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 FRED Weekend Shopping Guide – your spotlight on the things you didn’t even know you wanted…
(Please support FRED by using the links below to make any impulse purchases – it helps to keep us going…)
After teasing fans with a best-of collection a few years back, the complete, digitally remastered first season of Sgt. Bilko (aka The Phil Silvers Show) (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$39.98 SRP) is now available – and if you’ve never seen the show and consider yourself a fan of comedy, you must rectify the oversight immediately. Not only is the writing sterling, but Phil Silvers is a brilliant comic performer, elevating the material and making his role as a con-happy army sergeant iconic. The 5-disc set contains all 34 episodes, plus audio commentaries, the original network opening, original cast commercials, the lost audition show, and Phil Silver’s guest-starring episode of The Lucy Show.
I love bubbles. My nephews love bubbles. Who doesn’t love bubbles? Well, perhaps people who hate Lawrence Welk. Still – most people love bubbles. How about really big bubbles? Surely big bubbles equal big fun. And it’s true – big bubbles equal big fun. How can you make big bubbles easily? Why, with The Big Bubble Thing ($11.99), with which you can make ginormous bubbles up to 50-feet long.
If you’ve yet to see the brilliant Stephen Fry’s equally brilliant journey across the United States in the 6-part documentary Stephen Fry In America (BFS, Not Rated, DVD-$29.98 SRP), please rectify that grievous oversight at your earliest available moment. Accompany Fry as he visits all 50 states, encountering stereotypes and people, places & events that undermine established stereotypes. A Blu-Ray edition ($39.99 SRP) is also available (and looks pretty darn good).
I never thought that I’d eventually get to watch a high definition version of GI JOE: The Movie (Shout Factory, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$26.97 SRP), restored to its intended theatrical ratio. Yes, remember that it was supposed to be a theatrical feature, but when the big screen outing of Transformers tanked, GI JOE: The Movie was consigned to a direct-to-video release. Granted, the print still looks like a TV cartoon from the 80’s, but it is cleaner than it’s ever been, and the sound has been cleaned up significantly. Bonus materials include an audio commentary and those good ol’ PSAs we know and love so much. Also, for fans, the bonus standard DVD includes contains the flick in full frame, as we all remember it.
Leave it to Warner Bros. to take an incredible legacy and talent base for their animated DC properties and continue to spin out neither here nor there direct-to-DVD features that recast already brilliant actors for the sake of gimmicky stunt casting. So it goes with Batman: Under The Red Hood (Warner Bros., Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$29.99 SRP), which finds yet another voice for Batman & The Joker, leaving behind the iconic Kevin Conroy & Mark Hamill, in a blah story about the Gotham arrival of a vigilante with no ethics, Red Hood. Bonus materials include featurettes, a quartet of Batman: The Animated Series episodes presented by Bruce Timm, and a Jonah Hex animated short.
The one thing I can say about the otherwise flat, lifeless, and sadly boring remake of Clash Of The Titans (Warner Bros., Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$35.99 SRP) is that, stripped of its horrid 3-D conversion for home viewing, it’s a least a brighter affair. Bonus materials include an alternate ending and a featurette on Sam Worthington.
Long available in the complete series set, high definition enthusiasts can now pick up the penultimate 3rd season of Battlestar Galactica (Universal, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$88.98 SRP). The 5-disc set contains audio commentaries, video blogs, deleted scenes, featurettes, and webisodes.
As Stallone’s big action flick The Expendables is right around the corner, it’s no surprise that there’d be a tie-in release of Rambo: The Complete Collector’s Set (Lionsgate, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$54.99 SRP), which contains all 4 Rambo films in high definition (though the most recent, Rambo, is just Disc 1 of the original 2-disc set). Bonus materials are the same as the last special edition.
I suppose it must be a sign of soft sales at retail that the 3rd season of The New Adventures of Old Christine (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$24.95) has been demoted to Warners On-Demand service. But I suppose fans should just be happy they can get the 10 episodes that comprise this season anywhere.
Just in time for the healthcare debate but ignored in theaters, Repo Men (Universal, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$39.98 SRP) stars Jude Law and Forest Whitaker as Remy & Jake, a pair of near future repossession men who reclaim organ transplants when their recipients fail to make their payments. But after Remy gets a new heart after an on-the-job accident and falls behind in his own payments, Jake comes after him. Bonus materials include an audio commentary, deleted scenes, fake ads, and a visual effects featurette.
Largely depressing but endlessly fascinating, Life After People: The Complete Season 2 (History Channel, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$39.95 SRP) presents another 10 episodes packed with post-apocalyptic degeneration. Like I said – irresistibly depressing.
After 7 seasons and years of releases, the DVD journey of Sabrina The Teenage Witch (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$39.98 SRP) comes to an end with the final season. The 3-disc set contains all 21 episodes, plus the TV movie Sabrina Goes To Rome.
Besides barreling through introducing him to a load of classic films, I’ve been looking for activities that my 6-year-old nephew will enjoy while the summer heat gets a bit too hot to make outside activities viable. And what I’ve found is that the movie-watching activity can be combined with major construction projects. Those major construction projects, you won’t be terribly surprised to find out, are LEGO-based.
This week, we tackled the immense Star Wars: Venator Class Republic Attack Cruiser ($199.99), thanks to our good friends at ThinkGeek.
This is the largest LEGO project we’ve tackled, coming in at 1,170 pieces… A good deal of them very, very tiny. Once the box was opened and the bags set out, the enormity of the task was a bit daunting.
Of course, I spent far too much time wondering why Grand Chancellor Palpatine looked so much like Christopher Walken.
And finally – after three whole movies – we came to the end, and my nephew was eager to explore all of the nooks and crannies, including Palpatine’s office (with a small box holding Death Star plans hidden away in the bow).
Next week, we’ll be tackling another project, but for now, here’s a look the finished Attack Cruiser…
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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Comments: 4 Comments
4 Responses to “Weekend Shopping Guide 7/30/10: BILKO!!!!”Leave a Reply |
July 30th, 2010 at 6:43 pm
I’m thinking of getting the UK release of Sgt. Bilko. As I’m a big fan of a lot of this site’s content, particularly the podcasts, is there any link through which I can go to get it from the UK site while referring to here? Because, to be fair, this is the only reason I realised it was coming out.
July 30th, 2010 at 6:45 pm
Incidentally, that may be the most ineloquent passage I have ever composed.
August 2nd, 2010 at 10:17 pm
That Lego set looks pretty cool, but man, Legos are expensive nowadays.
August 3rd, 2010 at 11:13 am
I wanted to thank you for putting this together and for putting the Lego set together; I hope to forward it to another Lego fan to view.
And, yes, ditto -unfortunately – on LEGOS price; the new Lego stores I hope will prosper but I don’t spend much time there as I don’t want the sales-folks to think I am actually going to buy something at those prices.
And
YES, is there a way we can purchase with asitecalledfred getting the credit that we clicked on BILKO from here?
You guys rock!