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…)

What time is it? ADVENTURE TIME! And it most certainly is, considering you can now get both Adventure Time: Season 1 & Season 2 (Cartoon Network, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$32.07 SRP each) in brilliant high definition IN YOUR VERY OWN HOME, Bonus materials include audio commentaries, animatics, featurettes, a music video, and more.

Today’s modern tech world means a lot of touchscreens – phones, tablets, computers… Which means a whole mess of surfaces with increasing crud levels that are just, well, icky. Enter Biocynclear Cleaning Solution ($14.99), a antimicrobial cleaning solution and applicator being offered by the fine folks at Thinkgeek.

In an age where JJ Abrams’ abysmal take on Star Trek threatens to become the norm, it’s a delight to dip into the classic Trek-era stories crafted over the past couple of years by legendary comic writer/artist John Byrne, all of which have been collected together in the hefty hardcover Star Trek: The John Byrne Collection (IDW, $49.99 SRP). From tales of the Romulan empire and regular starship crewmen to Gary Seven and the frontier doctoring of Leonard McCoy, they’re all beautifully evocative of the original final frontier.

It’s not as clever as Bridesmaids, but there’s no denying that Identity Thief (Universal, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$34.98 SRP) works largely on the back of the ridiculously talented Melissa McCarthy, who makes her turn as an over-the-top con artist par excellence tick. Bonus materials include alternate takes, featurettes, and a gag reel.

It’s always dicey business when another non-Pixar CG-animated film comes down the pike, but I genuinely enjoyed the madcap verve of the astronaut-as-alien reversal in Planet 51, and I found myself enjoying the sequel, Escape From Planet Earth (Anchor Bay, Rated PG, 3D Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP), which flips the premise back to aliens on Earth and adds 3D to the mix. Bonus materials include an audio commentary, alternate scenes, featurettes, and more.

If you enjoy your juice in concentrated form, you can now pick up the entire first season of Cartoon Network’s The High Fructose Adventures Of Annoying Orange (Vivendi, Not Rated, DVD-$29.93 SRP), featuring the titular grating fruit and his pals traveling through time and space. Bonus materials include featurettes, a webisode, and an animatic.

Looking for a gift for Dad this weekend? How about the John McClane as Jack Ryan meets Bourne sequel A Good Day To Die Hard (Fox, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP), which find McClane teamed up with his adult son in Russia. Or maybe wrestler Randy Orton as a paramedic put through the action ringer by a vengeful psychopath in 12 Rounds 2: Reloaded (Fox, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$29.99 SRP). Finally, there’s the cowboy songstyling biopic of controversial bad boy Hank Williams, The Last Ride (Fox, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$29.99 SRP), starring ET’s Elliott, Henry Thomas.

Find out whether Dora can find a note in Dora The Explorer: Dora Rocks! (Nickelodeon, Not Rated, DVD-$14.9 8 SRP), featuring a clutch of episodes that – you guessed it! – feature music.

If you’re like me (and I know I am), you’ve been terribly impressed with the work the fine folks at Hot Toys have been doing with their 1/6-scale figures based on Marvel’s Avengers. But what are a bunch of superheroes without their opposite – and that means the arrival of the long-awaited Asgardian god of mischief, Loki ($219). Decked out in the same outfit featured in the film and featuring another of their eerily lifelike head sculpts, you can now posses your very own tiny Tom Hiddleston, leaving you to decide on either his horned helm of bareheaded looks. Accessories include handcuffs, face muzzle, a pair of staffs (long and short), and plenty of hands. Just look how exquisitely done this figure is…

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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