The Most Amazing ‘Transformers’ Blu-Rays Ever, 2-Headed Sharks And More DVDs This Week [Stuff]

This week we have a couple of sought after disks in Transformers 3 and Star Trek: The Next Generation and a few schlocky movies which may be fun. Plus, a series narrated by Stephen Hawkings!

The Run-Down

1. Transformers: Dark of the Moon (Three-Disc Combo: Blu-ray 3D/Blu-ray/DVD/Digital Copy)
2. Transformers Limited Edition Collector’s Trilogy (Seven-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Boxed Set: Transformers / Transformers 2 / Transformers 3 (+ Blu-ray 3D Version))
3. Star Trek: The Next Generation – Next Level [Blu-ray]
4. In Time [Blu-ray]
   
5. Dr. Jekyll Vs. The Werewolf (1972)
6. 2 Headed Shark Attack [Blu-ray]
7. Into The Universe With Stephen Hawking [Blu-ray]
   

The Break-Down

1. If you bought the Transformers: Dark of the Moon DVD, you may have noticed that there are zero extras. Just the movie and nothing else. Director Michael Bay said he was holding out for the 3-D version of the disk and it wasn’t ready yet. Now at last you can pick up the three-disk combo of Transformers: Dark of the Moon. It’s loaded with extras and looks great. I’ll definitely be picking it up. Since I don’t know anyone that has a 3-D TV, I’ll just hold onto it in the unlikely event I get one. If you have a 3-D TV, please call me. I’ll bring pizza.

Product Details

Format: AC-3, Box set, Color, Dolby, Subtitled, 3D, Widescreen

Language: English

Subtitles: English, French, Portuguese, Spanish

Number of discs: 4

Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)

Studio: Paramount Studios

DVD Release Date: January 31, 2012

Run Time: 154 minutes

Disc 1: Feature Film — Blu-Ray 3D

Disc 2: Feature Film — Blu-Ray

Disc 3: Special Features — Blu-Ray

Above and Beyond: Exploring Dark of the Moon

– Rising from the Fallen: Development and Design

– Ready for Prime Time: Filming Across America

– Battle in the Heartland: Shooting in Chicago

– Attack of the Birdmen: Aerial Stunts

– Shadow of the Sentinel: Post-Production and Release

– Uncharted Territory: NASA’s Future Then and Now

Deconstructing Chicago: Multi-Angle Sequences

– Previsualizations with optional commentary by director Michael Bay and previsualization supervisor Steve Yamamoto

– Previsualizations/Final Shot Comparison with optional commentary by director Michael Bay and previsualization supervisor Steve Yamamoto

– Visual Effects with optional commentary by visual effects supervisors Scott Farrar and Matthew Butler

– Visual Effects/Final Shot Comparison with optional commentary by visual effects supervisors Scott Farrar and Matthew Butler

The Art of Cybertron

– Autobots

– Decepticons

– Environments

– Weapons and Gear

– Ships

The Dark of the Moon Archive

– 3D: A Transforming Visual Art

– Moscow World Premiere

– Birdmen Featurette

– Cody’s iPad

– The Sound of Transformers: Dark of the Moon

The Matrix of Marketing

– Trailers

– Marketing Gallery

Disc 4: Feature Film — DVD

2. Here’s the most amazing Transformers Trilogy you’ll ever see. It’s the seven disk Transformers Limited Edition Collector’s Trilogy Set. According to Bay it’s the greatest disk you’ll ever own with a box that unfolds to display all seven disks and a hand-signed plaque by Michael Bay. Originally listed at $150, it’s at Amazon for just under a $90. That’s a pretty good price. Plus, they’re only making 5000 of these. Which means, by the time you read this, they’ve probably all been sold. You can check Amazon, but this is going to be one of those rare over-priced items eBay loves to auction off. Check out the unboxing video by Bay himself.

Product Details

    Actors: Shia LaBeouf, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Tyrese Gibson, Josh Duhamel, Megan Fox

    Directors: Michael Bay

    Writers: Alex Kurtzman, Ehren Kruger, John Rogers, Roberto Orci

    Producers: Allegra Clegg, Brian Goldner, Don Murphy

    Format: Widescreen

    Language: English, French, Spanish

    Subtitles: English, French, Spanish, Portuguese

    Number of discs: 7

    Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)

    Studio: Paramount Studios

    DVD Release Date: January 31, 2012

Product Description

– Includes all three Transformers movies on DVD and Blu-ray and Transformers: Dark of the Moon on Blu-ray 3D

– Loaded with over 10 hours of bonus features and packaged in exclusive trophy display packaging

– Features a movie plaque signed by director Michael Bay with images from all three films

– Limited quantity

3. For Star Trek fans, we’ve got the Blu-Ray disk Star Trek: The Next Generation – Next Level. The reason they call it the next level is because there have been disks before. The big difference in this one is image quality. They created a process to take the original film negatives and create “1080p HD masters with true HD visual effects“. It’s a pretty sweet transfer too. The image quality looks great, especially if you watch the trailer. I added a picture below, but it doesn’t really do it justice.

The only down-side for this disk is it’s called a “sampler”. So, it only has three episodes. The feature-length version of the two-part series pilot, “Encounter at Farpoint,” and fan-favorite episodes “Sins of the Father” and “The Inner Light.” If you’re only going to watch three episodes from the series I couldn’t have picked a better choice. Season one is coming out later on.

Product Details

Format: Color, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, Subtitled

Language: English

Subtitles: Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Japanese, Norwegian, Spanish, Swedish, Castillian, Finnish

Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)

Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1

Number of discs: 1

Rated: NR (Not Rated)

Studio: Paramount

DVD Release Date: January 31, 2012

Run Time: 182 minutes

Special Features

– Star Trek: The Next Generation – Next Level Promo

– Star Trek Padd – iPad App Promo spot

– Star Trek – The Next Generation teaser promo

3. I would never recommend going to the theater for In Time (2011), the Justin Timberlake film about a world where people use life as currency, but it’s a definite rental. The movie got 3 out of 5 stars from me in my review. I’m planning to watch it again and see of my opinion changes.

Product Details

Actors: Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried

Directors: Andrew Niccol

Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, Subtitled, Widescreen

Language: English

Subtitles: English, Spanish

Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)

Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1

Number of discs: 2

Rated: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)

Studio: 20th Century Fox

DVD Release Date: January 31, 2012

Run Time: 109 minutes

4. This one sounds surprisingly good, but I’m pretty sure I’ll never see it. Originally called
Dr. Jekyll y el
Hombre Lobo, it’s the Spanish film Dr. Jekyll Vs. The Werewolf (1972). Here’s the synopsis, “Paul Naschy returns as El Hombre Lobo for the sixth time as he searches for a
cure to his lycanthropy by visiting the grandson of the infamous Dr. Jekyll. He
is given a serum that transforms him into a Hyde-like personality in the hope
that it will sublimate his werewolf-self, but it results unfortunately in an
even more savage monster.”

Doesn’t that sound cool? Unfortunately, it doesn’t say if it’s subtitled or dubbed or anything. I don’t know enough Spanish to watch it. It’s a limited edition which means there are only 500 units and each hand numbered. Kind of cool.

Product Details

 Actors: Paul Naschy, Shirley Corrigan, Jack Taylor

 Directors: León Klimovsky

 Format: Full Screen, NTSC

 Region: All Regions

 Number of discs: 1

 Studio: Apprehensive Films

 DVD Release Date: January 31, 2012

 Run Time: 73 minutes

5. If you’ve ever wondered if Carmen Electra and Charlie O’Donnell stopped acting and if Brooke Hogan ever started, the film 2 Headed Shark Attack may or may not answer the question. Directed by Christopher Olen Ray it’s another D-Movie horror movie based on the idea that nothing is scary than sharks with bizarre deformities. The synopsis is great: “When a college educational ship is sunk by
a mutated two-headed shark, the survivors escape to a deserted atoll.
But when it starts flooding, the coeds are no longer safe from the
double jaws of the monster.” Checking out the Asylum website, it looks like they decided to skip using CGI and made horrible life-size rubber sharks. This could be hilariously bad, so I hope it comes to Syfy.

Product Details

 Actors: Carmen Electra, Brooke Hogan, Charlie O’Connell

 Directors: Christopher Olen Ray

 Format: AC-3, NTSC, Surround Sound, Widescreen

 Language: English

 Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)

 Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1

 Number of discs: 1

 Rated: Unrated

 Studio: The Asylum Home Entertainment

 DVD Release Date: January 31, 2012

 Run Time: 90 minutes

6.  Finally, for the science fans comes the Blu-Ray disk Into The Universe With Stephen Hawking. A Discovery channel series original it’s described this way: “Into The Universe with Stephen Hawking is an epic new kind of cosmology series, a Planet Earth of the heavens. It takes the world’s most famous scientific mind and sets it free, powered by the limitless possibilities of computer animation. Hawking gives us the ultimate guide to the universe, a ripping yarn based on real science, spanning the whole of space and time — from the nature of the universe itself, to the chances of alien life, and the real possibility of time travel.” I hope this doesn’t sound mean, but it’s narrated by Stephen Hawkings and it doesn’t sound anything like him. I don’t know if that’s because he has a better voice synthesizer or they have someone reading his text, but he sounds normal. Here’s a clip if you’re interested.

What disks are you buying this week? Any stuff you’d recommend buying?