UPDATE: $33 TWILIGHT ZONE!! SciFi & Cartoon Bundlage!!Herc’s Season-Box DVD Vault!! -- Ain't It Cool News: The best in movie, TV, DVD, and comic book news.

Published on Tuesday, October 9, 2007 - 2:51am

UPDATE: $33 TWILIGHT ZONE!!
SciFi & Cartoon Bundlage!!
Herc’s Season-Box DVD Vault!!

TWILIGHT ZONE: THE COMPLETE SERIES!!

$164.99!!

That works out to $33 Per Season!!
The extras-crammed Definitive Editions!!
Individual seasons cost $69.99 New; $50 used!!
They were going for close to $100/season not too long ago!

(The discount presumably celebrates the release of the “Twilight Zone” movie in HD, so don’t expect it to last ...)

I am – Hercules!!

The Film Crew: Giant of Marathon is the fourth and last of the scheduled Film Crew releases masterminded by “Mystery Science Theater 3000” vet Mike Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett. It is not a TV show, but I love it anyway.

1959’s “La Battaglie di Maratona” is a historical actioner about, among other things, 100 Greek warriors who must defeat the entire Persian army. It stars Steve Reeves, the former Mr. Universe who had just found stardom with the budget Euro-actioner, 1958’s “Le Fatiche di Ercole,” a.k.a. “The Toils of Hercules” a.k.a. “Hercules.” (“Maratona” is presented here letterboxed! Did they ever do that on “MST3K”?)

Those mocked in the boys’ aftermarket “commentary track” include Dan Haggerty, Dracula, Sylvester Stallone, Star Trek, The Joker, Chris Kattan, Phil Spector, Ben Hur, Creatine, Rod McKuen, Spinal Tap, Michael Stipe, Oliver Reed, Woodstock ’99, the Keebler Elves, CSPAN, Jeff Lynne, Mr. Peabody, Tiger Balm, the Planet of the Apes, Steve Martin, Maria Shriver, Mr. Ed, tuna, s’mores, slaves, notaries public, Celine Dion and Michael Bay, among many others.

Bonus features include an apology to ancient Persians from Mike Nelson (2:53) and a commentary by “retired electrician and Korean War vet Walter S. Ferguson,” who claims to have been a (very versatile) extra in “La Battaglie di Maratona.” (7:30).

ABC’s 1977 “Roots” miniseries was an unprecedented rating phenomenon (its finale is still the third-highest-rated TV show ever), which necessitated the creation of 1979’s “Roots: The Next Generations,” which followed the Kinte family from the abolition of slavery to the civil rights movement, and even included a nice chunk of “Roots” author Alex Haley’s “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” for good measure.

The original “Roots” cast included Yaphet Kotto, Brion James, Tracey Gold, Yvonne DeCarlo, Chuck Connors, Todd Bridges, Burl Ives, Lloyd Bridges, Richard Roundtree, Ian McShane, George Hamilton, Scatman Crothers, Carolyn Jones, Roxie Roker, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, Sandy Duncan, Vic Morrow, Lynda Day George, Lorne Greene, Robert Reed, Louis Gossett, O.J. Simpson, Ed Asner, Ji-Tu Cumbuka and Maya Angelou.

The “Next Generations” cast trumped the original by getting a post-“Godfather” Marlon Brando to play American Nazi Party leader George Lincoln Rockwell. It was Brando’s first and only TV role since 1949, and he won an Emmy for his seven seated minutes onscreen. He flings around the n-word, sings race-baiting ditties and sprays James Earl Jones (as Haley) with what looks like air freshener.

Besides Jones, Brando’s co-stars in “Generations” include “Apocalypse Now” co-star Albert Hall, as well as James Earl Jones (as Haley), Gerald McRaney, J.A. Preston, Henry Fonda, Andy Griffith, Ernie Hudson, Kim Fields, Harold E. Rollins, Bobby Short, Norman Fell, James Broderick, Paul Winfield, Robert Culp, Rosey Grier, Bernie Casey, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Irene Cara, Harry Morgan, Greg Morris, Olivia de Havilland and Marc “Beastmaster” Singer.

Al Freeman Jr. plays Malcolm X, and it’s fascinating to compare his mannered, low-key approach to the one favored by Spike Lee and Denzel Washington.

Twilight Zone: The Movie hits Blu-ray and HD-DVD for the first time today. The movie is an indispensable part of any collection because 1) it put “Mad Max” mastermind George Miller to work directing John Lithgow in “Terror at 30,000 Feet,” and 2) its six-minute prologue featured comedy ubergenius Albert Brooks at his hands-down funniest, trying to scare Dan Aykroyd with gravel-beds and headlights (“There could be nuns up there; we wouldn’t seem ‘em!”), making up lyrics to the “National Geographic” theme song and explaining why he bought a second pair of glasses.