Batman, gift set discs nab the holiday spotlight
Movies are nice stocking stuffers

Things round and shiny make for great giving this holiday season to all the movie buffs, channel surfers and music lovers on that shopping list who’ve been nice more often than naughty this year, and they’re all boxed and ready for Santa’s goody sack. Here are some of the best.

"The Dark Knight” roars onto DVD just in time for stuffing stockings with the biggest blockbuster of 2008, featuring a steely-eyed Christian Bale reprising his raspy take on the Batman, and the late Heath Ledger losing himself in the character of the Joker with a performance that will probably earn him a posthumous Oscar. The Caped Crusader’s latest thrill ride is available in single-disc version or a deluxe double-disc package with more extras than Batman’s utility belt, including a documentary on how the new Bat-suit and Bat-pod were developed, six action-packed episodes of Gotham cable’s premier news program "Gotham Tonight,” poster art and production stills and a digital copy of the film.

The new "300” Limited Collector’s Edition is a boxed set as epic as the CGI/live-action film it contains, incorporating all the extras of the Two Disc Special Edition plus a bonus disc containing a new documentary, "To the Hot Gates: A Legend Retold,” revealing in detail the whole process of bringing Frank Miller’s sprawling graphic novel to the screen. There’s also a bonus digital copy of the film, a 52-page hardcover art book, a Lucite display with motion film image and six collectible photo cards. More blood and thunder — while supplies last.

The "Ray Harryhausen Collectible DVD Gift Set” is a real monster, containing three of the stop-motion animation wizard’s best ’50s fright features, "It Came From Beneath the Sea” (1955), "Earth vs. the Flying Saucers” (1956) and "20 Million Miles to Earth” (1957), all of which can be viewed in either black and white or colorized versions. The six discs contain a gargantuan amount of bonus features, including Tim Burton’s interview with Harryhausen AND, kids, there’s a really cool 7-inch figurine of the Ymir, the reptilian alien giant from "20 Million.” Run for your life!

Chaos of the college kind is still as gut-bustingly hilarious as it was in 1978, evidenced in "National Lampoon’s Animal House” — 30 th Anniversary Gift Set. The Delta House-shaped box contains the often-imitated, never-duplicated comedy featuring John Belushi’s unforgettably crazed and uncouth Bluto, a "Where Are They Now” mockumentary with cast members explaining, in character, what they’ve been doing since, and a real documentary on the film with cast interviews. Wrap yourself in a toga and crank up the "Louie, Louie.”

On a darker but no less wild side, "Touch of Evil — 50 th Anniversary Edition” presents all three versions of Orson Welles’ 1958 film noire classic — the preview version, the theatrically released version and the version restored to Welles’ original vision. A printed reproduction of writer-director Welles’ 58-page memo railing at studio heads about edits and additions made against his wishes is a fascinating bonus to this two-disc set.

Meanwhile, purist Trekkies may be outraged, but the new three-box presentation of the remastered original "Star Trek” TV series dares to enhance the visual effects of the original 1966-69 productions with 21st century technology, and manages it with all due respect and loving care for the period charm that still makes Kirk, Spock and Bones fun to watch 40 years on. Packaged in three futuristic boxes — yellow (command, helm), red (ops) and blue (sciences and medical) — these discs are loaded with extras including rare home movies from the set, and nonfinicky fans will find the nearly $200 price tag well worth it. The discs are HD DVD on one side, for those who own such equipment, but regular DVD format on the other, playable on any kind of machine.

And traveling back to the ’50s, when he spent nearly a decade playing memorable heavies on the big screen, Lee Marvin finally turned hero (and star) as Chicago homicide detective Lt. Frank Ballinger on "M Squad,” a 1957-60 TV series distinguished by its high-contrast film noire cinematography, a jazzy score written and performed by such greats as Count Basie, Benny Carter and a young John Williams, taut scripts by such writers as Stirling Silliphant, and sharp performances from such future stars as Burt Reynolds, Charles Bronson and Angie Dickinson. And then there was Marvin, superbly edgy as the tough cop with a big heart. The 15-disc set contains all three seasons, plus a compact disc of the 1959 album "The Music from M Squad.”

Delving even deeper into the golden age of television is the "Studio One” Anthology, a six-DVD set containing 17 teleplays from the groundbreaking "Westinghouse Presents Studio One” series. Originally broadcast live from 1948 to ’58 from the CBS Network studios in New York, this anthology program offered everything from Shakespearean classics to plays by some of the best established and up-and-coming writers of the era, including Rod Serling, Reginald Rose and Gore Vidal. It was one of early TV’s most literate and well-acted shows, introducing the talents of Jack Lemmon, Eva Marie Saint, Charlton Heston and Leslie Nielsen among many others. Preserved on Kinescope film before the advent of video tape, the selections include such gems as 1954’s Emmy-winning "12 Angry Men” with Robert Cummings, 1949’s "The Storm” directed by Yul Brynner, and 1952’s "1984” with Eddie Albert, all complete with the original live Westing-house commercials featuring pitchwoman Betty Furness. Essential for nostalgia and TV history buffs.

Mommy’s all right, daddy’s all right and the kids will be all right too when they check out the timeless power-pop of Cheap Trick’s "Budokan!: 30 th Anniversary Edition,” marking the first time concert footage from the band’s historic 1978 two-night stand in Japan has ever been released on video. The package boasts three remastered CDs of the shows plus a 5.1 Surround Sound DVD showing guitarist Rick Nielsen, singer/guitarist Robin Zander, bassist Tom Petersson and drummer Bun E. Carlos at the peak of their teen-anthem powers in a music-world-shaking event, ripping through "Surrender,” "Clock Strikes 10,” "Ain’t That a Shame,” "I Want You to Want Me” and many more.

But for those who like their rock a little artier, "Genesis: 1970-1975” holds all five albums from the Peter Gabriel era, including "Trespass, "Nursery Cryme,” the dramatic and massive "Foxtrot,” "Selling England by the Pound” and the masterful concept piece, "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.” Phil Collins never did it better than Peter.

And finally for those into songs about trains and jails and boys named Sue, all sung in an inimitable and arresting baritone, there’s "Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison: Legacy Edition,” a deluxe 40th anniversary boxed set containing two CDs of the two shows he did in the Big House, plus a DVD documentary with Folsom footage and interviews with Merle Haggard, Rosanne Cash, Marty Stuart and former inmates who were there. That lonesome whistle never sounded so sweet.

Next week: Part 2 of our holiday boxed set roundup.

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