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…)
Because every major character that ever graced a frame of a Marvel film will eventually make its way into eerily lifelike form from the soul-capturing wizards of Hot Toys, they’ve turned their spotlight on the War Machine (Sideshow Collectibles, $339.99) version of Tony Stark’s bestie James Rhodes, as seen in Avengers: Age Of Ultron. This incredible figure is also part of Hot Toys’ line of diecast figures, which incorporates metal parts into the figure, making an already impressive figural representation that much more wowza. And how great is it that we get an alternate head sculpt with a Don Cheadle portrait?
Slowly but surely, the high definition releases of Adventure Time (Cartoon Network, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$29.97 SRP) are catching up with the currently airing episodes, as the complete fifth season arrives looking and sounding pretty snazzy. In addition to all 52 episodes, bonus materials include animatics, a featurette, and a special snail hunt.
Walt Disney Records tip-top Legacy Collection continues to roll along with the release of Randy Newman’s score and songs from Toy Story (Disney Records, $14.99 SRP). The real treat, however, is the bonus disc containing Newman’s original song demos, including a couple of tunes that doesn’t make it into the film.
It’s a long, long dry spell until the next season starts, so fill that time with a roll down memory lane with the 2-disc Doctor Who: The Daleks set (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$24.98 SRP), which collects the Dalek-centric episodes from across Nu-Who, as well as the Tom Baker 4th Doctor story “Genesis Of The Daleks” and a brand new documentary on the extermination-happy mutants.
In what I can only hope is a precedent they expand upon, the purveyors of preservation at Criterion have released a high definition special edition of producer Franics Ford Coppola’s underrated children’s classic The Black Stallion (Criterion, Rated G, Blu-Ray-$39.95 SRP). Bonus materials include 5 short films, interviews, a trailer, and more.
Season 7 of Robot Chicken (Adult Swim, Not Rated, DVD-$24.98 SRP) hits with a 2-disc set positively jam-packed with bonus features, including audio commentaries, featurettes, cut sketches, and a bonus Christmas episode (with bonus commentary). Bonus!
Bruce Timm returns to the animated DC universe with a far darker alternate universe take on the familiar triumvirate of Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman in Justice League: Gods And Monsters (Warner Bros., Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$24.98 SRP), as the trio serves a harsh kind of justice to keep their world in check until a government task force investigating a mystery arrives at their door. Bonus materials include featurettes, bonus cartoons, and more.
After being run out of the city by an invasion of the Krang, our half-shell heroes take back the town in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Return To NYC! (Nickelodeon, Not Rated, DVD-$14.98 SRP). The depressingly standard definition single-disc release contains 6 episodes, plus 7 “Mutation Of A Scene” shorts.
It’s Office Space in hell, but the chief reason to recommend the first season of Adult Swim’s Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell (Adult Swim, Not Rated, DVD-$14.98 SRP) is that it has the good sense to cast Dana Snyder in a supporting role. Good taste like that should be rewarded. Bonus materials include audio commentaries, deleted scenes, screen tests, promos, the original short, and featurettes.
Adam Goldberg is the titular musician in the midst of a mid-life crisis in No Way Jose (Sony, Rated R, DVD-$26.99 SRP), relegated to playing birthday parties and kicked to the curb by his fiancée, as he follows to the indie movie path to righting his life. Bonus materials include an audio commentary, deleted scenes, and outtakes.
Who doesn’t love a brilliant and incredibly beautiful BBC nature documentary? Both of those adjectives certainly apply to both Planet Ant (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$19.98 SRP), which delves into the tiny world of the titular insect, and Shark (BBC, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$29.98 SRP), a look at the iconic apex predatory of the deep.
I thought the film was certainly an improvement over the original trilogy of awful X-Men films, which is not much of an accomplishment, so I was more curious than excited to see what director Bryan Singer had in mind for his X-Men: Days Of Future Past – The Rogue Cut (Fox, Not Rated, Bluy-Ray-$29.99 SRP), which offers up an extended edit of the film, as well as over 90 minutes of new bonus features.
I can’t quite figure out who the more cartoonish characters are in Scooby-Doo And Kiss: Rock And Roll Mystery (Warner Bros., Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$24.98 SRP), in which Mystery Inc. teams up with Schlock Incorporated to solve a mystery in the Kiss World Theme park. Bonus materials include bloopers and cartoons.
Nicholas Sparks works his soft focus, mealy-hearted magic again with The Longest Ride (Fox, Rated PG-13, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP), in which a former champion bull rider attempting a comeback (Scott Eastwood) crosses paths with a college student and are inspired to be insipid together.
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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I love a film that can expertly blend comedy, action, and genuine heart, and last year brought two films that accomplished that hat trick with flair – Guardians Of The Galaxy and 
The 4th season of 
Even knowing its pastoral trappings soon reveal a brutally faithful adaptation of Richard Adam’s brutally dystopian tale of a rabbit community under threat – a nature a traumatized young me was unaware of before watching what he thought was a simple cartoon – the power of 
We already got a sparkling high definition Blu-Ray release of the film a few years back, so there’s no better way to celebrate its 70th anniversary this year than with the deluxe Walt Disney Records Legacy Collection treatment of 
It’s been years since I watched The Green Mile – it still holds up, natch – and Warners has made it very easy for you to do so by bringing it under one box set with both The Shawshank Redemption and the high-def debut of The Majestic in 
Yes yes yes, Eddie Redmayne is every bit as amazing as you’ve heard as the young Stephen Hawking in 
After a bit of a stumble last year, new Doctor Peter Capaldi gets to inaugurate his 12 incarnation of the Time Lord into the longstanding tradition of the annual holiday special. 
When it comes to chronicling the art, artists, and history of comic books, no one has done it as consistently well as Twomorrows, so much so that every one of their releases are a must-have. That goes double for their latest tomes – 
Steven Spielberg’s 
His last couple of outings have been somewhat shaky, but Terry Gilliam returns to fun and freaky form with the deeply contemplative 
Listen, Michael Keaton is amazing and wonderful and turns in a fine performance, but I just can’t bring myself to do anything but shake my head at the unmitigated & off-putting pretension of 
Yes, we know, you’re still suffering withdrawal symptoms from The LEGO Movie. Well, get your LEGO fix with a superhero twist courtesy of the feature-length 
Oh, Olive Films – You continue to delight with your ridiculously impressive dedication to releasing massive amounts of niche catalogue titles new to high definition. This week, they’re dropping the Frankie Avalon & Annette Funnicello beach flicks 
BUT WAIT! THERE’S MORE, catalogue title fans! Olive Films have dropped even more vault titles, including Norman Lear’s 
Not to be outdone, the fine folks at Shout Factory have also unleashed the floodgates of high-def catalogue releases, including Kenneth Branagh’s epic adaptation of 
The first was a solid if unmemorable comedy, and its sequel, 
May the bromance never end, as 
There’s an added poignancy that legendary film critic Roger Ebert has become the subject of a posthumous documentary celebrating his life the same way he devoted his life to celebrating film, but one can’t help but wonder what his review of 
The latest in the long line of visually lush animated films from the legendary Studio Ghibli, 
The tiny kinder set get a trio of releases of their own this week with the monster truck mini-movie 
Matt Stone & Trey Parker show no signs of flagging in the seventeenth season of 
Some of the freshest, funniest sketch work being done on TV can be found in the third season of 
It seems the US is taking a page from the UK’s longstanding policy of quickly releasing episodes to home video prior to a big season box set with the drop of 
If there’s one reason and one reason alone to watch the BBC’s 
A landmark science fiction anime gets the high definition treatment it deserves with the 25th anniversary edition of 
It definitely grew on me, and by the end of its first season, I was looking forward to spending time with the crack ensemble of 
Sure, it’s not the Belushi/Aykroyd black comedy I was hoping for, but the Seth Rogen/Zac Efron 
It’s as lowbrow as most Chuck Lorre comedies, but there’s no denying the appeal of leads Allison Janney and Anna Faris in 
For those of you who still watch the seemingly neverending pandering emptiness and truly wasted ensemble cast of 
With not the least bit of hyperbole, Criterion’s new high definition remaster of the Beatles’ legendary feature debut, 
Fans knew it was only a matter of time before we could finally buy our own toy version of 
A few years back, it seemed a pretty unlikely notion that Paramount would invest the money necessary to completely remaster 
They were the first to commit to the idea, and Warner Bros. remains at the forefront of getting their deep catalogue titles out to the diehard fans of various properties via their Warner Archive, which has just dropped a slew of brand new discs. First and foremost, their Blu-Ray program has released the long-awaited John Milius masterpiece 
But it’s not just feature films in the offing, as the Warner Archive wraps up a classic series with the release of 
I’m still not entirely sure if I like 
Few series stand up terribly well decades after they first aired, but one that most certainly does is 
It doesn’t quite succeed in what it’s trying to do, but 
Shout Factory has become the last great hope for many TV series whose DVD releases were cut off short of completion, as they turn their benevolence towards Sipowicz and his new partner Danny Sorenson (Ricky Schroder) for the complete sixth season of 
When you watch 
Fans of Dora and her monkey sidekick will want to explore her latest DVD release, 
Those gloriously wonderful folks at Shout Factory have rescued yet another beloved but neglected classic television show from the pits of neglect in the form of 
For Doctor Who fans, Mark Gatiss’s docudrama 
After quite a long wait, the fine folks at Criterion have given another quirky Wes Anderson curiosity a high definition upgrade with 
With a script from the Coen Brothers and a fun cast including Colin Firth, Cameron Diaz, and Alan Rickman, it’s surprising that 
Hard to believe there was a time that Clint Eastwood was the star of a TV show – and one that ran for eight years, at that – but now you can witness the end of that era with the release of that eighth and final season of 
It was only a matter of time before a documentary was made about the life and career of Vincent Furnier, the preacher’s son better known to the world as Alice Cooper. 
There’s no denying that 
For anyone who doubted that we’d ever see the rest of it, Warners has released 
Catch up on the sixth and penultimate season of 
It’s become a go-to joke for a yokel paradise, but the story behind the Redneck Vegas, Branson, Missouri, makes for a fascinating story in the documentary 
Even though outside success means that the days of Adam, Blake, and Ders are probably numbered, enjoy the merry misadventures of 
Even though it comes before the other recently discovered 2nd Doctor adventure The Web Of Fear, 
My nephew has a birthday coming up, and his choice of party theme for this year is “Doctor Who”. But how best to properly theme a timelord-centered affair? Well, Thinkgeek has you covered when it comes to the treats, as you can make anything from ice to candy to cupcakes with their 
Far from the studio and theme parks that bear his name, The Walt Disney Family Museum – located at San Francisco’s Presidio – has been quietly celebrating the artistic legacy of that pioneering visionary through exhibits that span the breath of his life and accomplishments. While it may be a healthy trek to visit the museum in person, they’ve released a clutch of incredible books that any fan of animation, Disney, or just art in general should have on their shelf. Taken in tandem, two of the tomes – 
Now that it exists, it seems only natural that Hayley Campbell’s 
Fully remastered in high definition from the original film elements, John Wayne stars as the titular cattle baron in 
The best documentaries are the ones that present a topic you never knew you wanted to know more about until they present that topic to you and you think, “Gee, I really wanted to know more about this.” Case in point? The new documentary about the original queen of comedy, 
I would have loved a straightforward historical epic about the tragic volcanic end of 
For more years than I can recall, the amiable scholars at Twomorrows have been publishing a wide range of magazine and books chronicling every nook and cranny of the comics, creators, characters, and companies fans know and love. They’ve taken that love and scholarly approach to the next logical step, having launched a must-have document of four-color history in the 
With the fifth season of 
Dig into a pair of historical documentaries from the Smithsonian Channel with 
Get your DDB drama fix with a trio of new releases, including the ninth seasons of both the long-running cold case procedural 
Not content with the arrival of a single much-requested title that would delight cinema aficionados no end, Universal has dipped into their vault for a double header of film noir classics with the high definition debut of both 
I still find her continued adherence to the Catholic faith incomprehensible in light of the emotional atrocity committed against her, but the tale and the performances (from Judi Dench and Steve Coogan) that bring the actual events to life in 
It’s sadly lacking in any bonus features whatsoever – usually a highlight of the BBC’s Who releases – but the fact that we have all but one of the formerly missing episodes after nearly 50 years is reason enough to pick up 
The fine folks at Rifftrax dig into their very first blaxploitation film with 
While it’s a marked improvement over the lackluster seasons that came before it, the fourth season of 
Considering the delightfully escapist Thurber story it’s based on, Ben Stiller’s take on 
It seems we haven’t gotten a full season set in ages, but there are still enough new episodes for another single-disc DVD collection – So we get 
Yes, you’ll laugh at 
They’re not quite Godzilla quality, but there’s a charm to be found in the turtle meat-filled 
The BBC does some of the finest nature documentaries around, and they’ve just dropped a whole clutch of beauty-filled discs – a one-two punch of the ursine persuasion in 
Yeah, casting Helena Bonham Carter as the bitter spinster Miss Havisham was a brilliant move in Mike Newell’s pretty decent adaptation of Charles Dickens’ 
Though Jack the Ripper may be gone, his memory still casts a long shadow for Inspector Reid and the residents of Whitechapel in the second season of 
Even if you have the previously release Ultimate Collection, if you’re a fan of Carol Burnett and her eponymous show, you’ll definitely want to pick up 
An Angry Birds cartoon? Sure. Why not. And honestly, the 90+ minutes of 
Fox expands their MOD Cinema Classics slate with a quartet of brand new releases from their immense vaults – 
The wait between seasons seems longer and longer, but when you view the 8 episodes comprising 
It’s time for Matt Smith’s yuletide swan song as the 11th Doctor in 
Coming off a high water mark first season finale, the second season gets off to a running start with 
Shockingly, it’s taken this long for an official release of 
My overriding impression while watching Spike Lee’s 
I’ve never really sparked to the books or the first film, but having seen 
At least in this age of ridiculously grim and gritty superheroes coming out of Warner Bros., we still have the fun and funny bright spot collected in 
You can now watch the goofy Nazis in space flick 
Clint Eastwood returns to the role of foreman Rowdy Yates in the penultimate season of the show that launched the squinty-eyed legend, now available in 
Try to ignore some of the more sensationalized “history” found in the History Channel drama by exploring the actual facts in the BBC documentary 
No one did overblown Technicolor biblical epics like Cecil B. Demille, as you can see for yourself as another of his gets its high definition debut – because 
Though it presents a somewhat sanitized view of Nazi Germany, owing to its YA novel roots, 
Venture into the mystery and intrigue roaming the university halls of 
As one would expect, there’s ridiculous amounts of drama to be mined from the fashion world, so it should come as little surprise that the documentary 
Fans of big giant robots that transform into planes, trains, and automobiles will want to pick up a pair of brand new releases – 
For the toddler set, this week brings 
Although the second season had its rough spot in the middle, the third season of 
Definitely near the top of the eagerly-awaited list, Disney has finally unveiled their high definition restoration of 
Just because the 50th anniversary has wrapped doesn’t mean that fans aren’t still getting treated to goodies from the vaults, as another Patrick Troughton 2nd Doctor adventure gets a special edition release in 
To say 
The House of York and the House of Lancaster vie for the throne of England in the historical miniseries 
While it’s not quite up to Pixar or even Dreamworks standards, 
While we’re marking time until the next full season Blu-Ray release, catch the next 16 episodes in 
The folks at Mill Creek continue to keep budget-conscious cinephiles in their thoughts with another batch of multi-film collections and television show re-releases, the latest of which include 
Most fear to tread in the footsteps of Hitchcock, but that didn’t stop to the BBC from making an enjoyable take on the tale of trainboard mystery, 
It’s been a few years, so evidently we’re due for a special Diamond Edition re-release of the musical 
It’s a shame that WB’s latest animated tale from the DC Comics universe, 
Best to forget the Lindsey Lohan of it all when you can instead see Helena Bonham Carter and Dominic West as 
When a security expert is deceived and wrongfully imprisoned in the world’s foremost high security prison, he must recruit a fellow inmate in order to attempt a daring escape in, errr… 
Enjoy Shirley’s swan song, as the penultimate seventh season of 
Never would I have believed that Mike Tyson would one day do a one-man show on Broadway, but that’s exactly what 
That 
The second season of the modern relaunch of 
How about a soundtrack round up for this week? Certainly! You’ve got Patrick Doyle’s score to 
If you pare Jackass down to its bare essentials, it’s pretty much just Johnny Knoxville doing stupid things. And that’s pretty much the embarrassingly sublime simplicity of 
Now that Sherlock has wrapped, get your Benedict Cumberbatch fix from 
At a time when all of the other studios are opening up their vaults and releasing their deep catalogue titles, CBS has come up with a trio of their own starring some quite big names, starting with Dustin Hoffman in the quirky comedy 
Just in time for Mardis Gras comes the complete collection of HBO’s 
The fine folks at BBC Earth return with a new pair of visually stunning and informative nature documentaries – 
The rescue of a boatful of illegal immigrants forces a struggling island family off the coast of Sicily to make difficult decisions in the fascinating import 
Even though I’m not a fan of the sport, I’m a sucker for a well-made documentary, and 
And speaking of Formula 1 racing, that’s the subject of Ron Howard’s latest film, 
While the 60’s film is a much more romanticized take on the material, the recent miniseries take on 
If you’re keen to give a gift of a romantic flick-a-palooza, try the 7-film 
When it comes to kitchen sink filmmaking, the grandmaster of them all is Stanley Kramer’s larger than life comedy 
You could never do a show like 
After years in the wilderness, it’s nice to see Woody Allen continue his latter-day winning streak with his latest, 
I’m still not entirely sure if I like 
If you’re looking for a pair of fascinating documentaries this weekend, the Smithsonian Channel is serving up the unsung heroes of the space program with 
The fine folks at Mill Creek have a mighty batch of economy-priced TV collections for anyone hoping to dive in to some classic series on a budget, including 
Shout Factory has become the last great hope for many TV series whose DVD releases were cut off short of completion, as they turn their benevolence towards Sipowicz and Simone for the complete fifth season of 
Join Grover, Abby, and Elmo as they learns the ins and outs of sportsmanship in 
Disillusioned by the direction he sees professional wrestling headed, Steve Scarborough decides to take matters into his own hands and founds the Platinum Championship League, whose origins and development are chronicled in the documentary 
The second volume of the second season of History Channel’s 
The latest in the line of quickie joke-a-second pop culture lampoons has come down the pike in the form of 
Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright, and Nick Frost wrap up their Cornetto Trilogy in epic fashion with 
Here we are at the fully remastered high definition edition of 
It seems we’re in a golden age of witty, intelligent coming-of-age flicks, what with The Perks Of Being A Wallflower, The Way Way Back, and 
Just in time for the forthcoming holiday regeneration of the 11th Doctor into the 12th, the BBC brings fans back to the very first instance our favorite Time Lord changed his appearance with the 1st Doctor William Hartnell’s swan song story 
The best thing I can say about 
There are no direwolves or Steve Buscemi, but HBO’s 
The great thing about 
The highest praise I can give pure popcorn entertainment like 
For any fan of music and the seemingly magical craft that goes into producing hits, the documentary 
While much of the bloom has been taken off Woodward and Bernstein in the years since their massive scoop, there’s still something empowering about the mythologizing the duo get in 
Fox has dropped another one of their periodic nuggets of catalogue gold with the high definition arrival of Joanne Woodward’s tour de force as the troubled housewife suffering from multiple personality disorder in 
If you’ve ever wanted to see a grim, disheartening, and thoroughly dour take on Superman, then Zack Snyder’s drab 
Yes, yes – Know when to hold ’em, know when to fold ’em, and know there’s plenty of folksy charm to be had in the TV movie of Kenny Rogers 
Fans of the late, great Ernie Kovacs will want to pick up the straight-from-the-vaults-and-unseen-since-its-original-broadcast DVD debut of 
When Mother Goose has rhymer’s block, it’s up to Elmo to try and save the day in 
Kids can get their winter fix of Dora with 
Following up on the super-massive release of the complete classic era of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers comes the equally super-massive 
There are still people winging about 3D TVs in the home being a novelty, but when that novelty can give me nifty nature documentaries like 
While I consider it to be the least of their efforts, I could still find something to like about Pixar’s Cars and its sequel, but there’s no charm to be found in the rather crass cash-in 
Spawned in the mid-90’s and based on a pulp comic book, 
Yes, it feels more like a series of sketches than the more unified narratives of Holy Grail and Life Of Brian, but I still enjoy Monty Python’s swan song, 
It wasn’t until I popped in the first disc of the Carol Burnett Show spin-off 
The title doesn’t lie – 
And speaking of true tales of creative people told with remarkable candor, 
While not as impressive as seeing it in its IMAX presentation, the 3D remastering and its accompanying restoration for the 75th anniversary edition of 
Perhaps the best praise I can give 
If there’s anything that 
Packed with 20 episodes, audio commentaries, featurettes, deleted sequences, and more, the 6th season of 
The new deluxe edition of 
This year’s classic Who-palooza continues with another pair of releases, including the DVD debut of the 4th Doctor Tom Baker story 
Eight seasons on, 
As bonkers as the first season was, 
A tale of adventure and revenge set in German East Africa pre-WWI and starring Lee Marvin, Roger Moore, and Ian Holm? Yes, I do believe I will give 
Kudos to 
It’s certainly nor Pixar or even Dreamworks quality, but there’s enough charm to 
If you’ve ever wanted to binge view Hollywood’s “classic” horror series about a children’s doll inhabited by the spirit of a killer, look no further than 
Con man Neal Caffrey’s alliance with FBI Agent Peter Burke is already on shaky ground when he ditches his tracking anklet and disappears as we delve into the fourth season of 
Keen on a proper British ghost story? Give a spin to 
It’s somewhat hard to believe that it’s taken this long – 23 years after his untimely passing – that we’ve gotten a proper biography of Jim Henson. Well, not so odd when knows that an attempt was made in the 90s that was scuttled by the Henson family – but now, finally, author Brian Jay Jones has managed to pull together 
Sure, the 3D conversion remains more of a gimmick than an artistic contribution to the film, but the effect works nicely in the high definition debut of 
Where most Star Wars material leaves me unfazed post-The Great Depression (The Prequels), I’ve looked forward to J.W. Rinzler’s exhaustive “Making Of” books for the depth of their information, but more so for their remarkable candor. And now the classic trilogy comes to an end with the entry that had perhaps the most fascinating development process, all of which is fully explored in 
Sometimes, it’s hard to believe that 
Awkwardly split in two and never really building a head of steam, the seventh season of 
As a longtime fan, I was pleasantly surprised to hear that Dave Foley had begun doing standup. I’m even happier that his first special, 
After the overall “meh” of Iron Man 2, 
In years past, TV shows would rarely consider the afterlife of their run beyond a sale into syndication. The idea of a home video market for popular shows? Unheard of. With that in mind, music licensing deals were only ever made short term, which has left many a show in quite the deep financial pickle when the idea of bringing them to home video with their music intact. Years ago, the music was just changed to far cheaper tunes – leading to fan backlash. Eventually, though, companies decided to try and clear the hurdles – the first most famous example was Shout Factory’s Herculean handling of Freaks & Geeks. And now, the gents a Time Life have actually undertaken their own Herculean task and succeeded in clearing nearly all of the vintage songs (Dylan, Hendrix, Stevie Wonder, and more) contained in the beloved Vietnam War drama 
The heroes on the half shell return with a dozen new-to-DVD adventures in 
Every time you turn around there seems to be another edition, but we may finally have arrived at a definitive version with the 35th anniversary high definition release of John Carpenter’s 
Like most Dreamworks films save for How To Train Your Dragon, 
There are those that rail on the ability to watch 3D right in our homes as some kind of gimmick, and they’re right – it is a gimmick. But you know what? It’s still a nifty gimmick, and its presence in the home allows studios like Warner Bros. to release true-3D versions of classic 50’s films like the Vincent Price horror flick 
And while we’re talking vintage catalogue releases from Warners now available in high definition, also making its debut is King Vidor’s incredibly moving silent war film 
You know the merger between Marvel and Disney has been fully cemented when you finally get a mighty meeting like 
I used to really like the show, but there’s something about the 4th season of 
Scholastic is back with a bit of a treat for kids with their latest Storybook Treasures collection – 
The Second World War is over but the Cold War looms in 
Yes, Zooey Deschanel is still delightfully quirky in the second season of 
Nothing quite makes me miss the sublime farce of 3rd Rock From The Sun than a pale imitator like 
Nickelodeon makes holiday gift-giving even easier with their new “Holiday Gifts From Nickelodeon” sets – a trio of releases featuring DVDs of 
It’s never been much of a quality show, but it was always a consistent lowbrow laugher that had a shaky transitional year during its 9th season. But all is back on a somewhat even (for it) keel now that Ashton Kutcher cut his hair for the 10th season of 
If you ever wondered just what it would be like if a stoner got lost in a thought and decided to make a documentary about it, look no further than 
While the actual film was an unfortunate mess, one of the few highlights of DC’s latest direct-to-video animated feature was the score to 
And hey, how about a soundtrack round-up? This week, we’ve got Greg Edmonson’s score for 
The 50th anniversary celebration of Doctor Who rolls on with another pair of brand-new-to-DVD releases that fans have been clamoring on about for ages. First up is a tale from the era of Patrick Troughton’s 2nd Doctor, 
You know, it’s not just kids that need to be entertained on a rainy day, or during a long car trip. Thankfully, Brandon Bird has filled that gaping whole with an activity book geared towards adults – 
Sam Mendes exec-producing lush adaptations of four of Shakespeare’s historical plays, packed with performances from Patrick Stewart, Jeremy Irons, Ben Whishaw, John Hurt, Tom Hiddleston, Julie Waters, Richard Griffiths, and more? What is this slice of yes, please? 
Who knew Steven Soderbergh would be able to make a biopic about Liberace’s companion in the garishly camp entertainer’s declining years into a compellingly cheesy flick, but that’s exactly what he did with 
It’s not another season set – which can’t come fast enough – but at least you’re able to get a quick fix of Finn & Jake with 
Having chatted with Dominic Monaghan years ago and found him to be quite a wonderful gent, I’m delighted that he seems to have found a genuine delight in hosting the BBC’s extreme animals show Wild Things, which sends him cavorting around the world like a latter-day Steve Irwin. You can watch him cavort in a pair of releases – 
In the age of the internet, you’d think a massive volume like 
The first season was bonkers enough, but the second season of 
Get the awful taste of the US Top Gear out of your mouth with another wonderful new special from the UK original – 
It’s not a classic, but with the final season of 
When so many of Warners’ attempts at bringing DC superheroes to TV and film in recent years have been such colossal embarrassments, it should come as little surprise that I had virtually no expectations for the small screen take on their emerald archer, The Green Arrow. And yet, somehow, after a shaky start, 
A modern-day prequel to the Norman Bates character of Hitchcock’s classic Psycho? Surely, such madness can not possibly work… And yet, somehow, 
For this week’s BBC fix, how about the 8th season of those whoduniters 
The History Channel has your Halloween viewing covered with a pair of spooky releases that, admittedly, are all complete BS, but then so much on the History Channel is nowadays that it makes sense for them to present fiction as fact. 
While I have great affection for the flawed remake starring Mel Brooks and Anne Bancroft, the original Ernst Lubitsch 
There have been many books that purported to present the definitive history of the original Star Trek. Much like Roshomon, many presented a perspective on the show’s genesis. But we’ve finally got the overview that incorporates all of those memories plus original memos, documents, and interviews and places them in a comprehensive context – 
And speaking of Star Trek, explore the golden age of trading cards with Abrams ComicArts’s 
Hey! Are you an Adventure Time fan, desperate for some kind of book to keep you company? Then, HEY! Get 
Every so often, I’ll get a lovely surprise in the mail from John Swartzwelder (the brilliant writer behind 59 episodes of The Simpsons). I’ve said it before, and I shall continue to say it as long as he continues to write them – If you’ve not yet read his series of brilliantly comic novels starring dim detective Frank Burly, than you do not deserve to be literate. So yes, do catch up, and also pick up the latest – 
After publishing quite wonderful volumes collecting the Mickey Mouse newspaper strips by Floyd Gottfredson in black & white, the fine folks at Fantagraphics have released the first volume in glorious color – 
For more years than I can recall, the amiable scholars at Twomorrows have been publishing a wide range of magazine and books chronicling every nook and cranny of the comics, creators, characters, and companies fans know and love. Earlier this year, they took that love and scholarly approach to the next logical step, by launching a must-have document of four-color history in the 
While it started on somewhat shaky ground, now that we’ve arrived at the third season of 
To expect anything from Baz Luhrmann but a bloated technicolor extravaganza is to have a poor memory of his filmic inclinations, so it should be no surprise that his take on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 
I have no problem summing up my experience of watching the Oscar-winning drama 
Find out the ultimate punchline when a vampire, a werewolf, and a ghost cohabitate in the fifth and final season of the original UK version of 
Make a rip-roaring adventurous mashup between A Bug’s Life, Fern Gully, and Fantastic Voyage and you get the appropriately named 
Time has not made 
If you’ve got kids in your life, do them a favor by giving them the gift of the latest pair of Scholastic Storybook Treasures releases – the Mo Willems collection 
I’m not as terribly big fan of Disney’s cash-grab direct-to-video sequels from a few years back. Some of have been tolerable, most atrocious, and very rare is one that is somewhat good. The Peter Pan sequel 
It’s refreshing to see Keifer Sutherland in a more nuanced and adult portrayal of a post-9/11 world in 
What the Warner Archive has perfected, particularly with its animated releases, is a very clever and utterly successful manipulation of nostalgia which makes purchasing their releases inevitable. They know they have us with the Hanna-Barbera collection releases of the complete 
This week’s TV sets bring both NCIS series and the still sparkling courtroom tales of Alicia Florrick. First up, we’ve got 
I’m not entirely sure what happened to David Zucker, but the man behind sublime spoofs like Airplane! and Police Squad is almost entirely absent from the ham-fisted 
It’s no Tango & Cash, but what 
It’s still not my cup of tea compared to the sublime Sherlock, but it seems CBS’ own take on a modern Holmes, 
After a shambling second season, hopes were high for the third season of 
One of the marks of a good documentary is it makes you care about a subject you hadn’t considered giving a second thought to, and that’s certainly the case with 
Due to its relatively low production budget, 
If there’s something that Thinkgeek excels at, it’s offering up items you never thought you needed. Case in point is 
Kick your celebrations of Doctor Who‘s 50th anniversary into high gear with a trio of releases, starting with the very first high definition release of a classic Doctor serial with 
Keep the Who party going with a new special edition of the 3rd Doctor story with the space maggots, 
And finally (until next month, anyway), there’s 
A few years back, William Shatner produced a wonderful little documentary called The Captains, in which he had candid conversations with the other actors who have held that rank in the Star Trek franchise. To follow that up, he’s gone back and cut extended versions of those interviews with Patrick Stewart, Avery Brooks, Kate Mulgrew, Scott Bakula, and Chris Pine – plus himself – for the expanded 
After being unceremoniously cancelled, it seems rather fitting that HBO is only giving a non-high definition release to the second (and now final) season of 
The second season of 
Raymond Burr takes his final cases in the second volume of the 9th and final season of 
I gave it the ol’ college try for its first few weeks, but I could never get into the groove of 
Sadly out of circulation for nearly 15 years, there’s nothing that stirs up good memories of a much-missed television show quite like a beautifully produced book, which certainly applies to 
I’ve long beat the drum for the brilliance of 
Having become used to gritty, grimy VHS versions and only slightly better DVD versions over the years, to see the absolute, sparkling clarity Disney has accomplished with their new high definition catalogue restorations of 
With the documentary 
It gets campier as the years go by, but there’s still a B-movie charm to Wes Craven’s big screen adaptation of DC Comics’ green avenger, 
When you view the brand new high definition restoration of 
No matter how much I try, even by its 3rd season, I just can’t understand the appeal of 
It’s back to the backwoods with the 3rd season of 
The releases seem to be coming fast and furious as we get 
With the rambling Beat nature of it all, it’s damned hard to realize an adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s 
Bronies the world over will be planning a movie night with the release of the first feature-length pony outing 
Fans of a good ol’ British mystery? Look no further than the seemingly lovely villages of Midsomer County to find a thinly veneered undercurrent of murder in 
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I’m Ken Plume, and soon you’ll be listening to “A Bit Of A Chat” with me, Ken Plume.
While Disney has been slow in releasing their A-List animated films like The Little Mermaid and Aladdin, they’ve been doing quite a bang up job of cranking out the rest of their animated features. Coming down the pike this week are a trio of recent films – 
If I were still a kid, I would probably never leave the 
Lisa Kudrow returns as the dysfunctional online therapist Fiona Wallace in the complete second season of 
I’ve always been fascinated to peek behind the curtain to see the nuts and bolts of filmmaking, so how about a clutch of tomes that do just that? You’ve got Sam Raimi’s recent journey to the world of L. Frank Baum in 
While the remake was all well and fine, nothing will match the power of Glenn Ford in the original 
After spending the first half of the 1970’s in fractured form, the original line-up of the Beach Boys came together, released an album, and were the spotlight of the television documentary 
For a comics fan, there are few things in life more delightful than opening up a parcel from the fine folks at Twomorrows Publishing and finding a new clutch of wonderfully interesting tomes to dig into – the latest of which is the 2nd volume of 
Catch up with the slackers of TelAmeriCorp in the third season of 
I think the key takeaway of 
Eiljah Wood and Jason Gann return as a man and his dog in the complete second season of the still delightfully weird 
Births, babies, and romance are all to be found in the second season of 
From the writers of The Hangover comes the college version of a trio of friends getting lost in a night of bacchanalia in 
I can’t say that 
Star-studded and with so much potential, sadly 
I’m Ken Plume, and soon you’ll be listening to “A Bit Of A Chat” with me, Ken Plume.