Mill Creek Entertainment Announces First Wave Of Post-Labor Day Priced-To-Collect Blu-ray Product Offerings For Delivery On Sept. 11

Mill Creek Entertainment announced its first wave of post-Labor Day priced-to-collect Blu-ray product offerings this past week.   The target date for delivery is Sept. 11.

Leading “the pack” is writer/director Joe Camp’s 2004 film release of a Blu-ray/DVD Combo Pack edition of Benji: Off the Leash!

This time out the story is something of a film within a film as the producers of the Benji movies hit the road to look for a new canine to star to be in the next installment in the series.  

This conceit introduces us to Colby (Nick Whitaker — Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration, High School Musical), whose mother lives with a none-too-reputable dog breeder named Hatchett (Chris Kendrick).  He mistreats and neglects his kennel dogs, including his prized breeding dog, Daisy.

Colby is so upset by the treatment of Daisy that he hides her and cares for her after her latest litter of pups are born.   When Hatchett discovers the deceit, he goes ballistic and demands that the kid bring Daisy and her puppies back to the kennel, but he holds back the runt of the litter and cares for her … she will, through a series of adventures, become the new Benji!

To add a little levity to the proceedings — and to allow time for the puppy to grow up (three separate dogs were used during the “growing up” process) — Joe Camp introduces us to “Lizard Tongue,” a stray dog that defies capture.   Two local animal control workers, Livingston (Randall Newsome) and Sheldon (Dane Stevens) are constantly thwarted in their attempts to corral the mutt!   

Bonus features include commentary from writer/director Joe Camp, who is joined by film editor Dava Whisenant, composer Anthony Di Lorenzo and producer Margaret Loesch.   The is a behind-the-scenes featurette and the trip down memory lane presentation titled “Benji Movie Memories,” which delivers scenes from five different Benji movies starring three different dogs as Benji.

Also getting a green light on Sept. 11 is the massive 16-disc Blu-ray collection of Denis Leary and Peter Tolan’s New York City firefighters TV drama, Rescue Me.  All seven seasons — 93 episodes — of the post-9/11 story about Tommy Gavin (Denis Leary) of FDNY Ladder Company 62 (62 Truck) are included here.   Gavin, who still grieves over the loss of 59 fellow firefighters who were at the Twin Towers on Sept. 11, is the lead … his personal life and the daily routine with fellow members of 62 Truck are often as combustible as the fires they fight.

Rounding out the first wave of September Blu-ray new arrivals is the Sept. 11 release of the 12-disc collection of Community: The Complete Series.   Of note, Mill Creek Entertainment is also offering a 12-disc DVD collection on the same date.

Jeff McHale stars a disgraced lawyer — a little detail about lying about his college education — who ends up at a local community college taking various classes to get the credits necessary to complete his degree.   That sets up the comedy hijinks as he is attracted to a self-styled “activist” played Gillian Jacobs and forms a “study group” to be around her.   Of course the “study group” is just a ruse, but soon more members join and it eventually becomes a multi-semester collection of misfits and eccentrics.

All six season — 110 episodes — are included here.