Big 10 Matchups Take Center Stage On ESPN Networks’ Week 13 CFB Broadcast Schedule

Courtesy: ESPN

One of college football’s most storied rivalries will headline the ESPN networks’ college football broadcast slate this weekend.

Michigan and Ohio State will face off Saturday at noon on ABC.  Both teams are currently in the College Football Playoff Top 4 with Ohio State sitting 2^nd while Michigan is right behind in 3^rd.

If Michigan takes Saturday’s game it will clinch the East Division of the Big Ten. If the Buckeyes win the focus will move to State College, PA, where the Nittany Lions of Penn State will take on Michigan State at 3:30 p.m. EST on ESPN.

If Penn State and Ohio State both win Saturday, Penn State will take the East Division in the Big Ten.  If the Spartans beat the Nittany Lions, the Buckeyes will take the division.  Needless to say Saturday will be a big day for the Big East.

Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Samantha Ponder and Tom Rinaldi will have the call for the Ohio State – Michigan Matchup live from Columbus, OH.

Bob Wischusen, Brock Huard and Allison Williams will be live from Beaver Stadium for the call of the Penn State – Michigan State matchup.

Also of importance on Saturday, South Carolina and No. 4 Clemson will face off live on ESPN in primetime.  The Gamecocks and Tigers will go toe to toe live from Memorial Stadium at 7:30 p.m. EST.  Dave Pasch, Greg McElroy and Tom Luginbill will have the call for the game.

Over on ABC, Notre Dame and #13 USC will hit the field live at 3:30 p.m. EST.  Florida and Florida State follow at 8 p.m. EST as the Gators make their first-ever appearance on Saturday Night Football presented by Wal-Mart.  Steve Levy, Brian Griese and Tod McShay will be live from Los Angeles for coverage of that game.  Meanwhile, Joe Tessitore, Todd Blackledge and Holly Rowe will be live in Tallahassee, Florida for the game.

These are just some of the key college football matchups scheduled fro Saturday across the ESPN networks.  Saturday’s full college football broadcast schedule is noted below.

ESPN Network’s College Football Week 13 Schedule

Date	Time (ET)	Game	Network
Tue, Nov. 22	7 p.m.	Akron at Ohio Eamon McAnaney, Rocky Boiman	ESPNU
		Ball State at Miami (Ohio) Jim Barbar, John Gregory	ESPN3
		Central Michigan at Eastern Michigan Michael Reghi, Dustin Fox	ESPN3
Thu, Nov. 24	4 p.m.	Miles College at Alabama State Eric Clemons, Jay Walker	ESPN3*
	7:30 p.m.	No. 16 LSU at No. 25 Texas A&M Dave Flemming, Jesse Palmer, Laura Rutledge	ESPN
Fri, Nov. 25	Noon	Houston at Memphis Tom Hart, Andre Ware, Cole Cubelic	ABC
		NC State at North Carolina TV: Adam Amin, Mack Brown, Molly McGrath Radio: Bill Rosinski, David Norrie, Ian Fitzsimmons	ESPN and ESPN Radio
	2:30 p.m.	Buffalo at Bowling Green Robert Lee, Tom O’Brien	ESPN3
	3:30 p.m.	No. 18 Nebraska at Iowa Allen Bestwick, Mike Bellotti, Kris Budden	ABC
	4 p.m.	Louisiana Tech at Southern Mississippi Taylor Zarzour, Jordan Rodgers	ESPNEWS
	5 p.m.	Toledo at No. 21 Western Michigan Beth Mowins, Anthony Becht, Allison Williams	ESPN2
	6 p.m.	Baylor at Texas Tech Clay Matvick, Dusty Dvoracek, Shelley Smith	ESPN
	8:30 p.m.	Cincinnati at Tulsa Mike Corey, Rene Ingoglia	ESPN2
	9:30 p.m.	Arizona State at Arizona Dave Lamont, Ray Bentley, Quint Kessenich	ESPN
Sat, Nov. 26	Noon	No. 3 Michigan at No. 2 Ohio State TV: Chris Fowler, Kirk Herbstreit, Samantha Ponder Radio: Bill Rosinski, David Norrie, Ian Fitzsimmons	ABC, ESPN Radio and ESPN Deportes
		Kentucky at No. 5 Louisville Mike Patrick, Ed Cunningham, Dr. Jerry Punch	ESPN
		Virginia at Virginia Tech Jason Benetti, Kelly Stouffer, Paul Carcaterra	ESPN2
		Purdue at Indiana Anish Shroff, Ahmad Brooks	ESPNU
		Georgia Tech at Georgia Dave Neal, Matt Stinchcomb, Olivia Harlan	SEC Network
		Rutgers at Maryland Mike Couzens, Al Groh	ESPNEWS
		Arkansas State at Louisiana-Lafayette	ESPN3
	12:30 p.m.	Syracuse at Pittsburgh	ACC Network Extra
	3 p.m.	Boston College at Wake Forest	ACC Network Extra
	3:30 p.m.	Notre Dame at No. 13 USC TV: Steve Levy, Brian Griese, Todd McShay Radio: Tom Ramsey	ABC and ESPN Radio
		Michigan State at No. 8 Penn State Bob Wischusen, Brock Huard, Allison Williams	ESPN
		Duke at Miami Eamon McAnaney, John Congemi, Dawn Davenport	ESPN2
		Navy at SMU Kevin Brown, Clint Stoerner	ESPNU
		Mississippi State at Ole Miss Brent Musburger, Jesse Palmer, Kaylee Hartung	SEC Network
		South Alabama at Idaho	ESPN3
		Florida International at Old Dominion	ESPN3*
	4 p.m.	Tulane at Connecticut Chris Hassel, Matt Chatham	ESPNEWS
		Nevada at UNLV Dave Raymond, Tyoka Jackson	ESPN3
		Appalachian State at New Mexico State Brock Bowling, Brian Kinchen	ESPN3*
		Troy at Texas State	ESPN3
	7 p.m.	UCLA at California Mark Jones, Rod Gilmore, Quint Kessenich	ESPN2
		Western Kentucky at Marshall Bill Roth, John Gregory	ESPNU
	7:30 p.m.	South Carolina at No. 4 Clemson Dave Pasch, Greg McElroy, Tom Luginbill	ESPN
		No. 19 Tennessee at Vanderbilt Tom Hart, Andre Ware, Cole Cubelic	SEC Network
		East Carolina at Temple Alex Faust, Kevin Weidl	ESPNEWS
	8 p.m.	No. 23 Florida at No. 17 Florida State Joe Tessitore, Todd Blackledge, Holly Rowe	ABC
		North Texas at UTEP	ESPN3
	10:15 p.m.	Wyoming at New Mexico Adam Amin, Anthony Becht, Alex Corddry	ESPN2
		Utah State at BYU	ESPNU

 

 

More information on Saturday’s games is available online along with all of the latest college football headlines at:

 

 

 

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‘Peanuts’ Movies Are New Again…Sort Of

Courtesy: CBS DVD/Paramount

Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the rest of the Peanuts gang are coming to Blu-ray for the first time ever next week with the re-issue of two classic Peanuts movies—Peanuts: Snoopy Come Home and Peanuts: A Boy Named Charlie Brown.  The two new re-issues will be released Tuesday, September 6^th in stores and online. While not the first time ever that the specials have been released to the masses (they were released on their own standalone platforms and in a pair of multi-movie sets just last year along with the full-length Peanuts movies Race For Your Life, Charlie Brown and Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (And Don’t Come Back) ) these latest re-issues are a good fit for anyone that might not have been lucky enough to get their hands on the specials’ DVD re-issues.  That is due at least in part to each movie’s general presentation. That will be discussed shortly.  The story behind each movie is just as important to note as each movie’s presentation.  That will be discussed later.  The movies’ pricing rounds out each presentation’s most important elements.  It brings everything full circle in the movies’ overall presentation. As important as they are to note, audiences should also keep in mind that CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount will be re-issuing them again later this fall in a new Blu-ray dual movie presentation just as they were last year in DVD format.  Keeping that in mind, while these re-issues are enjoyable in their own right, audiences might be better served to wait for that upcoming re-issue and hold off on these.

CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount’s new Blu-ray presentations of Peanuts: Snoopy Come Home and Peanuts: A Boy Named Charlie Brown are enjoyable new re-issues for anyone that might not already own the movies’ DVD presentation.  That is due at least in part to the movies’ general presentations.  The movies’ new Blu-ray presentations are exactly the same as that of their DVD counterparts.  Audiences get in each movie just the movies, nothing more, nothing less.  In other words they are bare bones releases just like their DVD counterparts.  This is important to note because there are so many studios out there who make each of their titles’ re-issues different from one another in one way or another.  That isn’t the case here.  The movies’ Blu-ray presentations are mirror images of their DVD counterparts except for their platforms.  Keeping that in mind, the stories behind the movies are just as important to note as the movies’ presentations.

Courtesy: CBS DVD/Paramount

The general presentation of Peanuts: Snoopy Come Home and Peanuts: A Boy Named Charlie Brown are key to note for each.  That is because each movie’s presentation is a mirror image of its DVD counterpart save for the fact that they are now on Blu-ray platform.  That means audiences both with and without the movies’ previous DVD re-issues will be on the same level in terms of what each title offers for entertainment.  Keeping that in mind, the movie’s stories are just as important to note as the presentations themselves.  Peanuts: Snoopy Come Home follows Snoopy as he suddenly packs up and leaves Charlie Brown one day without any explanation whatsoever.  At first everyone is left wondering why Snoopy left.  The final revelation as to Snoopy’s disappearance is one that will move audiences of all ages to both smiles and tears.  Peanuts: A Boy Named Charlie Brown is the first of the Peanuts movies to ever be created.  The movie follows Charlie Brown as he wins his school’s spelling bee and is sent to New York City to compete at a national level.  Meanwhile Charlie’s best friend Linus is in search of his beloved blanket after it “mysteriously” disappears.  Things seem to be going well for Charlie Brown at first.  But when the big day arrives, things don’t turn out quite as he (and his friends) had hoped.  The story still has a happy ending of sorts when it’s all said and done.  That being the case, its story is just as enjoyable as that of Peanuts: Snoopy Come Home. When the movies’ stories are set against their general presentation, the two elements join together to show even more why these new Peanuts Blu-ray re-issues are just as enjoyable as their recently released DVD counterparts.  The stories are general presentations of each movie are not the movies’ only key elements to consider.  Each movie’s pricing rounds out their most important elements.

The general presentation of Peanuts: Snoopy Come Home and Peanuts: A Boy Named Charlie Brown and the movies’ stories are both key elements of the movies’ new Blu-ray re-issues.  While each element plays its own important part in the movies’ collective presentation they are not the movies’ only important elements.  The movies’ pricing in their new Blu-ray re-issues are just as important to note as the other, previously noted elements.  Each movie’s retail MSRP is a little more than $17 each in its new Blu-ray platform.  That is according to Amazon.com, where audiences can order each movie online.  Wal-Mart lists each movie at the same price online. Best Buy has each movie listed at $17.99 in its new Blu-ray platform while Target doesn’t have either one listed.  Odds are when and if Target opts to include the movies in its online listings, that price will likely be close to the same if not the same as those listed here.  One can only hope that those prices will be lower in store.  Considering that each movie is presented in exactly the same fashion as their DVD counterparts, those prices far too high.  Given the price will be high simply because they are presented in Blu-ray.  But by comparison the movies’ pricing on DVD is only about eight dollars each.  That should make the movies’ Blu-ray platforms no more than $10 or $11 at the most…maybe $15, but no more than that.  Keeping this in mind, the movies’ pricing is perhaps their only downfall.  That is especially the case being that CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount are going to re-issue them again later this fall on a double-movie Blu-ray combo set; a set that will likely be an equal price for the two together as for just one movie on Blu-ray.  All things considered, CBS Home Entertainment’s Blu-ray re-issues of Peanuts: Snoopy Come Home and Peanuts: A Boy Named Charlie Brown are both enjoyable in their own right.  But any true Peanuts fan that doesn’t already own either movie on DVD will be better served to wait for the movies’ upcoming double-movie BD re-issue or to just pick up the movies’ DVD re-issues since they are the same as these re-issues and cheaper.

CBS Home Entertainment and Paramount’s new Blu-ray re-issues of Peanuts: Snoopy Come Home and Peanuts: A Boy Named Charlie Brown are both enjoyable in their own right.  Any true Peanuts fan will agree with that.  At the same time, true Peanuts fans will also question-along with this critic—if they were even needed.  That is because the general presentation of each movie is the same here as in their 2015 DVD re-issues.  There is no more or less in these re-issues as was presented in the movie’s 2015 DVD re-issues.  And the story presented in each movie is exactly the same as before, too.  The movies’ MSRP across the board in their new Blu-ray re-issues puts the final nail in their proverbial coffin.  While the movies are enjoyable thanks to their stories and their hand-drawn animation, that pricing—and the other  previously noted elements–proves that true Peanuts fans would be better served to purchase the movies in their DVD platforms if they don’t already own them.  Those that do already own the movies have no reason to purchase them again in these latest re-issues.  All things considered, even those that don’t already own these movies on DVD would be better served to purchase them on DVD (especially in their four-movie set) unless they can’t find them on DVD.  That is about the only reason that audiences should even consider purchasing them in their new Blu-ray platforms.

More information on these and other Peanuts releases is available online now along with all of the latest Peanuts news and more at:

 

 

 

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‘Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation’ Is An Interesting Piece Of ‘TMNT’ History

Courtesy: Shout! Factory/Saban

Thirty two years ago Mirage Studios first introduced American audiences to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  The “heroes on the half shell” were created by Kevin Eastman and Peter Laird.  In the years since their creation, Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo (and their rodent sensei Splinter) have gone on to become a worldwide phenomenon with various incarnations on both the silver screen and the small screen.  Some have been hugely popular such as the original 1987 animated series (perhaps the franchise’s most successful incarnation) and the 1990 big screen adaptation of the comic book.  That incarnation even spawned three sequels.  Other incarnations have not been so successful, such as the 2014 big screen reboot and its new sequel Out of the Shadows.  They are not the franchise’s only lesser installments.  In 1997 Saban tried its hand at its own take on the everyone’s favorite reptile heroes in the form of Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation.  That incarnation ultimately proved to be a bust for the company.  It only lasted one season and a total of twenty-eight episodes.  Now thanks to Shout! Factory fans of this short-lived series can own it for themselves on DVD.  That is because Shout! Factory released the series in its entirety early this past May.  While the series was obviously one of the least successful of the TMNT franchise it still is a good addition to any hardcore TMNT fan’s collection.  That is because it serves as a historical document of sorts showing everything that was done right and wrong with the series.  In examining those pros and cons in whole audiences will agree that while it might not be the best of the TMNT franchise’s installments it also is not its worst.  That (dis)honor still goes to Paramount and Nickelodeon’s 2014 big screen take on the turtles.  Keeping that in mind, this installment proves once more to be a worthwhile addition to any TMNT fan’s collection if only for historical purposes.

Saban’s 1997 live-action take on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise is by no means the franchise’s best incarnation.  In all fairness it is also not the franchise’s worst incarnation either.  Keeping that in mind, it is a welcome (and important) addition to any TMNT fan’s collection.  That is because it shows through its twenty-eight total episodes that Saban, with all of its successes, was not invincible at the time of the series’ run.  That is not entirely the fault of the people at Saban, though.  In examining for instance the timing of the series’ debut it had a lot working against it.  The series was meant to follow the events of the franchise’s original cinematic trilogy.  The problem is that that trilogy wrapped in 1993 with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III.  Saban’s live action series didn’t start until four years later in 1997, which was also only a year after the original animated series came to its own end.  When the story lines presented in each are taken into consideration and the timing of their beginnings and endings, they worked wholly against Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation.  Had Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation come earlier—perhaps during the animated series’ run as an alternate universe series of sorts—then it might have had more of a fighting chance.  But because of the timing of its debut and its plot line it is clear why it failed in the long run.  That is just one important part of the show that should be noted in examining what the series in whole.  the series’ writing, in the bigger picture of its presentation, played its own integral part in the series’ failure.  The same can be said of the look and the feel of the series.

The timing of Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation’s debut is a big part of what might have made the series’ run so short.  The timing of its release, when considered alongside the events of the franchises cinematic trilogy and its animated series, put a rather large nail in the series’ proverbial coffin.  The series’ writing is just as problematic as the timing of its release.  The series’ writers opened this series by introducing its key villain—Dragon Lord–early on.  The problem is that he wasn’t the series’ only villain starting out.  The writers incorporated Shredder into the story, too.  However, they wasted very little time taking him out of the story, too.  The way in which they wrote him out was rather anticlimactic to say the very least, too.  It almost leaves one asking why he was even used in the overall story considering how little impact his elimination had on the series’ overall story.  It could be argued that in so randomly eliminating Shredder, the writers were just throwing something out there just to see if it would work and make the series in whole anywhere near feasible.  While the overall story did work, it still ended up being relatively lackluster at best.  The same thing happened when the writers behind the TMNT animated series tried to keep that series going after the turtles eliminated Shredder.  They introduced a new villain—an alien from another world—but it just didn’t work, which ultimately led to the series’ end in Season Ten.  The same sort of mindset led to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III’s failure, too.  With Shredder out of the way at the end of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II it was as if the writers were asking where to go from there.  One can only assume that someone just said, “hey, let’s send them back in time on a quest and see how audiences react.”  While the end result was entertaining in its own right, it is still obvious that the movie’s writers struggled to come up with something to keep the movie (and the franchise) going.  This, again, goes back to the obvious practice of the writers behind Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation.  It is as if, again, the writers went into the series blindly and just threw in what they could as the series advanced.

The timing of Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation and its writing are both key elements that worked against the series in its short run on FOX Kids from 1997 – 1998.  They are not the only elements that should be considered in examining what the series got right and what it got wrong.  The look and the feel of the series are just as important to note as the timing of its run and its writing.  The look of the series will be examined first.  The costumes and the sets that were used in Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation are a stark contrast to those used by Saban’s Power Rangers franchise at the time.  That series had come a long way in terms of its look from the days of Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers.  Some of the camp was still there in terms of its look.  But that look had also clearly evolved to a point since those days, too.  By comparison Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation took audiences back to the days of Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers thanks to the campy look of its sets and costumes.  No effort was made by the people at Saban to make this series look anything like the franchise’s original cinematic trilogy, which again this series was supposed to be linked. Even the look of Shredder’s outfit barely made him look menacing.  He looked more like one of the then WWF’s costumed bad guys than any truly menacing villain.  That is thanks to the design of his outfit.  Even the look of the turtles was a complete change of pace from their look on the big screen and its previous small screen incarnation.  This is again even with the series’ alleged connection to the franchise’s cinematic trilogy.  The only part of the series that really bore any similarity (and that term is used very loosely here) to that trilogy is that of the turtles’ subway lair.  It is obvious that whoever designed their lair for this series did in fact make a concerted effort to connect the two universes.  Sadly it is about the only thing that actually connects the two universes in terms of the series’ look.  The rest of the sets and costumes are more akin to the MMPR series than anything seen on the big screen or any other TMNT incarnations.  By relation, the feel of the series is linked just as directly to MMPR as its look.

The look of Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation is an undeniably important part of the series’ life span.  That is because of how starkly it stands out from that of the rest of the offerings in the TMNT universes and even from that of Saban’s Power Rangers universes at the time.  The series’ feel is just as important to note as its look.  That is because its feel stands out just as starkly as its look.  The feel includes the series’ cinematography and the acting.  The cinematography throws back to the days of MMPR just as much as the costumes and sets that were used throughout this series.  That is evident in the scene transitions, the angles used within given scenes, and even the speed of the shot changes within the scenes, too.  The transitions from the general scenes to those of the dragons’ lair are key examples of that throwback look.  MMPR used very similar transitions when its scenes transitioned from Angel Grove to Rita (and later Zedd’s) moon base.  That is something that was gradually phased out as the Power Rangers franchise evolved over time.  The acting on the part of both Shredder and Dragon Lord plays its own part in the series’ feel.  The same can be said of those that brought Leo, Raph, Donnie, Mikey, and even Venus to life.  The camp in their collective work gives the series a fun, cheesy feel that interestingly enough will keep audiences entertained because of that cheese factor.  Again it is all a noticeable throwback to the days of MMPR.  Again in comparing this to the feel presented in the likes of Power Rangers in Space, the current installment of Saban’s Power Rangers franchise at the time, it is a completely different feel.  Good or bad is in the eye of the beholder.  In all fairness it likely played its own part in the series’ downfall since few programs if any had that same campy feel at the time.  So that probably hurt the series even more.  Between that and the show’s equally campy look, it becomes even more evident why the series’ combined look and feel might have hurt the series more than it helped.  That is especially considering the time at which the series was on television.  Speaking of the time at which the series debuted, it plays its own part in the series’ problems.  The writing behind the series plays its own part in the series, too.  Each element plays its own part in the series’ short run.  That goes without saying.  All things considered it becomes wholly clear why Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation is one of the least successful entries in the TMNT universe.  But when it is compared to those other entries in it still is not the franchise’s worst installment.  Keeping that in mind, it is still a welcome and important addition to any TMNT fan’s home collection if only for its historical value.

Ninja Turtles: The Next Mutation is hardly the best offering in the TMNT universe.  It is not the franchise’s worst offering, either.  That (dis) honor belongs, to this day, to Paramount and Nickelodeon Studios’ 2016 big screen reboot of the original cinematic franchise.  Given, this series had (and has) a lot working against it.  But still in comparison to other offerings from the TMNT universe it could have been a lot worse.  Considering all of this it is still a welcome addition to any true TMNT fan’s collection whether for entertainment or for historical value.  It is available exclusively via Wal-Mart and can be ordered online via Wal-Mart at http://www.walmart.com/ip/Ninja-Turtles-The-Next-Mutation-The-Complete-Series/51301759.   More information on this and other titles from Shout! Factory is available online now at:

 

 

 

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Say Hey For Hey Dude: The Complete Series

Courtesy: Nickelodeon/Shout! Factory

It has been nearly twenty-five years since the classic live action, teen-centric series Hey Dude wrapped up its five-season run on Nickelodeon. One of a small handful of live-action series on Nickelodeon during its time on the air, it was Nickelodeon’s answer to NBC’s Saturday morning kids’ series Saved By The Bell. In 2011, Shout! Factory resurrected Hey Dude, releasing the first of the series’ five seasons on its own stand-alone box set. Shout! Factory didn’t waste any time getting the series to its now grown up fans after acquiring its distribution rights, either. From 2011 to 2013, all five seasons were released in their own stand-alone box sets. Now as a final hurrah, Shout! Factory will release all five seasons in one complete series box set on Tuesday, March 10th. It is not the first of Nickelodeon’s classic series that Shout! Factory has released in full nor will it be the last. There is still at least one more set to be released in the form of The Wild Thornberrys: The Complete Series. And hopefully that box set will make its way out before the year lets out. That’s an issue for another time. For now, the fact that all five seasons of Hey Dude have been compiled into one box set is in itself a huge positive for fans. It’s not just about ergonomics, either. There is even more to it than that. And that will be noted shortly. Also worth noting is the writing that went into the series’ sixty-five total episodes. The show’s then younger audiences could just as easily relate to the stories behind each episode as those presented in Saved By The Bell or any other teen-centric series on television at the time. This is the case even though its setting was supposed to be a dude ranch. The writers were still able to craft a whole series of stories from the show’s premiere to its finale that were just as entertaining as they were accessible to audiences. While both the show’s writing and the box set’s full collection of seasons are equally important, just as important to note is that each of the discs that make up the show’s five seasons have been specifically marked within their respective seasons. This reduces any confusion for audiences. And together with the inclusion of a complete episode list inside the box’s cover (specifically on the front and rear cover), it rounds out all of the set’s positives. By itself the separation of the seasons (and the companion episode list) within the box is one of the strongest reasons for fans to pick up this Hey Dude: The Complete Series. Together with its full complement of episodes and the writing behind said episodes, all three elements together make Hey Dude: The Complete Series a must have for any fan of this modern classic series. They also collectively make it one of the year’s best new box sets for children and families.

When it was announced four years ago that Shout! Factory would release the first of Hey Dude’s five seasons, the show’s now grown up fans were understandably rather excited. That is because Shout! Factory had already released the first season of both The Wild Thornberrys and Rocko’s Modern Life with quite the positive results. And the first season of Hey Arnold!, CatDog, and Aaahh!!! Real Monsters were all on the way, along with the first and second season of The Angry Beavers and the first season of Danny Phantom all within a matter of months. So it was obviously just one part of a virtual tidal wave of releases thanks to a deal struck between Nickelodeon and Shout! Factory. It was a deal that has since gone on to see the full series sets of almost all of those other shows see the light of day in stores and online. The only shows involved in that deal that still have yet to see full releases are The Wild Thornberrys and Hey Dude. But on Tuesday, March 10th, audiences will finally be able to strike Hey Dude from that list as it will finally see the light of day. Hey Dude: The Complete Series is just as impressive as the previous full-series box sets released by the partnership between Shout! Factory and Nickelodeon. The most obvious reason being that it is indeed the show’s full series run. All sixty-five episodes of Hey Dude are spread across ten discs in this box set. This is important for two reasons. The first reason that it is important is simply for the purpose of ergonomics. Instead of having to fill space with five separate stand-alone DVD box sets, all five seasons have been placed into one box. The one box saves space versus the five stand-alone sets. The reason that it saves space is the smart packaging of the series’ discs, which has for a long time been the standard for Shout! Factory’s multi-disc sets. The discs are placed one on the inside front of the box, another on the inside rear, and the rest on either side of a set of plastic “plates.” It saves space and protects the discs from scratching one another. On another level, the stand-alone season sets are not exactly easy to find unless fans order them online. With the upcoming release of Hey Dude: The Complete Series exclusively in Wal-Mart stores nationwide, fans won’t have to worry about hunting for this season or that one. They are all presented in the one box. As if the ergonomically sound box and the inclusion of all five seasons within the one box isn’t enough, fans are being given quite the price break with Hey Dude: The Complete Series. Each stand-alone season set prices at roughly $20 plus tax versus the approximately $30 price tag for the complete series set. It’s yet another huge positive for the set that is sure to make quite a few of the show’s fans very happy. It is hardly the last of the positives to the set, either. The writing behind the series is just as worth noting in its enjoyment and success.

The physical and financial elements of Hey Dude: The Complete Series by themselves make this new box west well worth the purchase. They aren’t the only reasons that fans of the classic Nickelodeon series will want to add the set to their DVD libraries. The work of the show’s writers makes it even more worth the purchase. Hey Dude’s writers keep their audiences fully engaged with a wide range of stories throughout the show’s five-season run. From a comical battle of the sexes early on in the series’ run to Mr. Ernst getting amnesia with comical results in the series’ final season to Danny having to make an important choice regarding his roots in Season Four’s “Do The Right Thing,” the writers showed time and again throughout Hey Dude’s five seasons that they knew how to move their audiences and make them laugh, too. They show that talent just as much when the ranch hands have to take care of a baby they think has been abandoned in “Baby” and in the comical Season Two finale “Take Me To Your Leader” in which everyone thinks that aliens have invaded the ranch. That episode is sure to have any viewer laughing with its old school comic elements. The episodes noted here are just some of the examples of why the writing behind Hey Dude makes the series’ upcoming box set so enjoyable. Every season of Hey Dude exhibits the talent of the show’s writers. And audiences will see that for themselves when they purchase Hey Dude: The Complete Series. They will see throughout the show’s five seasons just how many laughs and moving moments it offered then and still offer today. They will also see just how important the set’s physical and financial elements are to the whole package. In seeing all of that, audiences will agree even more so why Hey Dude: The Complete Series is indeed one of this year’s best new box sets for children and families.

The physical and financial elements of Hey Dude: The Complete Series coupled with the work of the show’s writers makes fully evident why every fan of Hey Dude should add the series’ full series set to their personal libraries. They show, too why Hey Dude: The Complete Series is one of this year’s best new box sets for children and families. For all of the value and importance of those elements, there is still one more element worth noting that makes this box set such a joy for audiences. That last element of this set that makes it so enjoyable and such a success is the fact that the discs from each season’s set are clearly marked. It would have been easy for the people at Shout! Factory to just toss all ten discs into the box and called it with the set’s companion episode list printed on the inside of the box’s cover art. But being that Shout! Factory is the leading name in the world of home entertainment, that didn’t happen. The discs from each season are clearly marked. That combined with the companion episode list wholly eliminates any chance of confusion for viewers trying to find specific episodes. The partnering of those two elements makes for one final, solid part of the whole that makes Hey Dude: The Complete Series a welcome addition to any family’s home DVD library. Combined with all of the other noted elements, they show in whole once again why Hey Dude: The Complete Series is so deserving of being called one of this year’s best new box sets for the whole family and why Shout! Factory remains today the leading name in home entertainment.

Hey Dude: The Complete Series is the perfect final statement from Shout! Factory for this modern classic live-action, teen centric series from Nickelodeon. Smart packaging, equally smart writing and a complete episode prove that argument. With any luck it won’t be the last of Nickelodeon’s classic series to be released by Shout! Factory. God forbid it is. But if it is, then it is a great way to go out as it shows once again what once made Nickelodeon so great and what still makes Shout! Factory the greatest name in home entertainment. Hey Dude: The Complete Series will be available on Tuesday, March 10th exclusively in Wal-Mart stores across the country. More information on this box set and others from Shout! Factory is available online now at:

Website: https://www.shoutfactory.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shoutfactoryofficial

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Pacific Rim Is Fun But Forgettable

Courtesy: Warner Brothers Studios/Legendary Pictures

Thirty-seven.  According to most news agencies, that is how many sequels will have been churned out in theaters by the time 2013 has winded down.  Those reports go on to say that this is a new record for movie studios.  Those same movie studios have most recently been lambasted by the likes of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas for that glut of franchise flicks.  The pair most recently stated that if Hollywood’s major studios continue on their current track, the movie industry’s implosion won’t be far behind.  Keeping this in mind, what is a movie-goer to do in looking for something that is not a sequel or even prequel in 2013?  The answer would seem simple.  Although in reality it isn’t.  Case in point, the mega-blockbuster, Pacific Rim.

While it isn’t a sequel, or even a prequel or reboot, the latest blockbuster from Warner Brothers Studios and Legendary Pictures is still anything but original.  The Japanese influenced action flick is formulaic and trite.  The whole robots versus giant monsters bit has been done to death.  If one were to take Power Rangers, Godzilla, Independence Day, Top Gun, (Yes there’s even a hint of Top Gun in here believe it or not) and the equally terrible 1989 movie, Robot Jox, and toss them into a pot, they would get this fast paced and underperforming movie that’s more fit for a person with ADD than a more discerning viewer.   Making things worse, writer Travis Beacham has taken elements of each of the aforementioned movies and TV shows, and tossed them in all over the place for a movie that ultimately adds up to nothing.  From its standard stereotypical character types to its equally seemingly ADD influenced writing to the attempts to cover all of this with special effects in hopes of making it look like something substantial, it all adds up to a movie that is more forgettable than fun.

Pacific Rim is a fun movie.  But it is also largely forgettable.  The most blatant of reasons for this is its very concept.  The concept behind this movie is anything but original as already noted.  Robots fighting monsters has been done for roughly two decades or more with the various Japanese shows and movies that influenced America’s hit pop culture phenomenon that is the Power Rangers franchise.  And that franchise itself caused any number of imitators such as the Superhuman Samurai Syber Squad and VR Troopers just to name a couple of so many that have been churned out here stateside since the early 1990s.  This is just the tip of the iceberg in where this movie goes wrong.  Along with those Japanese TV shows and movies from which this movie blatantly lifts, viewers will also see just as much pulled from the likes of Top Gun and Independence Day.  One scene in particular halfway through the movie’s roughly two hour run time sees Raleigh and his co-pilot Mako (Charlie Hunnam and Rinko Kikuchi respectively) come back victorious from having taken down a pair of kaiju by themselves.  It looks just like a certain scene from Top Gun (and so many other action movies and TV shows).  Heck, for that matter, one could even argue that this harkens all the way back to a scene from the original Star Wars franchise that occurred after the Death Star was destroyed.  It was a near mirror image.  Again, here we have prime examples of just how unoriginal this movie is.  Instead of trying to do anything original, it just pulls scenes from other movies for this story.  It’s not the end of the movie’s faults, either.

Audiences that are familiar with their sci-fi history will take notice of the scenes throughout this movie lifted from so many other movies and TV shows.  The script’s writing hurts the viewing experience just as much as the lifted scenes, if not more so.  We’ll start with the example of Stacker Pentecost’s over-the-top motivational speech to his forces as he triumphantly joins the fight once more having been sidelined for years from fighting the war against the Kaiju, too.  This exact same over-the-top motivational speech style was used in Independence Day and so many other action movies both before and after it.  It makes the whole work come across as that much lazier and anything but serious.  Rather it makes the movie come across as cheesy.  This kind of interpretation by audiences can greatly hurt the movie in the long run. It’s just one of so many other moments much like it.  These moments coarse through the movie right to its final mega-battle scene, taking even more away from its ability to be taken seriously.  Of course, this isn’t the bottom of the barrel.  Things get worse for Pacific Rim in considering the story’s character styles.

In the case of Pacific Rim, audiences are presented with even more standard action movie fare with the characters of Pentecost and Raleigh.  Raleigh is the standard heroic leader character with a mysterious past about which he won’t talk. It makes him even more mysterious to those around him.  But it hardly creates an appeal among audiences for him as he’s hardly the first character of his sort to grace the big screen.  Having covered one of the movie’s main characters, let’s examine another main character in Raleigh.  Raleigh is the standard plays-by-his-own-rules character style seen in all the way back to Han Solo, Wolverine, Maverick, and so many other anti-hero and semi-anti-hero types.  Just as with so much else in this movie, it’s one more factor that has been done to death.  And because of this, the picture becomes even clearer as to why Pacific Rim will ultimately be one more forgotten action movie that will end up in the five-dollar bin at Wal-Mart not long after it debuts on DVD and Blu-ray.

Pacific Rim suffers from so many negatives.  It’s no wonder why it has fallen so short in terms of ticket sales versus its production costs.  However, for all of its negatives, there is at least one positive to Pacific Rim.  That positive is the movie’s special effects.  The special effects in this movie are above par for Summer blockbusters.  Watching the Jaeger (pronounced yager) pilots working together to bring their robots to life to battle the Kaiju (pronounced KI-joo) is something to behold.  The combination of live action and CG effects sets the bar extremely high for other special effects laden movies to come.  So to that extent, those behind the cameras and computer screens deserve their due credit for this.

At the same time that the movie’s special effects are a good thing, they are also a bad thing.  The reason for this is that it is honestly the only positive to the movie.  Had this movie had more laurels on which it could rest, the special effects would not have been a burden.  But sadly, it doesn’t have those other laurels.  And because of this, it will lead many viewers to feel that director Guillermo del Toro is just trying to fool audiences and make them think this is something with substance.  In reality, it has none.  Sure, the graphics and special effects are great.  But audiences should not let this become a smokescreen.  They need to see that being that this is all it has going for it, Pacific Rim is sadly anything but one of the best new theatrical releases of 2013.  It isn’t the year’s worst.  But it is hardly the year’s best, either.  In the long run, it will prove to be little more than a vague memory in the vast expanse that is the world of the action movie.

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