C. Robert Cargill,
Nov 19, 2009
It's that time again. Time to hang the holly, trim the tree, and fill the stockings. So what should all the good little geek boys and girls be looking for under the tree this year? How about these five awesome box sets?
Paul Newman: The Tribute Collection
One of the very best things to see release this year, the Paul Newman Tribute Collection boasts 17 discs with 13 of his best movies on them (the other four discs are special feature discs. The lure of the set, of course, are the big films: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Towering Inferno, The Verdict, and The Hustler. But what gets you are all the films you might not ordinarily pick up (or maybe not have even seen) like Hombre, Exodus, The Long, Hot Summer, and Quintet. All of this is wonderfully packaged in a sturdy display-quality box with a 132-page book filled with production stills and candid family photos -- altogether a perfect gift for any film lover.
Watchmen: The Ultimate Cut
As I wrote about the other day, this box set is everything a Watchmen fan wants -- including the very best version of the film so far. This three and a half hour version of the film comes complete with the animated Tales of the Black Freighter cut into it with the much loved (and missed) connecting scenes involving a newsstand owner and a young kid. The five-disc set also boasts the Watchmen motion comic, special features o' plenty, and the faux documentary Under the Hood. There's little doubt that this is already on every good geek's Amazon Wish List.
Star Trek: The Original Series, Seasons 1-3 (Blu-ray)
There is no better treatment of a classic television series than what Paramount has been giving to Star Trek: TOS. I discussed my thoughts on season 2 here and will no doubt shortly be telling you about season 3. You can find all of these box sets separately, or together in one gargantuan three-pack covering the breadth of the three seasons. These discs come loaded with both the classic versions as well as the updated, retooled episodes and more special features and bonus content than you can shake a stick at. Seriously, this box set would consume well over a month of free time to watch in its entirety. I sincerely believe that there will never be a better edition of this series than what we're being given this year on Blu-ray. Perhaps you should think about giving it yourself (or, you know, TO yourself.)
Justice League: The Complete Series
When this animated series was set to premiere, the Internet was abound with jokes about this being the Superfriends 2.0. Then it aired -- and it has been considered a must-watch by fans ever since. This was a show that was very much in love with its history, universe, and characters but also dealt with very mature themes that crossed the generational divide. This new set from Warner Bros. is all 91 episodes, from the two seasons of Justice League to the subsequent seasons of Justice League Unlimited. While there aren't exactly scads of special features to be found (roughly about one per disc or so), the very existence of this glorious show collected together in this nicely packaged $100 set makes me one happy little geek.
Lost: Season Five
Lost has become one of the very best things on television. My wife and I have become so addicted to the show, we've taken to going down to our local movie theater an hour or so early before their weekly showing of it (which always sells out.) Until you've seen Lost on a movie screen with a packed audience gasping and murmuring at every surprise, you've never REALLY seen it. But you can duplicate that experience with friends in your own living room while gearing up for the soon-to-air sixth and final season with this box set. And season five was the best so far -- a mind-bending, genre-defining season that will be talked about for years. What they pull off here almost requires multiple viewings.
