While it’s certainly not a strong week for home entertainment releases there are some geek-friendly offerings including the first complete collection of the Young Hercules syndicated series starring a younger incarnation of indie film favorite Ryan Gosling, the latest season the BBC’s meticulously-produced Ripper Street, the definitive, hi-def edition of one of Hayao Miyazaki’s most entertaining films, and a poetic and poignant film about life under the rule of Jihadists in West Africa.

TV on DVD

There are very few releases in this category set for Tuesday, but there are some of interest including Young Hercules: The Complete Series (Shout Factory, 1110 min., $29.93), which includes all 50 (half-hour) episodes of the series starring a young Ryan Gosling that spun off from Hercules: The Legendary Journeys.  Like The Legendary Journeys, Young Hercules, which aired on Fox Kids in 1998-1999, was produced by Sam Raimi (Spider-Man) and Rob Tappert (Xena: Warrior Princess).

Also of interest to geek viewers is the Whitechapel-set Victorian murder drama Ripper Street: Season 3 (BBC, 485 min., $29.98, BD $34.98), which is set just after the final Jack-the-Ripper murder.  Meticulous in its period detail and gritty in its portrayal of the seedy underbelly of London, Ripper Street is one of the most interesting period mystery dramas of our era with all sorts of ingenious (and historically accurate) plot devices such as poisoning by antimony-contaminated flour, abortions by pennyroyal, and explosions using picric acid.

The only other contemporary series out this week are the sinsemilia-scented Comedy Central sitcom Workcoholics: Season 5 (Paramount, $19.99) about three college buddies working at a telemarketing firm, and the treacly Hallmark Channel romance, When Calls the Heart: Heart and Soul (Shout Factory, 88 min., $14.93, BD $21.99).

Vintage series due on Tuesday include the “Canadian Little House on the Prairie” The Campbells: The Complete Series (Timeless Media, 2400 min., $59.97), and the sitcom The George Lopez Show: Season 4 (Warner Bros., $29.99).

Theatrical Movies
No movie that is due on disc this week appears to have made any money—that failing doesn’t always mean that a film won’t be entertaining, but it is definitely not a good sign.    The slim pickings for action movie fans include Survivor (Alchemy, “PG-13,” 96 min., $19.98, BD $24.98), a thriller that stars Milla Jovovich (who took the role of a framed diplomat on the run after Emma Thompson bailed on the project) and Pierce Brosnan, and which gets only a 6% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.  While this “player piano” version of a thriller is without originality or much spontaneity, it’s not quite as bad as its rating might suggest, largely due to Brosnan’s professionalism.

Another sure sign that it’s a pretty poor week for movies is the fact that the direct-to-video Teen Beach Movie 2 (Disney, 104 min., $26.99) figures in the equation.  But the other options aren’t necessarily all that appealing either, though parents looking for a better viewing option for their tweens might opt for An American Girl: Grace Stirs Up Success (Universal, 102 min., $19.98, $26.98) an innocuous drama about a girl with a talent for baking who learns she doesn’t know it all when she visits her uncle who is a pastry chef in Paris.

This week’s best release will appeal to fans of art movies and foreign films, though it is a pity that more people won’t see Timbuktu (Cohen Media Group, “PG-13,” 97 min., $24.98, BD $34.98), a haunting and beautiful film directed by the Mauritanian filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako about life in Mali under the rule of hardline Jihadists who have banned music, laughter, soccer, and cigarettes.  For those in the West this is a rare peek at life behind the theocratic curtain of fundamentalist rule.

Anime
This week’s top release is a sparkling new Blu-ray edition of the classic 1979 anime feature film Lupin the 3rd: The Castle of Cagliostro (Discotek Media, 100 min., BD $29.95), which was directed in typically inventive style by Hayao Miyazaki.  The Castle of Cagliostro is in fact one of the anime grandmaster’s most entertaining films, a classic version of Lupin the 3rd, the Japanese version of the gentleman thief Arsene Lupin created by manga-artist Monkey Punch.  Even though there are anime titles this week that have never been released here before, the opportunity to get a definitive edition of this Miyazaki classic trumps them with ease.

Still this week’s “new” releases are interesting, especially Ping Pong the Animation: Complete Collection (Funimation, 275 min., BD/DVD Combo $59.98), which collects the 11-episode 2014 Tatsunoko Production anime series directed by Masaaki Yuasa (who wrote and directed the Adventure Time Season 6 episode “Food Chain”), and based on the wonderful manga by Taiyo Matsumoto about table tennis that inspired an excellent 2002 live-action movie that was released here in 2007 by Viz Media (see "'Ping Pong' North American Screenings”).  Like the manga, Ping Pong the Animation is both very adventurous and also very entertaining.

Also new this week is Hayate the Combat Butler!! Season 4: Cuties (Sentai Filmworks, 300 min., $49.98, BD $59.98), which contains all 12 episodes of the 2013 Manglobe anime that is composed of short stories, each of which is focused on one of the main characters from the popular manga series by Kenjiro Hata.

Also out this week is Bleach Uncut: Set 25 (Viz Media, 300 min., $44.82), the penultimate release in this series of box sets, Set 25 contains episodes 343-354 of the 366-episode anime created by Studio Pierrot that aired in Japan from 2004 to 2012 and was based on the supernatural action manga by Tite Kubo.

This week’s lone re-priced re-release is Origin: Spirits of the Past (Funimation, 95 min., $14.98, BD $19.98), a 2006 anime film from Gonzo that was previously released in North America back in 2007.

--Tom Flinn

The opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect those of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.