Arachno-phobia - 12:04am

Fresh off its less-than-spectacular run at the summer box office, on 10/29, Warner will bow a special edition of the gooey spider scare show Eight Legged Freaks. To be released in separate widescreen and pan & scan editions, both feature English and French 5.1 Dolby surround tracks, an audio commentary with David Arquette and Ellory Elkayem, deleted scenes and an alternate ending, the short film "Larger Than Life" that inspired the movie, spider trivia, the trailer, and the DVD-ROM interactive "Spider Killing Challenge." Retail is $26.95.

In further Warner news, we've received an update on that Doctor Who: The Key to Time - The Complete Adventures DVD set due from BBC in October. It does not contain the complete Tom Baker installments of the classic series as originally announced, but rather the complete episodes of the 16th season of the series. Spread across six discs, the set includes 4 episodes in six parts: "The Ribos Operation," "The Pirate Planet," "The Stones of Blood," "The Androids of Tara," "The Power of Kroll," and the six-episode "The Armageddon Factor." Extras will include audio commentaries and more to be announced. Stay tuned!

The final frontier? - 12:04am

When it comes time to reflect back on the year that was in DVD, what do you think the hottest story is gonna be? Spider-Man? Episode II? Eight Legged Freaks? How about TV on DVD?

In yet another example of a studio finally scouring the vaults for every last bit of classic and not-so-classic programming, Universal announced yesterday that it would finally be jumping on the bandwagon and releasing eight new series alone in 2003. Following the already-announced, toe-in-the-water first releases of Law & Order and Baretta, titles coming to a DVD player near you next year include Battlestar Galactica, Dragnet, Quantum Leap, Earth: Final Conflict, Sliders, The Rockford Files, and even Magnum, P.I.!

No pricing or spec details are yet available, and Universal is also considering further TV releases beyond these initial ten. Stay tuned, and check out this feature story at Video Business for more.

Future redux - 12:04am

Rounding out this week's news, head on over to the always-excellent official website of Back to the Future for an update on the full and final specs for that at-long-last BTTF trilogy box set due on 12/17. Some exclusive Region 1 extras include additional behind-the-scenes footage, two missing deleted scenes, first draft scripts, and more. Alas, these extras also come at a price...see the BTTF site for the full skinny!

(Due to webmaster holiday, there will be no updates Friday, August 22. See ya Monday!)