Dethklok, the greatest heavy metal band on Earth, is coming to Charlotte Wednesday. But you may not have heard of them. Dethklok usually exists only in the "Adult Swim" cartoon Metalocalypse on the Cartoon Network. But co-creator Brendon Small, who provides the music and many of the vocals for the cartoon, is on tour with a band emulating the fictional group.
In 2006, Small told me that the cartoon was a form of musical wish fulfillment: "The reason I do comedy is so I can write about wishing I was in a band full time."
Dethklok will perform Wednesday at the Fillmore in Charlotte, promoting the new season of Metalocalypse, which starts next Sunday. Tickets are $31.50 in advance or $36.50 day of show. For more information, go to www.myspace.com/fillmorecharlotte.
Warner Bros. began its "Warner Archive" program at WBShop.com earlier this year, allowing people to order "Manufacture on Demand" (MOD) DVDs, which are produced only as they are ordered. It was a way to release titles that had some demand but not enough to release in stores. The service started with movies, but it is now expanding to TV shows. First up is the short-lived series Eleventh Hour. Rufus Sewell played a scientist who investigates various crises. It is available online in a six-disc boxed set for $34.95.
Other TV-related offerings at WBShop.com include the pilot TV-movie of The Man From Atlantis, a 1970s cult favorite in which Patrick Duffy played an aquatic superhero; and two unsold 1970s pilots -- Genesis II and Planet Earth -- from Gene Roddenberry. More TV shows, most of them from 1970s and '80s, will be available soon, but specific titles have not yet been announced.
Also, the service offers collections of vintage comedy shorts such as the Our Gang comedies and the works of Robert Benchley, a member of the Algonquin Round Table and known for his droll commentary.
The discs have a range of prices. Most feature films are $19.95, and boxed sets are higher. There are no extras.
Last week, Turner Classic Movies and Universal Studios joined forces to start their own MOD DVD service, starting with the release of five rare Universal horror films from the 1930s and '40s: Murders in the Zoo, Mad Doctor of Market Street, The Strange Case of Dr. RX, The Mad Ghoul and House of Horrors.
The discs have extras taken from the TCM archives, including galleries of photos, posters and lobby cards. Individual titles are $19.99 and a boxed set of the five titles is $49.99. More titles will be released in coming months. For more information, go to www.tcm.com.
Charles Kuralt, a journalist from North Carolina, earned a loyal following for his "On the Road" human-interest stories that were shown on CBS news programs in the 1960s and '70s. Now, some of his most popular segments have come to DVD in On the Road with Charles Kuralt: Set 1, a three-disc set that is now in stores. It includes 77 vignettes.
Coming to DVD on Tuesday: Merry Sitcom!, a collection of Christmas episodes of Father Knows Best, McHale's Navy, Bewitched, That Girl, The Flying Nun, The Donna Reed Show and Window on Main Street.
tclodfelter@wsjournal.com.
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