Universal will release the Aretha Franklin documentary Respect on Blu-ray and DVD on 11/9.
ClassicFlix has just announced that they’re releasing The Abbott and Costello Show: Season 1 on Blu-ray and DVD on 12/14, featuring all 26 episodes newly-scanned and restored for the first time ever from original 35mm camera negatives by the 3-D Film Archive in cooperation with the Library of Congress. (Per the company, all previous transfers were taken from second generation composite fine grains.) The set will include a new Saving the Negatives featurette with our old friend Bob Furmanek, along with 10 audio commentaries (including one by Gilbert Gottfried), and more. You’ll also have the option to watch the episodes with non-audience tracks for the first time. You can read more about all this here and you can see the cover artwork above left.
Also today, we’ve mentioned Imprint’s December slate of all-region, Aussie import Blu-ray titles here previously (it includes The Parallax View, Outrage, The Naked Jungle, The Country Girl, House of Cards, Lady in a Cage, Kitten with a Whip, and The Last Train from Gun Hill, all on 12/29). But on 10/20, Imprint and Via Vision are also releasing another new all-region TV title on Blu-ray: Farscape: The Complete Series. And the set includes The Peacekeeper Wars concluding film. The series was released here in the States on Blu-ray (with the film as well) by Sony back in 2019, but that title now seems to be out of print. So if you missed out then, this set might be of interest to you now.
And while we’re on the subject, we may as well let you know that Imprint’s November Blu-ray slate includes Let’s Scare Jessica to Death, Tam Lin, Body Parts, The Gift, Stir of Echoes, The Medusa Touch, and The Possession of Joel Delaney.
Fans of the animated The Legend of Korra and Avatar: The Last Airbender may be interested to know that Nickelodeon and Paramount will be releasing The Ultimate Aang & Korra Blu-ray Collection on 12/7, complete with both series, a new bonus disc, and art cards. The bonus disc includes over 80 minutes of new special features, among them an interview with the “Avatarverse” creators.
Finally today, for fans of Twilight Time, MVD Visual is releasing three new titles on Blu-ray from the label on 12/14... Seven Deaths in the Cat’s Eyes (1973, aka La morte negli occhi del gatto), Venom (1971, aka The Legend of Spider Forest), and Messalina (1951, aka Messalina Venere Imperatrice).
That’s all for now! We’ll be back with more new disc reviews tomorrow, and we’ve got a great new retrospective from our own Michael Coate coming in the next couple of days as well.
Stay tuned!
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