This week’s home entertainment releases include the underrated Tom Cruise/Emily Blunt sci-fi movie Edge of Tomorrow, the first DVD release of The Wonder Years TV series, the complete Season 2 of the Cartoon Network’s Adventure Time, and the first new Dragon Ball Z movie that is part of the official canon.
 
Theatrical Movies
 
This week’s top theatrical release is Edge of Tomorrow (Warner Bros., “PG-13,” 113 min., $29.98, BD/DVD Combo $35.99), an “original” science fiction film based on the Japanese light novel All You Need Is Kill by Hiroshi Sakurazaka.  Basically this film is “Groundhog Day” in a “mankind vs. powerful aliens” science fiction context.  Having botched the publicity for the theatrical release, Warner Bros. is now titling the disc releases Live, Die, Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow.  Anyway you name it, this film remains one of Hollywood’s more interesting recent science fiction efforts with strong performances from Tom Cruise and the always capable Emily Blunt.
 
Considerably less successful in theaters, but still of interest is the sports comedy/drama Million Dollar Arm (Disney, “PG,” 124 min., $29.99, BD $39.99), which stars Jon Hamm as a down-on-his-luck sports agent who concocts a scheme to recruit top cricket bowlers from India and turn them into baseball pitchers.
 
Million Dollar Arm has plenty of flaws, but it’s about a million times better than Seth Macfarlane’s misfire A Million Ways to Die in the West (Universal, “R,” 116 min., $29.98, BD $34.98).  There are plenty of gags here, but Macfarlane’s shooting percentage isn’t nearly as good as Mel Brooks’ was in Blazing Saddles.  Fans of raunchy western comedies, who are tired of Blazing Saddles, should maybe give this a try—other folks would be better advised to hightail it over the nearest ridge.
 
For those who enjoy edgy indie comedies there is Obvious Child (Lionsgate, “R,” 83 min., $19.98, BD $24.98) a dramedy about a stand-up comedienne who finds herself pregnant and is faced with some very tough choices.  This is an unabashedly “pro-choice” film that chronicles with humor, dread, and occasional silliness, the hipster territory covered by Lena Dunham’s TV series Girls and rises above that level at times thanks to a strong performance from Jenny Slate as the pregnant twentysomething at the heart of the film.
 
Somewhat less controversial is the Canadian film The Grand Seduction (Entertainment One, “PG-13,” 113 min., $24.98), a comedy that revolves around the efforts of a small Newfoundland fishing village to keep a doctor, who hails from the big city and is anxious to leave the rugged fishing town and its fading industries.  While this little film is not on a par with the Scottish movie Local Hero, The Grand Seduction does have its charms.
 
TV on DVD
 
The fall onslaught of TV on DVD releases continues led by Adventure Time: The Complete 4th Season (Warner Bros., 286 min., $26.95, BD $32.07), which includes all 26 episodes from the fourth season of the popular Cartoon Network series, which has spun off an extremely popular line of comics and graphic novels as well as all sorts of games.  Follow the D&D-influenced adventures of Finn and Jake as they save Princess Bubblegum, battle zombie candy, taunt the Ice King, and rock out with Marceline the Vampire Queen, who gets the cover graphic for the latest season of a show that appeals to adults as much as it does to kids.
 
Another animated release of interest to geek viewers is the Adult Swim cartoon, Rick and Morty: The Complete 1st Season (Warner Bros., 242 min., $24.98, BD $29.02), which includes all 11 episodes about a mad scientist who returns to live with his daughter and her family after 20 years on his own, as is the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Complete 1st Season (Nickelodeon, 500 min., $35.98), which includes all 26 episodes of the new TMNT animated series that is currently airing on Nickelodeon.  Also of interest is Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated: The Complete Season 2 (Warner Bros., 576 min., $26.99), which collects 26 episodes of the Saturday morning favorite, and The Woody Woodpecker Show: Holiday Favorites (Universal, 83 min., $14.93).
 
Contemporary genre series due out this week include American Horror Story: The Complete 3rd Season-Coven (Fox, $49.98, BD $59.98), the Psycho-based Bates Motel: Season 2 (Universal, $44.98, BD $49.98), the Fox cult/conspiracy saga The Following: The Complete 2nd Season (Warner Bros., $39.98, BD $57.99), the Eli (The Saw) Roth Netflix original horror series Hemlock Grove: Season 1 (Shout Factory, 780 min., $39.97, BD $49.98), the Jack-the-Ripper influenced Victorian saga Penny Dreadful: The Complete 1st Season (Paramount, 435 min., $45.99, BD $54.99), and the historical action saga The Vikings: Season 2 (MGM, 442 min., $39.98, BD $49.99).
 
With the holidays looming on the temporal horizon, now is the time for the release of expensive “Complete Sets,” and this year’s crop is led by the release of one of most sought-after TV series of the past 50 years, The Wonder Years, which ran for six seasons from 1988 to 1993 and won a host of Emmy and Peabody Awards.  The Wonder Years: The Complete Series (Time-Life, $299.95) includes all 115 episodes and loads of extras including a Kennedy Junior High T-shirt, tube socks, and a vintage gym bag, 10 featurettes, outtakes, commentaries and deleted scenes.  The key thing that fans want to know is, how much of the show’s original music will make it on to the DVDs—and the answer is that 96% of the original music has been cleared for the DVD, and that Time-Life has made pretty good substitutions for the songs that weren’t cleared (the Doors’ “Riders on the Storm” and Richie Havens’ rendition of “Here Come the Sun” are the main casualties).
 
Other Complete Sets include:  the excellent Vietnam War saga China Beach: The Complete Series (Time-Life, 3553 min., $199.95), the American version of The Office: The Complete Series (Universal, 4612 min., $199.98), and the comedy mystery series Psych: The Complete Series (Universal, 5186 min., $199.98).
 
Vintage TV releases this week are led by The Wonder Years: Season 1 (Time-Life, 200 min., $19.95), The Best of the Danny Kaye Show (MVD Entertainment, 300 min., $24.95), The Dick Van Dyke Show: Classic Christmas Episodes (Image Entertainment, 50 min., $9.98), The Flying Nun: Seasons 1&2 (Mill Creek, 1466 min., $14.98), The Life and Times of Grizzly Adams: Once Upon a Starry Night (Timeless Media, 90 min., $9.99), and The Twilight Zone: Classic Christmas Episodes (Image Entertainment, 50 min., $9.98).
 
Anime
 
This week’s top anime release is Dragon Ball Z: Battle of the Gods (Funimation, “14+,” 105 min., $29.98, BD $34.98), which debuted in Japan in 2013 and is the 17th movie based on Akira Toriyama’s Dragon Ball, the 14th to have the DBZ label, and only the second to get a theatrical release in Japan.  Funimation’s version includes an English dub with the familiar DBZ vocal cast, and the Blu-ray edition comes with 20 minutes of extra footage plus a 30-minute behind-the-scenes look at the making of the English language version.  Battle of the Gods is the first DBZ film to be considered an official part of the Dragon Ball storyline, since it is set during the time skip in chapter 517 of the original manga, and Toriyama was heavily involved in plotting the film, which is a “must-have” for real DBZ fans.
 
Almost as exciting is Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet (Viz Media, 330 min., $44.82, BD/LE $69.99), a 2013 series from Production I.G. that presents a character-driven, mecha-rich science fiction saga that should please a wide range of anime fans.
 
Also of interest is Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn, Part 4 (Right Stuf, 90 min., $29.99).  Bandai Entertainment began releasing this 2010-2012 series, and the Right Stuf is completing this key Gundam mecha release.  The Right Stuf is also releasing a subtitles-only edition of the yaoi manga-based Junjo Romantica: Season 2 (Right Stuf, 300 min., $44.99), a 12-episode 2008 series, which was previously released by Kadokawa Pictures USA.
 
The other new (to North America) release this week is Rozen Maiden: Zuruckspulen (Sentai Filmworks, 300 min., $59.98), the fourth anime series based on the Rozen Maiden manga by Peach-Pit, which was simulcast here by Crunchyroll in 2013. 
 
Sentai is also releasing the Bodacious Space Pirates Complete Collection (Sentai Filmworks, $69.98, BD $89.98), which the company had released in two parts in 2013.
 
Tom Flinn
 
The opinions expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect those of the editorial staff of ICv2.com.