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…

The Brits have a knack for taking the tired old sitcom format, blowing it up, and creating some absolutely brilliant television. Those bastards. Most definitely to be included in their long line of triumphs is Spaced, a show about a pair of twenty-something slackers – Tim & Daisy (Simon Pegg & Jessica Stevenson) – who pose as a professional couple in order to get a North London apartment. Sure, Tim could be a comic book artist if he tried, and Daisy’s quite a good writer, but being successful in either of those careers would mean applying themselves… By, of all things, *working*. Gah! With a gaggle of off-the-wall friends and acquaintances, if you think of it as a twenty-something Seinfeld with a postmodern pop culture twist (there are frequent surreal diversions) you wouldn’t be far off the mark. After much legal wrangling, fans and soon-to-be fans in the US can now pick up Spaced: The Complete Series (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$59.98 SRP). In addition to the audio commentary, outtakes, feature-length behind-the-scenes documentary, deleted scenes, trailers, raw footage, and galleries found on the original UK release, the US set also includes brand new commentaries featuring special guests Kevin Smith, Quentin Tarantino, Matt Stone, Diablo Cody, and more. Try out the show – I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Those clever bastards.

I have a massive photo and slide archive. Ridiculously large, actually. And like anyone in this modern age, I’d like to digitize it. Unfortunately, digitizing that much material with old-school flatbed scanner adapters or standalone scanners has been a pain ass. Well, get one of these nifty 35mm Slide & Negative Digital Converters ($99.99) like I did and burn through scanning those archives. It’s got an easy-to-load film & slide caddies, fast scan time, and a snappy interface – plus it can scan at up to 1,829 DPI. Perfect.

If you want a sure sign that an action figure line has gotten traction, a good indicator would be that they’ve been successful enough to begin releasing a second wave. Such is the case with Bif Bang Pow!‘s incredible line of figures based on the cult classic Flash Gordon movie. The first of those second wave figures to hit the street features Flash himself in his iconic T-Shirt, along with the green football-like thing from Mongo ($16.99 SRP). The sculpt – based on a design by Alex Ross – is about as movie-accurate as one could hope for, and only gets me more excited to see where this line will go.

Every comic book series seems to be getting the snazzy deluxe treatment nowadays – with some bewildering choices – but certainly deserving of the honor is Mike Mignola’s Hellboy. The clothbound, hardcover Hellboy Library Edition: Volume 1 (Dark Horse, $49.95 SRP) contains the first two Hellboy mini-series – “Seed Of Destruction” and “Wake The Devil” – printed in oversize 12″x9″ with brilliant reproduction. There are even a clutch of bonus materials, including a sketchbook. Perfect for the library, and you’ll be counting the days until the release of volume 2 this Fall.

After months and months of taunting and numerous delayed release dates, finally – FINALLY – we see the release of Comedy Central’s short-lived surreal gem, TV Funhouse (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$26.98 SRP). Created by Robert Smigel and Dino Stamatopoulos, it was a bizarre, low-rent Saturday morning kiddie show for adults, featuring appearances from Smigel’s Triumph, The Insult Comic Dog. The 2-disc set features all 8 episodes, plus audio commentaries, outtakes, behind-the-scenes footage, video commentary, and more.

I admit to really loving the deluxe, hardcover, archival editions that Dark Horse has been releasing of titles I never thought would get that kind of treatment – namely the Gold Key runs of both Doctor Solar and Magnus: Robot Fighter. The complete run of Solar is contained within 4 volumes (Dark Horse, $49.95 SRP each), and the totality of Magnus is in 3 (Dark Horse, $49.95 SRP). All 7 are lovingly restored and presented, and ready for a place of honor on your shelf. They’re pure 60’s bliss… Think of them as the Mad Men of comics.

Before Family Guy decided to jump on the bandwagon, Adult Swim’s Robot Chicken decided to venture into a galaxy far, far away for a bit of a good-natured puncture. With full cooperation from Lucasfilm, Robot Chicken: Star Wars (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$14.98 SRP) left no Wookie unturned. The special edition DVD features an audio commentary, featurettes, deleted scenes, galleries, panel presentations, and more.

There’s no Kurosawa quite like overlooked Kurosawa, and that’s what makes his taut, high-tension High And Low (Criterion, Not Rated, DVD-$39.95 SRP) such a delight. Starring Toshiro Mifune as a wealthy man who’s plunged into a ransom nightmare when his family is kidnapped, it plays like a Japanese Hitchcock flick. The newly-remastered 2-disc Criterion edition features an audio commentary, a making-of documentary, a video interview with Mifune, trailers, and more.

Set in a dystopian Los Angeles in the not-too-distant future, Duck (Westlake Entertainment, Not Rated, DVD-$19.98 SRP) stars Phillip Baker Hall as a man who sets out on a quest to find purpose and a sense of community in the urban sprawl, accompanied only by a mallard named Joe. Bonus features include an audio commentary, interviews, and more.

Certainly living up to its name, Earth: A Biography (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$29.98 SRP) is an in-depth look at the history of the planet upon which we all reside, from its formation to its current state, with all of the serendipity, change, and cataclysms in-between.

James Caan may have departed, but Tom Selleck more than fills his shoes in the fifth season of Las Vegas (Universal, Not Rated, DVD-$59.98 SRP), which by this point has become a Sin City take on The Love Boat. It’s a shame that this also proved to be the show’s final season, as I’m still interested to see how Selleck’s reinvigorating presence would have shaken things up. The 4-disc set features all 17 episodes, plus an effects featurette, gag reel, and NBC.com webcasts.

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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