The home video debut of Toy Story 3 is the big news this week, but there are quite a few other new items of interest including BDs of the new V TV series as well as Adult Swim’s Metalocalypse, and a complete edition of Garry Shandling’s The Larry Sanders Show, as well as two vintage Doctor Who sagas, a great Midsomer Murders collection, and a very funny documentary about the “Angriest Man Alive.”

 

Theatrical

 

Toy Story 3 has earned $414 million at the domestic box office making it the highest grossing film released in 2010 so far (Avatar debuted in 2009).  Toy Story 3 (Disney, “G” $29.99, BD $45.99) will also surely be one of the top DVD releases of the year, if not the biggest.  Pixar has had an amazing track record with an unbroken string of hits, but perhaps the computer animation studio’s most amazing feat is the way in which each film in the Toy Story series has been better than its predecessor.  Pixar’s ability to mix humor and “heart” is unmatched, and it’s just as important to the studio’s success as its unparalleled technical mastery.  Blu-ray is definitely the way to go with the highly visual Toy Story 3, and the 4-disc Combo Pack includes a standard DVD version as well as a slew of interesting extras.

 

TV on DVD

 

Once again there are a number of interesting releases in the TV category including V: The Complete First Season (Warner Bros., $39.98, BD $49.98), which contains the complete first season of the remake of the 1980s science fiction mini-series.  Other shows that are getting the Blu-ray treatment include the vintage science fiction series Space 1999: The Complete First Season (A&E, 1008 min., $99.95), which originally aired in 1975, and The Pacific: The Complete Series, (HBO, 400 min., $79.98, BD $99.98), the epic 10-part mini-series about the Pacific theater in World War II that reached new heights of realism in tracing the intertwined odysseys of three marines across the Pacific.  Also getting the Blu-ray treatment is the Adult Swim heavy metal cartoon series, Metalocalypse: Season 3 (Warner Bros., 217 min., $29.98, BD $39.99) and the supernaturally-themed 2006 ABC Family miniseries Fallen (Image, 253 min., $17.97).

 

Continuing series releases include The Fugitive: Season 4, Part 1 (Paramount, 666 min., $39.98), which includes the first 15 episodes of the final season of the groundbreaking serial drama series, Beverly Hills, 90210: The Final Season (Paramount, $59.98), a “must-have” for the fans of the original teen soaper, The Facts of Life: The Complete 5th Season (Shout Factory, 585 min., $39.97), the single-disc Hannah Montana, Vol. 7: Who is Hannah Montana (Disney, 182 min., $19.99), and Mad About You: The 5th Season (Shout Factory, 540 min., $29.83).

 

Special mention should be made of the innovative and highly satirical faux talk show series The Larry Sanders Show, which starred Garry Shandling as the vain and neurotic Johnny Carson wannabe.  In spite of its popularity on HBO, only one season of the show was released on DVD in 2002.  At last all 89 episodes are available on The Larry Sanders: The Complete Series (Shout Factory, 2,800 min., $149.99), a deluxe 17-disc set that includes a 68-page booklet, all-new deleted scenes and outtakes, a special feature with Judd Apatow and Shandling discussing the writing process, a feature-length documentary on “The Making of the Gary Shandling Show,” and Shandling’s lectures at the University of Southern California.  Shout Factory is also releasing The Larry Sanders Show: Season 2 (Shout Factory, 450 min., $34.93), which means that those who want to buy the show season-by-season will eventually have the opportunity to do so, but why wait.

 

Top U.K. releases include two vintage Doctor Who sagas, Doctor Who, Story 079: Revenge of the Cybermen (BBC, 100 min., $24.98), a 1970s classic featuring the popular fourth Doctor Tom Baker, and Doctor Who, Story 154: Silver Nemesis (BBC, 75 min., $24.98), a 1980s saga featuring the seventh Doctor Sylvester McCoy and more of those silver-clad Cybermen.

 

It’s hard to argue with the notion that the most enjoyable U.K. crime series is the long-running Midsomer Murders, which is set in the picturesque (though fictional) English county of Midsomer, and features the deductive talents of the unflappable DCI Tom Barnaby, who is expertly played by John Nettles.  Midsomer Murders: The Village Case Files (Acorn Media, 1,590 min., $149.99) includes sixteen feature length mysteries that first aired from 2004 to 2006.  The set features the transition from DS Dan Scott (John Hopkins), a cocky Londoner to DS Ben Jones (Jason Hughes) as Barnaby’s sidekick.  Jones, who was handpicked out of the uniformed ranks by Barnaby, has continued as his assistant to the present.  If you haven’t seen this superb series, check it out and see why its Johnny Depp’s favorite.

 

Fans of the more conventional classic British drawing room mysteries will certainly enjoy Marple: The Geraldine McEwan Collection (Acorn Media, 1140 min., $99.99), which includes all 12 feature-length mysteries featuring Geraldine McEwan as Christie’s spinster sleuth.  Exceedingly well-produced with excellent period details, these lavish productions aired between 2004 and 2009, and featured top flight guest stars including Jane Seymour, Herbert Lom, Peter Davison, Tom Baker, Timothy Dalton, Francesca Annis, and Derek Jacobi.

 

Derek Jacobi stars in another prime mystery series out this week.  Cadfael: The Complete Collection (Acorn Media, 975 min., $99.99) includes all 13 feature-length mysteries based on the bestselling books by Ellis Peters (Edith Pargeter) about Brother Cadfael, a Benedictine monk living in Shrewsbury in western England between 1135 and 1145 during “The Anarchy,” a turbulent time in which King Stephen and Empress Maud fought for control of the English crown.  While Cadfael doesn’t have access to modern forensic science (no fingerprints or DNA), his familiarity with the natural world (he is a herbalist) and his extensive experience in the Crusades (he only became a monk in middle age), allow him to solve perplexing crimes in this well-produced and always entertaining series that was broadcast in the U.S. as part of the PBS Mystery lineup.

 

Anime

 

The top new release this week is Oh! Edo Rocket: Season 1, Part 1 (Funimation, “17+,” 325 min., $49.98), which includes the first half of the 26-episode Madhouse series from 2007.  One of the rare anime series based on a stage play, Oh! Edo Rocket is a science fiction comedy set in 1842 in 13th year of the highly restrictive Tenpo era when all luxuries including fireworks, plays, and new inventions have been banned.  Seikichi, a young fireworks maker, attempts to build a rocket to take a beautiful alien back to her home on the moon.  Funimation is also releasing the second half of the series, Oh! Edo Rocket: Season 1, Part 2 (“17+,” 325 min., $49.98). 

 

The other major release of new (to the U.S.) material is Utakata: The Complete Collection (Sentai Filmworks, 325 min., $49.98), that includes a 12-episode 2004 anime series from Bandai Visual plus an OVA.  Utakata is a “magical girl” series that morphs into a coming-of-age saga that takes on a number of mature subjects such as child abuse and eating disorders.

 

Re-priced series include the classic Dirty Pair: The Original TV Series Part 1 (Nozumi Entertainment, “13+,” 325 min., $49.99) produced by Sunrise in 1984, the 2008 Blassreiter Complete Series (Funimation, “17+,” 580 min., $49.98) from Gonzo, Gunslinger Girl: Il Teatrino Complete Series (Funimation, “17+,” 320 min., $39.98), and Magic Knight Rayearth Season 2 Remastered (Media Blasters, “13+,” 780 min., $44.99), which contains a much improved version of all 29 episodes of the second season of the anime series based on the Clamp manga that aired in 1995 and 1996.

 

Documentaries

 

Ben Steinbauer’s Winnebago Man (Kino, Not Rated, 85 min., $29.95) is a fascinating look at Jack Rebney, “The Angriest Man in the World,” whose outtake tirades while producing a promotional video for the Winnebago Corporation in the full heat and humidity of an Iowa summer in the 1980s were cut together by members of the crew that shot the movie and passed around on video tape.  Rebney’s profane outbursts went “viral” before there even was a YouTube.  The videotapes were copied and passed around and they soon became notorious enough that Rebney lost his job.  Steinbauer’s film explores the phenomenon of unwanted celebrity, which has become so prevalent in the age of the Internet.  He finds Rebney living as a virtual recluse on a mountaintop in Northern California, still as profane as ever, but also razor sharp, politically aware, and though testy, a lot more likeable than one would expect.  Winnebago Man is hardly a perfect film, but it is funny, and strangely uplifting.