GALACTICA!! DOLLHOUSE!! MIDDLEMAN!! SPIDER-MAN! IRON MAN!! GREEN LANTERN!! BluTREK!! HercVault!!

I am – Hercules!!

Put me in the camp that was hugely disappointed by the series finale found at the end of Battlestar Galactica 4.5. I refused to believe anyone in the fleet, let alone Gaius Baltar and Romo Lampkin, would buy into giving up guns and iPods and DVRs and FTL drives to live in damp caves and start wiping their hinders with birch bark. It was an ill-fitting bullshit bit of plotting awkwardly wedged to tie our world to the characters in the series. The earlier episodes dealing with Gaeta’s mutiny, however, are insanely gripping five-star affairs. They comprised an arc that demands to be watched and re-watched.

These final episodes come in both DVD and Blu-ray.

The ultrahandsome Battlestar Galactica: The Complete Series is a brilliant gift idea for friends and family who have somehow not yet succumbed to Ron Moore’s shock-and-awe genius.

In fact, if anybody’s looking to get me a birthday or Hanukkah present, I can think of none I’d be more grateful for than the 20-disc complete series Blu-ray edition. Those Zoic space battles are kinda jaw-dropping in HD. The extras in that pretty Blu-ray package:

Disc 1 U Control - The Oracle U Control - Picture in Picture Behind the Scenes of the Mini Series - Part 1 U Control - Picture in Picture Behind the Scenes of the Mini Series - Part 2 Deleted Scenes Sketches and Art Behind the Scenes Featurettes Mini Series Part 1 Commentary with Director Michael Rymer and Executive Producers David Eick and Ronald D. Moore Mini Series Part 2 Commentary with Director Michael Rymer and Executive Producers David Eick and Ronald D. Moore BD Live - Download Center
Disc 2 U Control - The Oracle Deleted Scenes 33 Commentary with Executive Producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick and Director Michael Rymer Bastille Day Commentary with Executive Producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick Act of Contrition Commentary with Executive Producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick You Can't Go Home Again Commentary with Executive Producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick
Disc 3 The Oracle Deleted Scenes Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down Commentary with Executive Producer Ronald D. Moore The Hand of God Commentary with Executive Producer Ronald D. Moore
Disc 4 U Control - The Oracle Deleted Scenes Are You a Cylon? Personality Quiz Colonial Day Commentary with Executive Producer Ronald D. Moore Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part 1 Commentary with Executive Producer Ronald D. Moore Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part 2 Commentary with Executive Producer Ronald D. Moore
Disc 5 U Control - The Oracle Deleted Scenes Ronald D. Moore Podcast Commentaries BD Live - Download Center
Disc 6 U Control - The Oracle Deleted Scenes Ronald D. Moore Podcast Commentaries Sizzle Reel
Disc 7 U Control - The Oracle Deleted Scenes Pegasus Extended Episode Commentary with Executive Producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick Ronald D. Moore Podcast Commentaries
Disc 8 U Control - The Oracle Deleted Scenes Ronald D. Moore Podcast Commentaries
Disc 9 U Control - The Oracle Deleted Scenes Battlestar Galactica Career Assignment Quiz David Eick's Video Blogs RND Logos Ronald D. Moore Podcast Commentaries
Disc 10 U Control - The Oracle U Control - Battlestar Blips Deleted Scenes Ronald D. Moore's Podcast Commentaries BD Live - Download Center
Disc 11 U Control - The Oracle U Control - Battlestar Blips Deleted Scenes Battlestar Galactica: The Resistance Webisodes David Eick's Video Blogs Ronald D. Moore's Podcast Commentaries Hero Commentary with Executive Producer David Eick
Disc 12 U Control - The Oracle U Control - Battlestar Blips Deleted Scenes David Eick's Video Blogs Ronald D. Moore's Podcast Commentaries Unfinished Business Unaired, Extended Cut Commentary with Executive Producer Ronald D. Moore
Disc 13 U Control - The Oracle U Control - Battlestar Blips Deleted Scenes Ronald D. Moore's Podcast Commentaries
Disc 14 U Control - The Oracle U Control - Battlestar Blips Deleted Scenes Colonial Military Assessment Quiz Ronald D. Moore's Podcast Commentaries David Eick's Video Blogs
Disc 15: Battlestar Galactica: Razor (Unrated Extended Version and the Broadcast Version) U Control - The Oracle U Control - Battlestar Actual Deleted Scenes The Look of Battlestar Galactica My Favorite Episode So Far Season 4 Sneak Peek Season 4 Trailer Minisodes Commentary to the Unrated Extended Edition with Executive Producer Ronald D. Moore and Writer Michael Taylor BD Live - Download Center BD Live - Battlestar Galactica Card Game
Disc 16 U Control - The Oracle U Control - Battlestar Actual Deleted Scenes David Eick's Video Blogs Ronald D. Moore's Podcast Commentaries
Disc 17 U Control - The Oracle U Control - Battlestar Actual Deleted Scenes The Journey Cylons: The Twelve Season 4.5: The Untold Story - Untold The Music of Battlestar Galactica Caprica Sneak Peek Faith Commentary with Executive Producer Ronald D. Moore and Supervising Producers Bradley Thompson and David Weddle Guess What's Coming to Dinner with Executive Producer Ronald D. Moore and Writer Michael Angeli Sine Qua Non Commentary with Executive Producer Ronald D. Moore and Writer Michael Taylor Ronald D. Moore's Podcast Commentaries
Disc 18 U Control - The Oracle U Control - Battlestar Actual Deleted Scenes The Journey Ends: The Arrival Evolution of a Cue What the Frak Is Going on with Battlestar Galactica? A Disquiet Follows My Soul Unaired Extended Episode Commentary with Executive Producer and Episode Director Ronald D. Moore Ronald D. Moore's Podcast Commentaries BD Live - Download Center BD Live - Battlestar Galactica: Ultimate Battle Card Game
Disc 19 U Control - The Oracle U Control - Battlestar Actual Deleted Scenes David Eick's Video Blogs Islanded in a Stream of Stars Unaired Extended Episode Commentary with Series Star and Episode Director Edward James Olmos Ronald D. Moore's Podcast Commentaries
Disc 20 U Control - What the Frak Happened to You? (Available for the Unaired, Extended Episode of Daybreak Only) U Control - Battlestar Actual Deleted Scenes A Look Back ...And They Have a Plan The Musicians Behind Daybreak Daybreak Unaired Extended Episode Commentary with Executive Producers David Eick and Ronald D. Moore Ronald D. Moore's Podcast Commentaries

Dollhouse, created by the same fellow who created three of the best series ever – “Buffy The Vampire Slayer,” “Angel” and “Firefly” – (to say nothing of “Dr. Horrible”) started poorly (I’m willing to blame overmanaging studio execs) but eventually evolved into a highly rewarding ensemble comedy thriller. It’s still the least of Whedon’s series so far, but I’m hopeful the show will rally mightily in its second season, as “Buffy” did more than a decade ago. Also? One keeps hearing the future-set never-aired “lost” episode, “Epitaph One” (included on the final discs of the new season sets along with the unaired original “Dollhouse” pilot) is awesome.

The first season comes in both DVD and Blu-ray. What’s on the Blu-ray edition:

Disc 1 Ghost (with commentary by Joss Whedon and Eliza Dushku) The Target Stage Fright Gray Hour True Believer
Disc 2 Man on the Street (with commentary by Joss Whedon) Echoes Needs A Spy in the House of Love Haunted
Disc 3 Briar Rose Omega Never-before-seen episode Epitaph One (with commentary by writers Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen) Original Unaired Pilot - Echo Deleted Scenes "Making Dollhouse" featurette "Coming Back Home" featurette "Finding Echo" featurette "Designing the Perfect Dollhouse" featurette "A Private Engagement" featurette

Javier Grillo-Marxuach, who served as writer and supervising producer on the Emmy-winning first season of “Lost,” more recently created ABC Family’s “Middleman,” based on his comic-book series .

It’s about a (really hot) geek girl who finds herself sucked into a top-secret agency that contends with sci-fi menace. The fabulous and fabulously talented Sarah Watson (now on Jason Katims’ “Parenthood” over at NBC) penned the first not-pilot episode. Others on the writing staff include the great Hans Beimler (“Star Trek: The Next Generation,” “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine”), Tracey Stern (“Sports Night,” “Angel”) and Jordan Rosenberg (who wrote the Goth Claire episode of “Lost”).

Natalie Morales, whom I’d describe as 105 pounds of bonerjuice, plays the geek girl. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says:

… a highly watchable hour of entertaining, occasionally cheesy TV that's smart enough to engage adults but also enjoyable for kids and teens. …

The Boston Herald says:

… snarky, clever … Morales recalls a young Fran Lebowitz. “Did you skinny-dip in the stupidity pool?” she demands at one point. All that’s missing are some onscreen blurbs like “BAM!” and “POW!” “The Middleman” will entertain anyone who is 8 years old at heart.

The Detroit Free Press says:

… a neat blend of humor and action. Kids can take it straight; grown-ups can savor the dry wit. Natalie Morales is perfect as Wendy, smartly sarcastic; Matt Keesler is ideal as the stereotypical hero.…

The Los Angeles Times says:

… it is the sort of show that basic cable was invented for; in that venue, light, self-mocking, silly and narrowly aimed may be seen for the good qualities they are. This is good summer entertainment, like a Saturday afternoon B-movie matinee transposed to Monday-night TV. …

The Los Angeles Daily News says:

… a fun little romp of a show, a superhero action-comedy that's deadpan one moment and over-the-top silly the next. … viewers may be happily surprised at how charmingly goofy they find "The Middleman."

The Orlando Sentinel says:

The hero and the heroine of The Middleman are the fastest talkers since the mom and daughter on Gilmore Girls. If you love rat-a-tat banter, The Middleman will be screwball heaven. … The special effects have wacky charm -- not surprising for a series based on graphic novels. Yet the dialogue is even more special. Javier Grillo-Marxuach, creator of the novels and the series, gives his characters witty, distinctive things to say .…

The Boston Globe says:

… so light as to feel almost weightless, and compared to much TV, that comes as a relief. If comic books are meant to be escape, there are far worse worlds to camp in for the summer.…

The Hollywood Reporter says:

… way offbeat, occasionally lame but not uncharming piece of merriment that lets it all fly in the quest to bring a graphic novel to television life. … The creatures are essentially designed as bowling pins for our protagonists to knock over with a well-placed shot and a quip, and Keeslar and Morales’ interaction is nothing if not playful and lively. …

Variety says:

… There's an explanation why most "Men in Black" knockoffs have failed -- namely, because achieving that balance of comedy and sci-fi action is pretty damn hard. Yet ABC Family has accomplished just that with "The Middleman," a delightful adaptation of "Lost" scribe Javier Grillo-Marxuach's graphic novel that brims with clever pop-culture references and disarming wit. …

“Middleman” commentaries: 1.1 “The Pilot Episode Sanction”: Series mastermind Javier Grillo-Marxauch and director Jeremiah Chechik. 1.7 “The Cursed Tuba Contingency”: Grillo-Marxauch, writer-producer Hans Beimler, and actors Matt Keeslar, Natalie Morales, Brit Morgan and Jake Smollett. 1.11 “The Clotharian Contamination Protocol”: Grillo-Marxauch and writers Sarah Watson, Margaret Dunlap, Andy Reaser and Jordan Rosenberg. 1.12 “The Palindrome Reversal Palindrome”: Grillo-Marxauch, Keeslar and Morales. Other “Middleman” extras, all on the otherwise empty fourth and final disc: * web featurettes * alternate scenes * weekly Javiercasts * the ABC Family Middleman-ager * gag reel * audition footage * the Wilhelm Scream * the evolution of the opening title sequence * “Scream Ur Luv 4 Me” music video * PSAs * a gallery of photography by Ralph King * the complete "The Palindrome Reversal Palindrome" table read

2008’s horrible “Knight Rider” TV-movie spawned an equally horrible series scripted by “Las Vegas”/”The Fast and the Furious” creator Gary Scott Thompson. The first episode’s plot involves a nebbish who’s both smart enough to encode a digital secret into his DNA and stupid enough to encode a digital secret into his DNA (where anybody can get at it via a hair follicle, a Q-tip swab of his inner cheek, or a wholly unnecessary dismemberment). There’s also a platoon of super-scientists and a car with a supercomputer brain. None of them can figure out that a flaming car can be extinguished by driving it into the nearest pool of water found on Google Maps. Also, even though there’s a flaming car motoring down the highway at 300 mph, no one bothers to alert the cops (or the fire department). Mannequin-like actors rattle off lazy, clichéd dialogue and miserable excuses for quippery. It’s so relentlessly puerile 12-year-olds will dismiss it as a show for 8-year-olds. I can't call it the worst hourlong of last season because Fox, gods love it, earlier premiered "Hole in the Wall." USA Today gives it one star (out of four) and says:

… There is much to despise in Knight Rider, a shockingly incompetent, barely coherent, ad-driven rip-off … Instead of just aiming the show at children, maybe NBC should let them write and perform it. They could hardly do worse.

The New York Times says:

… a staggering bore …

The Los Angeles Times says:

… Unlike the darkly reconceived "Battlestar Galactica" or the also darkly reconceived but ill-fated "Bionic Woman," and notwithstanding an ominously dark hole in Mike's memory, the remade "Knight Rider" is fundamentally of a piece with its predecessor. As drama and as spectacle, and with a remarkable lack of irony, it re-creates the cheesy sci-fi adventure from the 1980s. …

The Chicago Sun-Times says:

… The only thing that KITT (voiced by Val Kilmer, who delivers every line so flat, you'd swear someone hooked up the Hal 9000 from "2001: A Space Odyssey" to a morphine drip) can't do is write a better script. Like the Edsel, this "Knight Rider" remount is one heck of a lemon. … I'd be inclined to dismiss this as lighthearted children's fare, like David Hasselhoff's original "Knight Rider" from the '80s, but the violence, dialogue and skin shown on this version aren't exactly kid-friendly. Not even kids should have to suffer through this, though. Here's hoping KITT and crew get booted.

The Washington Post says:

… Zzzzzz. …

The San Francisco Chronicle says:

… heinously bad. It's the kind of bad that sells cheese or gets entertainment presidents fired - one or the other, or both. Of course, anyone who would watch "Knight Rider" anyway - given the show's history of low expectations and the NBC movie that reinvented it - probably knows what they're getting into and won't mind that it's spectacularly awful. For some people, taste is not a choice in life. … probably the dumbest show of the season …

The Salt Lake Tribune says:

… an insipid, banal and cheap-looking remake of the David Hasselhof action series that plays more like a 60-minute Ford commercial. … a car show strictly for the junk yard.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says:

… Above all, the show is just sloppy. A plane lands in Washington, D.C., and there are mountains surrounding the runway. The Knight Industries team learns two members may burn to death and they respond with big smiles, saying, "This just got interesting!" … the show gives us no reason to care, in part because Bruening's performance is often tentative and borderline wooden. …

The Boston Globe says:

… a vacuous vicious circle that is almost comically nonsensical - almost. The NBC show wants to be high-octane fun, something like Matt Damon's Jason Bourne movies with a Batmobile, but it's so poorly directed and listlessly acted … Everything - the characters, the action - seems stubbornly flat. The atmosphere of "Knight Rider" is certainly artificial, but it's not very intelligent.

The Associated Press says:

… lots of cartoony gunplay, explosions and turbocharged computer effects. Bad guys who go, "We can do this the easy way, or the very, very hard way." And a missing data "package" that (as we are repeatedly told) is "vital to national security." … the real inspiration is the product-placement deal struck with a major auto maker. "Knight Rider" isn't so much an action-adventure show as a high-octane commercial. …

Variety says:

The "Knight Rider" revival movie set the bar low in terms of expectations, and damned if the series premiere still doesn't go skidding under it. Frankly, this convoluted hour sent me scurrying to NBC's website looking for clarification about the plot, but -- whew, what a relief -- there really isn't much of one. … NBC got lucky once, but even with marginal competition it's hard to imagine there's much left in the tank for this as a series -- unless, perhaps, gas shoots back above $4 a gallon and people yearn for the cheap, vicarious thrill of watching somebody else waste fuel.

The Hollywood Reporter says:

… Of course, everything that made the original fun and unique has effectively been scrubbed away from this new edition that's all about high-tech gadgetry, speed and sex and only the tiniest shred about story and personality. The gambit surrounding KITT the talking car is no longer a gimmick so much as a device to attach a James Bond-ish edge to an hour devoid of soul. …

Hot on the heels of the Lantern-centric “Justice League: New Frontier,” Green Lantern: First Flight is low on characterization, long on PG-13 action, and firmly re-establishes Hal Jordan as the one true GL of sector 2814. There’s at least one unexpected twist in the 77-minute movie and I loved the scene in which the villain robs the Corps of its powers, sending all the mid-flight Lanterns plummeting to what looks like rocky death. Voices include Christopher Meloni as Hal, Victor Garber as Sinestro, Tricia Helfer as Boodikka, Michael Madsen as Kilowog, John Larroquette as Tomar Re, Kurtwood Smith as Kanjar Ro, Larry Drake as Ganthet, William Shallert as Appa Ali Apsa, Malachi Throne as Ranakar, Olivia d’Abo as Carol Ferris, Juliet Landau as Labella, David L. Lander as Ch’p, Richard McGonagle as Abin Sur, and Kath Soucie as Arisia.

The set comes in single disc, double disc and Blu-ray editions. Extras on the Blu-ray edition include: * “I Am The Ring” (22:31) * “Blackest Night: Inside The DC Comics Event” (8:52) * “Behind the Story with Geoff Johns” (8:41) * “Sinestro” (4:01) * “The Guardians of the Universe” (3:40) * “Duck Dodgers” episode “The Green Loontern” (22:22), in which Time Warner properties Daffy Duck and Hal Jordan meet after the dry cleaners accidentally give Daffy a power ring. * Five John Stewart-centric “Justice League” and “Justice League Unlimited” episodes: “Once and Future Thing, Part 1” (23:01) “Once and Future Thing, Part 2” (23:01) “Hearts and Minds, Part 1” (22:50) “Hearts and Minds, Part 2” (23:19) “The Return” (23:05) * Documercials on the upcoming cartoon DVD movie “Superman/Batman: Public Enemies” (7:49), and the already out “Justice League: New Frontier” (10:45), “Wonder Woman: Amazon Princess” (10:26) and “Batman: Gotham Knight” (10:11).

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