Can you believe it, we are only a couple weeks away from Halloween!

The Nightmare Before Christmas

My kids are dressing up as Harry Potter…and a Tennessee Titan (which is pretty scary right now if you are a Colts fan!)

To celebrate the upcoming Halloween holiday, I recently watched a new 2 disc DVD re-release of “Tim Burton’s A Nightmare Before Christmas.”

The story is told using traditional, painstaking three dimensional animation…essentially using special armatured puppets and minature sets and animating the puppets frame by frame. 

The story conceived by director Tim Burton, centers on Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King of Halloween, who accidentally stumbles into Christmastown and discovers the magic of the Holiday season. Wanting to emulate the magic of ”Santy Claus,” Jack innocently turns Christmas into a nightmare.

I had seen the movie when it was originally released in theatres in the 90s. Disney re-released this classic over the last couple years in theatres as a 3-D event and had a great run with it.

I had forgotten how throughly enjoyable this movie was!

It’s got a terrific story and a great musical score written by composer AND singer Danny Elfman (he performs the voice of Jack Skellington). And the film looks positively stunning on DVD, especially in a digitally remastered edition. I watched it a couple times just to enjoy the effects and memorable characters. My kids loved it, too. It’s gothic, creepy fun but not too scary.

What makes the special edition even more special is the bonus features. Disney has included Tim Burton’s award-winning original short cartoon “Vincent,” about a little boy who dreams of being Vincent Price (narrated by Mr. Price!) The set also includes Burton’s first film, a 30 minute short called “Frankenweenie,” about a little boy that brings his dead dog back to life. It’s the short that launched Burton’s movie directing career. What especially cool…Burton reveals in a new introduction to the short that he and Disney are currently in production on a full length 3D animated version of “Frankenweenie” that will hit theatres in the next couple of years.

If you are looking for a holiday DVD (Halloween or Christmas) I recommend “Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas” Special Edition DVD. Generally I’m leary of special editions of movies already released on DVD (studios release them with new features…DVD collectors call it “double-dipping.”) But this special edition is really something special.

***** 

Jonny Lee Miller as

Tuesday night on ABC, one of my favorite new shows from last season returned for a second year. I wrote a post last spring about the charm and wonderful storytelling of “Eli Stone.” I’m happy to report the show returned to decent ratings this week (ranked #2, nearly beating the well established “L&O:SVU.”)

“Eli Stone” follows a San Francisco attorney whose life is turned upside down when he starts having visions that foretell the future. The show stars the terrific Jonny Lee Miller as Stone and has a great supporting cast.   

Now I understand ABC has placed an additional four-episode order for ”Eli Stone” according to The Hollywood Reporter. The series originally debuted as a mid-season replacement last season. The early order may suggest that ABC Studios is “pleased” with the show’s second season thus far, the trade paper says.

If you didn’t get to watch it, be sure to catch it here on the ABC Player on TheIndyChannel.com.

Great show, well worth the look.