Shout! Factory Archives | Otaku No Culture

Shout Factory! Kids Shows Love for Gerry Anderson & Upcoming Releases

Shout Factory! Kids has a wonderful selection of products that is now or will soon be available for purchase. Many will tickle the funny bone of fans from different generations and tastes. The following is a selection that the staff of Otaku no Culture has eyed while browsing their online catalogue.

In what’s coming, perhaps the biggest news is for Gerry Anderson fans as his library of works is being redistributed. See for yourself what the upcoming couple of months will reveal:

Jan 13 – Stingray: The Complete Series [50th Anniversary Edition]

Fans of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson’s Marionation will celebrate at the redistribution of the underwater adventure series Stingray. Stingray is the flagship of the World Aquanaut Security Patrol (W.A.S.P.) and under the command of heroic Captain Troy Tempest they patrol beneath the world’s oceans protecting the human race from what evil lurks in its depths.

Shout! Factory took over the Anderson licence after the home release rights with A&E Home Video expired. Fans may find similar extras on this edition as on the A&E version minus the French end-credits sequence. Such an extra to someone wanting to relive television’s golden years may find this trivial. But to the Anderson collector they may have to go fishing in deeper waters for that A&E release and pay extra cash in the process.

Jan 27 – My Little Pony: The Movie [30th Anniversary]

Bronies and young fans can catch this 30th Anniversary release where the Ponys get ready to celebrate Spring. But when the evil Witch Hydia has other plans involving a hideous goo called Smooze, that may get ground to a halt! This movie features the voices of Danny DeVito, Madeline Kahn, Cloris Leachman, Rhea Perlman, Tony Randall and many more.

This edition offers sing-along tracks for children.

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A Look Into Shout! Factory’s Nightbreed and Lord of Illusions

Only the die-hard fans and film studies enthusiast will enjoy the extra content in the bonus disc that comes in this latest home video release of Clive Barker’s Nightbreed.

nightbreed-blu-ray-1 The underground world of Midian was very much alive within me many years ago, even before I discovered Clive Barker’s Cabel. I loved the narrative and it spoke to me as there were times I felt misunderstood. Life of an outcast as a nerd was never easy but I adapted. When the film Nightbreed appeared in 1990, I hoped some of the themes explored in the book would get translated over. Instead, what was presented was totally alien. This film was not Barker’s story and I wondered why. My favourite moments were either cut out or never written in.

As a rated R film, I hoped the way Boone connected to Baphomet would be represented but alas ….

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The Timeless Appeal of Secret Agent Man, a DVD Review

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

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There can only be one Secret Agent Man (aka Danger Man in the UK) and that’s Paul Drake (played by Patrick McGoohan), an operative who started his career at NATO. Sorry James Bond, but you are more of a super spy for the Crown than a covert ops officer. When considering the producers of this movie franchise first approached McGoohan to play role of Bond in the very first film, Dr. No, and he declined, this fine actor had no regrets. He believed that he had a social responsibility to audiences. The television medium can be like a “third parent” to many a young viewer and this actor’s goal is to provide a good moral compass to anyone who watches the shows he’s in. When looking at the life and times of James Bond, some might think that it’s cool to like him, a Casanova. McGoohan thought otherwise.

Producer/director Ralph Smart created a wonderful television show to spotlight McGoohan’s talents in Danger Man. The stories were realistic scenarios that edged close to what current cold war sentimentality were like back then. To see Drake in conflict with his own superiors showed that he was not going to violate his own sense of principles. Drake’s persona is simply grounded in humility. His experiences with the female persuasion was met with occasional disdain, especially in the early episodes, and the trust must be earned if he’s to ally with them.

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More Penguin Adventures are Abound with Jasper, Journey to the End of the World

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

Jasper DVD For the penguin known as Jasper, there must be a collective “aww” as most of the world will be paying attention to the release of the Penguins of Madagascar movie this week. This little unknown bird is perhaps better recognized in Germany than in any other country for his antics. As a children’s animated product who first shot to recognition in the UK release titled Jasper, Penguin Explorer through Soda Pictures (who also released A Cat in Paris and Tales of the Night). Shout! Factory Kids is bringing an English re-release to North American audiences as the re-titled, Jasper: Journey to the End of the World which is now available for preorder.

This family friendly product is bound to delight in simpler ways more than with more socially complex films like Happy Feet or March of the Penguins. However, the environmental message all these films make are abundantly clear: For Jasper, it’s in seeing how changes upon the land created by humanity can impact any species. But even more important is how individuals have to take responsibility for their actions. Perhaps he can make friends with other birds of a feather like Pingu or Scamper (Penguin Lolo), but not everyone will recognize all these foreign characters. At least for this curious bird, he will find that adventure is at large when a ship sails deep south. With his young brother, Junior, just what kind of fun they will have with young Emma and Captain may well start to rival Tintin’s own globetrotting escapades.

This latest product by director Eckart Fingberg was originally made in 2008 and released to a limited market. With thanks to Shout!, a new generation can delight to a North American release of a foreign classic March 10, 2015.

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Maya the Bee Movie Buzzes into North America 2015!

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Maya the Bee Movie will be buzzing into young North American hearts in 2015 thanks to Shout! Factory. This diminutive character perhaps became very popular due in part to the Japanese animation of the same name back in 1975. Since then it has been translated to many languages for airings in other countries. An updated CGI version returned to its fictional roots by animation production company Studio 100 in 2012. This series run lasted for 78 episodes and a film followed afterwards. Both are based on the book of the same name by German children’s author, Waldemar Bonsels.

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Pee-Wee Herman’s Big Oct 18th Event! The Complete Playhouse to open Oct 21st

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

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Fans of Pee-wee Herman’s Playhouse can get a special sneak peek Oct 18th at 7am PT/10 am ET for a very special live streaming event that will tease at what’s to come in Shout Factory’s release: Pee-wee’s Playhouse: The Complete Series.

This collection is due to hit shelves October 21st on Amazon, Shout!’s own webstore and select distribution channels around North America.

This Blu-ray set will have all 45 episodes digitally remastered to highlight the wild, colourful, wacky world that’s Pee-wee’s imagination. And for fans of behind the scenes material, there’s 10 featurettes to show how this seminal television series was made. One of them includes seeing Academy Award nominated actor Laurence Fishburne recalling fond times on the set.

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