Are you familiar with the term “Brony”? If you’re not, you’re about to get an education. And if you are, then you’re probably already firing up the squee. And what’s producing all this furor, you might ask? Simple. The folks out at Shout Factory sent us over a copy of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic: The Friendship Express for us to review for you, and this one’s going to be something big indeed.

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Cowboy Bebop is one of the most beloved anime series ever, and a live-action feature film has been in and out of development for a very long time. In its current iteration, it’s at Fox with Keanu Reeves attached to play protagonist Spike Spiegel.

However, back in the early 2000s, there was another set of producers looking to cash in on Cowboy Bebop, and they had someone else in mind: reportedly, Stephen Dorff was set to play Spike Spiegel, with Cameron Diaz as Faye. The above poster is a fan-made affair that circulated the net in 2003, based on rumors at the time. If you know Cowboy Bebop, you’ll know that the poster and the cast do it far from any justice.

Luckily for Cowboy Bebop fans, the film never materialized. The new version with Keanu Reeves was reportedly put on hold in 2010 pending a rewrite in order to reduce the budget of the production.

With Christmas rapidly approaching–it’s about six weeks out, if you can believe that–it’s not surprising to see Christmas movies and, in general, angel-related fare start emerging. And as such, that’s why the folks out at Anchor Bay sent out a copy of The Littlest Angel for us to review. You won’t be able to get your hands on this one until this Tuesday, though, but once you do, you’ll be reasonably impressed, providing you either have kids or you have a particularly high tolerance for schmaltz.

The Littlest Angel is based on the children’s book of the same name, the fifteenth best selling children’s book of all time. It follows a boy who dies young, who is then dragooned into service in the afterlife as an angel.  The problem here is, he rapidly proves himself incompetent at pretty much every other angelic task that one can be set to do. And while normally an angel must complete three good deeds before he can be returned to Earth to do the Lord’s work. But the title character wants to get back a little ahead of schedule as he’s looking for his box of earthly treasures. Now with a celebration about to take place in heaven, and one angel gone missing, things are about to get potentially disastrous across both heaven and Earth.

First off, it is incredibly disorienting to hear Ron Perlman serve as the voice of God. Admittedly, not quite as weird as Alan Rickman doing the job back in Kevin Smith’s Dogma, but still pretty creepy in its own right. But the key point here is that it’s going to a very niche title. Basically, most will probably not be able to get behind this one. Most will find the presentation a little on the low end, but it’s going to be pretty nice for the younger set. Of course, you’ll have to have a parent standing by on this one because the theology is such a chopped salad that it’s virtually unrecognizable. It’s about seventy percent Catholic and twenty percent Hallmark, with a smattering of “who knows any better” tossed in seemingly for variety. And then there’s the bizarre anachronisms like the solid wood Ferris wheel cropping up somewhere around about .5 BC, give or take a week or two.

Still though, a good message for the kids put on at just the right time makes The Littlest Angel one for at least a rental, especially with the kids’ various school vacations coming up in a matter of weeks. Plus, of course, there’s a little shot of moral in here too, about kindness to others and all the great schmaltzy messages. A little heavy handed, but considering the audience, good enough.

And that’s pretty much the stance the Screenhead Ten Scale can take with this one: good enough. Good enough for its audience, good enough for a watch, and good enough for a seven out of ten. It’s not going to be for everyone, and it’s a bit of “message” movie, but it’s not without its charms.

Sound the alarm! We have a winner for everyone’s favorite bendy-tailed hero comes to the rescue in Wubbzy and the Fire Engine, the latest “Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!” DVD from Anchor Bay Entertainment.

Laurie Hanson is the winner of the DVD. She says, “Both my lil grand kids love Wuzby. It sends a good message so this grandma doesn’t mind them watching this TV show at all.”

That’s great that your grand kids can still watch TV with Wubbzy!

The DVD features Wubbzy and his pals from the Emmy Award-winning Nick Jr. TV series, the new “red hot” release is available wherever DVDs are sold.

“Fire engines and firefighters have long captured the imagination and won the hearts of children,” said Erin Carter, Executive Director of Brand Marketing, Anchor Bay Entertainment. “And, when paired with Wubbzy, another favorite among preschoolers, these universally-popular elements take on a whole new level of appeal.”

Wubbzy and his best buddies, Widget, Walden and Daizy, suit up for six memorable stories in Wubbzy and the Fire Engine. Each episode is engaging and features simple but meaningful lessons about helping out, working together and getting the job done.

Wubbzy is a joy for preschoolers to watch he has a fire engine adventure with Widget in “Wubbzy And The Fire Engine”; delivers Daizy’s doodleberry treats – the Wubbzy way – in “What Would Wubbzy Do?” and helps rebuild a neighbor’s house with a little help from a pro in “Ty Ty The Tool Guy,” featuring the voice of Ty Pennington, host of the popular TV series “Extreme Home Makeover.”

Additional episodes include “Mr. Unlucky,” in which Wubbzy realizes he’s a pretty lucky guy after all; “Wuzzleburg Express,” where Walden uses quick-thinking to save the day from a runaway train; and “Hangin’ With Mr. Gummy,” which reminds preschoolers that fun comes in many different forms!

“Wow! Wow! Wubbzy!” has been a hit with young viewers and their families since its 2006 TV premiere on Nickelodeon, and the show currently airs daily on Nick Jr. Wubbzy is a fun, lovable, curious little guy who just likes to play, play, play with his friends in the eye-popping town of Wuzzleburg. The top-rated series supports preschool social skills – sharing, listening, compromising, helping and appreciating others, self-awareness and the use of humor.

Let’s face it, folks, when it comes to classic animation, it just doesn’t get any better than Peanuts. Charlie Brown and crew have been imitated, parodied and rerun over and over for years. With the end of the year holidays pretty much on lockdown, it’s not much of a surprise to see them expand their grip to go after winter in general. And the folks out at Warner Brothers sent over a copy of the first such attempt to take the season by storm, Happiness Is Peanuts Snow Days.

Happiness Is Peanuts Snow Days follows the old familiar crew as they have some winter fun. Peppermint Patty, a big focus of this installment for some reason, will not only find herself in training for a figure skating competition (with no less than Snoopy as her stereotypically tough coach) as well as the author of an award-winning essay about said dog. From there, we’ll have a play, as well as Sally’s frenzied preparations for Valentine’s Day targeting one certain blanket-toting babboo, who’s a bit reluctant to say the least.

Let’s be clear–as value goes, it’s not here. Plain and simple, you’re getting what amounts to two episodes of Peanuts lasting just about forty seven minutes, including an episode of The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show featuring three shorts, and a longer-form title, She’s A Good Skate, Charlie Brown. But the lack of value here has to be weighed against the sheer overwhelming fact that, in fact, these are Peanuts cartoons. Chances are pretty good that you haven’t seen these. If you have seen these, it was probably decades ago, so they’re about as close to as new to you as they’re ever going to get. The sheer dearth of Peanuts video out there makes these well worth your time, at least for a rental, by default.

And despite the fact that you’re not going to get a whole lot of Peanuts value here, you will get a whole lot of quality out of the affair. I actually laughed a lot of the time, which is pretty rare as far as most any comedy release goes. The jokes come fast and hot, and that makes this a great watch indeed.

The Screenhead Ten Scale throws up its hands in disgust and realizes its only real course of action by giving Happiness Is Peanuts Snow Days a ten out of ten. It’s Peanuts. What else can be done? You may not get a whole lot out of this one, but at the end of the day, it’s still Peanuts, and it’s still terrific stuff, what little of it is actually here.

It was just a couple days ago when we got to go hands on with The Avengers Volume 3, and now, the folks out at Disney are giving us a whole new chance by sending over a copy of The Avengers Volume 4. The last three volumes have been terrific, but will Volume 4 break the chain? Turns out it will not. Not in the least.

The Avengers Volume 4 picks up where Volume 3 left off, following the invasion of Kang and his time-traveling army.  This time around, we’re going to be a bit more focused on Thor, though Ultron will also make an appearance, along with the Fantastic Four, in a bit of a surprise. But there’s a lot more going on here, and thankfully, at this stage of the game the team has pretty much gelled together nicely, with just a little infighting going on almost more for comic relief than anything else, so they’ll be in their best position yet to go forth and knock some supervillains’ heads around in a bid to make the world a safer place.

This volume does carry on with the kind of high-powered action that the series has come to be famous for, and indeed, there’s plenty of good old fashioned skull bashing and people getting blasted by various bits of energy. This one does seem to have a little more sheer schmaltz in it than previous installments, with a little more of that thoroughly comic-book dialogue going on that doesn’t have the kind of authenticity you’d hope for. However, the plots do seem at least reasonably close to their comic book counterparts (the Cask of Eternal Winters makes an appearance, for example), so that’s something of a plus.

This entire series so far has proven to be a lot better than, frankly, I think we had any right to expect. After all, you come right down to it this is a kids’ show on Disney XD, for crying out loud. And based on Marvel characters at that. But it still managed to put on a reasonably good show with more than enough action and some downright iconic characters. It’s good, fun stuff, especially if you’re a comic buff with a fondness for Marvel.

The Screenhead Ten Scale gives The Avengers Volume 4 the same eight out of ten that it gave the other three, in recognition of the fact that it’s pretty good stuff on a variety of fronts, though not without a few minor flaws and some relatively limited appeal outside of the niche. But still, for any comic buff, action fan or sci-fi lover, you’ll enjoy this one very much.

It’s been a good long while since we last had a go-round with The Avengers series, and the folks out at Disney sent over a copy of The Avengers Volume 3 for us to tackle. And if you liked the first two, chances are you’re going to be very happy with the third installment.

The Avengers Volume 3 is a little heavy on the Iron Man this time around, tackling not only Baron Zemo but even Kang the Conqueror, along with a host of other villains from across a wide variety of canons. They’ll be picking up right where they left off from the last volume, with the Avengers team only just starting out, and already full of lots of cracks and individual personalities butting heads. But can they pull it together to make a complete team? Or will the Avengers fall apart before they can even really get started?

And, as is generally the case, we’ll also get a good load of characters from the rest of the lineup, in sufficient numbers that you’ll either be hitting Wikipedia or a whole load of back issues to keep yourself well acquainted with just who’s who and who’s whose enemy and all like that. Plus, there are plenty of good fight sequences involved and sufficient close shaves to keep things from being too easy for the Avengers, and that certainly improves the watchability here by a pretty nice count.

This has proven to be a pretty good series in its previous two iterations, and volume three won’t be seen to disappoint. There’s a great continuity running through this, as little details from the previous installments actually manage to come back with great effect. This isn’t just some Disney kid’s show, this is  a particularly well-written kid’s show, sufficiently good that adults–especially those who are into comic books–will get a big kick out of this one, with plenty of action and some good laughs, as well as a couple of good romantic subplots tossed into the mix.

Whether you’ve got kids who’d appreciate a good old fashioned comic book style action frenzy, or you would appreciate a good comic book style action frenzy, you’ve got everything you need and more right here.

The Screenhead Ten Scale gives The Avengers Volume 3 the same nine out of ten as the others landed, as it’s a lot like the rest. But while it shares a lot in common, there are also plenty of differences that make this well worth watching.

I am excited about this giveaway because it returns us to the Hundred Acre Wood for the latest adventure featuring the world’s beloved bear, Winnie The Pooh!

You can join Pooh, Tigger, Rabbit, Christopher Robin, Owl, Kanga, Piglet, Eeyore, and all of the characters you know and even  share them with your kids — Walt Disney Pictures releases Winnie The Pooh on DVD and Blu-Ray October 25, 2011!

The giveaway consists of one Winnie The Pooh DVD/Blu-Ray Combo Pack. Also, here is an activities widget to play with your kids or just by yourself.

With the widget, you can take the Winnie the Pooh Quiz! There is one for you and one for your child! Now you can see which character best fits your personality and which character fits your children’s personality.

If your kids love Winnie the Pooh, then this is the place to be. Also available on the widget are Pooh Activities and Downloads! The Winnie The Pooh widget has an awesome assortment of games and activities so you and your family can have your own adventure! Download coloring sheets, exclusive “Pooh” cooking recipes, party ideas, crafts, games and more.

Whatever you do, don’t forget to enter the giveaway for a chance to win a copy of the Winnie the Pooh DVD/Blu-ray Combo Pack.

To enter the giveaway, post your name, share which Winnie the Pooh Character most resembles you on Twitter or Facebook and we will pick the winner October 30, 2011.

Screenhead held the online giveaway for Legend of Millennium Dragon. We’ve picked the winner – Karien. She says, “My name is Karien and I’ve been a BIG manga fan since I can’t remember when! My first EVER Manga was “Perfect Blue” and ever since then, I’m hooked Here’s holding thumbs I win, o my awesomeness.”

You can stop holding your thumbs Karien, congratulations. I am very happy for you. I have never been called “o my awesomeness”.

The movie is about a spectacular journey of an unwilling young hero thrust into a mysterious past full of monsters, dragons and strange hidden powers. Through a series of out of this world battles and adventures, Jun, a shy middle school boy, is transformed into a hero destined to battle evil and ensure harmony and tranquility in the world.

The song in the trailer is Miho Fukuhara’s “Starlight.”

Glamour and glitter, fashion and fame…if you grew up in the eighties and happen to be down a Y chromosome, you probably can sing the rest of that song, the theme song to Jem. The folks out at Shout Factory sent out a little something impressive for us to review for you, namely, the first season of Jem, more recently retitled Jem And The Holograms. And if you’re in the market for a shot of retro animation, then man, are you in the right place.

Jem follows Jerrica Benton, the operator of the Starlight House, a home for orphaned girls, and daughter of the current head of Starlight Records. And when said head dies, he leaves his estate to his daughter. But the rest of the board of Starlight Records, represented by Eric Raymond, a man who not only makes Carter Burke from Aliens look like a god among philanthropists, but on a personal note, makes my skin crawl. Raymond, meanwhile, is not only out to take over Starlight Records and leaves Jerrica out in the cold, he’s out to do it by the most bizarre method possible: by backing a punk band full of big-haired lunatics called The Misfits. Jerrica, meanwhile, has discovered the full extent of her father’s estate, including a computer that specializes in hard-light holography called Synergy. Jerrica uses Synergy to give her and her friends alter egos, which they form into the titular band Jem and the Holograms to secure Starlight Records from The Misfits and Eric Raymond.

Admittedly, I didn’t follow Jem much. As a boy of eight I recall being distinctly annoyed that this “girls’ show” got between me and Robotix. And watching it now hasn’t been much help; Jem and her ilk have not aged well. Looking at this rationally doesn’t help either, with the discovery that The Misfits are actually some kind of insane cult of musical evil. Because come on…how many times have these four nimrods almost killed Jem and the Holograms? And I can’t help but think that all of Jem’s problems would be taken care of–and most of Jerrica’s too–if they’d just press charges on The Misfits for attempted murder. These big-haired wackadoos almost kill that woman more times than I care to count. And for a show geared toward girls age four to ten, roughly, there sure was an awful lot of attempted homicide. And why the hell didn’t Kimber, Jerrica’s sister, put up more of a fight? She’s just as much a Benton as Jerrica, but daddy keels over and where’s her inheritance? I can see that part of the will–”I leave my record company, the charity it’s named after, my holographic supercomputer, my costumes and my antique roadster to my daughter Jerrica. To my other, lesser, daughter Kimber, I leave a raised middle finger because she kept dating that greaseball biker through the tenth grade.”

But despite the sheer lunacy of the show in retrospect, it no doubt has plenty of great memories for those who grew up with Jem, and they likely won’t care how many holes the plot has.

Thus, the Screenhead Ten Scale gives Jem and the Holograms Season One a seven out of ten, as it does so often with niche products, knowing that for some this will be a dream come true, but for those not living the dream, it will still be a worthwhile watch but with plenty of holes.