Summer of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (DVD Review)
February 5th, 2022 by Aaron Neuwirth
Just in time for Black History Month, my favorite film of 2021, Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), has arrived in physical form. Yes, outside of Hulu and digital, I regret to say the film is currently only available in the DVD format. With that said, I have such a strong passion for what this documentary has to offer as both a piece of entertainment and a historical document. Two hours’ worth of footage concerning a concert nearly lost to time, and the context surrounding it provided me a lot of joy, and I can only continue to emphasize how much of a great experience this film is.
– Continue reading ‘Summer of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (DVD Review)’
Early in the summer, during the tough month of June, I had a bright spot and small escape in the form of a DVD of all things to review. It was the first season of one of my favorite sitcoms from the 1980s finally getting put out onto home video 34 years after it first hit the air (Paired up with another all time favorite, Perfect Strangers). Said sitcom being the Howard Hesseman-led high school set Head of the Class. When I went through it, I was happy to find that the show still held up. My hope was that Warner Archive Collection would not stop and continue to put out all five seasons of the show. Good news, we are now officially 40% of the way through the series being on DVD as the second season arrives on October 27th. Unfortunately, no bonus materials again, but its nice to have ownership of this terrific little show.
As a kid in the 1990s I was addicted to the tales from the Midnight Society coming to every Saturday night on Nickelodeon. Or I believe they were calling it “SNICK” back then (Or something to that regard). Sometimes spooky, sometimes just fun horror/monster stuff to enjoy, the show has long been fabled among my generation and a few after mine. It seemed ripe for a revisit and Nickelodeon agreed, giving it a 3-episode limited revival last year. Now, that updated version will be hitting…*looks down*…DVD on August 11th. Viva physical media though, right? The DVD will contain all 3 of the new episodes as well as 3 of the “fan-favorite” classic episodes to give us the best of both worlds. If you’re interested in owning it, no matter the format, go ahead and use the paid Amazon link following the review. Its only like $12 right now and that’s not bad. Or grab it to spook your kids if you got ’em. That’s a pretty good idea, too!
While we are well into the 4K Ultra-HD Blu-ray era for home video, seeing the likes of more boutique labels now joining the battle in 2020, it may surprise you what movies and television shows still are not on the home video disc format. That leads us to 1986’s Head of the Class, which made its debut on DVD this week from Warner Archive Collection. Sure, we can bemoan releasing it on a format from 2 generations ago, but with the quality in which the show was mastered and broadcast, the SD 480i resolution is a rather fine way to put it out. Updated it to HD would probably only minimally enhance the quality. As of right now, the only way to watch head of the class is on the Roku channel. This will give fans and nostaligists a chance to own the show. If you’re wanting to order the show, you’ll be able to purchase it when it pops upon on the WB Shop store. As of this review posting, its not listing on the site and being and MOD title, you’ll want to keep checking back. 
No, you’re seeing that correctly. Something Harley Quinn related is being reviewed on Why So Blu and the name “Brian White” is not attached to it. Is the man too cool for animation? Well, no, actually. Does he have it against subscribing to another streaming service? Nope, he subscribes to the DC Universe service. And yes, while we are at it, he LOVES the animated Harley Quinn show (check out his Interview w/ Patrick Shumacker 
Power Of Grayskull: The Definitive History Of He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe (Now that’s a lengthy title if I’ve ever seen one), calls to be THE documentary of the one who shouts “I have the power!” Netflix has a fantastic series called The Toys That Made US (FANTASTIC series, especially if you were an 80s kid) which spent an episode focusing on He-Man. Being the prime audiences for that product then and now (With retrospectives), I was immediately intrigued and wanted to see what could be done with an even deeper dive. Which now brings us to Power of Grayskull: TDHOH-MATMOTU for…short? Its arrived on DVD September 3rd from High Octane, which we will now be checking out. Its purely the documentary (With 2 audios) on the disc, so very much in it to win it with the content.
The DC Super Hero Girls of the appropriately named Super Hero High are back in action and taking it to the seas. Wonder Woman, Bumblebee, Batgirl and Supergirl will be meeting up with their underwater cohorts Mera and Siren in this brand new DVD adventure. Hmmm, October DC animated release features Aquaman characters with Aquaman hitting theaters in December. Hmmm…nah, couldn’t be right? Of course they’re warming up and priming the young ones. If you want to prime yours for the Jason Mamoa-led James Wan live action Aquaman film this December, you’ll want to grab a copy of this new DC Super Hero Girls DVD when it arrives in store both online and physical on October 2nd. Check out the review link to secure you rcopy. 
HBO’s Silicon Valley has been a bit of a pop culture phenomenon for a few years now. The show has found itself trend setting some catch phrases (My friends and I have been obsessed with “This guy f***s” for a few years now and its not going anywhere anytime soon, ever) and some of the most popular talked about comedic moments on television. It helped jump to its own popularity getting a boost off of being the show that followed Game Of Thrones for its first couple years and sandwiched between that and VEEP. Damn, that’s a hella fantastic 2 hour block of television, is it not? The show sits in such honor at HBO that they’ve decide to demote the series to a DVD only release for Season 5. So, Why So BLU(!!!) fans, if that’s your thing, then go on and pre-order this bad boy now! 
Elena of Avalor is a show that has run on both the Disney Channel and Disney Junior during its run. The show is currently in a run for its second season. I’m not the expert on it or anything, but I have taken note of the good section of merchandise it usually has in the toy section at stores over the past year or two, so I imagine its either really popular or getting a big push from Disney currently. This DVD set, dubbed Realm of the Jaquins, collects four episodes of the show. One is a combination of two first season episodes and two are from the second season. It also provides ten shorts as bonus material for the disc. Disney will have this one store shelves and virtual ones on August 7th. You can pre-order yourself a copy for your kids (or yourself if you’d like) using the Amazon link below. 
A few years back, DC broke some barriers and unleashed a brand of their famed comic book heroes aimed strictly toward young women. Great new figures, costumes and a cartoon were launched in the DC Super Hero Girls brand. But, you know how you really know you were successful with it? You not only get LEGOS, but a LEGO cartoon movie edition of your brand. This isn’t the first one of said LEGO’izing the DC Super Hero Girls, but this is I believe the second of such films, coming a year later. This one is called Super-Villain High and returns the likes of voice acting favorite Tara Strong back to put life into the animated Harley Quinn. You’ll be able to snag yourself this one on DVD (Sorry, bummer, but no Blu-ray) when it hits shelves May 15. 
The Disney Channel most recently has been riding high off of the smashing success of its The Descendants movies. Those felt of a certain “passing of the torch” from the High School Musical films that came in the decade prior. Now, while I’m sure a third Descendants film is in the works and around the corner, we have something in a similar vein but different to take in; ZOMBIES! This one features a society allowing the undead to attend school after years of coexistence. I’m sensing some clever social commentary for a good, fun singing and dancing educational lesson, Disney. You’ll be able to own a physical copy of the latest Disney Channel event when it comes to the 22 year old DVD format only at the end of the month, April 24th. 
HBO’s Vice Principals was another in the lines of limited run series from HBO, like The Night Of or True Detective. Planned as a focused 18 episode story (Or a 9 hour movie as the creators would put it), the premium cable network ran the show in two halves and got two years out of it. A team-up of Danny McBride and Walton Goggins headlined what felt like a perfect matchup, and indeed it played out as one. While the first season of Vice Principals was given a Blu-ray release from HBO, they’ve taken a hard left with it and dramatically changed course. At this time, there is no release of season two by itself at all. As a matter of fact, no Blu-ray of it, even. They will be release a Complete Series set on DVD only. A very odd choice from a studio that tends to be on the up and up with performance quality and has even gotten into 4K Ultra-HD. Its very strange and probably pretty confusing or frustrating for many collectors, but this is the hand we’ve been dealt. Luckily, if you want to take two steps back in terms of quality, its rather inexpensive and also comes with a Digital HD version of the entire series when it streets April 10th. 
This is the big Star Wars home video release you were waiting for this month right? No? Okay, anyway – The second season of “LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures” delivers all 12 action-packed episodes plus five bonus shorts on DVD. I covered the first season and since the show manage to land and Emmy nomination which is pretty impressive. However, two seasons is enough for this show as this DVD set concludes the adventures of the Freemakers. With this and Rebels coming to an end and only one saga film left to tell, I imagine our future Star Wars offshoots are going to be much more focused around the sequel trilogy once all of its secrets are out. This second season of the Freemaker Adventures will only be available on DVD this time, coming March 13th. 
