I was just at a major new shopping mall the other day, and it has not only a Victoria’s Secret (which are pretty much ubiquitous these days) but three other shops also pretty much exclusively devoted to women’s slinky underwear. One of them is even styled after a New Orleans brothel, complete with a stoop, theme-park-ride-styled queuing areas, uniformed “hosts” who offer you a personalized greeting, and a series of darkened, spotlight-lit rooms reminiscent of Disneyland’s Haunted Mansion… with thongs. I remember walking out of Risky Business because I was offended on behalf of all the women in the audience who were just enthralled with being objectified as either hookers or shrews. Nearly thirty years later, in the era of Girls Gone Wild, women apparently are just as happy having Woody Allen paint them as either misguided prudes or misguided hedons. And where are the men in all this?

If you’re a fan… have no fear. The first of these new episodes to be released to DVD—under the collected title Save the Planets!, and following the single-episode release of “Comedy of Errors” under the title Meet the Penguins—measure up very comparably to the Original Six. If anything, the pace is quicker, the jokes come faster, and the laughs follow right behind. Honestly, this is some of the funniest stuff I’ve seen on DVD in a long, long time. All in all, this is a great buy for families with young kids. Most critics are right that adults probably like these programs better than youngsters do; but don’t be scared off by the relative lameness of recent VeggieTales offerings. Big Idea is still on the right track with Penguins.

If you’re not paying attention too closely to this film—or if you’ve never paid much attention to philosophy, or if you’re just a wee bit stoned—The Genius Club might offer some food for thought. It rightly points out that Americans are largely concerned with a bunch of trivial stuff, and that our politicians (thanks to our demands for more stuff and more comfort) aren’t very focused on fixing the Big Problems that confront the world. But don’t ask too much of this film. Think of it as merely a John Hughes look at World Problems, and you’ll probably be approaching it at the right level… as long as you don’t expect it to be as entertaining as The Breakfast Club, as smart as A Beautiful Mind, or as panderingly religious as Left Behind.