TV on DVD: '24': The Complete Series

SERIES ON DISC "24" - The Complete Series.

LIST PRICES Fox Home Entertainment's DVD box of all 8 seasons carries a list price of $350; expect discounts around $200. (Not available on Blu-ray.) Also new from Fox is the final single set, "24" Season 8, at a list price of $60 DVD/$70 BD.

WHAT YOU GET IN THE BOX

Eight-plus danger-packed days in the life of one Jack Bauer. Surely you don't have to ask "Who's Jack Bauer?" (as one Season 8 character did, mostly to give us a laugh). Kiefer Sutherland's über-agent/punching bag saves the world from terrorists, nukes, assassins, et al.

Eight seasons of 24 real-time episodes are packaged individually in thick, clear cases with plastic flip-pages holding the discs. That uniformity is welcome, compared to the original season sets, which started as really thick fold-outs (Seasons 1-4) before changing to boxed slimcases (Seasons 5-6) and then flip-page clear cases (Seasons 7-8). The double-wide cardboard outer box with matching slipcase is unusually sturdy.

But - and it's a big but - that's pretty much it. A cardboard box. No lenticular cover, no informative book, no cool replica props, posters or other collectibles. Nothing even remotely approaching the "24" Season 1 Special Edition tin with its built-in countdown clock.

That's disappointing, to say the least, for such a beloved series - especially after the jam-packed goody chest that was August's complete-series pyramid box of "Lost," a show somewhat comparable in its run, ratings and intensity.

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Add to this the absence of a Blu-ray full-series set, and the cynical fan might expect yet another complete-show release before long, with more goodies possibly and more definition certainly.

EXTRAS

Besides the nine plastic-case sets in the "24" DVD series box - don't forget "24: Redemption," the placeholding miniseries from the 2007 season's writers strike - there's one little CD-size cardboard sleeve holding new DVD content.

This "exclusive bonus disc" boasts a nice half-hour retrospective of "24," ushering us through Jack Bauer's evolution from happy husband to disillusioned rebel to dedicated patriot, while exploring key scenes and antagonists (in clips and interviews). There's another half-hour of 2009's pre-

Season 8 Comic-Con panel with cast (including Kiefer Sutherland, Mary Lynn Rajskub and Katee Sackhoff) and crew (led by executive producer Howard Gordon). Also a wrap-party reel, plus a Chloe "bonus scene" (duplicated on Season 8 Blu-ray, but not Season 8 DVD). It adds up to little more than an hour.

Existing bonus features are retained from the season sets (Season 1 has the Special Edition extras), and those are often pretty meaty. Which may be why there aren't more new extras on the "bonus" disc. Or not.

WHY TO BUY (OR NOT)

If you've held out till now on "24" DVDs, or you need a gift for a fan who has, and you're not out to own every last extra/collectible, or you like your season sets to look matched, go for it. High-def viewers lovin' the Blu-ray sharpness of Season 7 (and now Season 8) might want to hold off for a future ultra-resolution box.