Headsup: Set the Controls For the Other Side of the Sun

An ongoing attempt to make sense of the onslaught of new swag that people want you to buy. Should you? I’ll try and help.

Well, this is the first season of Burn Notice, and I’m going to give you full disclosure up front: it’s got The Bruce in it. So you know that by law, we have to be pleased with that. Just so you know where we stand. Jeffrey Donovan was the lead in USA Network version of Touching Evil, but he appears to have a better shot with this one mostly because it–*cough*–got renewed. In this series he’s Michael Westen, former intelligence operative who’s been exiled to Miami trying to find out exactly why he’s been taken out of the game. This a four-disc, eleven episode job from Fox, and if you like the show you’re going to be seriously tempted by this, because the array of features isn’t bad: scene-specific commentary by creator Matt Nix and the cast, including Donovan and The Bruce, a gag reel, audition footage and more. I would say a fan should rent first to see if they want to buy–the shows are in repeats on USA at the moment, so you’re not lacking for episodes. And the features, while decent, aren’t a must-buy. And at $35 on Amazon, it’s definitely up to you: rent first, then buy if necessary. How The Bruce getting a paycheck enters into that equation is something for you and your conscience. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

[ad#longpost]Journey to the Far Side of the Sun is not, as it might sound when you hear the title, a Rick Wakeman album. Instead, it’s a sci-fi film from 1969 that I didn’t realize at first was produced by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson. Yes, they of the Supermarionation. Anyway, there’s another world on the opposite side of the sun. And a space mission is sent out to find out if the Squadron Supreme live there. Or something like that. Anyway, you might imagine there are models involved, being an Anderson film, and you might imagine, being from the late 1960s, that it’s a bit wacky. And you might be right. It’s a bare bones release from Universal, replacing the 1998 version which didn’t have anything else on it either. Worth at least a rental or if you’re an Anderson completist, go ahead and snag it. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

Transformers Animated is exactly what you think it is: a reswizzle of the concept done in a new animated style to better appeal to kids these days and to cash in on the feature film. If you are a Transformers purist…then good luck, because the Transformers concept has already been played with a lot before we got here, in my opinion. On the other hand, if you’re a kid who doesn’t know the original series you might be fine with this. If you’re in-between, well, as long as you’re good with throwing all expectations out the window you might be fine. This is certainly–this release–a way to test the waters if you didn’t catch the episodes on television. Three episodes that kick off the series are here, along with a couple of shorts. Rent it, but if you do want to purchase, bear in mind Season 1 is right around the corner on DVD. So. Just be aware. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)

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