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Swamp Thing Season 1 and 2 Cover ArtTVShowsOnDVD have announced that Seasons 1 and 2 of USA Television’s Swamp Thing series will be released on DVD on January 22, 2008. I never thought this series would be released. I created my own DVD set of this show a few years ago and it was one of the harder shows I’ve tried to locate. I went through several people until I found decent quality VHS recordings. After all of that, the quality was still lacking, so I’m really looking forward to this release.

Sleep tight naughty evildoers! Don’t let the Swamp Thing bite! Enter into a mind-bending world where a humanoid mass of plant life matter fights to protect his swamp home, the environment and humanity from various supernatural and evil threats as the comic book superhero Swamp Thing comes to life! On January 22, 2008, Shout! Factory will unleash the Swamp Thing: The Series DVD box set, packed with all original 22 original suspenseful episodes culled from Seasons 1 & 2 of the cult TV series, in the order they were meant to be seen. Special revealing bonus features include exclusive interviews with Swamp Thing co-creator Len Wein, actor Dick Durock and more!

It’s really unbelievable the amount of shows that are being released on DVD. It’s no secret that TV on DVD is popular with consumers. As the DVD format ages and the most popular shows get released, more and more rare and odd shows such as this will finally see the light of day on DVD.

Pre-order your copy of Swamp Thing: Complete First Season today.

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The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones – Volume One DVD set looks great. Somehow I missed the series when it originally aired (probably because that was my senior year in high school and the year before I went to college). The few episodes I’ve gone back and watched were quite a departure for TV at the time. The show feature more action, effects, and historical content than anything on TV at the time. Now, 15 years later, we’re all spoiled by shows that have huge effects budgets and computer effects at their disposal. At the time, Young Indy was groundbreaking.

Despite the high price tag on this (and following) sets, I’d still like to pick them up. Just watch the video above for an example of th extra content George Lucas and LucasFilm have put into this DVD set. Young Indy has been one of the most requested shows on DVD since the format began. Lucas always stated he wasn’t going to put the set out until had time to archive it as he wanted. He envisioned a DVD laden with extra features and historical content that accented each episode in the series. With the Star Wars prequels out of the way, it looks like he found the time and delivered on his promise. The first volume set has only 7 (of 22) episodes, but they’re spread across 12 DVDs. Just part of the extra feature on the volume one set include:

The 38 historical companion films are original works from the Lucasfilm documentary unit, headed by CBS News veteran David Schneider. The documentaries complement the episodes with insights from scholars, historians and luminaries from a wide range of disciplines, bringing remarkable and fresh insight into The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones. They include interviews with Gen. Colin Powell, Henry Kissinger, Gloria Steinem, Martin Scorsese, Barbara Boxer, James Earl Jones, Hal David and Deepak Chopra, along with some of the world’s pre-eminent academics.

The “episodes” included on the DVD will be the 2-hour versions. Lucas envisioned the show as a throwback to the serial films of his youth and every two episodes of the series combined for larger story. Later VHS releases edited the episodes together. There were 44 episodes originally produced and since the DVD touts only 22 episodes, it’s safe to assume the versions being released wil be the 2 hour, edited together episodes.

One last comment, I like that the packaging mirrors the box set of the Indiana Jones films. These will look nice sitting on a shelf together. I can’t wait to pick these up and start watching them with Carter. It should be a fun way to introduce the concept of “history” and important characters from the world’s history.

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Confessions of a Superhero looks like a fascinating documentary. Here’s the summary from the movie’s myspace page:

CONFESSIONS OF A SUPERHERO is a feature length documentary chronicling the lives of four mortal men and women who work as characters on the sidewalks of Hollywood Boulevard. This deeply personal view into their daily routine reveals the hardships, and triumphs, that these characters endure in pursuit of becoming famous. The Hulk sold his supernintendo for a bus ticket to LA, Wonder Woman was the homecoming queen, Batman struggles with his anger, and Superman is consumed with the character he portrays. The Walk of Fame may be right beneath their feet, but their path to Stardom is a long, hard climb. Explore the fascination, obsession, and allure of fame, through the eyes of some very unique people struggling to make it in Tinseltown.

Documentaries are such a mixed bag. They require a good balance between an interesting subject and quirky characters. If you veer too far off one path, you risk losing the audience. Seeing this trailer reminded how much I like the work of documentary duo Bruce Sinofsky and Joe Berlinger. Hoping to find a new film I had not heard about, it seems the pair have not made a documentary film since 2004’s Metallica: Some Kind of Monster. The Paradise Lost films are the ones that introduced them to a wide audience, but for a great look into another person’s life, I’d highly recommend Brother’s Keeper.

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Fantastic Four World’s Great Heroes Season 3 AdIf you’re a fan of the new Cartoon Network Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Heroes cartoon, there is good news for next year. According to an ad in the recently released Volume 2 DVD, a full season set is in the works. That’s good news for U.S. fans, because the show has bounced around and been delayed on Cartoon Network’s schedule numerous times. In the one year the show has been airing, only 14 episodes have aired.

Seven episodes aired through October on 2006. The show was put on hold to be picked up when the Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer movie was released. Five more episodes aired starting in June of 2007 until the show was dumped (without notice) to an early Saturday morning slot, where only two more episodes have aired.

It wasn’t a perfect show, but it had a cool style and the dynamic between the characters was perfect. It was a weekend ritual for Carter and I to watch the latest episode on TiVo. Hopefully the Season 1 DVD set will be released and we can catch all of the episodes when we feel like it.