosity, I wanted to relive a night from the early nineties when I could veg out and watch a cheesy film. To my dismay the film isn’t available to rent. I did find it however on EBay, uncut with Korean subtitles and region free. So films like Disney’s ‘Song of the South’, ‘Night of the Creeps’ and ‘Rad’ (still the best BMX movie ever) are out there but now I have to look to different countries to find them. 

What is with this DVD region code anyway? Money obviously. A film is released in one country and by the time it is put on DVD it can be released theatrically in another; two box offices instead of one. Which is great for the movies and the studio but what about TV shows? A while back when I had just discovered ‘Farscape’ I fell in love with the show and desperately tried to catch up. I had picked up seasons one and two in a box set but the complete season three was unavailable. However, season three of ‘Farscape’ was available on region 4 DVDs. That’s great for Australia, Tasmania and New Zealand but I didn’t want to watch reruns one at time on the Sci-Fi Channel. I wanted to get caught up and catch the last season as it unfolded. Unfortunately, I had to wait. Knowing that region 4 DVDs would never play on my DVD player. The reruns continued (sporadically) and it took for me forever to get all caught up with the adventures of John Crichton and Moya. Discovering how it all ended before I could take the whole journey was a bummer. After screaming at the TV and at that stupid opened face alien I thought, “I need a way around this. I don’t like being told what I can and cannot watch.” So the choice was obvious…

Now, with a region free DVD player I have set out to find films and TV shows that are unavailable in this country. Having read an interesting article on Retro Crush about films that will never be coming to a theater near you; I actively sought one on the list that I thought looked the most interesting and might actually be out there somewhere. The film: the Turkish version of ‘Star Wars’ of called ‘Dunyayi Kurtaran Adam’. It’s called the Turkish version of ‘Star Wars’ because it “borrows” music and scenes to add to the production value. The film is not subtitled or dubbed but it provides an interesting window into the mind of Turkish director, Çetin Inanç, who had little couth and a great love of modern day science fiction movies.

Up next I’m looking for ‘Red Scorpion 2’ on DVD. Is it the Turkish version on ‘Star Trek 2’, no, but it involves a modern day Nazi plot to threaten America with the Spear of Destiny. It is currently not available on DVD and said to be the best film ever made about the subject or that particular genre. As much as I doubt it is the ‘Die Hard’ of modern day Nazi using an ancient religious weapon to conquer the world film, I still want to see it. Like I said, I don’t like being told what I can and cannot watch.

ACTION / ADVENTURE / THRILLERS / WESTERNS

3:10 to Yuma (Widescreen Edition)

3:10 To Yuma [Blu-ray]

Adventures of Long John Silver, Vol. 1-3

The Bravos

Charles Bronson Collection - Vol. 1

Con Air [Blu-ray]

Death Sentence (Unrated Edition)

Evil Roy Slade

Hercules Against the Mongols/Hercules and the Masked Rider

The Invasion Of Johnson County

Killing Machine / Shogun's Ninja (Double Feature) [Blu-ray]

Last of the Vikings

Lee Van Cleef Collection - Vol. 1

Lock, Stock and Barrel

Man On Fire [Blu-ray]

Mobsters [HD DVD]

Mutiny on the Bounty

The Rock [Blu-ray]

Shiloh Falls

Sherlock Holmes Collection

Sister Street Fighter / Sister Street Fighter II [Blu-ray]

Sitting Bull

Winchester '73

Zodiac (Two-Disc Director's Cut) [HD DVD]

Zodiac - The Director's Cut (Two-Disc Special Collector's Edition)

ANIME

Ah! My Goddess, Season 2: Flights of Fancy, Vol. 5 - That Old Black Magic

Digi Charat Nyo: Volume 5

Eureka Seven, Volume 11 (Episodes 43-46)

F8 Eternal Gaze: Ultimate Animation

Flag, Vol. 2

Fullmetal Alchemist, Volume 7: Reunion on Yock Island (The Viridian Collection)

Fullmetal Alchemist, Volume 8: The Altar of Stone (The Viridian Collection)

Ghost Stories - Complete Collection

Glass Fleet, Vol. 3

Mobile Suit Gundam 12: Seed Destiny

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Anime Legends Collection 1

Mobile Suit Gundam 12 - Seed Destiny (Special Edition w/Artbox & Pencil Boards)

My-Hime Z: My-Otome, Vol. 4

Naruto Vol. 19- Pushed to the Edge!

Ramen Fighter Miki, Vol. 3: Shoyu Showdown

Suzuka, Vol. 6

Trinity Blood: Chapter V - Viridian Collection

Trinity Blood: Chapter VI - Viridian Collection

Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle, Vol. 6 - A Wish Upon Waking

CARTOONS

The All-New Superfriends Hour: Season One, Vol. 1

Happy Tree Friends - The Complete Series

What's New Scooby-Doo? - The Complete Third Season

HORROR

Addiction

Boogeyman 2

Days of Darkness

The Expedition

Frankenhooker

Joshua (2007)

The Killing Floor

Mammoth

Maneater

Night of the Werewolf / Vengeance of the Zombie [Blu-ray]

Purgatory

Scarred

Slaughtered

The Veil

Vincent Price and Christopher Lee Horror Collection

Visions of Suffering

Witchcraft 13: Blood of the Chosen

White Noise 2

White Noise 2 (Combo HD DVD and Standard DVD) [HD DVD]

SCIENCE FICTION / FANTASY

Dragon Wars - D-War

Dragon Wars - D-War [Blu-ray]

Galaxina [HD DVD]

Intercopter Force 2

No Place Like Home

Sunshine

Sunshine [Blu-ray]

TV LAND

Dragnet, Vol. 1-6

Gunsmoke - The Second Season, Vol. 1

MI-5, Volume 5

The Riches - Season 1

Tropical Heat: Sweating Bullets Complete Series

Two and a Half Men - The Complete Second Season

BOX SETS

Cary Grant 4-Disc Collector's Set

(Indiscreet / Operation Petticoat / The Grass Is Greener / That Touch of Mink)