Item: dad's army, the dvd collection, available in newsagents

any 'collect the series!' monthly magazine with free piece of robot/model car/dvd/toy soldiers/jesus, even teddy bears, is awful and worthy of crucifiction, but this takes the piss because it's the bbc cashing in on it. dad's army: the complete collection is a great concept for this kind of mag as there are around eighty episodes (less the largely missing second series). as per, issue one is a fiver, but subsequent issues will be eight pounds. issue one had three episodes, plus a bonus episode, so we can expect yer usual releases to carry only three episodes. quick calcualtion: you will be paying in the region of 200 pounds for your dad's army collection, plus a huge stack of magazines.

now, 200 quid for forty hours of t.v. comes in at five pounds/hour, which is only slightly better value than ghost in the shell: stand alone complex. you'd think there would be some reduction in price for buying in bulk; it's not that dad's army is bad - it's made me laugh, and what's more, it and ''allo 'allo' taught me everything i know about world war 2. but this is the good old bbc - and they've already been milking dad's army for nearly 40 years as it is. that's what makes this release such an infuhriating example of the collectazine market; most of the shit they sell is stuff you wouldn't want because it's clearly a load of bollocks. this is stuff you wouldn't want because it's just insulting that it's for sale.