New TV on DVD: Bones, Mystery Science Theater, Monty Python
So the top-selling TV DVD this week will be Bones: Season 3 ($59.98), and I'm OK with that. Thanks to the strike, it's a short season, but definitely sweet, if you can handle shows about cannibalism.
But for me, the TV DVD of the week can only be Mystery Science Theater 3000: 20th Anniversary Edition ($59.99), the brilliant work of Shout! Factory (and not to be confused with last month's sold-out release of the tin-box edition with collectible memorabilia). This one's got everything you need, assuming that you actually do need the worst movies ever made with sarcastic commentary by a stranded astronaut and two robots who say things like "Two frat boys in a butt-on collision" while watching the sci-fi non-classic Crash of the Moons. You get 420 minutes of high-and-lowbrow comedy, multiple making-of features, and four unreleased episodes: First Spaceship on Venus, Laserblast, Werewolf, and Future War, featuring a hooker/nun, kidnapped future humans, and dinosaurs amok -- just another day in L.A.
Bones hooked me from the first scene of the first episode, when a skinless skull caved in the windshield of a car packed with stoned teenagers (except the virtuously sober designated driver). Time to get over C.S.I. and check out the new generation of forensic sleuths, Emily Deschanel (of the piercingly blue-eyed actress family) and David Boreanaz, vampire slayer Buffy's hunky lunk Angel, now scoring human roles. Did you know he was discovered by a Hollywood agent and launched to fame while walking his dog on a beach? Always look your best, people.
Nobody ever looked better than Gene Barry in Burke's Law: Season 1, Vol. 1 ($29.99). He plays Amos Burke, the plutocratic chief detective of LAPD back when they could afford Rolls-Royces with chauffeurs. Amos Burke was so cool, the character was actually created by Dick Powell. But Barry is also stylish, and you simply have to hear the seductive voice of the dame who intones the show's title at the start of each episode. When Burke laid down the law, it stayed that way.
David Tennant is one of the better Timelords in Doctor Who: The Complete Fourth Series ($99.98), studded with guest stars. Though I haven't seen the Christmas episode, I understand it involves the Starship Titanic, which must be a reference to the beloved 1998 novel/computer game of that name by Douglas Adams of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Terry Jones of Monty Python. I'll never forget Jones and Adams' visit to Amazon.com to autograph books, and Jeff Bezos's cackle when Jones sat in his lap.
The (perhaps graying) fanboy in your life will cackle like Bezos if you get him Monty Python's Flying Circus: Collector's Edition Megaset ($149.95), with all the original shows, plus live performances and documentary stuff. Given the recession, he'll probably not be too crestfallen if you get him the less physically imposing The Complete Monty Python's Flying Circus 16-Ton Megaset ($99.95), which is darn near as complete as the pricier one.
I can't bear to watch Hannah Montana: The Compete First Season ($39.99), partly because I'm the wrong sex and age, but mostly because I wish I'd thought of it myself. What an inspired idea, a sensitive kid who's also a megastar with megaclothes, megamoolah, everything but what she'd really have, megalomania. But the Hannah maniac on your gift list may be charmed to see how Miley and Cody Linley have grown.
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