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…)

Putting to shame all of the holiday specials before, Steven Moffat hit it out of the park with Doctor Who: A Christmas Carol (BBC, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$19.98 SRP), which brings the Matt Smith 11th Doctor face-to-face with the Scrooge-like Kazran Sardick, whose heart must be melted in time for a threatened interstellar cruise liner to land safely on his planet. What follows is a lovely timey-wimey adventure that encapsulates the irresistible fairy-tale nature of Moffat’s Who. Bonus materials include the Doctor Who Confidential episode and the Doctor Who At The Proms concert.

Leave it to the Japanese to marshal the mighty forces of science and engineering in order to craft a novelty Robotic Chick ($29.99), which cheeps, chirps, flaps its little wings, and even cries when you turn your back. This is what science should be doing, now and forevermore.

I am absolutely loving the rapid-fire release schedule of the beautifully remastered high definition seasons of The Twilight Zone (Image, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$99.98 SRP), the latest being the 3rd. While we still haven’t reached Shatner territory, the 3rd season I still packed with legendary episodes, from Bill Mumy’s creepy kid in “It’s A Good Life” to the aliens with a plan in “To Serve Man”. Bonus features are seemingly endless, including audio commentaries, featurettes, isolated music scores, a Liars Club segment with Rod Serling, a Tell It To Groucho clip, and much more.

Ignore the bastardized American version and dig into the only iteration worth watching – and the original, natch – with Top Gear 14 (BBC, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$29.99 SRP) & Top Gear 15 (BBC, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$24.99 SRP), which features the complete, unedited 14th & 15 seasons of the only car show I watch despite the fact that I hate cars. Bonus materials include an audio commentary, featurettes, outtakes, and more.

It holds absolutely no interest for me, but I’m sure there are plenty of Michael Jordan fans still lurking about out there who will be keen to pick up the 4-disc, remastered, high definition edition of Ultimate Jordan (Image, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$69.98 SRP), full of highlights, 5 full games, his Hall of Fame induction speech, and more.

The fine folks at Mill Creek Entertainment are continuing to release a slew of budget-priced kids titles under their Cookie Jar banner, including Paddington Bear: The Complete Series (Mill Creek, Not Rated, DVD-$14.98 SRP), Sabrina: The Animated Series: Volume 1 (Mill Creek, Not Rated, DVD-$14.98 SRP), Johnny Test: The Complete First & Second Season (Mill Creek, Not Rated, DVD-$14.98 SRP), He-Man: Volume Two (Mill Creek, Not Rated, DVD-$9.98 SRP), and Cops: Volume 1 (Mill Creek, Not Rated, DVD-$14.98 SRP).

Mark my words Рin 10 years, Rupert Grint will be one of our finest character actors. Wild Target (Fox, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$29.99 SRP) is one of those small little English films Рactually a remake of a French film Рthat trades on a nice quirkiness and an tight cast, this time anchored by Bill Nighy as an assassin having a bit of a midlife crisis who finds himself falling for his target (Emily Blunt) with an unintentional prot̩g̩ (Grint) in tow. Bonus materials are limited to a brief interview with Blunt.

Another series wrapped, as the second volume of the fourth and final season of The Fugitive (Paramount, Not Rated, DVD-$39.98 SRP) hits, bringing the tale of wrongly convicted Dr. Richard Kimble to a close. Will he finally catch the one-armed man and clear his name? YOU’LL HAVE TO SEE! Or just Wikipedia it. Either way. The 4-disc set also contains a brief featurette on the music of composer Dominic Frontiere.

Runaway train, never coming back. Wrong way on a one-way track. That could pretty much sum up the remarkable boring runaway train actioner Unstoppable (Fox, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP), which manages to make Denzel Washington and Chris Pine’s attempts to safely stop a runaway train full of deadly toxins into a tedious affair.

I have some issues with the picture being painted by Waiting For Superman (Paramount, Rated PG, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP), but there’s no denying that it’s quite a stirring portrait of the state of public education in the United States. Bonus materials include a quartet of additional student/teacher stories, an interview with the film’s director, a featurette on the making of the John Legend title track, and more.

Hot Toys has been producing some incredible 12″-scale Iron Man collectibles over the past couple of years, featuring ridiculously intricate and incredibly screen-accurate versions of the various armors featured in the films. Straight from Iron Man 2 comes the Iron Man Mark IV ($179.99). Not only do you get a swappable Tony Stark head (with optional sunglasses, natch), but fully light-up chest/eyes/repulsors and base, and swappable hands & panels. Oh, and a box of donuts, for when you’ve had a long night of boozing it up.

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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