Two gimmicks accompany the splashy video debut of Buena Vista's Armageddon: a special Friday the 13th release date plus an ''End of the World'' contest in which customers purchasing the $23 video have a chance to find vouchers that will pay off such tabs as their '98 taxes or their outstanding parking tickets. Speaking of gimmicks, in ''Armageddon'' an asteroid the size of Texas threatens to slam into the Earth, and it's up to Bruce Willis and his band of oil drillers-cum-astronauts to intercept it in outer space and knock it off course with a nuclear device. Far-fetched for sure, but need we remind you that ''Armageddon'' was the summer's top-grossing movie? (EW grades the video a ''C.'')

Here are some of the more down-to-earth videos also available this week (with EW's critics' grades):

• Small Soldiers Dreamworks' version of ''Toy Story'' features a talented collection of voices -- Tommy Lee Jones, Phil Hartman, and Jay Mohr -- but the tiny tale never quite measures up. (EW Grade: C+)
• The Horse Whisperer Robert Redford directs and stars in the movie adaptation of Nicholas Evans' best-selling novel. Kristin Scott Thomas (''The English Patient'') also stars. (EW Grade: C+)
• I Went Down Irish filmmaker Paddy Breathnach's dark comedy about two talkative, bumbling gangsters (Brendan Gleeson and Peter McDonald) who travel cross-country to capture the lout who's been sleeping with their mob boss's wife. (EW Grade: B+)
• Billboard Dad Ex-''Full House'' sibs Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen come of age -- almost -- in this direct-to-video movie about sisters who play cupid to their widowed dad. (EW Grade: C+)

  ON DVD

• From Earth to the Moon HBO launches the Tom Hanks-produced docu-marathon about America's space program in the 1960s and '70s. New features to the 4-disc DVD version include 3D models of the various spacecraft, internet links, trivia, and games.