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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The epic films of David Lean are an essential part of any cinematic library, and the first to make the transition to high definition is the sweeping 
Robots are cool. So is brushing your teeth. Go with me on this… When you combine a toothbrush and a tiny little motor, you get the uber-cool 
I’m always leery of a new take on 
It’s been a few months and the new series has been hitting our shores, so hat means it’s time for another clutch of classic [Doctor Who] DVD releases. This time, we get a pair of Jon Pertwee adventures – 
Using the Poppinsonian maxim of a spoonful of sugar, Paramount has dipped into their catalogue for a trio of new-to-Blu-Ray releases, the first of which is the aforementioned sugar – 
Presented by Sir John Gielgud, 
While the new Blu-Ray edition of 
The comedy isn’t terribly nuanced, but there is a sucker punch level of laughs to be had from Leigh Francis’s grotesque creations in 
Universal dips into the vaults for the latest in the Backlot Series, 
You remember [The Santa Clause]? Where Tim Allen assumes the mantle of Santa Claus and family-friendly, heart-warming hilarity ensued? Well, replace Allen with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and make the former wrestler the titular mythical creature of 
Their marriage may not have been the happiest, but there’s no doubt that both Carole King and James Taylor knew how to write a song, which is evident on their recent reunion concert disc 
The films are good, but Universal’s new Blu-Ray/DVD flipper discs are still an unwelcome abominations – which is a shame, since the trio of catalogue titles – 
Recently re-released as a Blu-Ray special edition, the Colin Firth version of 
David Lynch’s adaptation of 
Set in a post-apocalyptic world where technology has failed and mankind is living by a thread after a plague sweeps the land, 
Featuring rare footage from his own personal collection, 
In the mood for a mildly entertaining romantic comedy with likeable actors that won’t cause upset and will quickly wash off after it’s all over? Well, then 
Remember that surprisingly chilling horror film a few years back about a team of female spelunkers who are hunted by subterranean creatures during an expedition gone wrong? You know, [The Descent]? Well, now it all gets a bit naffer with 
I’m not a fan, but there are plenty of kids who adore the little red monster and will probably happy tap along with 
A surprising and welcome arrival on DVD is the second volume collecting 
While not as funny as some of their previous television incarnations, there’s still plenty of fun to be had in the second season of 
Cross Doo Wop with [The Sunshine Boys] and you have 
It’s a bit disconcerting as you try and process the age difference in the 70’s-filmed [Honeymooners Specials], which brought the cast back together for one last spin as The Kramdens and The Nortons, but once you get into it, the old magic is there. 
Translated from its smash Broadway run and bringing Andy Griffith and Don Knotts together on screen for the first time, 
With Memorial Day right around the corner, Warners has dipped into the archives for some manly men classics to release as part of their TCM: Greatest Classic Films Collection. The first, 
By the time we reach the 
Tony Stark becomes a teenage superhero in Nickelodeon’s 
See a man do some incredibly foolish things to his body in the name of adventure in 
It’s another quarter of episodes to entertain the kiddies with 
It seems like there’s been a couple hundred editions released, but the new special edition of 
Any time we can get fully remastered editions of the Studio Ghibli films, color me delighted – and that’s just we’ve got with new 2-disc special editions of 
Eliminate all of those excuses about it being far too difficult and time consuming to brew a proper mug of tea by picking up the 
Prior to starring in John Carpenter’s 
The market’s being flooded with any movie or special that ever bore the name, but what sets the 1966 BBC production of 
It’s a memorable book, but Maurice Sendak’s 
It’s a trippy, Teutonic mess of a children’s film (What can you expect from Wolfgang Petersen?), but thousands of viewings on 1980’s HBO endeared me to 
The Daleks get their due in a pair of classic Doctor Who releases, starting with the 4-disc 
Get your fill of good ol’ country lawyerin’ with the complete fourth season of Abe Simpson’s favorite show, 
If you’re a fan of The Sarah Silverman Program and have been endlessly wondering if they’d ever release all of the music featured in the show, you can now cease your endless wondering and simply pick up a copy of 
Calling 
The trailers for the movie have left me cold, but I’ve been an admirer of Chris Sanders’ artwork since Lilo & Stitch, so to see it pop up in the design for the titular beast in Dreamworks’ How To Train Your Dragon was welcome, and I’m always a fan of pouring through books like 
The film itself lags in spots, but Robin Wright proves again how powerful she can be on screen as the titular middle-aged housewife and mother in 
I’m sure car nuts enjoy TLC’s reality series focusing on the refurbishment of old cars, 
It’s dangerous and sensationalistic, but for the footage of the storms alone, I’m always going to be entranced by a show like 
After releasing them as full seasons, they’ve decided to start the whole split-season thing with 
