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2011 Geek Gift Guide
What to buy this holiday season for the geek in your life
For the second year in a row, here's our little roundup (expanded a bit this
year) of the best and/or coolest Blu-rays, DVDs, comics, books, toys and more
than you can buy either for yourself or the significant geek in your life this
holiday season. We in no way can take credit for a lot of the investigation done
for this: For that we refer you to excellent, comprehensive gift guides like
those found at Ain't It Cool News, Badass Digest, Blastr and others.
More from Across the Universe:
Skeleton in the Closet
Reboot This!
Season Geekings for DVDs
More Holiday Geeking
'Star Trek' Beams Up Robocop
Those guys go into a lot more detail and offer up a ton more gifts than we
could possibly include here, but for now we hope to give you a cool overview of
what you can pick up for the fan boy or fan girl who usually has everything
already (a common complaint among our own significant others). Let's start with
the visual goodies, i.e. Blu-rays and DVDs:
Several major genre milestones came to Blu-ray this year, starting with the
complete "Star Wars" saga. We've gone on at length about the
pros and cons of this set previously, including the material not ported over
from previous DVDs and George Lucas' continued meddling with
the movies, but there's no question that this is the finest that the original
three films have ever looked (not to mention the newer trilogy), which is
worthwhile itself. And the long-awaited treasure trove of deleted footage --
including the never-before-seen early sequences on Tatooine from the original
"Star Wars" -- make this almost essential. Damn you, George!
Meanwhile, Lucas' pal Steven Spielberg has brought his "Jurassic Park," along with its two sequels, to the Blu
format in a nice, definitive set that includes a lengthy new documentary on the
making of all three films. And while it's true that the sequels don't hold up
nearly as well, having the original in high-def glory, along with that
documentary, make this a must for dinosaur fans.
Now that the "Harry Potter" movies are done, want to relive them
all again? The entire eight-film "Harry Potter" series has been packaged in one
collection on Blu-ray, but you'd better hurry up: Warner Bros. Pictures is
taking the films out of circulation at the end of the year, no doubt in
preparation for some lavish reissue in a few years.
The cinematic adventures of the Man of Steel came to Blu-ray earlier this
year, in a complete package featuring all four films starring Christopher Reeve, "Superman Returns" with Brandon Routh and even "Superman vs.
the Mole Men" with George Reeves. There's also a wealth
of documentaries and bonus features, including some of the brilliant Richard
Fleischer cartoons from the '30s and '40s. One of our favorite and most
comprehensive releases this year.
Peter Jackson is known for pulling
out all the stops on his home video releases, and his majestic "Lord of the Rings" films arrived on Blu-ray earlier
this year in their extended editions, each running nearly three and a half
hours. The picture and sound on the discs are absolutely stunning, and all the
exhaustive and often riveting bonus features from the DVD release have been
brought over to Blu to make this package as comprehensive as its DVD
predecessor. Also from Jackson: His seminal gorefest "Dead Alive" recently emerged on Blu-ray, while his
masterful "Heavenly Creatures" is due to arrive this month.
Speaking of gore, two Lucio Fulci classics, "The House by the Cemetery" and "Zombie," have made their way to Blu-ray in "ultimate"
editions (also available on DVD). These are two of the Italian horror master's
best, and the latter is his most famous film, so prepare for some gut-munching
mayhem. Other great horror that came to Blu-ray this year include Guillermo Del Toro's director's cut
of his second film, "Mimic"; the original silent Lon Chaney version of "Phantom of the Opera"; a special box set of the first
three "Scream" movies complete with two new documentaries;
and "Rare Exports," that twisted, creepy Christmas tale
from Finland.
On the TV side, the most impressive release has to be the "Smallville" complete
series box set on DVD, which packs all 10 seasons onto 60 discs, along with two
additional discs of bonus material. Many fans may own the first nine seasons
separately, but if not, this is the ultimate gift for fans of a show that
remained one of TV's -- and comics fans -- best-kept secrets for a decade.
Meanwhile, the complete series of "Farscape" has also just
been released on Blu-ray, including all four seasons (88 episodes), 90 minutes
of deleted footage and a retrospective documentary. Like so many sci-fi
television series, "Farscape" had a loyal cult following and has gained a
reputation over the years for its quality. This may be too pricey to give as an
introduction to the show, but for fans you can't go wrong.
And no one can go wrong with all five seasons of the original "Twilight Zone," now on
Blu-ray (they're apparently available separately or bundled at Amazon). We have
not picked these up -- we have the series on DVD -- but understand that the
image quality on the Blus is a major step up from all previous releases. This is
classic genre television and a must-own in any format.
Yes, we all love Matt Smith as the Doctor, but do you
still jones for some David Tennant once in a while? Then you might want to
purchase (or ask Santa for) "Doctor Who: The Complete David Tennant Years," a
26-disc DVD box set containing all three seasons of Tennant's run on the show,
plus all his Christmas specials. Warning: As some other sites have reported,
we've read that the packaging on this is beautiful but that the discs are very
difficult to get out. Be careful.
On to Part 2 of the gift
guide!
Send us your thoughts on all things sci-fi, horror, etc. Write us at
heymsn@microsoft.com
Don Kaye covers film, TV and entertainment for
MSN.com
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