The original 1966 Batman TV series took decades to see a release on DVD and Blu-ray, but the wait was definitely worth it! The first 30 episodes from the series’ second season are now available on DVD and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment graciously provided a copy for my review for this Throwback Thursday installment.

I grew up watching the original Batman series in reruns on cable television. It was always one of my favorites because it was so wondrously colorful and wacky. Everywhere you look in any given screenshot, your senses are bombarded by psychedelic, eye-popping costumes that only a 1960s series could pull off so well. It’s like a live-action cartoon with campy music, zany guest stars and playful puns and punches flying left and right. Don’t get me started on the delightful variety of villains the series also offered! From familiar comic book favorites like The Joker, Penguin, Catwoman and Mr. Freeze to crazy, new villainous concoctions such as Egghead, King Tut, The Clock King, The Archer and The Minstrel, the second season is full of fiendish foes and perilous plots. I’m having trouble deciding which villain is my all-time favorite because they’re all so interesting and diabolical in their own unique way!

The Second Season, Part One has many big-name guest stars, including Cesar Romero, Julie Newmar, Burgess Meredith, Vincent Price, Van Johnson, Art Carney, Shelley Winters, Liberace, Walter Slezak, Carolyn Jones, Victor Buono and Cliff Robertson. One interesting thing about the series was that they used various actors to play the same villain from season to season. Season two features Julie Newmar as a purrrrfect Catwoman and Otto Preminger as a space cadet-looking Mr. Freeze with a ray gun. In addition to the main guest stars, there are also numerous cameos from other notable stars, including Dick Clark, Sammy Davis, Jr., Werner Klemperer (Colonel Klink from Hogan’s Heroes), Ted Cassidy (Lurch from The Addams Family) and musical group Paul Revere and the Raiders among these episodes. Just don’t blink, or you’ll miss ‘em!

Egghead (Vincent Price) is the only villain I remember being smart enough on the series to almost figure out that Bruce Wayne was Batman, so that makes him credible in my book (despite all of his “eggs-cruciating” puns every five seconds). The Archer (Art Carney) is awesome because he steals from the rich and gives to the poor a la Robin Hood and his Merry Men, while The Minstrel (Van Johnson) oozes charm and romantic lyrics that make you fall in love with Van Johnson and his velvety voice all over again. Not only is The Minstrel a musical genius, but he’s also equally versed in electronics and probably the only villain worthy of facing Batman in a technological showdown of wits.

I was delighted to discover that one of the most memorable episodes from my childhood was included in this set — “The Spell of Tut” — the one in which King Tut (Victor Buono) tries to resurrect ancient Egyptian scarabs to wreak havoc upon Gotham City’s water supply. Also look for horror icon Sid Haig as the Royal Apothecary in the King Tut episodes. Another old favorite of mine, “The Greatest Mother of Them All,” featuring Shelley Winters as criminal matriarch Ma Parker and her gang, is also included. The Parker clan has always reminded me of the Beagle Boys on Duck Tales, another beloved show from my childhood and perhaps the subject of a future Throwback.

An unexpected surprise was seeing footage from the Indianapolis 500 used as a racing event held in Gotham City in “Come Back, Shame,” an episode with Cliff Robertson as Shame, “The Conniving Cowboy of Crime,” a cowpoke/car thief who looks like he was lifted out of a spaghetti western complete with his sidekick Okie Annie (Joan Staley from The Ghost & Mr. Chicken fame). Of course, Shame and crew don’t look quite as tough as your traditional cowboys with their polka dot handkerchiefs and etc., but that’s beside the point when you can “get angrier than a hyena with laryngitis.” Another hidden gem was “Hizzonner The Penguin,” an episode in which Penguin runs for Mayor of Gotham City against Batman. It was the weirdest political debates I’ve ever seen, but I’ll be damned if I didn’t want all of Penguin’s cute, clever campaign paraphernalia. He had lovable, furry penguins all over his campaign buttons, posters, stickers, etc. I wonder if anyone ever made any of that stuff collectible because I would buy a lot of it for my personal collection of pop cultural oddities!

All of Batman’s gadgets in the Bat Cave, Batmobile and utility belts have never looked better — every detail has been completely remastered in this DVD box set. While reviewing the set, I realized that there are two types of people in this world — those who can appreciate the campiness of this series and those who simply cannot. Neither my mother or boyfriend could make it past more than a handful of episodes before they were begging me to turn it off, but I could have gone on for hours (the set has a total running time of 755 minutes), and my 21-year-old brother and his friends seemed amicably interested as well.

Every “Splatt!,” “Pow!,” “Biff!” and “Zok!” (yes, you read that right: Zok!) practically pops out of the screen at you in amazing comic book color as do the fabulous glittering outfits worn by Chandell (Liberace), and I had a lot of fun reviewing this set. The Season Two, Part One DVD box set features beautiful artwork from the eye-catching covers to the four discs depicting the iconic ’66 Batman logo on each. The only disappointment I had with the set was its lack of bonus features, but that’s what the expensive, all-inclusive Blu-ray collector set is for I suppose. I’ve read the Blu-rays come with an episode guide, Adam West scrapbook, vintage trading cards, digital copies of the episodes and an exclusive Hot Wheels replica of the Batmobile. The discerning collector would be better off saving their pennies for the Blu-ray set, but if you’re yearning to get your hands on some of the episodes in the meantime or if you’re introducing the series to a new generation of fans, this box set is a good starting point. If I’m ever lucky enough to review another Batman set, I’ll catch you at the same Bat time, same Bat channel.

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Over the past few decades one thing has become abundantly clear — television audiences love sociopaths. Whether it’s Scrubs‘ Dr. Cox, or the titular characters of Dexter, Sherlock, and House, America seems to love emotionally distant yet brilliant characters. Sometimes they push into psychopathic territory but they still end up fan favorites, sometimes they’re the hero, other times a mentor, and other times villains we love to hate.

Fox is betting on that affection for the new show Backstrom, they even gave it the tagline “Brilliant detective, total dick.” Unfortunately Backstrom comes up lacking in the brilliant department and very heavy on the dick. As of this article, there have been three episodes of the show so far, all three have been painfully uninspired and lacking any real charm. The only real stars in the show are Dennis Haysbert, of 24 and Allstate commercial fame among countless other projects, along with Six Feet Under and The Office star Rainn Wilson as Backstrom. The rest of the cast is made up of fairly unknown actors. There are some pretty faces in the supporting cast but no one really stands out as particularly memorable or special. No one sticks out as particularly bad either, just forgettable.

Fox seems painfully desperate to create the next House with this show but they come up severely lacking. Most shows in this vein try to show the audience that this terrible jerk is brilliant and that’s why people put up with his crap. From word one, the writers seem to have adopted a tell and no-show attitude. Backstrom seems dead set on telling us ad nauseam how smart he is while showing us that he actually just makes wild unsubstantiated guesses and is usually wrong. When he is right, more often than not, the success has nothing to do with real detective work and more with dumb blind luck. One character even suggests that Backstrom works on a higher plane, that he sees the world differently and when he suggests a man is guilty just because he’s black that Backstrom really noticed his body language and read into his soul but isn’t aware he’s doing it and that’s why he gives such ridiculous reasons for his intuitions. My eyes rolled so hard when I heard this I feared they would get stuck that way.

This shows a primary problem with the entire show, instead of slowly building our respect of this character, peppering in bits of his dickish behavior, they instead try to force us to respect him by telling us he’s brilliant while saying that we should find his terrible behavior funny and endearing. Plus they seem to be trying to seed in possible future plot points far too early. Several times, ancillary characters have made reference to Backstrom’s famous father, a perfect upright citizen who apparently abused him as a child. They are obviously setting up his father to enter the show eventually and be in contention with his son. Then on the other end we have a gay, thieving, son of a prostitute, who is also Backstrom’s roommate. How Backstrom knows his mother is left vague and one character even notes their similar appearance. Uh oh, looks like Backstrom will be dealing with an illegitimate child who he may or may not realize is his.

These are the kind of things most shows would wait until season three or four to get into, right around the time they start running out of ideas. Here we’re setting these up in episode two. Not a good sign of things to come. Plus the show is already treading the clichéd, “Hey! This jerk is really a well-meaning guy with a tortured past and a dark side.” If we never get to know him as a hard-assed cold-hearted genius and the writers start deconstructing him from day one, nothing they do will have any real impact. Rainn Wilson is really trying to make the character his but he just doesn’t have the charisma of a television lead. Scenes where he attempts to play up some sort of irresistible sexual draw are played seemingly straight but come off as a joke.

From uninspired writing to miscast parts, Backstrom is a misfire on every level. Its police procedural elements are boring and its comedic elements fall flat. Barring a complete overhaul in writing and tone, there’s little chance we’ll be seeing Backstom again next year.

This year ABC is doubling down on the winter mini-season, launching two high concept niche shows over what is normally, for most networks, a break from new content. Both Galavant and Marvel’s Agent Carter are period pieces consisting of 8 episodes each. However, for some reason, ABC decided to air Agent Carter over eight weeks while doubling up on Galavant’s shorter thirty-minute episodes over four. In this age of fewer summer reruns and little chance of syndication for a shorter run leads us to believe that the original plan was to air the show over eight weeks as well — otherwise why not just produce four-hour long installments? Maybe they thought stretching it out over eight weeks would lose too many audience members.

Regardless of whether ABC had faith in Galavant or not, the end result is a delightfully cheesy show, a dash of Disney, a pinch of Monty Python, with a side of The Princess Bride. Composer and Disney golden boy Alan Menken, along with the team behind Tangled, have created a fun world in which characters can turn from wholesome to risqué on a dime. With a relatively unknown cast save for former Psych cast member Timothy Omundson and go-to baddie Vinnie Jones, along with a few funny cameos, Menken and Co. have managed to make something that feels original yet familiar at the same time. The lead actors have wonderful chemistry and even Vinnie Jones, who has become almost a parody of himself at this point, works wonderfully as a gruff thug in contrast with Omundson’s prissy king.

The biggest complaint you could make about Galavant is it could have used a one or two more memorable songs. While the majority of the songs were fantastic and almost too catchy for their own good (the title song alone will be bouncing around your head for hours after), several songs throughout the season were less than stellar, there more to drive the plot or serve exposition. Admittedly, these only stick out because we’ve been so spoiled by some of the standout numbers: the pirates’ “Lords of the Sea” along with “Hey Hey We’re the Monks” being two prime examples. Some people will be turned off by the musical aspect of the show but frankly anyone who doesn’t like musicals should stay clear. Galavant doesn’t shy away from the cheesy, flamboyant nature of an old-fashioned musical. If anything they turn hard into the skid. Many of the musical numbers demand repeat viewings and you can’t help but laugh at some of the ridiculous antics that take place.

Plot and writing-wise there were weak points scattered throughout the season. A few parts of our heroes’ journey felt a bit glossed over while others felt like they went on longer than necessary. The pirates we meet in episode four are so funny and offbeat you could easily see multiple episodes dedicated to the adventures they had together on their way to Valencia. It’s a shame they weren’t kept in the mix.  The finale also had some awkward moments that didn’t seem to fit the rest of the season: Princess Isabella went from a strong independent woman to a more traditional damsel waiting to be rescued, and Galavant’s plan to get King Richard drunk to go after his brother seemed unnecessary — though it did lead to one of the best musical numbers, “We’re Off on a Secret Mission.” The biggest surprise that came out of Galavant‘s season finale is that it wasn’t a series finale, we’re left with all our characters in precarious situations and our story draws to a close on a cliffhanger. It seemed like this was a one season and done situation so the fact that we now have to hope for a second season to get any kind of resolution was a real shocker. Though after seeing how fun King Richard and Galavant are together, the promise of more of their growing bromance is exciting. With the way everyone is left at the show’s close, there’s a lot of potential for new settings, situations, and some dynamic pairings of characters. Hopefully these will lead to some great songs as well.

Whether or not we get another season, Galavant was different from the rest of the pack, it did something unique and will no doubt have fans and detractors both in abundance. But for those of us who love musicals and can appreciate the show for the funny, cheesy, self-aware approach it takes, Galavant is a welcome addition to the television landscape and here’s hoping we can have at least one more season of humming that damn catchy titular song over and over again.

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CliqueClack has partnered with Open Road Films to offer readers in Washington DC an opportunity to attend a “run of engagement” showing of the new thriller The Loft starring Karl Urban, James Marsden, Wentworth Miller, Eric Stonestreet, Matthias Schoenaerts, Isabel Lucas, Rachael Taylor and Rhona Mitra.

Karl Urban and James Marsden star in the tense psychological thriller The Loft, the story of five married guys who conspire to secretly share a penthouse loft in the city — a place where they can carry out hidden affairs and indulge in their deepest fantasies. But the fantasy becomes a nightmare when they discover the dead body of an unknown woman in the loft, and they realize one of the group must be involved. Paranoia seizes them as everyone begins to suspect one another. Friendships are tested, loyalties are questioned and marriages crumble as the group is consumed by fear, suspicion and murder in this relentless thriller.

CliqueClack has four pairs of Admit Two passes for any DC showings of The Loft at any AMC theater in the area. Passes are good for showtimes Monday – Thursday only beginning Monday, February 2 (excluding holidays).

A random drawing will be held on Friday, January 30 and winners will be contacted by email. To be eligible, please read and follow the directions CAREFULLY. There will be no exceptions.

• Comment on this post with your idea of luxury.
• Include your FULL NAME (First and Last) and email address on the entry form (NOT in the comment box!). Double check your email address before submitting.
• ONE entry per person will be accepted. CliqueClack has the right to discard any duplicates or comments that appear to be duplicates. Multiple comments from a single person will result in complete disqualification. Keep these offers fair for everyone!
• Please make sure to set your email filters to accept email from @cliqueclack.com.

Passes are good for as long as the film is in theaters.

The Loft is rated R for sexual content, nudity, bloody violence, language and some drug use. The movie opens January 30.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vzw7ds7JoT4

THIS CONTEST IS CLOSED. WINNERS WILL BE NOTIFIED BY EMAIL.

CliqueClack has partnered with Open Road Films to offer readers in Boston an opportunity to attend a “run of engagement” showing of the new thriller The Loft starring Karl Urban, James Marsden, Wentworth Miller, Eric Stonestreet, Matthias Schoenaerts, Isabel Lucas, Rachael Taylor and Rhona Mitra.

Karl Urban and James Marsden star in the tense psychological thriller The Loft, the story of five married guys who conspire to secretly share a penthouse loft in the city — a place where they can carry out hidden affairs and indulge in their deepest fantasies. But the fantasy becomes a nightmare when they discover the dead body of an unknown woman in the loft, and they realize one of the group must be involved. Paranoia seizes them as everyone begins to suspect one another. Friendships are tested, loyalties are questioned and marriages crumble as the group is consumed by fear, suspicion and murder in this relentless thriller.

CliqueClack has two pairs of Admit Two passes for any Boston showings of The Loft at any AMC or Regal theater in the area. Passes are good for showtimes Monday – Thursday only beginning Monday, February 2.

A random drawing will be held on Thursday, January 29 and winners will be contacted by email with further instructions. To be eligible, please read and follow the directions CAREFULLY. There will be no exceptions.

• Comment on this post with your idea of luxury. (“Boston” is NOT the answer we’re looking for.)
• Include your FULL NAME (First and Last) and email address on the entry form (NOT in the comment box!). Double check your email address before submitting.
• ONE entry per person will be accepted. CliqueClack has the right to discard any duplicates or comments that appear to be duplicates. Multiple comments from a single person will result in complete disqualification. Keep these offers fair for everyone!
• Please make sure to set your email filters to accept email from @cliqueclack.com.

Passes will be mailed directly to the winners. Passes are good for as long as the film is in theaters.

The Loft is rated R for sexual content, nudity, bloody violence, language and some drug use. The movie opens January 30.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vzw7ds7JoT4

Another season of American Horror Story has come to an end. This year’s Freakshow continues a steady decline that began last season. The show still has its quirks, its moments that makes it fun, trashy television but this year felt slightly neutered. Whether this was through the budget or just storytelling is hard to tell. The season started off promising enough with Sarah Paulson playing the two-headed Bette/ Dot and John Carroll Lynch (who I will always see as Drew Carey’s cross-dressing brother from The Drew Carey Show) as the bed-wettingly scary Twisty the Clown. This year had the potential to be something truly dark and deserving of the “horror” moniker. Even the musical number that began this season (David Bowie’s “Life on Mars”) was fun and didn’t seem as forced as last year’s weird Stevie Nicks music video. Somewhere between that enticing start and this week’s finale the show lost its way.

Where last season people said the show lacked any real consequences, once multiple characters have come back from the dead it is hard to care about what happens to them, this season seemed to over correct by killing someone every episode. The problem though was the writers never took the time to let us like any of these people before they killed them off. Generally the characters this season were by and large terrible people. Just about everyone either murdered or aided in the murder of someone over the course of the show but no one ever showed any remorse or regret over it. When those same people meet a bloody, violent death it’s hard to feel sorry for them.

A few times we’re given people to feel bad for but here again, they aren’t fleshed out, they’re two-dimensional props and we are being forced to care about them. Two examples of this were Meep “the geek” and Ma Petite, the “worlds smallest woman.” We were supposed to care about these two because they’re weak, they’re cute, and they … well we never really knew anything else about them so that’s it. The show used their characters as superficially and selfishly as a freak show would. Maybe if we had gotten some real back story or some more interaction it would be easier to care for them instead of because we’re told to do so. While we weren’t getting background on characters who were important to the plot, the writers were busy tying past seasons into this one. For the first time this year we have confirmation that all the seasons take place in the same world. One of the Nuns from Asylum came and we see how Pepper the pinhead ended up there. So now that we’ve had “Pepper Begins,” an Avengers-style crossover must be next right? But really unless there are further plans to expand on this, what was the point other than to confuse people while taking important time away that they could use to flesh out their characters?

It wasn’t just the lack of connection to characters that took away this year; the effects work was all over the place. The “twins” Dot and Bette were especially hit and miss, while having a two-headed character is going to be challenging, and to their credit many different methods were employed to achieve it, the results were mixed. Moments where they shot the heads separately juxtaposing their personalities to one another started off as clever, even entertaining, but there’s only so many scenes you can have ping ponging between shots of two heads coming from the same torso before it gets tired. Scenes that used CG and practical effects went from the completely convincing to laughably bad, more than once a shot from behind clearly showed one head bobbling on a rubbery neck.

On a more positive note there were some great visuals this season. The freak show itself came off like a Tim Burton fever dream and the opening credits sequence this season might be the creepiest yet. The aforementioned Twisty was a terrifying clown design and whenever he was on screen he stole the show. The only negative was how quickly they resolved his story. It would have been nice to have him throughout the season. Then there is Dandy the rich psycho. He was basically a murderous seersucker wearing  version of Blaine from Ryan Murphy’s other show “Glee.” If any one character had to be labeled this season’s “Big Bad” it would probably be him. He got to be the creepy momma’s boy, a psychotic apprentice, as well as a spoiled brat. Outside of freak show owner Elsa Mars, Dandy is probably the character we spend the most time with and learn the most about this season. It would be surprising if Finn Wittrock, who plays Dandy, doesn’t become one of their recurring actors in future seasons after such a strong performance this year.

So many good ingredients make it such a shame that the end product was so lacking. A fantastic cast, great guest stars, plus a weird twisted setting but there just wasn’t enough focus to have things come together. As quickly as plotlines and characters were introduced another plot is wrapped up neatly and another character is killed. One week the local townsfolk hate the freaks, the next week they cheer one as a hero, but wait! The week after that they hate the freaks again. Last season might have been a little too generous on resurrections but it still had fleshed out characters who felt like real, though out there, people.

Seasons one and two of American horror Story were fantastic,  season three was pretty damned good, and now season four is just ok. Hopefully next year creators Falchuk and Murphy can stop or reverse the drop in quality or else American Horror Story will end up like their other collaborations Nip/Tuck and Glee, shows that peaked early but then dragged on until they became parodies of themselves. It’s still fun to watch, which is more than can be said of a lot of shows, but where it used to be well written trashy fun it’s just plain trashy fun now. With the format of a new story and set of characters every year, a turnaround is easy to manage. Let’s just hope they can make a return to form next year.

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THIS OFFER HAS EXPIRED. COMMENTS ARE NOW CLOSED.

CliqueClack has partnered with Universal Pictures to offer readers in Baltimore, DC and Virginia Beach an opportunity to attend an advance screening of the new thriller The Boy Next Door starring Jennifer Lopez, Ryan Guzman, John Corbett and Kristin Chenoweth.

Jennifer Lopez leads the cast in The Boy Next Door, a psychological thriller that explores a forbidden attraction that goes much too far.

The screening will take place on Tuesday, January 20, 7:00 PM at Regal Gallery Place (DC), Cinemark Egyptian (Baltimore) and AMC Lynnhaven (VA Beach).

Passes will be available on a first come, first served basis. To be eligible, please read and follow the directions CAREFULLY. There will be no exceptions.

• Comment on this post ONLY with DC. Do not include anything else in the comment box. If you make a mistake, do not edit your comment because it will not register. You must submit a new comment.
• Include your FULL NAME (First and Last) and email address on the entry form (NOT in the comment box!). Double check your email address before submitting. If your email address is misspelled, you will not receive passes.
• ONE entry per person or couple will be accepted. CliqueClack has the right to discard any duplicates or comments that appear to be duplicates. Multiple comments from a single person will result in complete disqualification. Keep these offers fair for everyone!
• Winners will be contacted by email. Please make sure to set your filters to accept email from @cliqueclack.com.
• Check your calendar before commenting. If you have no intention of using the passes, please don’t leave a comment. If the studios see that passes we are given to award to our readers are not being used, they will not want to offer us passes for future screenings. Please be considerate!

Please note that passes do not guarantee seats at the screening. Seating is first come, first served so plan to arrive early. CliqueClack has no control over the total number of passes distributed, and is not responsible for seating arrangements at the theater.

The Boy Next Door is rated R for violence, sexual content/nudity and language. No one under 17 will be admitted with parent or guardian. The movie opens January 23.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgbBwovOOoc

THIS OFFER HAS EXPIRED. COMMENTS ARE NOW CLOSED.

CliqueClack has partnered with Universal Pictures to offer readers in Boston and Hartford an opportunity to attend an advance screening of the new thriller The Boy Next Door starring Jennifer Lopez, Ryan Guzman, John Corbett and Kristin Chenoweth.

Jennifer Lopez leads the cast in The Boy Next Door, a psychological thriller that explores a forbidden attraction that goes much too far.

The screening will take place on Tuesday, January 20, 7:00 PM at AMC Boston Common and AMC Plainville.

Passes will be available on a first come, first served basis. To be eligible, please read and follow the directions CAREFULLY. There will be no exceptions.

• Comment on this post ONLY with BOSTON or HARTFORD. Do not include anything else in the comment box. If you make a mistake, do not edit your comment because it will not register. You must submit a new comment.
• Include your FULL NAME (First and Last) and email address on the entry form (NOT in the comment box!). Double check your email address before submitting. If your email address is misspelled, you will not receive passes.
• ONE entry per person or couple will be accepted. CliqueClack has the right to discard any duplicates or comments that appear to be duplicates. Multiple comments from a single person will result in complete disqualification. Keep these offers fair for everyone!
• Winners will be contacted by email. Please make sure to set your filters to accept email from @cliqueclack.com.
• Check your calendar before commenting. If you have no intention of using the passes, please don’t leave a comment. If the studios see that passes we are given to award to our readers are not being used, they will not want to offer us passes for future screenings. Please be considerate!

Please note that passes do not guarantee seats at the screening. Seating is first come, first served so plan to arrive early. CliqueClack has no control over the total number of passes distributed, and is not responsible for seating arrangements at the theater.

The Boy Next Door is rated R for violence, sexual content/nudity and language. No one under 17 will be admitted with parent or guardian. The movie opens January 23.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgbBwovOOoc

As we come to the end of the holiday season, the winter breaks for many of the current season shows has given us time to perhaps catch up on some of last season’s shows that Santa may have left under the Christmas tree. Or you may be considering a purchase with some cash or gift cards you received. If you’re a fan of television – and you probably wouldn’t be here if you weren’t – we have some reviews/suggestions of a whole crop of last season shows that might be worth your interest.

The Vampire Diaries: The Complete Fifth Season

After a sizzling summer with Damon (Ian Somerhalder), Elena (Nina Dobrev) leaves Mystic Falls and moves into a dorm with her roomie Caroline (Candice Accola), ready for new adventures and new friends. But dark thoughts gnaw at Elena, and soon familiar faces are back in the girls’ lives. There’s Stefan (Paul Wesley) with his shadow self Silas, plus Katherine, with a diabolical agenda and a jaw-dropping transformation. As the Doppelgangers test destiny, tearing lovers apart and pitting the Salvatore brothers against each other, the student body count rises, evidence of powerful forces on campus. Anchors, Rippers, Passengers and Travelers struggle to survive alongside witches and werewolves, teaching our favorite vampires painful lessons along the way.

Season Five of The Vampire Diaries arrives from Warner Home Video in a deluxe Blu-ray/DVD combo package that also includes a Digital HD version of the season. If you’re a fan of the show, you know the formula and season five is sure to not disappoint. The Blu-ray image is sharp and clear, looking as good if not better than the broadcast version with an outstanding DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround audio track. Dialog is clear, and surrounds are used to envelop you in the scene.

The 22 episodes are spread over 4 discs (5 on DVD). Disc 1 contains episodes 1-6, deleted scenes for episodes 2 and 5, and a 30-minute video presentation from the 2013 Comic-Con panel featuring the cast and creator Julie Plec.

Disc 2 contains episodes 7-12 and deleted scenes for episodes 8, 11 and 12. Disc 3 contains episodes 13-18 and deleted scenes for episodes 14 and 18. Disc 4 contains episodes 19-22 and the bulk of the sets Special Features:

• “I Know What You Did … In the Last 100 Episodes” (10:15) — The cast, producer and writer play a fun game of trivia to see how much they don’t know about the show capped by a thank you to the fans for watching.
• “The Vampire Diaries: To the Other Side and Back” (10:35) — Featurette exploring the mythology of “the other side.”
• “A Day in the Afterlife with Kat Graham” (7:02) — Kat Graham escorts viewers through a day on set.
• “Second Bite” (5:03) — Gag reel

(This post contains 4 pages. Please visit the website to continue reading. Thank you.)

ALL PASSES HAVE BEEN CLAIMED. COMMENTS ARE CLOSED.

CliqueClack has partnered with Warner Brothers Pictures to offer readers in Boston an opportunity to attend an advance screening of the new dramatic, comedic mystery Inherent Vice starring Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Brolin, Owen Wilson, Reese Witherspoon, Benecio Del Toro, Jenna Malone, Maya Rudolph and Martin Short.

When private eye Doc Sportello’s ex-old lady suddenly out of nowhere shows up with a story about her current billionaire land developer boyfriend whom she just happens to be in love with, and a plot by his wife and her boyfriend to kidnap that billionaire and throw him in a loony bin … well, easy for her to say. It’s the tail end of the psychedelic `60s and paranoia is running the day and Doc knows that “love” is another of those words going around at the moment, like “trip” or “groovy,” that’s being way too overused — except this one usually leads to trouble.

With a cast of characters that includes surfers, hustlers, dopers and rockers, a murderous loan shark, LAPD Detectives, a tenor sax player working undercover, and a mysterious entity known as the Golden Fang, which may only be a tax dodge set up by some dentists … part surf noir, part psychedelic romp — all Thomas Pynchon.

The screening will take place on Tuesday, January 6, 7:00 PM at Kendall Square Cinema, One Kendall Square, 355 Binney Street, Cambridge, MA.

A limited number of passes will be available on a first come, first served basis. To be eligible, please read and follow the directions CAREFULLY. There will be no exceptions.

• Comment on this post ONLY with BOSTON. Do not include anything else in the comment box. If you make a mistake, do not edit your comment because it will not register. You must submit a new comment.
• Include your FULL NAME (First and Last) and email address on the entry form (NOT in the comment box!). Double check your email address before submitting. If your email address is misspelled, you will not receive passes.
• ONE entry per person or couple will be accepted. CliqueClack has the right to discard any duplicates or comments that appear to be duplicates. Multiple comments from a single person will result in complete disqualification. Keep these offers fair for everyone!
• Winners will be contacted by email. Please make sure to set your filters to accept email from @cliqueclack.com.
• Check your calendar before commenting. If you have no intention of using the passes, please don’t leave a comment. If the studios see that passes we are given to award to our readers are not being used, they will not want to offer us passes for future screenings. Please be considerate!

Please note that passes do not guarantee seats at the screening. Seating is first come, first served so plan to arrive early. CliqueClack has no control over the total number of passes distributed, and is not responsible for seating arrangements at the theater.

Inherent Vice is rated R. No one under 17 will be admitted with parent or guardian. The movie opens December 12.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZfs22E7JmI