New DVD Releases for July 3, 2007: A Few Flashes, But No Fireworks

So here I am, adrift in waters my esteemed predecessors, David Dylan Thomas of late, and Duke De Mondo before him, effortlessly navigated. Since this is my first time to pilot the new DVD release ship solo, it’s a good thing the waters this week are calm.

Actually, they’re deathly still. Between Canada Day on 1 July and Independence Day in the States on 4 July, not to mention a lot of empty pockets thanks to the iPhone, DVD releases 3 July in Region 1 are a bit sparse. That’s not to say there aren’t some treasures lurking out there — it’s just not a week for grand catches. So even though retailers like Best Buy and Target ignored them in their Sunday circulars, I’ve got your back on new releases this week.

The major releases include a white picket fence version of science fiction, a thinly veiled cyberpunk noir presented as anime, a lighthearted look at WWII fighter pilots in the South Pacific, and a special Blu-ray edition of the American Revolution according to Mel Gibson.

Packaged as a cross between Northern Exposure and X-Files, Eureka was the Sci-Fi Channel’s most popular new series in 2006. It all centers around the denizens of a small secluded town somewhere in the Pacific Northwest. The hook is that Eureka is also a top-secret government project housing the world’s greatest scientists, and home to all the great technological advances and bloopers of the past fifty years. You can catch up on all the madcap episodes with the 3 disc box set Eureka: Season One. At 536 minutes, you might have time to become a fanboy expert before Season Two begins later this year.

Ghost in the Shell: Solid State Society is a movie continuation of the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex series, which was inspired by the 1995 anime classic Ghost in the Shell. Advance word on this installment is mixed, but this is a series whose signature has always been ambiguity. Expect this one to carry on in the cyberpunk philosophies its always explored, colored with realistic action and a script too confounding for its own good. The Limited Edition includes a music CD and a second DVD of extras, among them notes on designing the futuristic vehicles in the film, all packaged in a metal
box.

Beyond the obvious 4th of July tie-in, I really can’t fathom why 2000’s The Patriot is being touted as a major release. It was passable melodrama, with Mel Gibson sufficiently brooding throughout, and making it through the film without being gruesomely tortured. The American Revolution is given short shrift, though, serving as background for Gibson’s soliloquies and scene chewing. Perhaps The Patriot Blu-Ray Extended Cut, with additional footage, will imbue it with more of a sense of history. I’m not holding my breath, though.

Baa Baa Black Sheep Vol. 2 may be no more historically accurate, but it can in no way be accused of ambiguity, either. This three-disc set contains the entire second (and last) season of the '70s TV series starring Robert Conrad. Very loosely based on the exploits of “Pappy” Boyington’s Black Sheep Squadron during WWII in the South Pacific, this series falls into the “ain’t war fun!” category. Still, if my memory serves me well, it was amusing, and features some pretty good aerial footage for a network series. It’s rah rah patriotism and nutty nostalgia, served up as only Steven Cannell (The A-Team) could do it.

Article Author: Ray Ellis

Ray Ellis is a freelance writer who has been dissecting pop culture and its effect on how we view ourselves for over twenty years, ruffling feathers and dragging unsuspecting pedestrians along for the ride whenever possible.

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