Two of each this time: Movies, TV, Anime. To start with Movies, the one that is gut-level intense is the Book of Eli, the first apocalypse story I have seen since Mad Max (the original film, not the sequels) that rings true on every level. Even the touch about the disaster happening because the sun flared through and past the stripped off ozone layers matches in every detail with our current atmospheric situation. The other film of note this week is When In Rome, a romantic comedy that takes several cultural preconceptions and scrambles them beyond belief. Each of these is worth your attention, although one is a bit more important on a long term basis than the other.
In the TV series category, Sanctuary: The Complete Second Season is the top choice. Hopefully you already know why, but if you don’t, consider Nikola Tesla as a Vampire and Jack the Ripper as a Teleporter, and realize they are a few of the more normal regular characters in this series. I recommend this one to everybody. The other TV release worth noting this week is the MacGyver: The TV Movies set, two made for TV movies from 1994. While not strictly SciFi, MacGyver was a Geek Hero, building whatever he needed from whatever was available, the way we all do. It was a nice surprise in those days to have a character who shared our understanding of the world.
On the Anime front, we have 3 box sets this week, with the first two being new. First we have the Clannad: Complete Collection series for 24 episodes, in the growing up damaged category. The other new release is X: TV, not to be confused with the X: Movie series. Both of these are somewhat deceptive, since single season collections have been released for each, but not complete collections until now. The Witchblade DVD Complete Series has been previously released, but this week the Viridian Collection version becomes available, making it much more affordable. If you haven’t been reading the Top Cow comic, and somehow missed the live action TV series, and didn’t know about this Anime TV series, trust me when I say you want to watch this. The weapon chooses its wielder, and modifies their perceptions/gestalt during combat to produce the results it desires. It takes a very strong person indeed to overcome the handicaps to change the end results to something acceptable to them, and watching the protagonist work their tail off to make that happen is the core of this series.
There is a category I don’t usually include that is valid this week: Sleazy Pulp SciFi Collections. One of those collections is the Golden Age of Sci Fi, Fantasy & Adventure, which is a documentary with folks like Ray Bradbury involved. The other is Sleazy Sci-Fi of the 1970s, which is pretty much as the name implies. We go months sometimes before a DVD about SciFi is released, so to have 2 in the same week is well worth noting. While I will do my best to pick up both, I can only recommend one; make your own choices.