FILM FRENZY

(Photos: The Odd Couple, Paramount; Farscape, Shout!)

By Matt Brunson

TV or not TV? This holiday season, that is the question.

This site obviously skews cinema, with some television offerings occasionally tossed into the mix (particularly in the weekly home-entertainment column View From the Couch). But in compiling picks for this year’s Holiday Gift Guide, the available end-of-year offerings certainly leaned heavily on the boob-tube side.

While there were some notable box sets for various filmic offerings, the majority of material that crossed my desk — make that couch — for HGG inclusion hailed from the small screen. That’s not a bad thing, as these selections offer plenty of binge-watching bang for the buck. Yet lest cinephiles feel neglected, a pair of movie sets are included amidst all the prime-time-and-beyond fare.

(Note: The retail prices are included as starting points only. Obviously, most of these titles can be found for lower costs on numerous websites, often even on the sites of the distributors themselves.)

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ALF: THE COMPLETE SERIES (1986-1990)

Format: DVD.

Studio / Distributor: Shout! Studios (www.shoutfactory.com).

The Scope: Four seasons, 100 episodes. Also includes Project: Alf (1996), the TV-movie finale; ALF: The Animated Series (1987-1989), two seasons, 26 episodes; ALF Tales (1988-1989), two seasons, 21 episodes.

The Scoop: Gordon Shumway, an Alien Life Form (hence ALF) from the planet Melmac, crash-lands his spaceship into the home of the Tanners, who decide to shelter and protect him. But although dad Willie (Max Wright), mom Kate (Anne Schedeen), teenage daughter Lynn (Andrea Elson), and prepubescent son Brian (Benji Gregory) eventually bond with the furry little fellow (a puppet controlled by show co-creator Paul Fusco), they also must deal with his unpredictable shenanigans. Even with a significant drop in viewership during its fourth and final season, this faddish NBC sitcom remained popular over the course of its run, with its highest Nielsen rating placing it at #10 for its second season.

Extras: Audio commentaries on four episodes by Fusco (speaking as ALF) and co-creator Tom Patchett; a look back at the show with Fusco and Patchett; a 32-page booklet with episode synopses, photos, and more.

Retail Price: $89.98.

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BABYLON 5: THE COMPLETE SERIES (1994-1998)

Format: Blu-ray.

Studio / Distributor: Warner Bros. (www.warnerbros.com).

The Scope: Five seasons, 110 episodes. Also includes Babylon 5: The Gathering (1993), the feature-length pilot. (It should be noted that the set does not include the five B5 TV movies from 1998-2002.)

The Scoop: Unique in that each season covers one year of time, this science fiction saga takes place beginning in 2257, as the various life forms (including Earthlings) that make up the inhabitants of the space station Babylon 5 try to coexist peacefully amidst political and prejudicial turmoil. Bruce Boxleitner (TV’s Scarecrow and Mrs. King) heads the cast; familiar co-stars include Stephen Furst (Flounder in National Lampoon’s Animal House), Jeff Conaway (Kenickie in Grease), and a grown-up Bill Mumy (little Will Robinson on Lost in Space). Babylon 5 was arguably the most popular show to air on the long-defunct Prime Time Entertainment Network (PTEN) before the outfit shut down; TNT picked up the series for its fifth and final season. The show won a pair of Emmy Awards for Best Special Visual Effects (for Babylon 5: The Gathering) and Best Makeup for a Series (for the Season One episode “The Parliament of Dreams”).

Extras: There are no extras.

Retail Price: $134.99.

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THE EUROCINE COLLECTION: VOL. 1 (1984-1994)

Format: Blu-ray.

Studio / Distributor: Full Moon (www.fullmoonhorror.com).

The Scope: Six movies.

The Scoop: An offshoot of Empire Pictures, the studio Charles Band founded before he later created the still-thriving Full Moon Features, Wizard Video was a VHS-era label that distributed scores of gory horror flicks and low-budget actioners, many of them imported European productions starring big-name actors in the slumming stage of their respective careers (major exception: Christopher Lee, who had no slumming stage because his entire career was spent zigzagging between A-list productions and Z-grade fodder). The Eurocine Collection: Vol. 1 offers a peek at six such efforts, and the promise of a Vol. 2 is merely an added Christmas bonus. P.S. It will shock no one to learn that four of these six films were directed (one co-directed) by Spanish exploitation legend Jesús Franco, who with over 200 credits to his name could keep such sets comin’ at us for decades. The Panther Squad (1984) stars Sybil Danning as the leader of a group of shapely mercenaries out to stop a terrorist organization. Nuff said. Angel of Death (1985), aka Commando Mengele, finds Robert Mitchum’s son Christopher cast alongside international star Fernando Rey in this yarn about Nazi war criminal Josef Mengele (Howard Vernon) continuing his experiments in a South American jungle hideout. Mania Killer (1987), aka Maniac Killer, features Chuck Connors as a dotty scientist, Bo Svenson as a Count, and Robert Ginty as the leader of a cult that kidnaps women in order to cleanse them of their sins by murdering them. Night of the Eagles (1989), aka Fall of the Eagles, offers an early peek at a movie with both Luke Skywalker and Count Dooku, only Mark Hamill is playing a Nazi and Christopher Lee is playing a well-meaning aristocrat whose daughter (Alexandra Ehrlich) has to choose between Hamill’s goose-stepper and an idealist played by one of the Sheen kids, Ramón Estévez. Countdown to Esmeralda Bay (1990) is set in a fictional Central American country where the fascistic military squares off against feisty rebels; the cast includes Robert Forster, George Kennedy, Fernando Rey (again), Ramón Estévez (again), and Return of the Fly’s Brett Halsey. Lastly, Downtown Heat (1994) has Mannix star Mike Connors and Charlie Chaplin’s daughter Josephine Chaplin offering support as cops trying to take down a mobster.

Extras: Does the outside packaging count as an extra feature? Because packaging this set inside a “big box,” just like the ones that hogged videocassette stores back in the day, is an inspired — nay, brilliant — decision. Inside, one can find a set of postcards for these films.

Retail Price: $99.95.

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FARSCAPE: THE COMPLETE SERIES (1999-2003)

Format: Blu-ray.

Studio / Distributor: Shout! Studios (www.shoutfactory.com).

The Scope: Four seasons, 88 episodes. Also includes Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars (2004), a two-part miniseries created after the show’s abrupt cancellation to wrap up various storylines.

The Scoop: American astronaut John Crichton (Ben Browder, who grew up here in Charlotte) inadvertently enters a wormhole and finds himself in a galaxy far, far away; he ends up taking refuge on a living spaceship named Moya, where he’s surrounded by various alien beings (courtesy of Jim Henson’s Creature Shop) who are being pursued by corrupt warriors known as the Peacekeepers. Farscape remains one of the longest-running shows on SYFY (né Sci-Fi Channel) — excluding wrestling and reality-TV nonsense, only two Stargate series have clocked more episodes — and its trippy visuals and hip sensibilities have allowed it to earn cult status in the wake of its continued and even growing popularity.

Extras: Audio commentaries on 30 episodes; a new retrospective piece featuring creator-writer Rockne O’Bannon and executive producer Brian Henson; vintage making-of featurettes; archival cast and crew interviews; deleted scenes; an alternate version of the Season Two premiere; original TV promos; and more.

Retail Price: $219.98.

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LEAVE IT TO BEAVER: THE COMPLETE SERIES (1957-1963)

Format: Blu-ray.

Studio / Distributor: Universal (www.moviezyng.com).

The Scope: Six seasons, 234 episodes. Also includes what was basically the pilot: “It’s a Small World” (1957), aired as an episode of the anthology series Studio 57 and featuring different performers as Ward and Wally Clever (this episode was lost for approximately 30 years, until a copy was located in the mid-1980s).

The Scoop: About as wholesome as any sitcom that ever graced television sets, this centers on the Cleavers, a typical (for vintage situational comedies, anyway) suburban family consisting of dad Ward (Hugh Beaumont), mom June (Barbara Billingsley), teenage son Wally (Tony Dow), and younger son Theodore, aka “Beaver” (Jerry Mathers). The Cleaver kids number among their friends “Lumpy,” “Whitey,” and Larry Mondello, but the standout (in both character personality and audience popularity) is Eddie Haskell (Ken Osmond), sycophantic toward the adults but obnoxious toward the other kids. Given its ubiquitous presence on the American landscape, I was shocked to discover during my research that not once did this series (which began on CBS but quickly moved over to ABC) ever crack the Nielsen Top 25. It did, however, land an Emmy nomination for Best New Program Series of the Year, where it — and Maverick, and Wagon Train, and The Tonight Show — lost to the classy yet short-lived (13 episodes) anthology series The Seven Lively Arts, produced by John Houseman.

Extras: There are no extras.

Retail Price: $129.98.

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MASAAKI YUASA: FIVE FILMS (2004-2021)

Format: Blu-ray.

Studio / Distributor: GKIDS & Shout! Studios (www.shoutfactory.com).

The Scope: Lemme check… Oh, yes, five films, just like it sez in the title.

The Scoop: Like Makoto Shinkai (Your Name., Weathering With You, the recent Suzume), Massaaki Yuasa is a Japanese writer, director, and animator who’s been in the business for over a quarter-century but who only recently has been building a stellar reputation outside of his homeland. He has worked on over 60 television shows, miniseries, and shorts, but it’s been his efforts as the guiding force behind five theatrical features that have brought him to the forefront of the anime field. Those five flicks are all included in this eye-popping box set. Mind Game (2004) employs various animation styles to relate the tale of a murdered slacker who returns to Earth to protect the woman he loves. The Night Is Short, Walk On Girl (2017) follows two college kids as they embark on an all-night, After Hours-like odyssey involving bars, a book fair, and a theatrical production. Lu Over the Wall (2017) centers on the relationship between a high school student and the mermaid he discovers and subsequently parades around town once she (shades of Splash) develops legs. Ride Your Wave (2019) finds a surfer girl falling in love with a firefighter, who then drowns but manages to come back in ethereal form. And Inu-Oh (2021) offers a meeting between the Noh of the 14th century and the glam rock of the 1970s, as a blind musician and a deformed dancer team up to create their own traveling band.

Extras: Audio commentaries by Yuasa and others on Mind Game, Lu Over the Wall, and Inu-Oh; interviews with Yuasa; scene breakdowns for all five films; Yuasa’s short films Happy Machine (2007) and Kick-Heart (2013); and more. The set also includes a 60-page book and a poster.

Retail Price: $99.98.

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MONK: THE COMPLETE FIRST SEASON (2002) / MONK: THE COMPLETE SECOND SEASON (2003)

Format: Blu-ray.

Studio / Distributor: Kino (www.kinolorber.com).

The Scope: Consider this one a work in progress. Unlike the other titles covered here, Monk is not being offered in one complete box set. Instead, each of the eight seasons is being released individually, with Seasons One and Two already available as of this November and December respectively and Season Three due January 30, 2024. Season One, 13 episodes; Season Two, 16 episodes.

The Scoop: A former detective with the San Francisco Police Department until the murder of his wife led to a nervous breakdown, Adrian Monk (Tony Shalhoub) sidestepped into a career as a private investigator and frequent SFPD consultant. Unfortunately, his obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and various phobias often render him an annoyance as much as an asset, as witnessed by his friend and Homicide Department head Leland Stottlemeyer (Ted Levine). Over its eight-year run, USA Network’s seriocomedy smash earned a total of 18 Emmy Award nominations and eight wins (three for Shalhoub as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series, three for its music, and a pair for guest stars John Turturro in Season Two and Stanley Tucci in Season Five); surprisingly, none of those 18 nods were for Outstanding Comedy Series.

Extras: Five short pieces featuring interviews with Shalhoub, Levine, and various cast and crew members.

Retail Price: Season One, $39.95; Season Two, $49.95; Season Three (preorder), $49.95.

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THE ODD COUPLE: THE COMPLETE SERIES (1970-1975)

Format: Blu-ray.

Studio / Distributor: Paramount (www.moviezyng.com).

The Scope: Five seasons, 114 episodes.

The Scoop: Neil Simon’s 1965 Broadway hit The Odd Couple, starring Walter Matthau and Art Carney, begat 1968’s movie hit The Odd Couple, starring Matthau and Jack Lemmon, begat 1970’s television hit The Odd Couple, starring Jack Klugman and Tony Randall. (A few more versions were begat — a Saturday morning kids’ cartoon featuring a dirty dog and a clean cat, an African-American TV variation starring Ron Glass and Sanford son Demond Wilson, a female stage version with Sally Struthers and Rita Moreno, and a new TV launch starring Matthew Perry and Thomas Lennon — but all these were quickly forgat … uh, forgot.) The hook finds two divorcés, the fussy, neat-freak photographer Felix Unger (Randall) and the slovenly, acerbic sportswriter Oscar Madison (Klugman), frequently at odds as they share a Manhattan apartment. Unlike too many big-screen-to-small-screen adaptations, this one can stand proudly next to its predecessor. Surprisingly, the show never cracked the Nielsen Top 25 (see also Leave It to Beaver, above), although it did earn two Emmy nominations for Best Comedy Series, three victories for Best Leading Actor in a Comedy Series (two for Klugman, one for Randall), and a pair of Grammy Award nominations for Neal Hefti’s delightful instrumental theme (brought over from the film version).

Extras: Audio commentaries on select episodes; audio introductions by series developer Garry Marshall on select episodes; a gag reel; promos; and more.

Retail Price: $79.99.

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THAT GIRL: THE COMPLETE SERIES (1966-1971)

Format: DVD.

Studio / Distributor: FilmRise (www.moviezyng.com).

The Scope: Five seasons, 136 episodes. Also includes the unaired pilot (with some different co-stars), which didn’t see the light of day until 1996.

The Scoop: Ann Marie (Marlo Thomas) elects to move out of her parents’ Small Town, USA, house and live in New York City, where she hopes to make it as an actress. She rather rapidly acquires a boyfriend in magazine writer Donald Hollinger (Ted Bessell) and continues to work small jobs as she awaits her big break. This is one of the first shows I recall seeing as a wee lad, as I was taken with Thomas’ effervescent character. It’s forever linked in my mind with The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and no wonder: Both center on an intelligent brunette whose vibrant personality and feminist values help her once she moves to a major metropolis seeking success. In fact, the series helped set the template for many such shows to follow in the seventies, focusing on a single career woman who was beholden to no boss and no husband. Surprisingly, the show never cracked the Nielsen Top 25 (see also The Odd Couple, above, and Leave It to Beaver, above above), although it did earn Thomas four Best Leading Actress in a Comedy Series Emmy nominations and Bessell one Best Leading Actor in a Comedy Series Emmy bid over the course of its five-year run.

Extras: There are no extras.

Retail Price: $59.99.

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WARNER-DC SUPERHEROES (2014-2023)

Format: Blu-ray, 4K, and DVD.

Studio / Distributor: Warner Bros. (www.warnerbros.com).

The Scope: Varies by title.

The Scoop: To paraphrase a quote (or misquote, as many have determined) by Mark Twain, “The reports of DC’s death are greatly exaggerated.” Certainly, most of the superhero flicks being produced by DC (and, it must be noted, Marvel) are underperforming at the box office, whether due to genre fatigue, lack of quality control, an oversaturation of the marketplace, or something else. But if the same thing is happening on the television side, one wouldn’t know it based on the glut of super-shows now appearing on Blu-ray, 4K and/or DVD. And it’s not just the latest individual seasons of various shows getting all the attention: The Warner-DC conglomerate has also been reissuing previously released seasons as well as gathering up individual seasons for completed shows and repackaging them as box sets. Thus, consumers have the choice of nabbing The Flash: The Ninth and Final Season to complete their collection, the reissue of The Flash: The Complete First Season to begin their collection, or The Flash: The Complete Series to both begin and end their collection in one fell swoop. They can also grab the new release Stargirl: The Complete First Season, although it’s actually a revisit to the set released back in 2020. Or they can merely continue to enjoy a series still in progress, like the animated Harley Quinn: The Complete Third Season. (Season Four has already aired and will likely be headed to Blu in 2024, while the renewal of the show for a fifth season was confirmed just last month.) There’s also The Sandman: The Complete First Season, Titans: The Fourth and Final Season, and even Pennyworth: The Complete Series.

Extras: Sample bonuses include deleted scenes on The Flash: The Ninth and Final Season; behind-the-scenes featurettes on The Sandman: The Complete First Season; and pieces on the characters on Titans: The Fourth and Final Season.

Retail Price: Blu-rays range from $29.98 for The Sandman: The Complete First Season and Stargirl: The Complete First Season to $149.99 for The Flash: The Complete Series. Other prices based on format.

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