Iron Box

The most unusual war of the 20th century took place in 1969. El Salvador and Honduras faced one another in a qualifying set for the 1970 World Cup. Tensions were already boiling over in the two countries over the issue of Salvadoran workers in Honduras. But soccer sometimes brings out the worst in people, and the games turned from friendly competition into a full-scale military invasion by El Salvador on its neighbor. Although the fighting lasted only four days, the combat damaged two nations already teetering on the brink of economic collapse. And it all started over a soccer game.

And you will find few war stories this potentially interesting in The Century of Warfare, an interminable series from the History Channel. A low-budget 1993 British production that relies on public domain footage, library music, and a monotonous British narrator with a soporific voice, this 26-episode series somehow manages to make one of the most inherently interesting subjects stunningly pedestrian and dull.

Venom, the scariest and most memorable villain from Spider-Man's post-Stan Lee era, takes center stage in this collection of five episodes ("The Alien Costume" parts 1-3, "Venom Returns," and "Carnage") from the Spider-Man animated series from the mid-'90s. The action begins when astronaut John Jameson discovers a strange new substance on the moon. The substance ends up becoming a new black costume for Spider-Man, and he's thrilled with the way it enhances his natural powers (such as spinning webs without mechanical web shooters) and can change into a different outfit merely upon a thought. Spidey soon discovers, however, that the apparent costume is actually an alien symbiote that is gradually taking control of his thoughts. Spidey is able to overcome the symbiote, but it finds a new host in Daily Bugle washout Eddie Brock, and their mutual hatred of Spider-Man creates a deadly new villain, Venom, whose natural powers exceed Spidey's. Things get even more complicated when Venom's "offspring" finds a host and becomes the even deadlier Carnage. Also making appearances in these episodes are the Kingpin, the Shocker, the Rhino, Dormammu, Iron Man, and War Machine. DVD features include some interesting comments by David Michelinie, who with artist Todd MacFarlane, created Venom in the comic books. Among other topics in the unnecessarily complicated feature, he discusses differences between the show and the comics. Stan Lee also boards his soap box to dish about Venom (11 minutes) and has optional introductions for each episode. –David Horiuchi