By DNA Smith
Ah yes, the holiday season is once again upon us, which means it’s time for the studios to repackage previous releases in the hope that the new box and shoddy extras will convince you to cough up twice as much dough buying something you already own — or as gift for someone in your office’s Secret Santa. Let’s take a gander at the Good, Bad and Ugly of this week’s offerings:
THE GOOD
“National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (Ultimate Collector’s Edition)” — In addition to the DVD, this set comes with a bag of “instant snow,” four drink coasters with quotes from the film on them, a button that reads, “I Survived a Griswold Family Christmas,” a Santa Hat and a miniature moose mug like the one Clark (Chevy Chase) drinks egg nog from in that one scene where he drinks egg nog. (Yeah, I know that was repetitive. I just like saying Nog.) It retails for about 50 bucks, but if you look around you can get it for around 30, which seems reasonable considering you’re getting a moose mug — for NOG.
THE BAD
“North by Northwest (50th Anniversary Edition)” — Cary Grant stars in this Alfred Hitchcock-directed comedy/thriller about an advertising executive mistaken for a spy. You’d think such a classic, iconic film would get the multi-disc treatment with tons of extras. You would be wrong. One disc, a few extras and a flimsy little picture book. For $35, I expect more. Heck, for that money, I could buy another copy of “Christmas Vacation” and have TWO moose mugs — for NOG.
THE UGLY
“Forrest Gump (Chocolate Box Gift Set)” — What better way to celebrate this Oscar winner than to re-release the DVD in a box that looks like a box of chocolates? Yes, for 50 bucks, you can get “Forrest Gump” in a box that, when opened, contains a hunk o’ cardboard with a picture of chocolates printed on it. Oh, and you get a white feather. Yeah, Fifty Bucks. No Chocolate.
TV SERIES“Star Wars The Clone Wars” The Complete Season One
“Spin City” Season Three
“Walt Disney Treasures: Zorro” The Complete First and Second Seasons
“Fraggle Rock” The Complete Final Season
“Mission: Impossible” The Final TV Season
“The Donna Reed Show” Season Three
“The Rockford Files: Movie Collection” Vol. 1
“Here’s Lucy” Season Two
© 2009 King Features Synd., Inc.