Pocket Books; 360 pages; $7.00; Amazon

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Star Trek franchise. It's hard to believe that a low-budget science fiction television series from the 1960s is still popular today, let alone has become a huge worldwide franchise with 6 spinoff series (counting next year's yet to-be-titled series), 13 feature films, and countless merchandise.

The first Star Trek novelizations were published from 1967 from Bantam Books, which mostly contained short stories adapted from the television scripts; though original novels followed. Bantam Books continued to publish more titles until 1981. From 1974 to 1978, Ballantine Books published Star Trek titles. Then Pocket Books began publishing Star Trek books in 1979 and still releases at least one new title a month since then.

Being released to bookstores this week from Pocket Books is Star Trek: Legacies - Captain To Captain, book one in the special 50th Anniversary Trilogy. Written by Greg Cox, "Captain To Captain" is set in the year 2267, several months after the diplomatic conference on Babel ("Journey to Babel") which took place during the second season of the original series.

"Captain To Captain" begins with Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock and the rest of the U.S.S. Enterprise awaiting for the small cargo ship, Shimizu, to dock in their landing bay. The only passenger is Una, the captain of the U.S.S. Yorktown. She also happens to be the former crew-member of the space ship Enterprise; first serving under the command of Captain Robert April and then as "Number One" for Captain Christopher Pike. Both Kirk and Spock believe she is there to learn of what really happened to Christopher Pike, who is now listed as "missing in action."

However, Una's true intentions for coming back to the Enterprise are a little bit startling. It seems there is a secret that is handed down "captain to captain" throughout the years.

Not Rated; 543 minutes; $14.98; Amazon

Growing up in the 1990s in a small town there's wasn't much to do on the weekends except for watching a movie on television; though nowadays, finding a good flick to watch is hard to do with all the awful reality shows in the way. It seems all the good movies of the past have simply disappeared. Luckily for us, many old movies are now available on purchase on DVD.

Now available to purchase on DVD from Mill Creek Entertainment is Hammer Films Collection - Volume Two, featuring six flicks - The Revenge of Frankenstein, The Snorkel, Never Take Candy From A Stranger, The Maniac, Die! Die! My Darling!, and Creatures The World Forgot.

Hammer Films put their own mark on Mary Shelley's classic tale with their own Frankenstein franchise. Directed by Terence Fisher, The Revenge of Frankenstein was released in 1958 (a sequel to the 1957 The Curse of Frankenstein). After escaping death by guillotine, Baron Victor Frankenstein (played by Peter Cushing), travels to Carlsbruck, where he is now working as a doctor under the name Dr. Stein. Unfortunately, he cannot escape his past as Dr. Hans Kleve recognizes him and blackmails him into letting Dr. Kleve become his apprentice.

The Revenge of Frankenstein

Directed by Guy Green, The Snorkel was released in 1958.  The thriller centers on a teenager named Candy (played by Mandy Miller), who is investigating the strange death of her mother. All clues points to her stepfather Paul Decker (played Peter van Eyck) as the killer, but Mandy must figure out how he killed her mother.

The Snorkel

Directed by Cyril Frankel, Never Take Candy From A Stranger (also known as Never Take Sweets From A Stranger), was released in 1960. Set in Canada, the story centers on a nine-year-old Jean who tells her parents that she and her friend, Lucille, went into an old man's house, Clarence Olderberry Sr, where they danced naked in exchange for candy. While the girl thinks she has done nothing wrong, the parents believe otherwise and informs the authorities of what has happened. Sadly, Clarence Olderberry Sr's family is highly respected with connections everywhere, leaving everyone to believe he is innocent of the crime.

Never Take Candy From A Stranger

Not Rated; approx. 2,500 minutes; $79.97; Amazon; Shout! Factory

Many short-lived television series have found new life thanks to DVD releases. Arriving on DVD from Shout! Factory for the first time in the United States on June 28th is Two Guys and a Girl: The Complete Series, featuring all 81 episodes on 11-discs. There are no special features or bonus extras.

Created by Danny Jacobson, Kenny Schwartz and Rick Wiener, the series was original titled "Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place" when it premiered on ABC as a mid-season replacement in 1998, consisting of 13 episodes.

The first season centered on three twenty-somethings best friends - the smart aleck Michael Leslie "Berg" Bergen (played by Ryan Reynolds, Deadpool), the neurotic Peter "Pete" Dunville (Richard Ruccolo, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) and the beautiful Sharon Carter (Traylor Howard, Monk), who are all trying to fit into the real world after finishing college. Well, at least Sharon is; Berg has just been accepted to medical school and Pete has a few more months of graduate school left. In the meantime, the guys are working at Beacon Street Pizza, which is owned by Bill (played by Julius Carry). Rounding out the rest of the cast was David Ogden Stiers as Mr. Bauer and Jennifer Westfeldt as Pete's girlfriend, Melissa.

There were many changes for the second season, and only the characters Pete, Sharon and Berg returned, the others were dropped from the series and never mentioned again. Two recurring characters were added to the series, Sharon's boyfriend (and later husband) Johnny (played by Nathan Fillion, Castle) and Berg's love interest Ashley (played by Suzanne Cryer, Silicon Valley). Later in the season, Pete's cat-crazy neighbor and stalker, Irene (played by Jillian Bach, Courting Alex), appeared in her first two episodes.

TV-G; 94 minutes; $19.99; Amazon

I'm sure many people cringe every time they hear the word "remake." In recent years, Hollywood has remade movie after movie, and almost all of them have been complete disasters.

Tonight, the Disney Channel will premiere their 100th original movie, titled Adventures In Babysitting, a remake of the 1987 classic comedy. The film will quickly arrive on DVD on June 28th. The only special features on the single-disc is Adventures In Outtakes - Watch these never-before-seen cast bloopers and laugh yourself silly! The DVD comes with a FREE Magnetic Photo Frame.

The remake centers on two high school seniors, Jenny Parker (played by Sabrina Carpenter) and Lola Perez (played by Sofia Carson), who accidentally switches cell phones while applying for a summer internship program. The girls are complete opposites of each other. Jenny is mature for her age, while Lola is free-spirited and never listens to the rules.

After receiving a call on Jenny's cell about a babysitting job, Lola poses as her and agrees to babysit Trey, Bobby and AJ Anderson. It seems like an easy way to make $20 an hour, but things go horribly wrong when the oldest kid, Trey, goes missing.

Jenny eventually figures out that her cell has been switched and heads over to the Anderson's house to retrieve it with the two kids, Katy and Emily Cooper, she is babysitting in tow. When Jenny realizes that Lola had lost Trey, she takes action and finds a few clues that pinpoints Trey's location. It seems he headed to the city to buy concert tickets at a pawn shop.

Jenny borrows the Anderson's car, dragging Lola and all the kids with her to big city to hunt for Trey. Sadly, things don't go as plan when the car gets towed away and two criminals are chasing after them.

If you want schedule next week's post, click here to find the next prompt question. To submit a question, fill out this form.

What to do:

1. Post on your blog answering this question:

  This week's question is submitted by Rustic @ YA on my Mind!

  Who is your favorite fictional couple?

2. Enter the link to your post in the linky list below (enter your Blog Name and the direct link to your post answering this week’s question. Failure to do so will result in removal of your link).


3. Visit other blogs in the list and comment on their posts. Try to spend some time on the blogs reading other posts and possible become a new follower.  The purpose of the hop is to give bloggers a chance to follow other blogs, learn about new books, befriend other bloggers, and receive new followers to your own blog.

  

My Answer: 

 Wow! This is a good question this week. I don't know if I have a favorite fictional couple. The only couple that pops into my mind is Sookie Stackhouse and Bill Compton from The Southern Vampire Mysteries series by Charlaine Harris.

176 pagers; Amazon

I originally planned on posting this review on 2nd of the month, but several things came up, so I delayed the review until today.

First published by Parachute Press in 1994, 99 Fear Street: The House Of Evil: The Third Horror by R.L. Stine picks up two years after the ending of the first installment. While absent from the second book, Kody Frasier is now an actress who is hired to play her sister Cally in a horror movie about the events that took place at 99 Fear Street.

Upon arriving at the house, Kody can feels the presence of her sister Cally, who is still in the ghostly realm inside the house. Playing the role of her sister in the film is a difficult thing to do, but it gave her an excuse to return to the house once more, so she can find away to say goodbye to Cally.

Shortly after production starts, several strange events occurs as well several accidents. Despite the setbacks, production of the film continues. However, the house is pure evil and it has other plans for everyone inside it.

St. Martin's Giffin; 288 pages; $18.99; Amazon

During my middle school years in the early 1990s, I always had a Point Horror novel in my backpack. I was addicted to those horror stories and I just couldn't get enough of them. One of my favorite book series back then was called "Fear Street" written by R.L. Stine.

The series centered on a fictional town of Shadyside, Ohio, where the "Fear Street" was located at. Centuries ago, an evil man named Simon Fier (later changed to Fear) killed innocent souls on the land where Fear Street now lies, and the street just happens to be cursed.

Many of the "Fear Street" books are standalone stories; though there are a few spinoffs with continuing storylines, like 99 Fear Street; Cheerleaders; Fear Street Sagas, etc.. R.L. Stine revived the series in October 2014 with Party Games; followed by Don't Stay Up Late, and The Lost Girl.

Now available to purchase in bookstores from St. Martin's Griffin is the newest installment, titled Can You Keep A Secret?: A Fear Street Novel. The novel centers on Emmy (Emma), a high school teen who has suffered from nightmares ever since she was bitten by a dog when she was a little kid. As a teenager, she is into everything a girl her age should be into, like driving around town and hanging out with her new boyfriend, Eddie.

Ever since his step-father was suspended from the police department, Eddie has been trying to provide for his family; which means he takes any job he can get, including working at a pet cemetery.

Late one night, Eddie and Emmy head out to the Fear Street woods to hang out with their friends and drink beer. That's when they stumble upon a bag full of hundred-dollars bills. Eddie instantly believes this is the answer to his family's money problems, but Emmy convinces him to hide the money until they can figure out if someone had stolen it.

With the money hidden safely in the pet cemetery, Eddie, Emmy and their friends are going to wait it out before splitting the money. However, something terrible happens - the money disappears from the hiding spot. Did one of their friend's take it? Or has the original owner come back to claim the money?