Originally announced about 2 years ago from Warner Bros. Canada for a Nov. 27, 2007 DVD release, the 2-volume set of Rocket Robin Hood was pulled due to ‘issues with the French language track’ on some episodes, so while fans of this cult series had hopes the label would release the series as reported in the spring of 2008, nothing materialized, spawning all kinds of theories about rights issues, alien grasshoppers, and black helicopters (or maybe not).No mention was made of why the show’s DVD release was shelved, but Rocket Robin Hood, Vol. 1 has been announced for a Nov. 17th release via E1. Spanning 4 DVDs, Vol. 1 ($24.99) will include the following episodes:
Pilot – Prince of Plotters – The Time Machine – Robin vs. the Robot Knight – Mystery of the Crown Jewels – Warlord of Saturn – Wily Giles – Jesse James Rides Again – Giles the Great – City Beneath the Seas – Don Cayote McPherson – Michael Shawn The Leprechaun – Little Little John – The Marmaduke Caper – Follow the Leader- Cleopatra meets Little John – Little George – The Magic Medallion of Morse – The Awful Truce – The Sad, Sad, Sheriff of N.O.T.T. – Don’t Make a Sound – Goritang – The Orbiting Salesman – Marlin, The Magician
Total running time will be 592 mins. All episodes will feature “vignettes of various characters,” but no other extras.
Why is this show a cult favourite? Surely not because of the animation quality, which is genuinely cheap. RR was a trippy cartoon directed by Ralph Bakshi that featured striking images (see HERE) set to orchestral jazz sounds, and the inter-stellar stories were chopped up into vintage movie serial chapters. (For more info on the series, check out the Wikipedia entry, and for video samples, there are plenty of YouTube clips.)
I’ll save my own personal memories of watching the series early in the morning in hour-long slots on City TV (then channel 79) when the set is a reality and is in my hands, but before I detail a few more Canadian release announcements, I truly hope this all spawns the re-release of The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man, that other show produced in 1967 by the same studio and supervised by Bakshi, which Disney released on DVD during their rights agreement until the last Spiderman film’s theatrical run.
And for those still head-scratching as they wonder where to get the stock music the two series shared, there’s an excellent blog HERE (with some handy links). There’s also some discussion at the Film Score Monthly board HERE regarding the music’s apparentl availability on iTunes, under the heading “KPM Artists (feat. Syd Dale), Spider Sounds Vol.1 & 2.” A review of the collection can be read at this blog.
And here are the rest of the notable Canuckle releases for the fall:
E1 and the CBC will release Canada: Above and Beyond – 100 Years of Aviation Oct. 21st as a 3-disc set that features the four-part doc series, with the following extras: extended interviews with director, pilot, production crew; English audio commentary track with the director and cinematographer; behind-the-scenes of Silver Dart replica, Snowbirds, and more; and a 1947 archival film of the De Havilland DHC-2 Beaver.
Fox brings Fight Club to Blu-ray Nov. 1st ($37.99) in a 10th anniversary edition with exclusive BR extras: 2 interactive features, starting with “A Hit in the Ear: Ren Klyce & the Sound Design of Fight Club,” where viewers can remix key scenes using 4 audio choices “with the help of Ren Klyce,” plus “Insomniac Mode: I am Jack’s Search Index,” where viewers can access part of the disc’s bonus material via interactive tools.
Also new are behind-the-scenes material with director David Fincher, actors Brad Pitt, Ed Norton; audio commentary by author Chuck Palahniuk, Fincher, Pitt, Norton, and Helena Bonham Carter. Other extras include 2 Fight Club featurettes, 7 deleted scenes, music video, plot gallery, and more.
From Mongrel Media comes the Danish film Flame & Citron / Flammen & Citronen Dec. 1st (39.95).
Maple will release The Cove Dec. 8 on DVD ($29.95), as well as a slew of new Blu-ray titles from their back catalogue on Nov. 24th ($19.95 each): Near Dark, Red Heat, My Bloody Valentine Special Edition (1981), Angel Heart, Cujo Anniversary Edition, Frailty, Monster Squad Anniversary Edition, and Air America.
No word as to whether the extras from Near Dark will include any or all goodies from the old (but amazing) 2-disc Anchor Bay set from 2002.
In TV news, Shout Factory will release The Paper Chase, Season 2 Dec. 15th as a 6-DVD set, whereas Paramount will release the following titles on Dec. 8: Perry Mason, Season 4, Vol. 1, and The Fugitive, Season 3, Vol. 2.
Rocket Robin Hood, people. ROCKET ROBIN HOOD. Worst animated show around, but oodles of fun.
- MRH
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