Check out the week's new releases in our latest installment of... TV on DVD!
Show: Mission: Impossible: The Final TV Season (CBS/Paramount)
Format: DVD, Blu-ray
What is it? By the time this spy show was heading into this, its seventh and final season, both Martin Landau's and Leonard Nimoy's characters were long gone. But series mainstays Peter Graves and Greg Morris were still around, and seeing as everyone wore elaborate masks half the time, this show could've starred Dracula, Frankenstein and the Wolfman and nobody would've known (well, except their agents). Graves even came back 15 years later for the 1988 relaunch that starred Phil Morris, Greg's son, as the son of Greg's character. Besides, this show was never about the people. It was about the intrigue, the gadgets and that infectious theme song by Lalo Schifrin that people still hum when they're trying to sneak into the kitchen for a snack without their wives/husbands/dogs finding out.
Number of discs/episodes: 6 discs/22 episodes.
Extras: None.
Price: $54.99.
Buy, borrow or ignore: Buy.
Show: Spin City: Season Three (Shout! Factory)
Format: DVD.
What is it? Besides being its star, Michael J. Fox was also an executive producer on this sitcom. Which is worth mentioning because one of the running plotlines this season was about his character dating supermodel Heidi Klum, played by the supermodel herself. She not only guested on a couple episodes when this season began, but she also came back towards the end of it and tried to rekindle her relationship with Fox's character. There were even scenes where she's lying in bed, wearing the kind of undergarments you might get from, oh let's say Victoria's Secret, while Fox is dressed in a space suit. No, seriously.
Number of discs/episodes: 4 discs/26 episodes.
Extras: None.
Price: $39.99.
Buy, borrow or ignore: Borrow.
Show: Star Wars: The Clone Wars: The Complete Season One (LucasFilm/Warner)
Format: DVD, Blu-ray
What is it? Since it started, there's been some debate among fans as to who this animated series is being made for: kids, adults or fans of Jar Jar Binks. But while it's not the adult-aimed 'toon us older "Star Wars" fans would've liked (y'know, like the original "Clone Wars" from 2003), this cartoon—which follows Anakin, Obi-wan and the rest of the Jedi during the Clone War that happened between "Attack of the Clones" and "Revenge of the Sith"—isn't just kiddie fare, either. While small fries will enjoy all the slam-bang action and droid humor, older fans will appreciate all the political subtext, the musings on war and aggression and the scenes in which the future Darth Vader has to proctor a spunky girl Padawan.
Number of discs/episodes:
DVD: 4 discs/22 episodes.
BD: 2 discs/22 episodes.
Extras:
DVD: Director's cut versions of seven episodes; featurettes on ever episode; sixty-four page production journal.
BD: All of the above extras plus “The Jedi Temple Archives.”
Price: $19.95.
Buy, borrow or ignore: Buy.
Other TV DVDs out this week:
A Merry Fraggle Holiday (Lionsgate)
Bleach Uncut: Box Set 4, Part 1 (Viz)
Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life (BBC)
Fraggle Rock: The Complete Final Season (Lionsgate)
Fraggle Rock: The Complete Series Collection (Lionsgate)
Merry Sitcom: Christmas Classics from TV's Golden Age (Shout! Factory)
Merry Sitcom: Christmas Classics from TV's Golden Age (Shout! Factory)
Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Season 1 Pt. 3 (Bandai)
Ruby-Spears Superman (Warner)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Complete Season 7 Set (Lionsgate)
The Shield: The Complete Series (Sony)
Wolverine and the X-Men Volumes 1-3 (Lionsgate)
Wolverine and the X-Men: Beginning of the End (Lionsgate)
G.I. Joe, A Real American Hero: Season 1.2 (Shout! Factory)
(Actual releases may differ; Metromix is not responsible for injury, loss of life, or wasted time if you go to the store to buy one of them and the clerk says, “Uh, no, that’s not coming out until next week.”)
