The weekend’s here. You’ve just been paid, and it’s burning a hole in your pocket. What’s a pop culture geek to do? In hopes of steering you in the right direction to blow some of that hard-earned cash, it’s time for the Quick Stop Weekend Shopping Guide – your spotlight on the things you didn’t even know you wanted…
It’s been a long time coming, but animation fans can rejoice in the unexpurgated Droopy: The Complete Theatrical Collection (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$26.98 SRP). The 2-disc set features all 24 manic adventures of Tex Avery’s low-key delight (including anamorphic transfers of the 7 Cinemascope shorts). Bonus materials include a retrospective featurette on Avery and the character of Droopy, and a gag compilation.
Don Rosa’s undersea mini-epic, “Treasure Under Glass,” is the spotlight story of this month’s issue of Uncle Scrooge (Gemstone, $7.50) – that’s issue #365, to be exact – and it shows to what lengths… or depths… McDuck will go to secure the treasure contained in a sunken ship.
Even the most well-written, well-acted show runs the risk of becoming creatively worn out if it goes on long enough, and by the ninth season of Frasier (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$38.99 SRP), the cracks were beginning to show. Thankfully, by the next season (and the final 11th season), things improved, and the series was able to go out on a high note, even if it still felt like they were pushing it. Despite its overall blasé feel, this season did manage to include a pair of keeper episodes – specifically Frasier’s subconscious confrontation with his past loves (“Don Juan From Hell”) and a reunion of 3/4 of the cast of Cheers, assembled for the occasion of Cliff’s retirement party in Boston (“Cheerful Goodbyes”). Unfortunately, they still insist on delivering zero bonus features, and have also neglected to give us our complementary fix of another season of Cheers, as they had in the past with concurrent releases. What’s up with that?
For those of us foolish to pick up the massive Martinis & Medicine collection last year just for the exclusive bonus materials, Fox slaps us across the face by releasing those selfsame bonus features in a separate 3-disc set. M*A*S*H: Goodbye, Farewell and Amen (Fox, Not Rated, DVD-$29.98 SRP) contains the legendary series finale, as well as those aforementioned bonus materials. Damn you, Fox.
Never as clever as the show its creators hailed from (Cheers), Wings was always just a fun, funny, traditional workhorse of a sitcom – providing plenty of character-based laughs, without being too intellectually stimulating. By the fourth season (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$38.99 SRP), the formula was firmly in place, you had decided which of the two brother/proprietors of tiny Sandpiper Air, Joe & Brian (Tim Daly & Steven Weber), you were rooting for, you had already fallen in love with quirky bumblings of cabbie Antonio (Tony Shalhoub) and dim mechanic Lowell (Thomas Haden Church), and all was right with the world. The 4-disc set features all 22 episodes, but not a single bonus feature. Is it that hard to book Daly & Weber?
In 1981, Tucson journalist Ellen Adelstein journeyed to Beverly Hills to do an in-depth, one-on-one interview with Gene Roddenberry. For almost 90 minutes, Adelstein and Roddenberry talked of Roddenberry’s past, the creation of Star Trek, and much more. That interview is now available on DVD as Gene Roddenberry: Up Close and Personal (Bashert Productions, Not Rated, DVD-$19.95) and can be purchased at www.roddenberryinterview.com, and is highly recommended as a very nice piece of Trek history, and a beautiful document of Roddenberry in his prime.
Now relegated to cable or pay-per-view, did you know there was a time when you could actually find Hugh Hefner and the original hip Playboy aesthetic on regular TV? That’s exactly what you had with the late 60’s “lounge”-fest Playboy After Dark (Morada Vision, Not Rated, DVD-$39.98 SRP each). The show was essentially a mellow, free-wheeling “night at Hef’s,” where the guests would mingle with the audience in a party atmosphere that mixed the martini and smoking jacket ethos of the 50’s with the swinging 60’s. Two collections of the show are currently available, with each 3-disc set featuring guests such as Sammy Davis, Jr., Ike & Tina Turner, Lenny Bruce, Sid Caesar, Linda Ronstadt, Jerry Lewis, Count Basie, George Carlin, Tommy Smothers, and many more. Definitely give it a spin. I do have a request for volume 3, though – can you please release the complete appearance of Harry Nilsson, who was on with Otto Preminger to promote Skidoo?
Sporting an incredible Machine Man cover, the 48th oversize issue of The Jack Kirby Collector (Twomorrows, $9.95 SRP) packs the usual complement of stunning art and insightful articles we’ve come to expect from this must-have “King” chronicle.
They might otherwise slip through the cracks, but thankfully Digital Classics has been rescuing a clutch of obscure comedy films from the very back of the vault, dusting them off, and allowing audiences to rediscover them. These include films like San Ferry Ann and a pair of Ronnie Barker pictures – Futtock’s End & A Home Of Your Own – plus a cameo filled flick called Simon Simon, in which you see everyone from Peter Sellers and Michael Caine to Eric Morecombe and Ernie Wise (Digital Classics DVD, Not Rated, DVD-£6.99 SRP each). By all means, snap these up and pop some corn.
I find it hard to believe that we already to Memorial Day (where has this year gone??), but Sony has completely remastered and special edition-ized a pair of military classics worth picking up for the holiday weekend. First up is the 2-disc special edition of The Guns of Navarone (Columbia Pictures, Not Rated, DVD-$24.96 SRP), starring Gregory Peck, David Niven, and Anthony Quinn as a trio of Allied soldiers tasked with a spectacularly dangerous (yes, impossible!) mission to infiltrate a Nazi fortress and take out a pair of massive artillery pieces. Bonus features include audio commentaries, behind-the-scenes featurettes, a featurette on the restoration process, a quartet of vintage featurettes, and more. The other flick that should be on your shopping list is Humphrey Bogart’s maniacal, ball-bearing loving turn as the monstrous Captain Queeg in The Caine Mutiny (Columbia Pictures, Not Rated, DVD-$24.96 SRP). In addition to a newly remastered print, bonus features include an audio commentary and a brand new retrospective documentary.
There are plenty of new faces and challenges during the complete seventh season of ER (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$49.98 SRP). While the staff cope with everything from a busload of poisoned kids to man in opossum costume who bites a man in a kangaroo costume, the personal drama of the medics themselves increases, particularly in the case of the arrival of Abby’s mother. The 6-disc set features all 22 episodes, plus aired scenes and the now customary gag reel.
In this age of cheap camcorders, it should be no surprise that today’s soldier has replaced the instamatics of days past with palm-sized camcorders that they’ve trekked to Iraq with. Some of those candid, often disturbing videos – and the stories of the soldiers behind them – have been culled to produce The War Tapes (Docurama, Not Rated, DVD-$26.95 SRP), a powerful documentary that should be required viewing no matter what side of the political fence you fall on. Bonus materials include additional footage, outtakes & extended scenes, follow-up interviews with the soldiers, and the theatrical trailer.
In some ways, I’m sure Darren Aranofsky’s stripped down version of his millennia-spanning The Fountain (Warner Bros., Rated PG-13, DVD-$27.95 SRP) is better served by the reduced budget brought on by the departure of star Brad Pitt, who was replaced by Hugh Jackman as the man whose love for a single woman (played by Aranofsky’s own wife, Rachel Weisz) leads him on the ultimate quest to protect her. Still, I’m curious to see what that major blockbuster version would have been like. The final version, though, is an interesting – if dense – artistic vision that’s much more palatable on the small screen, with time for reflective pausing. Bonus features include 6 behind-the-scenes featurettes and the theatrical trailer.
It’s not nearly as lavish as the average Pixar “Art Of” book, but there’s still plenty of wonderful conceptual designs to be found in The Art Of Meet The Robinsons (Disney Editions, $17.99 SRP). It’s just a shame that the film came and went from theaters with nary a blip, as it’s a much better flick than the dreadful Chicken Little, and has a nice, inventive charm befitting the tale.
Never a classic, I always got a nice chuckle out of Craig T. Nelson and Coach, the complete second season of which is out now (Universal, Not Rated, DVD-$26.98 SRP). Who could possibly look into the face of Jerry Van Dyke and not crack a smile?
James Garner is back is Jim Rockford in the fourth season of The Rockford Files (Universal, Not Rated, DVD-$39.98 SRP), featuring 21 episodes of the mobile-home based ex-con sleuth with the memorable car and theme song. In addition, the set features a bonus episode from the fifth season – “White on White and Nearly Perfect” – guest-starring Tom Selleck in a role that eventually led to Magnum.
The adventures of Captain Jack Sparrow are coming to a close (unless Disney decides the cow has more milk to give), so that means the final score from Hans Zimmer, this time for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (Walt Disney Records, $18.98 SRP).
It’s harmless, innocuous, channel-surfing comedy, and once you’ve seen one episode of the show, you really and truly have seen them all. Home Improvement: The Complete Sixth Season (Buena Vista, Not Rated, DVD-$24.99 SRP) features all 25 episodes, plus the season 6 blooper reel.
Try as I might, I’ve never been able to wring a laugh for Seth MacFarlane’s attempt at a Family Guy follow-up, American Dad. For those of you who can stomach the show, the 3-disc Volume Two (Fox, Not Rated, DVD-$39.98 SRP) features another 19 episodes, plus audio commentaries, featurettes, and multi-angle scene studies.
While watching The War At Home (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$39.98 SRP), I couldn’t shake the feeling that what I was viewing was just the warmed over bastard child of Married With Children and Roseanne. It’s a shame, because Michael Rappaport – here the beleaguered father of 3 kids with a soul-sucking insurance job -deserves a much better showcase. The 3-disc set features all 22 first season episodes, plus cast & crew interviews, unaired scenes, and a gag reel.
And before we close this week, let me leave you with a look at some of the fantastic figures that Mattel have been putting out as part of their still ongoing Justice League Unlimited line (singles are $5.99 SRP each, $11.99 SRP for the 3-packs). The show may have been cancelled before its time, but the figure line still has legs – I mean, come on, we get an Orion figure… and Nemesis! Whoda thunk it????
So there you have it… my humble suggestions for what to watch, listen to, play with, or waste money on this coming weekend. See ya next week…
-Ken Plume
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