This week Warner Bros. returns to its old habit of “double-dipping” with a new “extended version” of Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey with 13 minutes of extra footage and hours of extras that should have been included in the original DVD release.  Other releases include the Brian K. Vaughan-produced TV miniseries of Stephen King’s Under the Dome, the latest season of Matthew Weiner’s intriguing Mad Men, as well as a reasonably-priced complete Robotech collection, and lots of massive “complete” sets for holiday giving.
 
Theatrical Movies
 
It’s a bit hard to pick this week’s top theatrical release.  Many will be interested in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Extended Edition (Warner Bros., “PG-13” 182 min., $34.99, BD $35.99), which includes 13 minutes of never-before-seen footage as well as nine hours of extras.  This is truly a great package, it is just too bad that the studio didn’t come out with originally—this sort of “double-dipping” is onerous, especially when director Peter Jackson is also guilty of grossly expanding his adaptation of Tolkien’s novel into a 3-movie extravaganza.
 
The first installment of The Hobbit earned over $300 million at the domestic box office, this week’s next most popular release is the Adam Sandler comedy sequel Grown-Ups 2 (Sony, “PG-13,” 101 min., $30.99, BD $40.99), which brought in $133 million.  Sandler fans may have enjoyed this retread, but the critics surely did not as they gave the film a pitiful 7% positive rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.
 
Next in the box office pecking order is one of this summer’s biggest bombs, White House Down (Sony, “PG-13,” 101 min., $30.99, BD $40.99).  It wasn’t that the movie was so bad—it is a predictable “Die Hard in the White House” saga, but it is nonetheless enjoyable and actually managed a Tomatometer rating of 50% positive.  The problem was that the Gerard Butler-starring “White House in distress” saga Olympus Has Fallen hit theaters three months earlier and effectively torpedoed the box office hopes of Sony’s White House Down, which is better than the Butler flick and isn’t nearly as bad as some of Tinseltown’s other bombs.
 
Those who like art movies might want to check out James Franco’s adaptation of William Faulkner’s stream of consciousness novel As I Lay Dying (Millennium, “R,” 110 min., $28.98), a noble attempt to adapt what might well be considered one of the most un-filmable novels ever written.
 
Also due this week is Lovelace (Anchor Bay, “R,” $24.98, BD $29.98), which stars Amanda Seyfried in a biopic about porn star Linda Lovelace, whose starred in Deep Throat, a sensational movie hit that launched the “porno chic” trend in the early 1970s long before the actress reported the coercion and sexual abuse involved in the making of the film.  It is the seamy backstage story of the making of the Deep Throat that is the subject of Lovelace, which is not always an easy film to watch.
 
TV on DVD
 
This week’s top release is Mad Men: Season 6 (Lionsgate, 611 min., $49.98, BD $49.97), the latest season of the show that has won the Emmy for “Outstanding Drama Series” four times.  Creator Matthew Weiner’s series, which is set during the “Golden Age” of advertising has now reached the late 1960s and early 1970s.  Part of the show’s appeal is the way in which Weiner manages to integrate real historical events and characters into the narrative, but the real secret of its success likes in the series’ central characters especially the enigmatic Don Draper, whose strange background reflects the shows major theme of “identity,” which is not only explored in Draper’s murky personal past, but also in the way in which Draper has his cohorts create new “identities” for the products they hype.  The ways in which the characters attempt to liberate themselves in Season Six reflects the situation in society at large at the time as the counterculture was emerging in response to the war in Vietnam and the excesses of the consumer culture.
 
For many geek viewers this week’s biggest treat is the surprise summer hit TV series based on Stephen King’s science fiction/terror saga Under the Dome.  Comic book writer Brian K. Vaughan (Y: The Last Man, Saga) functioned as the showrunner and producer for Under the Dome: The First Season (Paramount, 1012 min., $54.98, BD $69.99, Ltd. Ed. BD $99.99), which might account for the series’ popularity.  Originally conceived as just a summer “fill-in” miniseries, Under the Dome proved popular enough that it will back with a second 13-episode season next summer.  Those sci-fi aficionados who didn’t check out the show last summer should certainly give it a chance.
 
Fans of TV animation have several options including Batman: The Brave and the Bold: The Complete 1st Season (Warner Bros., 584 min., BD $24.95), which is now available on Blu-ray, the new single-disc, 10-episode Ben 10: Omniverse, Vol.3: Aliens at War 3 (Warner Bros., 230 min. $19.98), and the single-disc, six-episode, The Smurfs: A Magical Smurf Adventure 2 (Warner Bros., $14.98).
 
Without a lot of new series due this week, and with the holidays approaching, many of this week’s releases are new “Complete Sets,” some of which have been reduced in price, though others are larded with extras and special packaging that keep prices high.  Two of the most popular BBC series are available in full price “gift set” releases including Absolutely Fabulous: Absolutely All of It (BBC, 1344 min., $158.98), which comes in a faux iguana skin clutch bag, and the Doctor Who: Series 1-7 Giftset (BBC, 4837 min., BD $349.98), which collects all 7 seasons of the revived Doctor Who series in full high definition.
 
Also due in a complete Blu-ray set is the dark Showtime comedy-drama starring Mary Louise Parker, Weeds: The Complete Series (Lionsgate, 2700 min., $119.97), which contains all 8 seasons of the saga of a widow who supports her family by selling pot.
 
One of the most interesting of the holiday sets, at least for geek viewers, is Robotech: The Complete Series (A&E, 2276 min., $89.98), which collects all 85 episodes of the classic American TV series that was cobbled together from 3 different science fiction anime adventures.  This series first appeared on American TV in 1985 and was very important in generating interest in anime that led to our current interest in both anime and manga.  In addition to the complete 85 episode TV series, this set includes the Robotech 2-Movie Collection, including The Shadow Chronicles as well as the latest film Robotech: Love Live Alive, and two never-before-released documentaries “Robotech: The Inside Story,” and “The Making of Love Live Alive.”
 
Other gift sets include the 1990s smash sitcom, Seinfeld: The Complete Series (Sony, $149.99), a massive  13-disc collection of the campy high school Saturday morning comedy Saved By the Bell: The Complete Set (Lionsgate, $49.98), the groundbreaking police drama The Naked City: The Complete Series (Image Entertainment, 6,600 min., $179.98), the long-running series that featured many actors like Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford, William Shatner, and Rip Torn early in their careers, the Michael J. Fox-starring Family Ties: The Complete Series (Paramount, 4329 min., $220.98), the 1990s sitcom Boy Meets World: The Complete Series (Lionsgate, 552 min., $99.98), and all ten seasons of the original Beverly Hills, 92010: The Complete Series (Paramount, 2937 min., $349.99).
 
Anime
 
There is a big list of releases this week including Hetalia: The Complete Series-Seasons 3 & 4 (Funimation, “17,” 225 min., $44.98), which presents the second half of the politically incorrect satire of World War II in which the nations are represented by cartoon stereotypes as well as the Zetman Complete Series (Viz Media, “17+,” 325 min., $44.82, BD $54.98), which collects all 13 episodes of the 2012 TMS series based on the science fiction manga by Masakazu Katsura,  the pricy Fate/Zero Ltd. Edition Box Set (Aniplex of America, “13+,” 330 min., $87.98, BD $187.00)  and HIiro no Kakera—The Tamayori Princess Saga Season 2 (Sentai Filmworks, “14+,” 325 min. $59.98, BD $69.98), which collects the second season of the Studio Deen series based on the female-oriented visual novel created by Idea Factory.
 
Re-priced re-releases due this week include the Ninja Nonsense Collection Litebox (Right Stuf, “15+,” 320 min., $39.99), one of the most anarchic of anime comedies, as well as the exceptionally low-priced Yu-Gi-Oh! Season 2 Complete Collection (New Video, “13+,” 992 min., $45.99), which contains over 50 episodes of the popular anime.
 
Not every vintage anime release is priced at bargain basement level.  The classic mecha series Patlabor TV Collection 3 (Maiden Japan, “14+,” 300 min., $69.98) is newly available on Blu-ray, hence the “like new” pricing. 

Tom Flinn

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