New Geek DVD Day - 03/24/09

 You may notice that conspicuously missing from today's Geek DVD list is Star Wars: Clone Wars - A Galaxy Divided.  Yes, I'm aware it came out today but I am morally opposed to its existence and refuse to list it along with other cool DVD's.  It's not that I don't like the Clone Wars series.  Far from it.  I actually really like the Clone Wars series.  The problem though is that this first "DVD set" that Lucas has released is only a collection of the first four episodes. 

 

That's it.  Only four episodes.  And for this they are charging you $12.99.  This probably means that Lucas plans to release the entire season in four episode installments over the next few months, which will create five separate DVD sets you have to buy just to collect the first season.  It's a completely shameless attempt to grab the fans hard earned dollars, and I find it morally reprehensible.  And in the end it's pointless anyways because you know that eventually they will put out a complete Season One box set. 

 

So until such time as a whole season box set comes out, I will be intentionally excluding these mini DVD from the New Geek DVD Day lists.  Ok, with that said let's look at what cool stuff came out today.

 



 

The Good:  Quantum of Solace

 

Why It's Good:  It's Daniel Craig's second outing as James Bond in the newly rebooted superspy franchise.  While nowhere near as amazing as Casino Royale was, Quantum is still an enjoyable action film with some spy stuffs going on.  Plus, it's Bond...James Bond.  He never really disappoints (the George Lazenby film aside) and is always fun to watch.  If you're in the mood for some great fight scenes or car chases, this should fit the bill nicely.

 



 

The Badass:  Watchmen - Tales of the Black Freighter & Under The Hood

 

Why It's Badass:  If there was any doubt that Zack Snyder wasn't trying his absolute best to try to stay as faithful as the original Watchmen comics as possible...look no further than this Tales of the Black Freighter DVD. 

 

Knowing that there would be no way to include the Black Freighter story into the feature film due to time constraints, Snyder got Warner Brothers to agree to make this as a separate animated short film which will eventually be edited back into a DVD release of the film later this year.  Until that time though, you can check out the Black Freighter on its own in this DVD release.

 

I watched the Black Freighter short last night.  It's about 25 minutes long.  The animation is decent (nothing amazing though), but Gerard Butler is a great cast as the doomed hero of the story.  I haven't seen the Under the Hood stuff yet, but I'm personally thinking that I'll pass on buying this separately and will just wait until its all edited back into the film.  It's worth renting, but as a stand-alone story, the Black Freighter doesn't really work.  It'll be great as a companion piece/subplot though. 

 



 

The Awesome:  Venture Brothers - Season 3

 

Why It's Awesome:  The Venture Brothers have been consistently awesome for three straight seasons now.  Sure, some moments may have been better than others, but overall the show has been solidly entertaining each and every time I've ever sat down to watch it.  As a huge Patrick Wardburton fan I totally admit that I'm biased here as I think that Brock Samson is one of the greatest animated characters of all time, but he's not the only truly awesome thing about the show.  With amazing characters like The Monarch, Doctor Girlfriend, Henchmen 24 (RIP), Baron Underbite and many more, the show has a great depth to it.

 

Plus, the cover of this DVD set alone is worthy enough to earn it the top spot on this list today.  Just look at it.  It's glorious.  It looks like the cover to an old Atari 2600 adventure game.  This is one of the best DVD packages I've seen in a long, long time.

 

And last, but certainly not least: Season three of the Venture Brothers gave us what is by far and away the single greatest GI Joe parody of all time.  Don't believe me?  Just watch: