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…)
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 Wonder Years: The Complete Series (Starvista, Not Rated, DVD-$249.95 SRP), in which they’ve managed to clear nearly all of the music for the series, and added in a truly impressive clutch of newly-produced bonus materials to boot. And, if you buy the complete series set, it comes packaged in a miniature metal case fashioned like a school locker, complete with combination lock. However, if you want to buy the show in easily digestible season form, they’ve also released Season 1 individually (Starvista, Not Rated, DVD-$19.95 SRP).
While his rogues gallery has already been well-represented with the release of The Joker, Harley Quinn, and Catwoman, we finally get the dark knight detective himself with the arrival of Sideshow’s spiffy Batman (Sideshow Collectibles, $199.99). Based on his classic blue & gray look, it thankfully finds a nice middle ground from all of the various visual incarnations the character has had over the years, avoiding the awful grim and gritty trap to present a great representation of an iconic character. The figure comes with various hands, batarangs, a grappling gun, a swappable head (you can choose long ears or short ears), and swappable mouths (neutral and toothy grimace).
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 The Lion King and Sleeping Beauty (Walt Disney Records, $14.98 SRP each) and a 3-disc set for Mary Poppins (Walt Disney Records, $21.88 SRP). My fondest hope is that the series will keep rolling along even beyond its August 2015 end date, and start giving long-deserved proper treatment to the music of Disney’s 1940s compilation films like The Three Caballeros, Make Mine Music, Fun & Fancy Free, The Adventures Of Ichabod & Mr. Toad, Melody Time, and Saludos Amigos. Here’s hoping, but until then, buy every single one of these.
Has there ever been a cartoon as delightfully and decidedly weird and wonderful as Adventure Time (Cartoon Network, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$32.07 SRP) consistently proves to be? Because it has grown and matured into as epic a narrative as any full blown adventure should be, with a surprisingly mature narrative at its core. Want proof? Dive into the fourth season episodes collected in this set, and then prepare yourself for the bright darkness to come in season 5. Bonus materials include commentaries and a featurette on the show’s music.
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, Uncle Scrooge And Donald Duck: The Son Of The Sun (Fantagraphics, $29.99 SRP), which collects the first batch of Rosa’s Duck Family work, along with additional essays and insights. And it is GREAT.
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 Rick And Morty (Adult Swim, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$29.02 SRP). Kudos to Justin Roiland, Dan Harmon, and the entire writing staff for a ride that’s probably the closest we’ll get to an American version of Doctor Who. Bonus materials include audio commentaries, animatics, a featurette, deleted scenes, and special guest commentaries (with the likes of Matt Groening, Pen Ward, and more).
Chalk it up to poor marketing, because Edge Of Tomorrow (Warner Bros., Rated PG-13, 3D Blu-Ray-$44.95 SRP) is too good a film to have died the death it did at the box office. But it’s entirely appropriate that a sci-fi Groundhog Day about coward Tom Cruise learning from his mistakes in order to prevent total destruction of the human race in a war with aliens may get a second chance to be discovered on home video. Heck, it even appears the studio is trying to rename the film from its vague theatrical title Edge Of Tomorrow to the much more straightforward Live. Die. Repeat. Will it work? I hope so. See it. Bonus materials include a handful of featurettes, deleted scenes, and more.
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 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Complete 1st Season (Nickelodeon, Not Rated, DVD-$34.99 SRP), which simply boxes together the previously available releases. I guess that’s something right?
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 The Roosevelts (PBS, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$129.99 SRP). The 7-part series explores the lives of Teddy, Franklin, and Eleanor in the usual comprehensive and irresistibly fascinating fashion. Bonus materials include additional footage, deleted scenes, and a making-of featurette.
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 The Equalizer (VEI, Not Rated, DVD-$205.56 SRP), starring Edward Woodward as the titular Equalizer, Robert McCall, a British army vet and former member of a shadowy government agency who seeks atonement for his time in “The Company” by offering his services to the public. The 30-disc set contains the complete run, plus an audio commentary on the pilot, featurettes, and a photo gallery.
Every once in awhile, Disney drops another feel-good inspirational sports drama, and Million Dollar Arm (Walt Disney, Rated PG, Blu-Ray-$39.99 SRP) has the benefit of starring Jon Hamm as a desperate sports agent angling to save his fading career by finding the next big Major League pitcher in a quite unorthodox location – amongst Indian cricket players. Bonus materials include deleted scenes, an alternate ending, featurettes, and outtakes.
Freddie Highmore and Vera Farminga continue to be the main draw as young Norman and matriarch Norma in the second season of Bates Motel (Universal, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$49.98 SRP),as the consequences from last year’s murder and quickly unraveling family secrets drive mother and son down far darker paths. Bonus materials include featurettes and deleted scenes.
Disregarding his unfortunate obsession with William Shatner, To Be Takei (Anchor Bay, Not Rated, DVD-$19.98 SRP) presents an intimate portrait of George Takei as an actor, a pop culture icon, a longstanding campaigner for gay rights, a living witness to the treatment of Japanese-Americans during WWII, and just a charmingly entertaining human being. As far as bonus features go, the DVD contains a clutch of bonus scenes.
I can appreciate what Seth MacFarlane was trying to do with A Million Ways To Die In The West (Universal, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$34.98 SRP), which was to make a latter-day Blazing Saddles with modern crass sensibilities brought to the Western milieu. A great shame, then, that it’s so relentlessly off target and resoundingly unfunny, couple with a run time of over 2 hours that makes it feel like Judd Apatow found a time machine. Bonus materials include audio commentaries on both the theatrical and unrated versions, featurettes, deleted/extended/alternate scenes, and a gag reel.
Over 30 years ago, the now-legendary Motown 25 (StarVista, Not Rated, DVD-$39.98 SRP) concert aired on NBC, celebrating a quarter century of the legendary hit factory and featuring the debut of Michael Jackson’s famous moonwalk. Unseen since then, the special has been fully remastered with 5.1 sound for this brand new special edition, featuring 3 discs packed with unseen performances and more.
And from across the pond, we get the complete second season runs of a pair of the BBC’s supernatural dramas, with Afterlife (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$ SRP) and In The Flesh (BBC, Not Rated, DVD-$29.98 SRP). Flesh is featureless, but Afterlife contains a behind-the-scenes featurette about crafting the show’s spooky atmosphere.
Just as atmospheric and fun as the film itself, Dario Marianelli’s score to The Boxtrolls (+180 Records, $12.99 SRP) is a perfect little sonic gem to pass an evening with while you’re waiting for the film to come to home video.
As biopics go, the greatest trick Houdini (History Channel, Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$29.99 SRP) performs is managing to take a compelling person and story and render it in a dishearteningly bland fashion with Adrien Brody as the titular escape artist/paranormal debunker. Which is a shame, because I wanted it to be so much more than it is. The real draw of the set is the glimpses in the bonus materials of the real Houdini.
From The Beatles to Lady Gaga, Money For Nothing: A History Of The Music Video (Virgil Films, Not Rated, DVD-$19.99 SRP) takes a comprehensive, and exhaustive, look at the evolution of the art and commerce behind the enduring marketing phenomenon.
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 Transformers: Age Of Extinction (Paramount, Rated PG-13, 3D Blu-Ray-$49.99 SRP), which actively works to make you hate even “hero” Optimus Prime. It’s just… It’s really baffling. I would almost go as far as to call it an exercise in contempt for the franchise, or a form of self-loathing. With Mark Wahlberg. So, way to go, Bay! Bonus materials include a mess of featurettes and more.
Picking up a year after the events at the end of the first season, the second season of The Following (Warner Bros., Not Rated, Blu-Ray-$49.99 SRP) finds ex-FBI agent Ryan Hardy (Kevin Bacon) still in the process of rebuilding his life as a horrific killing spree brings Hardy and his ex-partner into the investigation and on a most disturbing trail. Bonus materials include an alternate season ending, deleted scenes, featurettes, and a gag reel.
The revolving roster of Sipowicz’s partners lands on Rick Schroder in the seventh season of NYPD Blue (Shout Factory, Not Rated, DVD-$34.99 SRP), which finds Dennis Franz’s grizzled detective emotionally scarred following the previous season’s events. The 6-disc set contains all 22 episodes, but sadly no bonus materials.
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 My Little Pony: The Complete Series (Shout Factory, Not Rated, DVD-$29.93 SRP), which collects all 65 episodes of the 1980s original.
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 Third Person (Sony, Rated R, Blu-Ray-$35.99 SRP), which interweaves a trio of relationship tales in three different locales, peopled by a cast that includes Liam Neeson, Mila Kunis, James Franco, Adrien Brody, and Kim Basinger. Bonus materials include an audio commentary, a featurette, and a Q&A with Haggis.
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 wasn’t sure what to expect from 
Thinkgeek time! Googly eyes are fun. You know it. I know it. And you know what’s even more gun than googly eyes? 
It doesn’t have the flash bang of a Harry Potter, but the Diary Of A Wimpy Kid series continues to get soplidly entertaining adaptations with its aging cast, the latest being the summer-themed 
Mike Birbiglia’s 
I find Seth MacFarlane’s humor to be hot & cold, but for the most part, the be-careful-what-you-wish-for comedy 
Even after watching the entire first season, I’m still not sure if I like Lena Dunham’s celebration of privileged naval-gazing, 
As a kid watching the early days of The Disney Channel, I must have seen 
I’m all for Jeremy Renner, but I think he got the short end of the stick in trying to follow up an absent Matt Damon in 
If you’ve only ever seen Gordon Ramsay being all shouty and sweary in his various programs, you should try seeing him in a more relaxed mood, just doing what he loves, and does well. And hey, you can see exactly that on 
It’s a messy failure, but Warren Beatty certainly seemed to be genuinely interested in trying to bring 
Though I still find Robert Pattinson to be a cipher as an actor, that works for his role in David Cronenberg’s 
You’ve got to hand it to director Gordon Liu – if you want a non-stop adrenaline rush of martial arts fury, look no further than the bombastically-titled 
So what happens if you combine the adrenaline rush of Run Lola Run with the dangerous world of New York City bike messengers by giving a messenger a delivery that results in deadly chase through the streets? You get the surprisingly enjoyable thriller 
Also making their high definition debut this week are the catalogue titles 
Forget every memory you’ve etched in your brain about the Schwarzenegger flick, because the new 
This week also brings a pair of Showtime series to DVD, including the first season of the Don Cheadle vehicle 
After his awkward piece of performance art at the Republican National Convention, it’s a shame that the next time we saw Clint Eastwood on film it’s in the turgid 
Various elements are certainly dated, but there are some genuine scares to be found in the classic UK television anthology 
It’s not the recent 25th anniversary concert that brought the house down at the O2, but 
US Marshal Matt Dillon (James Arness) is back in the saddle for 
Serious baseball nuts with disposable cash will probably want to pick up the official Major League Baseball 
They’ve become as regular as the seasons, but 
Not nearly as polarizing as his son, it’s easy to watch the documentary about George Herbert Walker Bush, 
It can be very Lifetime Movie “Up With People”, but at least the History Channel’s miniseries 
Get a whole new clutch of short attention span comedy with the complete second season of 
In 1964, James Whitmore starred in a powerful adaptation of John Howard Griffin’s 
If you only know him from Derrick Comedy or Community, you owe it to yourself to partake of Donald Glover’s first stand-up special 
Who doesn’t love being able to launch things at friends, foes, and family alike with their very own desktop catapult? Particularly when that desktop catapult launches safety-friendly foam balls? Well, that’s just what the 
Further closing the hole in fans’ complete collection of every episode, a pair of rather good Jon Pertwee 3rd Doctor stories – 
I’m delighted that my goof buddy Loren Bouchard’s brilliant 
While Meryl Streep is certainly wonderful in the role, it’s a shame that 
It’s one of those not-terribly-good releases that curious and completionist genre fans have been asking about for years, so they’ll be delighted to get 
Kudos to director Brad Bird for helming 
Just when you thought it was safe to assume that David Attenborough and the BBC’s nature documentary team couldn’t possibly top themselves comes the incredible beauty of 
Time for another soundtrack round up for all of you fans of cinematic scores – you know who you are. First up is David Arnold & Michael Price’s score from the BBC’s superb 
Kiddies and hipsters alike will rejoice at the release of 
While most of the talk has been about Michael Fassbender’s part in Steve McQueen’s 
As if Frozen Planet weren’t enough, another visually stunning nature documentary hits home video this week with 
Elmo gets supersized in 
Fans can pick up the 7th volume of Seth MacFarlane’s often overlooked other series, 
The adventures of Ben 10 come to a close with 
The second season of 
Dance your weekend away – or at least watch the master do it – with a pair of deep catalogue release from the Warner Archive Collection starring the great Fred Astaire – 
How about a clutch of new releases from the History Channel? On the good side, you have a pair of documentaries worth a look-see, with 
It’s been a long, long, LONG wait, but the fine folks at Cinematic Titanic make a strong return with their road-tested riff of the awkward merging of both Kung-Fu AND Blaxsploitation, all wrapped in a model of poor filmmaking and worse acting… I give you 
I’ve never owned a good cooking knife in my life. Usually, I’ll hack meat and vegetables with a steak knife, ’cause that’s all I’ve got. Every time I’ve tried to buy a better knife, I’ve always chosen poorly, and wound up with a quick-dulling instrument that just sends me right back to my trusty serrated hacksaws. Well, now I’ve seen the light – and it’s not metal. No, it’s 
It’s not a kiddie movie, but I certainly saw it as a kid, and I still love the anarchic blackness that permeates one of the most offbeat holiday flicks to ever hit screens, 
No one rants with quite the same vigor – and accessibility – as Charlie Brooker. Like a cross between Mark Twain and a riled wasps nest, Brooker’s regular column in the Guardian is an ongoing social commentary that inspires equal parts knowing laughter and sympathetic bile. Don’t believe me? Pick up the latest collection – 
How sweet is it that we’re actually a dozen volumes in to the The Complete Peanuts? What seemed like it would take forever to accomplish – the presentation of the entire run of Charles Schulz’s classic strip – now seems to be flying by, as we can all dive into 
If their continued collections of Peanuts weren’t enough to earn Fantagraphics the love and adoration of comics fans the world over, then their beautiful collections of the EC Segar strips starring his cantankerous, shambling sailor should secure that place within their hearts. The 4th collection – 
It’s refreshing to upend the traditional romantic comedy formula and look at how unpredictable love can actually be with 
While Office Space has become an instant classic and even the marginalized Idiocracy has become a cult flick, Mike Judges latest, 
What do you do when you’re a network with a surprise hit on your hands? You don’t wait around for your debut season to wrap before you rush out a DVD collection featuring the first half of said season – and that’s what we’ve got with 
Catch up on your TV viewing over the holiday break with both the 3rd and final season of the sci-fi show 
It came and went from theaters with only the slightest of notice – a disappointment, considering it was the theatrical follow-up to Juno from screenwriter Diablo Cody. Which is a shame, as 
Check another series off your running list, as we’ve come to the release of the 7th and final season of 
Oh, what I wouldn’t do to put a bullet through the sadly long-lived American Pie franchise, which has now moved into 
What was just about the last season of the show turned out to be just another one after it was picked up, so now you can rest easy as you partake of 
It’s the second volume of 
The regular episodes are often painful scattershot, but the focus of their Star Wars episodes seems to bring out the best in Seth MacFarlane & company, as you can see for yourself with 
Go all the way back to the days of Wendy, Marvin, & Wonder Dog with the first volume from the premiere season of the original 
I remember when 
I’d like to say that Mel Brooks’ 
Christmas is dead and buried, so that means we start getting releases like a special edition of 
It’s all hit the fan in the third season of 
Wrap up the season that brought in Rob Estes, Alyssa Milano, and Lisa Rinna (and showed the door to Grant Show, Marcia Cross, & Laura Leighton) with 
It’s not good cinema, but the flicks contained in 
It never fails to bring a warm feeling when one of those Sunday afternoon flicks that used to permeate my youth gets all cleaned and gussied up and finds its way into high-definition. Certainly those warm feelings come from 
It doesn’t happen often enough, but 
David Tennant’s era as The Doctor has just come to a close, but there’s still plenty of classic Doctor adventures still in the pipeline. The newest releases to keep you warm (if the scarf isn’t enough) is the William Hartnell era 
It’s not for your younger kiddies, but there’s enough inventiveness and beauty of execution to make 
With the resurgence of 3-D, particularly in horror films, it was only a matter of time before the Final Destination franchise decided to go all cine-poky with 
You can feel the end coming on as the 9th season of 
There are many catalogue titles whose arrival in high definition have been long awaited, and near the tippy top of the nerd list (I count myself amongst you, my brothers and sisters) is the Star Trek feature films. The arrival of JJ Abrams’s big screen revamp means that we get the 6 films comprising the original cast’s own cinematic adventures, all contained in the 
This past winter, things got a bit dry in the ol’ air I was a’ breathin’. Not wanting to cart out the massive room humidifier I had occasionally used in years past, I instead suffered through the dryness. If only I knew then about the 
Even though the new Star Trek film effectively eliminates all of these stories from continuity (big nerd boo!), the eight episodes – 4 on each – contained on the single disc 
Some see it as the film the broke the back of the Star Trek franchise, poking fun at some of the barnacles that had long ago become franchise cliches. Nonsense. I see 
For some inexplicable reason, North America’s first DVD introduction to the wonderful 
Penn & Teller are back on the case, exposing bullshit for what it is in the complete sixth season of the appropriately titled 
Remind yourself of Tom Hanks’s mulleted-glory in full high definition via the new extended cut of 
Launched as an online extension of his low-cost animation empire, 
Liam Neeson plays a father (and ex-CIA agent) who’s hot on the trail of his kidnapped daughter in the surprisingly engaging thriller 
It’s no great flick, but there was a certain B-movie horror punch to 
Remember all those TV shows you bought on DVD? Well, you might as well get used to re-buying them all on Blu-Ray, particularly when shows like 
I suppose somewhere, in some universe, someone was hoping for a direct-to-video sequel to Donnie Darko focusing on the now grown-up sister of Donnie and her own encounters with time-hopping bunnies and bizarreness. Well, that person will be happy to hear about the existence of 
The House of Mouse continues its Walt Disney Animation Collection of classic short films with the release of a new trio of discs featuring 
Kicking back with more comforting junk food comedy in the form of the complete fifth season of 
The remastered editions of 
If you want a graphics tablet just for the occasional use and don’t want to drop a ton of money on a deluxe one, the 
When people ask me why I tend to prefer British comedies to their US counterparts, I have only to point to a show like 
It is with no small irony that Kate Winslet won an Oscar for her role in 
There’s simply too many television shows in the studio libraries for even the most diligent company to release in a timely fashion. Stepping in to help get that TV product out is the fine folks at Shout! Factory, who have built a reputation in licensing and releasing top-notch TV-on-DVD releases that have until now fallen through the cracks. The series getting complete first season sets from Shout! are 
One new TV-to-DVD set that special kudos must go to Shout! Factory for is the release of the complete first & second seasons of 
The actually decent animated adventures of ol’ webhead continue in 
It’s the second of the cobbled-together attempts by Warner Bros. to utilize their extensive animation back catalog, and while the Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie featured new interstitial animation directed by Chuck Jones, 
It’s pretty much your standard, cliched girl vs. girl comedy, but at least 
I periodically try, but I still don’t enjoy Seth MacFarlane’s 
I know there were fans of it, but I never really could get into the 90’s animated adventures o Marvel’s mutants, The X-Men. For those that did, though, you can now pick up 
Universal jumps into their library and comes up with a batch of pre-code films (much like Warners and Fox) for their first 
Universal also dips into the archives to release a restored 75th anniversary edition of Cecil B. Demille’s 
It’s still flawed and not terribly good, but 
It’s pretty paint by numbers, but kudos must go to 
We’re up to the sixth season of 
I never thought we’d reach the end, but another TV show’s DVD journey is over with the release of the 9th and final season of