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Movie, music and TV junkies can download just about anything their hearts desire nowadays and watch and listen at their leisure, but physical box sets that you can actually heft in your hand are still a welcome holiday treat for true lovers of cinema, song and television treasures during the gift-giving season.
These packages give you something to wrap and put under the tree, and many pack all manner of enhancing extras, keepsakes and memorabilia that true connoisseurs of audio and visual entertainments can really appreciate.
Take for example the supersize box set of “Smallville: The Complete Series,” all 218 episodes from the 10-year run of the show that traces the teen years of Clark Kent, the Superboy from another planet who was faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive and would eventually discover that he was able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, and become the Man of Steel.
We’re talking 192 hours of content with more than five hours of newly added special features, such as the unaired, never-before-seen “Superboy” pilot from 1961, 100 minutes of featurettes providing an in-depth, season-by-season retrospective look at the creation of the show and a “Decade of Comic-Con” featurette.
Additionally, there’s a Paley Fest 2004 documentary, the “Aquaman” pilot, the “Secret Origin: The American Story of DC Comics” doc, “The Making of a Milestone — Expanded Version of the 100th Episode (Season 5)” and new interviews with star Tom Welling plus Erica Durance, Michael Rosenbaum, Allison Mack, Phil Morris and John Schneider.
The printed materials include a mock-up of the Daily Planet written by DC Comics scribes that focuses on key storylines from the series, storyboard sketches, behind-the-scenes photos and two weighty picture books containing this bundle’s 62 discs.
From the beginning, the production values, special effects, writing, acting and direction on “Smallville” were as good as they get on any made-for-television production. And they certainly came up with all manner of weird, imaginative ways that Kryptonite could affect the mere mortal inhabitants of Clark’s adoptive hometown. The likable Welling is perfectly cast as the Boy of Steel, and Clark’s long-unrequited love for the lovely Lana Lang (an engagingly warm and comely Kristin Kreuk) is one of the most appealing aspects of the absorbing story arc in its early stages.
Here’s a grand gift for the true super fan, for those givers who can afford the super price ($339.88 suggested retail price). for those who already own the first nine seasons, there’s the more reasonably priced “Smallville: The Complete Tenth Season,” sporting such extras as “Back in the Jacket: A Smallville Homecoming,” in which cast and creators discuss the landmark 200th episode “Homecoming,” when Clark experiences transformative events as he realizes his destiny, and “The Son Becomes the Father,” which traces the evolution of Clark’s fathers/son relationships.
And let’s not forget the series soundtrack, which contains some of the best rock and pop music of the past 10 years.
And speaking of music … Which one’s Pink? All 14 of ‘em. The “Discovery” box contains every studio album officially released by Pink Floyd, from 1967′s Syd Barrett-led psychedelic-pop debut “The Piper at the Gates of Dawn” to 1994′s “The Division Bell,” when acid-burned Barrett had been gone 27 years and Roger Waters had split two albums previous, leaving David Gilmour to lead the proceedings. The CDs are sheathed in digi-pak reproductions of the original LP covers, a 60-page booklet designed by Storm Thorgerson is thrown in, and all the recordings are remastered by James Guthrie. A must for any Pink Floyd fanatic on your list, but at about $180, you should be well-heeled and really like that fanatic a lot.
Meanwhile, the Byrds took folk, psych and country higher than any of those genres had ever been before, eight miles high and into the fifth dimension, with a new kind of 12-string electric Rickenbacker rock that influenced even the Beatles. All of it is contained in “The Complete Columbia Albums Collection,” a box set housing CD digi-pak replicas of all 11 of the band’s LPs from 1965′s “Mr. Tambourine Man” to “Farther along,” released in 1972. With six to seven bonus tracks of unissued songs, alternate takes and live recordings on each disc, plus an informative, photo-filled, 40-page booklet, this is easily one of the coolest boxes available this season. ($62.99 from pop market.com)
If you’re interested in birds of the cartoon variety, with names such as Daffy and Tweety, not to mention bunnies named Bugs and pigs named Porky, there is the “Looney Tunes Platinum Collection Volume I” in Blu-ray, a box set containing 50 of the funniest and greatest cartoons ever produced during the bygone era of theatrical cartoon shorts, from the studio that did ‘em best, Warner Bros.
Here are the gems that drew laughs from kids and grown-ups alike, with much of the humor shooting straight over the tykes’ heads and sending moms and dads into fits of guffaws, from such renowned ‘toons directors as Chuck Jones, Friz Freleng, Bob Clampett, Tex Avery and Robert McKimson, starring characters that put Disney creations to shame, such as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Tweety, Sylvester, Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote, Foghorn Leghorn and Pepe Le Pew, most set to the Looney and Merrie music of Carl Stalling.
The third of the three discs contains bonus hours of documentaries on the Looney Tunes factory and cartoon rarities that have been locked in the vaults for decades. The discs are stored in a book that contains pages and pages of rare sketches and commentary by animation historian Jerry Beck, as well as a guide with synopses of the shorts in the collection, and memorabilia including a framed Looney Tunes litho cell with a certificate of authenticity, souvenir tin sign magnet and a collectible Bugs Bunny glass. The set is limited and numbered and retails for $79.98. That’s all, folks.
Is that not enough? well then there’s the nonstop cat-and-mouse roughhouse of “Tom & Jerry The Golden Collection Volume I,” offering 37 remastered shorts directed by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera and starring the fallible feline and rascally rodent in some of their greatest pratfall-laden hits from MGM. Remastered from the best surviving/earliest generation film elements, this two-disc set holds a smashing good time for the classic cartoon lover. ($24)
And speaking of Smashing (groaner of a segue), how ’bout those Pumpkins? The Smashing Pumpkins on their first two albums, that is. “Gish” (1991) and “Siamese Dream” (1993) were arguably two of the most trailblazing albums to roar out of the alternative grunge vanguard of the early ’90s. Guitarists Billy Corgan and James Iha threw prog rock, heavy metal and psychedelia in a sonic blender and swirled it around Corgan’s dream-pop melodies and angst-riddled whine-to-howl vocals and came up with an awesome audio identity that ran “Gish” up into the platinum sales numbers with tunes such as “I am one,” “Siva” and “Rhinoceros,” while “Siamese Dream” scored multiplatinum tracks such as “Cherub Rock,” “Today” and “Disarm.”
Both albums have been remastered and rereleased in three-disc box sets, both packed with more than a dozen previously unreleased or alternative versions of Pumpkins songs from the era, DVDs of live Metro shows from 1990 and 1993, full lyrics, photos and personal liner notes. ($25 each)
If you prefer glam over grunge, the final five studio albums from Queen have just been released in a box set that completes the three-box “Queen 40” series commemorating the band’s 40th anniversary. “The Works” (1984), “A Kind of Magic” (1986), the critically-favored “The Miracle” (1989), “Innuendo” (1991) and “Made in Heaven” (1995), Freddie Mercury’s last recordings with the band, feature moving lyrics informed with the knowledge that he was dying of AIDS.
Some of the favorites from this period were “Radio Gaga” (the track from which Lady Gaga took her name), “I Want to break Free,” “One Vision,” “A Kind of Magic,” “I Want It All,” “The Miracle” and “These Are the Days of our Lives.” each album comes with a bonus EP disc of B-sides, remixes, non-album singles and live tracks. ($75)
Another band making big dramatic noise in the ’70s and ’80s was Electric Light Orchestra, originally a splinter group of British cult outfit The Move, launched by multi-instrumentalists Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood with the intention of setting Beatle-esque pop and rock melodies against sweeping orchestral arrangements that borrowed heavily from the classics. “ELO: The Classic Albums Collection” gathers all 11 of the band’s studio releases, from 1972′s “No Answer” to 1986′s “Balance of Power.” Although the band lost its appealingly eccentric edge with Wood’s departure after the first album, ELO’s ever slicker and grander productions earned them huge commercial success, and all of their radio hits are contained herein (“Roll Over Beethoven,” “Can’t Get It out of My Head,” “Evil Woman,” “Strange Magic,” etc.) with original album cover art and a 28-page booklet with liner notes by Lynne. Almost everyone knows an ELO fan or two. ($80)
Mahavishnu Orchestra enthusiasts may be harder to find. British electric guitar virtuoso John McLaughlin had played with a number of rock and jazz bands — most notably the Tony Williams Lifetime and Miles Davis’ groups — before forming the original version of the Mahavishnu Orchestra in 1971 with keyboardist Jan Hammer, violinist Jerry Goodman, drummer Billy Cobham and bassist Rick Laird. This lineup was among the foremost early architects in jazz-rock fusion, and “The Complete Columbia Albums Collection” contains all four of their album masterworks — “The inner Mounting Flame” (1971), “Birds of Fire” (1972), “The Lost Trident Sessions” (1973) and “Between Nothingness & Eternity,” with a bonus disc of unreleased tracks. together only two years, the original Mahavishnu left a legacy of musical inventions that ranged from quietly contemplative to grandly cinematic. ($45)
Which leads us to the movies, starting with the “Ben-Hur 50th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition,” a box set that’s as epic as the film it contains. This winner of a record-setting 11 Academy Awards, including best picture (1959), best actor (Charlton Heston) and best director (William Wyler), has undergone a $1 million restoration, frame by frame from the original 65 millimeter camera negative. This is the highest-resolution restoration ever achieved by Warner Bros. studio, and it is dazzlingly vibrant, especially in Blu-ray.
In addition to the eye-popping visuals — including the amazing chariot race sequence — there is a hi-def feature-length documentary chronicling Heston’s life while making the film; a reproduction of Heston’s private diary from January 1958 through April 1960, documenting his time before production through his Oscar win, plus family photos and Heston’s sketches; a hard-bound book of rare photos, production art and reproductions from the original press book. The 222-minute film spreads over two discs, and a third disc contains the 1925 silent version of “Ben-Hur,” two documentaries on the making of the film and how it changed the art of filmmaking, screen tests, vintage newsreels, highlights from the 1960 Academy Awards ceremony and a theatrical trailer gallery. for the serious buff/collector, this is certainly a box set worthy of the movie it celebrates, priced on Amazon at $48 for the Blu-ray edition, $37 for the DVD set.
“Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory” gets a big-box treatment, too, with a “40th Anniversary Ultimate Collector’s Edition,” containing more than an hour of extras, including “Mel Stuart’s Wonkavision,” a new interview with the director, a featurette on author Roald Dahl, and the collectible “Pure Imagination,” a 144-page book in which director Stuart reveals how he made the chocolate river and why the Oompa Loompas have orange hair. There’s also a retro Wonka Bar-shaped tin box with scented pencil and eraser and a limited time Golden Ticket Instant Win Game piece for a chance to win a trip for two to Los Angeles. In the words of Veruca Salt, your kids will scream, “I want it now!” The three-disc Blu-ray/DVD is priced on Amazon at $50.
When he wasn’t working as an A-list supporting actor in such classic films as Orson Welles’ “The Magnificent Ambersons” or John Huston’s “Treasure of the Sierra Madre,” Tim Holt was paying the rent on his ranch house making more than 40 B Westerns for RKO in the 1940s and early ’50s. thirty of them are available on “Tim Holt Western Classics Collection,” Volumes 1, 2 and 3, manufactured on demand from Warner Archive Collection. The big difference between Holt and the other B cowboys of the day is that he didn’t sing or dress like he’d just stepped out of a band box. And there were no cars or other 20th-century conveniences. he did, however, shoot guns out of bad guys’ hands rather than kill them, in true B hero tradition. And his hat never fell off in a fist fight. Often silly in an innocent ’40s sort of way, and, if you’re so inclined, an amusingly entertaining curiosity ($39.95 per volume).
One of these days, Alice, they’re gonna find those lost episodes, and I’ll be a happy man.
Hey, Ralph, guess what? They found ‘em! And for classic TV buffs, “The Honeymooners Lost Episodes: The Complete Restored Series” is now available in a box set of 50 hours on 15 discs, including many episodes unseen for nearly 60 years. When Jackie Gleason first appeared as hapless, temperamental bus driver Ralph Kramden on the Dumont Network’s “Cavalcade of Stars” in 1951, the “Honeymooners” skits were broadcast live, airing only once. It continued that way when he moved to CBS in ’52, supported in the “Honeymooners” segments of his variety show by Audrey Meadows as his long-suffering wife, Alice; Art Carney as Ralph’s pal, sewer worker Ed Norton; and Joyce Randolph as Ed’s wife, ex-dancer Trixie. They quickly became a comedy treasure, and they remain as hilarious now as when they first aired more than a half-century ago. They’ll still send you “right to the moon, Alice.” ($80 on Amazon)
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