First, the DVD picks:
- All in the Family: Fan Favorites
- Barney Miller: Fan Favorites
- Bewitched: Fan Favorites
- Big Windup Vol. 2:
- Black Lagoon Complete Series: Alex: This is season 1 and Season 2 (The Second Barrage). If there wasn’t some of the other stuff coming out this week, this would be a serious contender for my Pick.
- Blade of the Immortal Vol. 1: Alex: The anime of the manga series… which I swear we reviewed volume one of, but I can’t find it for the life of me.
- Cagney & Lacey: The Menopause Years: Blaine: Yes, that really is the title.
- Cobra: The Complete Series
- CSI NY: Complete Fifth Season
- Daybreak: The Complete Series
- Diff’rent Strokes: Fan Favorites
- Ergo Proxy The Complete Series: Alex: Another cyberpunk series (featuring an opening song by Radiohead – if that’s your kind of thing).
- The Girlfriend Experience: Steven Soderbergh’s latest project.
- Good Times: Fan Favorites
- The Guild: Seasons 1 & 2
- He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: Origins: The first few episodes of the new series.
- He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: Complete Series: This is the version starring Cam Clarke, not the version with story writing and editing by JMS.
- Heat Guy J Complete
- How I Met Your Mother: Season Four
- I Dream of Jeannie: Fan Favorites
- The Jeff Foxworthy Show: Fan Favorites
- The Jeffersons: Fan Favorites
- Johnny Mack Brown Western Classics: Includes “Desert Phantom,” “Guns in the Dark,” “Everyman’s Law,” “Between Men” and “Under Cover Man.”
- King of Queens: Fan Favorites
- Kings: Season One
- Life on Mars: The Complete Series
- Man Stroke Woman
- Management
- Married… With Children: Fan Favorites
- Mickey’s Christmas Carol (Disney Animation Collection 7)
- Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Season 1 Part 2: Without kitch
- Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Season 1 Part 2: With kitch
- Monsters vs. Aliens: Blaine: I still haven’t seen this, but want to.
- Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa: Extended Edition
- Naruto Shippuden, Vol. 1: Alex: The Filler is over
- Negima! Complete: Alex: I haven’t watched the series, but I’m currently reading the Manga and I like it.
- Newsradio: Fan Favorites
- One Piece Season 2, 3rd Voyage
- The Patty Duke Show: Season One
- The Real Ghostbusters: Complete Collection
- Sanford and Son: Fan Favorites
- Sola Complete
- Stepfather II
- The Storm Riders: Alex: Wuxia film based on a Chinese comic book.
- Superman/Batman: Public Enemies: The Single Disc Edition, based on the first story arc of the “Superman/Batman” comic series.
- Superman/Batman: Public Enemies: The Two-Disc Special Edition, based on the first story arc of the “Superman/Batman” comic series.
- Too Cool for School Collection: Includes “The Beach Girls,” “Cave Girl,” “Coach Hunk,” “Jocks,” “Malibu Beach,” “My Tutor,” “My Chauffuer,” “Pom Pom Girl,” “Tomboy,” “The Van” and “Weekend Pass.”
- Ultraman: The Complete Series
- The Unit: Season Four
- The Wizard of Oz: 70th Anniversary Two Disc Edition
- The Wizard of Oz: 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition with Digital Copy and Amazon Exclusive Set of 4 Collectible 8×10 Character Posters
Now, the Blu-Ray picks:
- Billy Jack
- Burst Angel Complete: Alex: Kind of cyberpunk anime.
- The Dark Crystal
- The Deer Hunter
- The Elephant Man
- Fireproof
- The Girlfriend Experience
- Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer
- How I Met Your Mother: Season Four
- Jim Henson’s Fantasy Film Collection: Includes “Dark Crystal,” “Labyrinth” and “Mirrormask.”
- Labyrinth
- Management
- Monsters vs. Aliens
- Ran: The Kurosawa film
- Snakes on a Plane
- Superman/Batman: Public Enemies
- Texas Chainsaw Massacre
- The Unit: Season Four
- The Universe: Complete Season Three
- Wagner’s The Ring Cycle: Alex: All 5 operas in the cycle.
- The Wizard of Oz: 70th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition with Digital Copy and Amazon Exclusive Set of 4 Collectible 8×10 Character Posters
Finally, the picks of the week. Alex says, “This is a toughie. Right off, Blade of the Immortal Vol. 1 is my DVD Pick, though if you want to grab a complete series, Black Lagoon is pretty good as well. Though, if you’ve got Blu-Ray, you’ve got Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal, The Wizard of Oz, all of which are very good.” Blaine says, “I agree that this is a tough week. There’s a lot of good stuff, but little that’s truly great. The Hensen movies, Wizard of Oz and Newsradio are all things I’ve seen and can recommend that way. DC’s done well with their animated features, so Superman/Batman is an option, too. There are a few contenders, but no clear standout.”
No standout option this week? Really?
I can tell you what I’d be buying if I had the money – The Real Ghostbusters Complete Collection. JMS got his start here, it expanded the Ghostbusters mythos in an excellent way (although it appears that it has more or less been removed from the official canon) and it’s the Ghostbusters! The picture on Amazon makes it look like one of the biggest collections that I’ve ever seen put together for a cartoon as well.
Well, it’s not that there are no stand-out options. It’s that there are too many. You just can’t pick one (easily).
The only thing that could possibly beat this is if we got the Star Wars Trilogy, the Alien films, and the Lord of the Rings Extended Editions all on Blu-Ray on the same day.
As Alex says, by “no standout” I meant “there’s not one clearly superior to the rest.” That’s not to say there aren’t good titles. And also, it’s my understanding that JMS really started with the original He-Man and the Master of the Universe first, then did this, Murder, She Wrote, and The Twilight Zone.
Ah, I follow now. This is why I should always wait until I’ve finished the first pot of coffee to post – the reading comprehension just isn’t there until pot number two, nor is the ability to not come off sounding like a jerk. Apologies if I offended.
I always forget that JMS was on He-Man, but we both forgot Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future!
Captain Power came three years later. It wasn’t forgotten, it just wasn’t before any of the rest. ;)
Boy I hope they release the other four seasons as box sets for those poor suckers (like myself) who impulse bought the first episode pack of Ghostbusters when it came out a few months back.
Ergo Proxy is a re-release and very tempting to pick up. Especially since I’m sure I have a better chance of winning the lottery than finding the last two volumes of the single-disc release for a reasonable price anywhere…
Heat Guy J is a maybe buy for me. I (and probably seven other people) caught it on it’s run on MTV when they were trying animation and it was pretty satisfying series. Looking at the first review though I can’t say I disagree, whenever I go to buy this there always seems to be something even better out.
Monsters Versus Aliens is my pick of the week though. I’m still deciding if I’m going to get the single disc regular edition or the two-disc edition with the extra short film. After the home experience with Coraline getting a version with 3d isn’t a huge priority. The yellow/blue 3d glasses left me watching the whole movie in a sickly yellow from being so left-eye dominate.