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…)
It took his arc in Clone Wars and Star Wars: Rebels to make Darth Maul an actual character rather than the cardboard villain of The Phantom Menace, and without that character work I wouldn’t have nowhere near as interested in the new 1/6-scale Darth Maul ($239.99). But I do have a newfound respect for ol’ Maul, and it’s fortuitous that it coincides with the release of what I consider to be one of Sideshow’s finest 1/6-scale figures, from the sculpt and paint ops to the tailoring of the outfit, he’s positively sublime. Kudos to the folks at Sideshow for a stellar effort.
There was a time when Disney’s in-house CG-animated future was looking downright bleak compared to Pixar (I’m looking at you, Chicken Little, but they’ve managed to find a modern voice and style and maturity in recent years, all culminating in Moana (Walt Disney, Rated PG, 3D Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP), a powerful tale that feels new even while trading on the we-trod tropes of Disney’s past. Bonus points for a great collection of tunes and a positively stunningly rendered world (see it in 3D). Bonus materials include featurettes, deleted scenes, a deleted song, and more.
Charlie McDonnell is brilliant. I’d say that even if he weren’t my friend. My proof? His new book, Fun Science (Quadrille, $22.95 SRP), in which he manages to distill and infuse his absolute joy in science into a tome that acts as a handy primer for life, the universe, and everything. Science is awesome, and Charlie presets scores of reasons why. Get this book, and gift it to everyone you know. Hell, gift it to people you don’t know.
That creator Derek Waters has crafted a series that smuggles genuine lessons in history into a comedy show full of drunk people is why I’m terribly impressed that we’ve made it to a 4th season of Drunk History (Comedy Central, Not Rated, DVD-$22.98 SRP), because surely such a positive work can not long persist in the this world. Bonus features include an election special plus deleted/extended scenes.
It’s ostensibly a canonical all-ages novel taking place in the post-Return Of The Jedi era of Star Wars, but the must-read fun of Star Wars: Join The Resistance (Disney Lucasfilm Press, $12.99 SRP) is that it’s written by the team of Acker & Blacker, of Thrilling Adventure Hour fame, and their wry sensibility and crackerjack story sense permeate would could otherwise be pedestrian juvenile fare.
Golly, but I sure did have a lot of the stickers collected in the Star Wars: Topps Classic Sticker Book (Abrams, $12.95 SRP) plastered on every nook and cranny of my existence while growing up. Which is probably why this book – which collects 250 vintage stickers (actual stickers!) plus newly-produced ones for The Force Awakens – is such an evocative journey down memory lane. And boy, were those tickers hard to remove.
Like me, I’m sure you’ve been spending nearly every waking moment playing through Zelda: Breath Of The Wild. If you want to take a brief break and solve a puzzle of a different kind, try assembling the beautiful stained glass image in the Zelda: Windwaker Puzzle (Thinkgeek, $10.99). And THEN you can go back to playing.
While we wait for the television adaptation of his modern mythology American Gods, revel in Neil Gaiman’s spin on Norse Mythology (W.W. Norton, $25.95 SRP), in which he distills the legendary tales of gods and men and presents those timeless raw elements in a supremely engaging form.
I don’t care what it is – a film starring Michael Fassbender and Brendan Gleason? I’ll watch it. Trespass Against Us (Lionsgate, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$24.99 SRP) stars Fassbender as a reluctant criminal on the run from the law after a heist goes south, complicated by the fact that Gleason is Fassbender’s fearsome outlaw father-in-law.
Laika has a history of producing visually stunning stop-motion animated films, which is why devouring the behind-the-scenes tome from their latest – The Art Of Kubo And The Two Strings (Chronicle Books, $40 SRP) is such an utter treat. Chronicle knows how to put together a solid Art Of book, and this is a perfect entry in their ever-growing library.
The second volume of what I hope will be a continuing series, They Drew As They Pleased: The Hidden Art Of Disney’s Musical Years (Chronicle Books, $40 SRP) uncovers and presents dozens of pieces produced during the development process of Disney’s musical features in the 1940s by the studio’s concept artists. Truly beautiful and a marvelous insight into the creative process of a landmark period.
I daresay that the current – and soon to be ending – animated version of the heroes in a halfshell is the best. For proof, simply dive into the episodes contained in the latest collection from the show’s fourth season, Tales Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Super Shredder (Nickelodeon, Not Rated, DVD-$16.99 SRP) and experience a level of nuanced and mature storytelling and artistry that will be sorely missed when this show comes to a close next season.
As alternate history tales seem to be all the rage now, check out Resistance (Film Movement, Not Rated, DVD-$24.95 SRP), about an occupied Britain after D-Day was lost, and the inhabitants of a valley forced to collaborate with the occupying Germans when a harsh winter sets in.
I admit, I always enjoyed Vicki Lawrence’s Carol Burnett Show spin-off Mama’s Family when I used to watch it as a kid, and there’s no better primer than The Mama’s Family Favorites Collection (Time Life, Not Rated, DVD-$669.95 SRP), which brings together episodes from all 6 seasons, specially chosen by Lawrence.
It’s no surprise that they were able to craft a special volume of The Carol Burnett Show dedicated entirely to The Best Of Tim Conway (Time Life, Not Rated, DVD-$12.95 SRP) is of little surprise, as there is such a surfeit of material to choose from that it’s shocking there just a single disc. Now, here’s hoping we also get a “Best Of Harvey Korman” volume, as well.
Stressed? Want to color? Disney has a batch of new Art Of Coloring books, each featuring a 100 images, ready to calm you. The new batch features The Muppets, Tsum Tsum, the new live action Beauty And The Beast, and even The Golden Girls (Disney Editions, $15.99 SRP each).
For a kick ass lead character, look to Eve Thorogood in Wolf Creek (Lionsgate, Not Rated, DVD-$19.98 SRP), an American college student who decides to hunt down the serial killer who brutally murdered her family in the Australian outback. Bonus materials for the first season include a clutch of featurettes.
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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A half-century ago, film legend Vincent Price and his wife Mary released what they termed 
It’s brilliant that Abrams is genuinely committed to seeing that all 3 films will eventually get a book celebrating the iconic trading cards of our youth, as evidenced by the release of their second Star Wars volume, 
While it’s a bit of cognitive dissonance to see Jennifer Lawrence playing a middle-aged woman, she’s just such an ace performer that she carries 
As a prelude to giving her the legendary variety show that would cement her place in comedy history, CBS gave Carol Burnett a prime time special in 1966. Now you can watch the 
The thing that I love most about Thinkgeek is that so many of the products that they develop in-house fall into the category of “Well, that’s pretty nifty and I think I want one”. Case in point? Their 
Roger Corman’s low-budget cult classic ghost story 
It’s been 30 years since Maverick took the highway to the danger zone, so that means it’s the perfect time to release a brand new 30th anniversary edition of 
Spanning two decades of travels and containing a trio of specials, 
It’s been quite a few years since Michael Moore’s last documentary, but his latest, 
The co-creator of Supergirl, Brainiac, and The Legion Of Super-Heroes, Al Plastino was a golden age artist who worked on characters including Superman, Nancy, Joe Palooka, and Batman, and is now the subject of the illustrated biography 
Cut off from the world, the stranded residents of 
It’s a fair trick for a comedian to be able to bring his well-established stage persona to a sitcom and be able to build a viable show around it, but Jim Gaffigan manages to pull it off with the affable first season of 
One of the greatest Blaxploitation films of all time gets a truly wonderful high definition restoration with the release of 
The Criterion high definition mastering for David Lean’s powerfully moving adaptation of Noel Coward’s play about doomed romance, 
Betty White, Wendie Malick, Jane Leaves, & Valerie Bertinelli return for the 6th and final season of TV Land’s surprise hit 
Dakota Johnson doesn’t deserve the awfulness of 50 Shades Of Grey. If you’d like a much better vehicle for a charming actor, check out 
In order to prevent the destruction of the Earth, our heroes on the half shell journey into the farthest reaches of space in the 12 episodes found on 
Mash up Sons of Anarchy and Deliverance and you pretty much have the show 
If you’ve ever wondered about the ludicrously complex mechanisms that control how we remember, dive into the Nova special 
Olive Films continues to drop “thank goodness someone finally released them” catalogue titles in HD, with this month’s pair being Russell Crowe in 
Your toddler picks for this week are a pair of new Nickelodeon releases – 
Those catalogue mavens at Mill Creek have mined the vaults for another batch of reasonably-priced releases, including complete series sets of the shows 
It’s no Pixar production, but there’s more plenty of charm in 
He’s a genius and a swell guy, so of course I’m going to recommend Terry Gilliam’s “Pre-Posthumous Memoir” 
And speaking of Sideshow Collectibles, photographer Daniel Picard has taken several of the figures they’ve released over the years and used them to create some absolutely magical photographs by dropping them into exquisitely crafted tableaus that run the gamut from funny to poignant. Those photographs have been collected together into a hardcover coffee table book, 
Disney’s slow trickle home video release of their high-profile animated films has always been painful for those of us who want to own everything right now, compounded by the fact that I’ve gone through this dance with VHS, DVD, and now Blu-Ray. After what seems forever and a day, another long-awaited diamond has made it out of the rough with the high-def arrival of 
I had been hearing for months just how must-see wonderful the Brian Wilson biopic 
Its spin-off has faded into the sunset, so it’s the perfect time to circle back and re-experience where it all began with 
Yeah, so, you’ve got a bunch of old NES and SNES cartridges lying around from your childhood, and you’d love to be able to play them, right? Of course you would! And how about making the ability to play portable, as well? That’s exactly what you get with the 
Not only has Shout Factory brought the long out-of-print and ridiculously priced on the secondary market 
When most comic fans think of Donald Duck, they think of the comic book work of Carl Barks. The folks at IDW are looking to expand the appreciation of Donald’s comic adventures with the very first collection of 
And because Halloween is right around the corner, Fantagraphics has used that perfect timing to release volume 13 of their marvelous Carl Barks Library, 
If you’re looking for a pretty darn perfect way to introduce a young kid to the wonderful wonders of Carl Barks’s Disney duck tales, Fantagraphics has hit upon a handy little reformatting style for some of his classic stories, presenting them in a 5×11 style that’s perfect for carting about. Joining the already available 
While their cinematic universe is a drab, depressing antiheroic wasteland, the DC Comics television universe as been evolving into a lovely, interconnected, heroic bastion of enjoyable tales. While the third season of 
I desperately wanted to love Brad Bird’s 
The impending arrival of the new animated film on the big screen means we’re getting a deluge of books featuring and celebrating his creations, and one of the most beautiful is Chip Kidd’s 
A hearty thank you to the home video gurus at Warner Bros., who have used their mojo to shake loose and release a quartet of oft-requested catalogue titles from Paramount and get them in the hands of fans in glorious high-def. Those titles include the Harrison Ford building a barn vehicle 
Try and avoid the increasingly creaky Modern Family and instead focus your attention on the genuinely fresh and funny 
Yeah, I was certainly one of those fans who was deeply worried that the show wouldn’t be able to stick the landing at the end of its run, but the seven episodes of 
Biding time patiently for the next full season high-def release? Partake of 
Knowing that his artists, who had been toiling away on Mickey Mouse shorts and Silly Symphonies, were not quite ready to tackle something as artistically ambitious as their first feature, Snow White, Walt Disney arranged for what essentially was an in-house art school, organized by Chouinard instructor Don Graham. Featuring lecturers like Frank Lloyd Wright and Alexander Woollcott, the long-filed and rarely seen notes from those presentations have been collected together with context and copious illustrations in 
It’s the fall and a new season has begun, which means we also get the release of the previous season with the arrival of 
A zombie medical resident who works at the morgue, eats brains, and solves murders with the psychic information she gleans while eating those brains? From the guy who gave us Veronica Mars? Sure, I’ll watch that show. And you should watch the complete first season of 
The Peanuts gang ventures into international territory in 
From the work of Bill Theiss on the original series through the work of Robert Blackman and Michael Kaplan on the modern shows and films, 
Tell me 20 years ago, and I never would have believed you if you’d told me that Bobcat Goldthwait would turn out to be a filmmaker crafting some deeply fascinating films, the most recent of which, 
As finales of NuWho go, the two-parter 
As a film 
There are enough dour and depressing aspects barnacled on to the Batman universe that sometimes it takes a bit of real world joy to brighten up the impact of the Dark Knight, and that’s what we get from the documentary 
As much guff as Keanu Reeves has gotten for his acting and film choices over the years, his performance in Gus Van Sant’s 
I know my nephews, huge fans, probably would have begged to see 
While they’ve been available as separate collections of episodes, all of those separate discs have now been brought together in 
If you’re a fan of arthouse cinema – also known as, ya know, really good films that contain almost no CG, aliens, or superheroes – then the curated collection of 10 films put together by the award-winning team at Indiepix, running the gamut from comedy to drama to documentary, is right up your alley. The specially assembled lot includes 
Remember in the 1990s, when every year seemed to bring a new batch of Jackie Chan movies? Well, Warners aims tom remind you, with the high definition debut of a pair of those 90s Chan flicks – 
What do you do when your main character left the male stripping world at the end of your first surprisingly successful film but you really, really want to make a sequel? You use the old “Getting the band back together for one last hurrah” trope, and that’s exactly what we get in 
Just like the documentaries on World Wars I & II before it, there’s something undeniably fascinating in seeing history come to life merely by introducing color to what has always been black & white, and when it comes to photography, 
We haven’t gotten a proper Christmas episode out of the current iteration of the characters, so we’ll have to go to the last series for a festive 
A film like 
When you’ve exhausted sequels, go back and make a prequel, which is just what 
It’s long-established that HBO’s 
Another month brings another sterling entry in Disney’s remastered and expanded Legacy Collection of soundtrack re-releases, with the latest being the 1955 animated classic 
J.B. Kaufman’s epic 
As a child of the 80s, and a comic book fan, I was well and truly steeped in the Venn alignment of Larry Hama’s now-legendary run on Marvel’s GI Joe comic. That’s probably why I find IDW’s first class treatment of that run via their still-ongoing 
If you’re keen on seeing Will Smith be all suave as a master con artist who gets involved with a young novice who then reenters his life years later as a master manipulator, upsetting both his game and his heart, then 
While they’ve offered his iconic question mark sweater and scarf in the past, now you can finally complete his ensemble with the 
The fine folks at Olive have delivered another batch of deep catalogue high definition debuts with the release of Terry Jones’s 
While 
Fantagraphics lovingly presented 7th volume of Floyd Gottfredson’s run on the Mickey Mouse newspaper strip, 
The modern Turtles recently made their triumphant comeback to the Big Apple, but you can flashback to their 3-part battle with the Shredder in the 2003 series with 
While many today know him for his design work, that the legendary Alex Toth produced a barely-seen comic book about a dashing pilot that could exist in the same universe as The Rocketeer will come as a giddy surprise. And it should, because 
Hoping to cut the legs out from under all of those awful-looking public domain releases floating out there, CBS has released another complete season of beautifully remastered Cartwright adventures on the Ponderosa with 
Catch up with a pair of post-apocalyptic TNT originals with the complete fourth season of 
We’re entering the home stretch of the long-running British staple with the release of 
This week’s soundtrack round-up kicks off with Murray Gold’s score to 
While I have a cultural awareness, I do not have an emotional attachment to the late 90s/early-aughts era of wrestling dubbed by the WWE 
If your kids have been pleading for the return of Dreamworks Animation’s racing snail, their calls have been answered with the small screen return collected in 
The fine folks at Fantagraphics continue to do a stellar job presenting the works of the legendary Carl Barks for a brand new generation keen to discover the finest Disney Ducks comics ever created with the release of 
If they have to revisit Martin Scorsese’s 
It should come as little surprise that the brilliant Timothy Spall is brilliant in Mike Leigh’s biopic about Britain’s revered, emotionally complicated painter J.M.W. Turner in 
They’re not the best films ever made, but there’s a Technicolor delight to be found in the 5 flicks which comprise Warners’ new 
It’s quite a challenge to follow up such a powerful first season, but the second season of 
No longer do we have to content ourselves with the lackluster standard definition piecemeal releases of the gloriously vibrant pop-pop animated 
I love diving into books where you spend every page thinking, “Finally! Someone put together an awesome book that I never knew I wanted until it existed!” Such is the case with 
No one in their right mind would consider the latter-day Curly Joe features made by the Three Stooges to be the boys at their finest, but there is a charm and novelty to be found in 
S.H. Figuarts are known for their ridiculously poseable action figures with a level of near-miraculous articulation. Combine that with two Nintendo superstars and you’ve got must-have, shelf-ready figures of 
Ryan Gosling’s writing & directing debut, 
As a longtime Marvel comics nerd who owned every issue of the original Official Handbook Of The Marvel Universe, I mightily enjoyed the tech and geeky trivia packed into the official Haynes’ 
Because they’re wonderful maniacs, Olive Films have dropped another clutch of catalogue titles new to high-def, including Abbott & Costello’s final film, 
Twomorrows has taken their long out-of-print stellar biography of a comics legend and expanded it into a must-have deluxe edition with 
This week’s toddler time titles from the folks at Nickelodeon include 
For the Hal Lublins of the world, who would kindly be characterized as rabid wrestling fans, the 
Sometimes, you’re just hankering for a mindless action flick, and that’s exactly the sort of popcorn cleanser you’ll get from 
It’s impossible – Impossible, I say! – that John Hughes’s 
Following the Krang’s takeover of New York City, the Turtles take refuge in April O’Neill’s family cabin in the woods in 
Shazam! Taking an Andy Griffith Show fan-favorite character and putting him in the military proved comic gold in the long-running spin-off 
The epic arc of Avatar Korra comes to an end in 
The passing of Robin Williams adds a poignancy to 
The modern stone age family meets the modern stone age pastime in 
They’re not my cup of pixie dust, but I know plenty of my friends’ kids adore the denizens of Pixie Hollow, and for them, there’s delight in the arrival of their latest animated adventure, 
Help your preschooler learn the basics with the 3-disc 
While many a college professor has probably done the same, 
Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon return to their largely improvised hyper-reality selves in Michael Winterbottom’s 
Despite a shaky start and a network that doesn’t seem to know what to do with it, 
Fill the increasingly chilly hours during your December lock-in by partaking of a pair of Comedy Central shows ready for bingeing – 
Taken as a slick B movie, the adaptation of Joe Hill’s pulpy morality horror 
The Warner Archive continues to be a refuge for the studio’s often-overlooked animated fare, with brand new high definition releases for 
While purists may grumble with some alterations to the plot, none of that affects the thoroughly enjoyable soundtrack to Disney’s adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s 
It may be a bit soft-focus, but there’s something certainly uplifting in 
The Beeb has kids covered this season with the 
If, like me, you were onboard and hooked by the early days of Nick At Nite, a horse is a horse, of course, but there’s no horse as famous as 
Dysfunction has rarely been as enjoyably watchable as in 
It’s not often you see a romantic comedy centered around a pair of leads in the twilight of their lives, but 
If nothing else, the sixth season of 
Watching the Michael Bay-produced 
Glen Morgan was part of the key creative team on The X-Files, and he brings that supernatural sensibility to the BBC’s eerie paranormal thriller 
Listen, as far as charming little family flicks go, 
History buffs who want to pass the long family gathering hours watching documentaries instead can dive into the History Channel’s massive 20-disc 
Holiday viewing has reached its crass nadir with the arrival of 
There are a handful of beloved shows that many have claimed we’d never see on home video in their original form, due to their extensive use of popular music over the course of their runs. Well, you should never says never and nothing is impossible, and to prove that, the folks at TimeLife managed to clear an immense amount of obstacles to being out a truly special edition of 
The Walt Disney company has a brilliant musical legacy going back 85 years to its very first sound cartoon, and the company is diving headfirst into its impressive archives and surfacing with the absolutely incredible “Legacy Collection” of releases. Over the course of the next year on an almost monthly schedule, they’re releasing completely remastered and expanded editions of soundtracks from their most beloved films, as well as what one can only hope is a multi-disc set spotlighting the music of Disneyland. In addition to the soundtracks themselves, each set also includes rare demos, deleted songs, and newly-recorded “Lost Chords”, which takes those deleted songs from the films and realizes them with brand new recordings that attempt to match how they might have sounded if they were finished for the original films. The first clutch of releases to come down the pike – all of which are a must-have – are 2-disc sets for 
Has there ever been a cartoon as delightfully and decidedly weird and wonderful as 
While the legendary Carl Barks will always be foremost among the many comics creators working with Disney’s ducks, not the least for his creation of Scrooge McDuck, the second position in my heart goes to Don Rosa. Taking his inspiration from Barks, Rosa was able to craft incredible epics for a new generation of fans, full of intricate details and mythology that embraced the legacy of Barks’ classics. And now, the fine folks at Fantagraphics have followed up their wonderful Carl Barks Library releases with the first volume of the new Don Rosa Library, 
It took a few episodes for me (and the show) to latch onto its tone, but once we both did, it was a delight to dive into the twisted, brilliant, and consistently funny world of 
Chalk it up to poor marketing, because 
It still baffles me that Nickelodeon has not released their positively beautiful Ninja Turtles series in high definition, but at least they’ve finally bundled together 
I’m surprised it’s taken this long for him to turn his eye towards such an iconic American dynasty, but Ken Burns is at his absolute best in his portrait of 
As the world gears up for a newly reimagined big screen take on the character, dive into the original problem solver for hire with the limited edition complete collection of 
Every once in awhile, Disney drops another feel-good inspirational sports drama, and 
Freddie Highmore and Vera Farminga continue to be the main draw as young Norman and matriarch Norma in the second season of 
Disregarding his unfortunate obsession with William Shatner, 
I can appreciate what Seth MacFarlane was trying to do with 
Over 30 years ago, the now-legendary 
And from across the pond, we get the complete second season runs of a pair of the BBC’s supernatural dramas, with 
Just as atmospheric and fun as the film itself, Dario Marianelli’s score to 
As biopics go, the greatest trick 
From The Beatles to Lady Gaga, 
I’ve got to give Michael Bay credit for finding a way to make his already bloated and off-putting take on a fairly straightforward and ostensibly fun IP even more frustratingly boring and messy in 
Picking up a year after the events at the end of the first season, the second season of 
The revolving roster of Sipowicz’s partners lands on Rick Schroder in the seventh season of 
It’s about as far from the hip, modern Friendship Is Magic reinvention of the franchise, but those who want every iteration of a thing will probably still pick up 
Paul Haggis has never met a top-heavy, overly-layered story he doesn’t latch onto and infuse with a profound self-importance, and that’s pretty much what you get in 
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 
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 
While the bulk of Mel Brooks’ catalogue has been available in high definition, there’s been one title that’s been devastatingly absent – until now. The fine folks at Shout Factory have pulled out all the stops to give comedy fans a brilliant special edition of 
Directed by a young John Landis and crafted by the even younger Zucker Brothers, 
Those expecting a farce might be pleasantly surprised by the warmth of the comedy to be found in 
Already a quirky little gem, Fred Armisen & Carrie Brownstein’s 
While the original animated adaptation was never terribly great, nostalgia made me leery of the new animated reboot of the Ninja Turtles. Well, my fears have been wiped away by the fun, funny modern take which perfectly preserves all of the necessary elements to the Turtle mythos. Want proof? Look no further than the latest episode collection – 
Taking the same sensibility once focused on Star Wars and applying it to the superheroes and villains of the DC universe? Sold. Luckily, that pre-sale was proven correct with the hilarious 
It’s not the equal of the beautifully executed Avatar, but there’s still plenty to recommend in the premiere volume of 
A victim (Noomi Rapace) seeking retribution for a crime blackmails a professional killer (Colin Ferrell) into aiding her plan for revenge in the tense thriller 
Take a soaring high definition view of the northeast United States in the Smithsonian Channel’s 
This week’s TV release from Paramount bring one old and one new. For the new, we get the complete first season of 
I had no expectations for 
Rejoice, fans of wit and sequential art, for the great Michael Kupperman has given us a second volume of 
What more needs to be said about the absolutely stunning visuals and insight contained in the BBC’s breathtaking nature documentaries? All of those superlatives and more apply to their latest, 
It may not be the same kind of highbrow fare as one might get from Pixar, but 
Surprisingly, Nickelodeon’s relaunch of the franchise is actually pretty snazzy, as you’ll find in 
Watching the documentary 
Above all else, 
When a pair of engaged young lovers (Gael Garcia Bernal & Hani Furstenberg) venture into the Georgian wilderness on a backpacking holiday with a local guide, an incident creates a rift between them that threatens to undo both their vacation and their life together in 
This week’s soundtrack selections? Brian Tyler’s limited edition score to 
In 
An unexpected and terribly fraught May-November romance develops between a respected older journalist and a young journalism student in 
Every so often, it’s lovely to see a straightforward look at a pair of people who need each other in unexpected ways, such as in 
If you’ve been steadily dropping a not-insubstantial amount of money on the massive Ultimate Editions of the Harry Potter films on Blu-Ray, you know that you don’t yet have the big sets for the final two Deathly Hallows films. To those fans, the absolutely gigantic 
I plan on doing some international traveling in the near future, and everyone I talk to who has done the same has warned to remember a decent power converter. Thankfully, Thinkgeek now offers the perfect solution – the 
Universal’s 100th anniversary celebration has proved to be a remarkably wonderful year for getting highly desired catalogue titles released in high definition, and the streak keeps going with fully remastered editions of classics like 
How can you not love a film from the artsy brains at Aardman Animation? You can’t. Which is why you’ll love their latest – 
The first season was a somewhat shaky, often off-putting affair, but the second season of 
I admit, I was one of the naysayers who looked at ABC’s attempt to milk the Disney fairytale library for a soapy primetime drama that was equal parts Buffy and Dark Shadows as a sure-fire failure, but 
After a debut season that arrived with a bang, the second season of 
It’s a little early for Halloween, but 
When you’ve got a title for a documentary like 
It’s probably for the best that the 4th season of 
The live action film was an abysmal mess, but there’s some fun to be had in 
Criterion rolls out another pair of classy films with a classy treatment – Whit Stillman’s 
Adding to the rich history of the BBC’s exploration of pre-history is 
It’s potentially disastrous when the day after taking his first hit, the high school valedictorian learns that his school will be giving its students a drug test. With his scholarship on the line, what’s a panicky kid to do but hatch a plan to get his entire school high so everyone fails. 
And while you’re picking up the DVD, why not pick up Frederik Wiedmann’s score to 
Charlie’s dead and Alan and Jake soon find a naked millionaire played by Ashton Kutcher replacing him in the awkward 9th season of 
It’s a shame that 
Like Ron Perlman? And Katey Sagal? And bikers? Then the complete fourth season of 
It’s taken a few years, but I may finally be coming around to 
After the awful Muppets, I find watching Jason Segel’s gurning to be difficult to take, so it’s lucky that 
A trio of HBO sitcoms ending their runs get their home video release all at the same time – 
It has been on the decline for years, but it was clearly evident during 
R.L. Stine continues his mission to traumatize children, a mission you can experience via the first two volumes of his new anthology series airing on the Hub network, 
I’m not exactly sure why the Turtle costumes in Saban’s