By BRUCE DANCIS, Scripps Howard News Service

Everything you know about "Life on Mars" is wrong. Or, to put it another way, if all you know about "Life on Mars" is that it was a recently canceled ABC-TV series starring Jason O'Mara and Harvey Keitel, you're in for a treat.

To Blu-ray or not to Blu-ray?
That has been the question facing many DVD consumers, including yours truly, who have purchased widescreen, high-definition televisions and now have to decide whether to replace their old DVD player with a Blu-ray player. (Blu-ray players can play conventional DVDs as well as Blu-ray discs, while traditional DVD players cannot play Blu-ray discs.)

This week we're looking at DVD box sets about a pathbreaking TV producer, a memorable rock festival and one of America's most beloved actors. (List prices are included, but significant discounts may be found at video stores and online retailers.)

"We've inherited an idea and an identity of Jews as victims. This is the story of Jews as partisans, survivors and as people who fought back and would not submit." -- Clayton Frohman, co-writer of "Defiance"

This week's release of a new DVD version of Hugh Hudson's "Revolution" -- starring Al Pacino as a New York trapper who gets caught up in this country's battle for independence -- reminds us that Roland Emmerich's "The Patriot" has some competition for the worst film about the American Revolution.

Even though most viewers of "Valkyrie" realize that Adolf Hitler was NOT assassinated by rebellious German army officers on June 20, 1944, the film directed by Bryan Singer still offers plenty of suspense and intrigue. Starring Tom Cruise as Col.

With J.J. Abrams' new "Star Trek" movie making a smashing debut this past weekend in its attempt to re-invent the franchise, a nation's attention has returned to Capt. Kirk, Mr. Spock and their crew on the starship Enterprise.

In the 10 years since her debut as a teen star in TV's "Dawson's Creek," Michelle Williams has become an actress of depth and power.

As long as wounded warriors return home from battle with damaged limbs and minds, Dalton Trumbo's "Johnny Got His Gun" will never lose its relevance. First as a novel, then three decades later as a film and, this week, nearly four more decades later, as a DVD, "Johnny" remains one of America's most important artistic anti-war statements.

"Frost/Nixon," written by Peter Morgan, was a hit on Broadway in 2007, with Frank Langella garnering both Tony and Drama Desk awards for Best Actor for his performance as former President Richard Nixon.