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…)
It was with some trepidation that fans entered the 5th season of Doctor Who (BBC, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$89.98 SRP) – Not only were we losing fan-favorite David Tennant as the 10th Doctor, but the 11th Doctor would be the ridiculously young unknown Matt Smith. Surely this would be when the new series stumbled. Well, no. No it didn’t. In fact, Matt Smith is a wonder in the role, and has more than made it its own, and new companion Amy Pond puts all former Nu-Who companions to shame. Add to that some brilliant writing and a true sense of fun (Remember when sci-fi wasn’t just maudlin navel-gazing?), and you have a brilliant season. Bonus materials include newly-filmed short interludes between episodes, video diaries, Doctor Who Confidential, in-vision commentaries, Monster Files, outtakes, teasers, and trailers.
If you’re keen on the environment but also really, really like to make a lot of noise, why not try the reusable EcoBlast Air Horn ($29.99 SRP), which allows us to use a simple air pump to refill a plastic bottle with air – and believe you me, this thing makes one hell of a loud noise.
Another could-have-been-a-disaster moment turned out to be gold with Steven Moffat & Mark Gatiss’s modern take on Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock (BBC, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$39.98 SRP), which managed to make the mythos current without undermining the essence of what has made the character a perennial. My only regret? That the first season is on 3 feature-length episodes long. Bonus materials include audio commentaries, a making-of featurette, and the original pilot episode.
It’s a been a few months, and you know what that means – a new Mystery Science Theater 3000 set! Continuing their yearly tradition, this holiday period box set comes packed with another bot action figure, and this times it’s the absolutely massive (and wonderfully accurate) Gypsy. If that weren’t enough, the movies contained in the Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection: Volume XIX (Shout Factory, Not Rated, DVD-$69.97 SRP) are the 1st season episode Robot Monster (with a Josh Weinstein intro), season 4’s Bride Of The Monster, and the Sci-Fi era Devil Doll and Devil Fish. Bonus materials include featurettes on Bride & Devil Doll, a look at the “Invention Exchange”, a panel from CONvergence 2009, and trailers.
No one but Edgar Wright could have made a film quite as eccentrically experimental yet firmly rooted in pop culture geekery as Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (Universal, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$39.98 SRP), based on Bryan Lee O’Malley’s genre-blender comic series about a 22-year-old going-nowhere bass player that falls head-over-heels for Ramona Flowers, a girl with Seven Evil Exes bent on destroying Pilgrim. Yeah, that about sums it up. And yes, you’ll want to get the Blu-Ray, loaded with commentaries, featurettes, deleted scenes, music videos, the Adult Swim animated short, bloopers, and more.
They’re absolute classics and seasonal must-haves, and now the Peanuts: Deluxe Holiday Collection (Warner Bros., Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$42.98 SRP) has made its debut in high definition. The 6-disc set contains It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, & A Charlie Brown Christmas, each of which contains bonus specials and making-of featurettes, as well as standard DVDs.
A few months has gone by, which means that the BBC vault has opened and another pair of classic Doctor Who releases have made their way out – specifically the Tom Baker years Revenge Of The Cybermen & the Sylvester McCoy Silver Nemesis (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$24.98 SRP each). Both contain the usual plethora of bonus materials, including audio commentaries, featurettes, interviews, galleries, and more.
Push Clooney & Pitt out of your mind for a moment and revel in the HD glory of The Rat Pack’s grand heist, as the 50th anniversary edition of Ocean’s 11 (Warner Bros., Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$24.98 SRP) significantly upgrades the picture and sound in what remains a mostly swinging relic of a bygone age. Bonus materials include an audio commentary, an interactive Vegas: Then & Now map, casino vignettes, and a segment of Angie Dickinson appearing on The Tonight Show with guest host Sinatra.
It’s the holiday season, and Warners has added to their set of deluxe holiday Ultimate Collections (previous entries include A Christmas Story & Christmas Vacation) with the Elf: Ultimate Edition (Warner Bros., Rated PG, Blu-Ray-$49.99 SRP). Not only does it feature the film’s high definition debut (with commentaries, featurettes, and deleted/alternate scenes), but also a stocking, present tags, a soundtrack sampler CD, and a magnetic picture frame, all packed in a collectible tin.
Fans of the recent direct-to-DVD DC animated fare will no that many of those came with bonus shorts starring other characters within the DC universe. Well, extended versions of those shorts have been collected with a brand new one – that new one being the titular Superman/Shazam!: The Return Of Black Adam (Warner Bros., Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$29.99 SRP). Bonus features include audio commentaries on all 4 shorts.
It’s a shame that Secret Origin: The Story of DC Comics (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$24.98 SRP) wasn’t independently produced, because it then could have told the real story about how a once-great company full of iconic characters has pissed away a publishing empire and lost generation after generation of new readers with blinkered incompetence at the highest executive levels who insist on pandering to wank-happy fanboys by destroying those selfsame iconic characters that built the company. Shame, that.
As a film, it’s a big mess, but there’s plenty of fun still to be had in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (MGM, Rated G, Blu-Ray-$34.99 SRP), even if – with its inferior Sherman Brothers songs and Dick Van Dyke – it seems like a poor man’s Mary Poppins. Still, it’s a beautiful Blu-Ray restoration and hey! Flying car! And a ridiculously infectious title song. Bonus materials include retrospective & vintage featurettes, and galleries.
They might not be as popular or prevalent as they once were, but there’s still something alluring to life under the big top – a life which is explored in the documentary Circus (PBS, Not Rated, DVD-$34.99 SRP), which follows the Big Apple Circus on its 350-show tour. Bonus materials include additional footage and profiles.
Economize your high definition kiddie-slick purchase with the Scooby-Doo 1 & 2 Collection (Warner Bros., Rated PG, Blu-Ray-$24.98 SRP), which brings together both live action big screen outings, with bonus materials including audio commentaries, featurettes, deleted scenes, and music videos.
Where the US version of the UK’s middle-age male crisis dramedy Manchild never got past pilot, the similarly themed Men Of A Certain Age (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$39.98 SRP) – starring Ray Romano, Andre Braugher, and Scott Bakula – seems to be going strong. The first season set contains audio commentaries, featurettes, deleted scenes, and a gag reel.
The big screen version may be moving in fits and spurts, but the BBC’s live action adaptation of The Chronicles Of Narnia (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$34.98 SRP) has now been collected into one complete set, complete with featurettes, outtakes, and a 2003 reunion of the cast.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – I’m not a fan, but I know may out there will have been champing at the bit for Metalocalypse: Season 3 (Adult Swim, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP). And for them, there’s all 10 episodes in high definition, plus a bucketload of bonus features.
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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