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…)

If you’re impatient and simply can’t wait for the full season set to come out sometime early next year, you can re-watch Doctor Who: Series 6 Part 1 (BBC, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$29.98 SRP), which contains all 7 episodes comprising the first half of this split season. Since it’s not the full season set, there’s a dearth of extras – just two featurettes looking at the Silence and the Gangers – so those wanting more will just have to wait.

As versatile as the Apple cord may be from device to device, its universal length – long – can sometimes be much more than you need, or want, in a given situation. For those times, there’s iStubz ($7.99), a small 7cm Apple-compatible cord that will get you through those needy moments.

They’ve been released separately, but now the I <3 iCarly Collection (Nickelodeon, Not Rated, DVD-$24.98 SRP) brings together a trio of the iCarly TV movies – iFight Shelby Marx, iSaved Your Life, & iSpace Out. So, if you haven’t picked them up yet, here’s how to do it.

You may not be able to live every day like it’s Shark Week, but you can at least spend a couple hours with Shark Week: Restless Fury (Discovery Channel, Not Rated, DVD-$24.98 SRP), a 2-disc set which brings together eight specials featuring the oceanic predators, including the one hosted by the great Craig Ferguson.

Summer heat got you down? Don’t want to head out? Well, MGM has decided to unleash another torrent of new-to-high definition catalogue titles to make those sweltering days easier to pass – Overboard (MGM, Rated PG, Blu-Ray-$16.99 SRP), Wedding Daze (MGM, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$19.99 SRP), Be Cool (MGM, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$19.99 SRP), The Cutting Edge (MGM, Rated PG, Blu-Ray-$16.99 SRP), A Guy Thing (MGM, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$19.99 SRP), Honeymoon In Vegas (MGM, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$16.99 SRP), and Four Weddings And A Funeral (MGM, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$16.99 SRP). Only Honeymoon In Vegas is barebones, while all of the rest of the titles port over the special features found on their regular DVD editions.

It’s not a full season set, but at least fans are getting a clutch of 10 2nd season episodes in the 2-disc Smurfs: A Magical Musical Adventure (Warner Bros., Not Rated, DVD-$15.99 SRP), which also contains a pair of bonus featurettes on speaking Smurf and Top 10 moments from the 2nd season.

If you want a perfect example of how an unnecessary regional version of s successful show can suck the very marrow from the concept and leave only a lifeless corpse, look no further than the first season of the US version of Top Gear (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$24.98 SRP). The UK version is fun, funny, and engaging to even someone like me, who hates cars and car culture, because of the likeability of the hosts. The US version is at its best boring and at its worst, grating.

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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