And for the first time in a while, I actually had a
little internal debate about what the Pick of the Week
would be. Yes, we have multiple contenders!
First, the genre releases:
- Beast
Machines
Transformers: The Complete Series: The CGI prequel
(precursor?) to
the classic Transformers is now available in one box
set. The
episodes I’ve seen were well written. - C.O.P.S.
– The
Complete Series: Before he worked on Batman: The
Animated Series,
Kevin Altieri directed episodes of this series about
cyborg police
with a tie-in to a line of toys. I had just outgrown
this sort of
thing, so I didn’t watch it, but I like Altieri’s
work. - Charmed
– The
Complete Fourth Season: Season five was recently
announced for a
June 6 release. - Computer
Generated Anime: Includes A.LI.CE. and
Blue
Remains. - Lady
and the
Tramp (50th Anniversary Edition): A classic from
the golden days
of Disney, when they had the guts to make accurate
adaptations of cocaine-induced
math
fantasies, without needed to worry about political
correctness. - The
Real
Ghostbusters – Creatures of the Night: J. Michael
Straczynski
adapted the movie for Saturday morning cartoons. The
standard this
set was the main reason I was unhappy with
Ghostbusters II.
By the time the sequel movie rolled around, Winston
had become a full
equal on the team in terms of treatment and writing.
(I can remember
a few episodes in which he saved them all.) The movie
relegated him
to the role of “new guy,” five years after he helped
them save the
world. - The
Real
Ghostbusters – Slimefighters: Another collection
of four episodes. - The
Real
Ghostbusters – Spooky Spirits: The third four
episode collection.
Now, the non-genre releases:
- 21
Eyes:
It’s a mystery movie filmed in first person
perspective. I hadn’t
heard of it, but I’m interested in the concept. - The
Avengers –
The Complete Emma Peel Megaset: A collection
including the
episodes with the only character I’ve ever heard of. - The
Avengers –
The Emma Peel Collector’s Edition Bonus Disk: If
you already own
the series, this is the bonus disk that includes all
content from the
Emma Peel Megaset that you don’t already own. Kudos
to them for
making it available individually. - Beverly
Hillbillies – Ultimate Collection, Vol. 2:
Contains the second
season. - Bleak
House: A 15 episode adaptation of Dickens that was
well reviewed. - Controversial
Classics Collection, Vol. 2: Includes
Network, Dog
Day Afternoon, and All The President’s
Men, each of
which is in a new two disk edition. - The
Drew Carey
Show: This seems to be a “best of” set from the
series. - The
Ice
Harvest: Another movie I wanted to see but
couldn’t find time
for. - Kind
Hearts
and Coronets – Criterion Collection: Again, the
words “Criterion
Collection” are practically enough to sell me on the
quality of the
movie. - Luciano
Ercoli’s The Death Box Set: I’ve heard of these in
terms of the
amount of violence and such within them, but haven’t
seen them. - Monty
Python’s
Flying Circus: Graham Chapman’s Personal Best:
Selections of the
classic series. - Monty
Python’s
Flying Circus: John Cleese’s Personal Best: This
had better
include the Ministry of Funny Walks. - Monty
Python’s
Flying Circus: Terry Gilliam’s Personal Best: From
the product
description: “Brace yourself for the first-ever,
ALL-ANIMATION Monty
Python program–exactly as Gilliam would have done it
if the BBC were
crazy enough to put him in charge.” - Monty
Python’s
Flying Circus: Terry Jones’ Personal Best: I’m
running out of
things to say about these… - The
Murder of
JFK: A Revisionist History: This surveys all of
the theories
around the death. With a title like that, I wonder
which one gets the
most support… - Newsradio
–
Complete Third Season: This was a sadly
underappreciated show when
it was on. This seasons includes “Space,” the episode
that shows what
the series would be like if it were set in outer
space. - Pride
and
Prejudice: Just in time for the Oscars. Kiera
Knightley is
nominated for “Best Actress.” - Walk
The
Line: Also released just in time for the
Oscars. - Where
The
Truth Lies: Atom Egoyan does good work, though not
normal work.
Finally, the pick of the week. In spite of the
presence of some great
Monty Python and Straczynski material, I have to go
with Newsradio
– The Complete Third Season. It was simply a
great show, and
deserves better than it got. Take this chance to see
Phil Hartman in
his prime.
Yay!
I agree with the Pick of the Week! (:
Re: Yay!
And I don’t know what season it was in, but they had a genre episode: News Radio… in SPACE! :)
Sigh… Phil Hartman, we miss you.
Re: Yay!
It was in this, the third season. Enjoy. ;)
MPFC
You can also catch these "Best of" Python shows on PBS… They already ran Erik and Graham’s… but they are also reshowing them.
If you happen to have HDTV they are doing it on their SD subchannels.
Pick of the Week
My "Pick" would definitely have to be "Kind Hearts and Coronets", no contest.