VERONICA MARS!! SOPRANOS!! INDIANA JONES!! SPIDER-MAN!! Herc's Season-Box DVD Vault!!

I am – Hercules!!

“Our tickets are in there, stuck in the mirror. Above her suggestion box and tip jar.” “Veronica Mars” is a superb TV show, one of the best ever, and its third and final season was in my estimation the best of the three. Flush with viewer trust, series mastermind Rob Thomas began pushing the series in new and even more interesting directions. Many bemoaned the absence of a season-long mystery, often (and inexplicably) failing to notice (or acknowledge) that season three actually carried the most episode-to-episode continuity as it delved deeper into the gang’s now college-age lives. Veronica’s efforts to track down a campus serial rapist earned her the emnity of both the loutish residents of fraternity row and the shrewish Hearst College feminists. Logan continued fightin’ ‘round Neptune, pounding Piz in the penultimate episode and a surly mobster’s son in the series finale. An episode memorably punctuated by a 7-year-old Fatboy Slim single was by turns thrilling, harrowing, and laugh-out-loud funny. Season three also gave us Fitzpatrick-on-Fitzpatrick violence, faux lesbian dancing, Patty Hearst as the granddaughter of the Hearst College founder, sleazy P.I. Vinnie Van Lowe as both hero and villain, the Comic Con hooker, Keith boning the married lady (Laura San Giacomo), the return of Madison Sinclair, the return of Deputy Leo, a babysitting Logan Echolls, Veronica in stir, a throwdown with paint-gun punks, Mac and Veronica cavorting nakedly (albeit not with each other), Judd Apatow fixture Paul Rudd as rock star Desmond Fellows, the FBI exam, and Keith’s return to his old Balboa County sheriff’s uniform. The new set’s extras are said include “Veronica Mars: FBI Academy,” the unaired 2007 mini-pilot that would have catapulted the tiny blonde sleuth across the country and years into the future -- a glimpse of the fourth season we will never see. (Or not see soon. The silver lining in untimely cancellation of “Mars” is it has freed Thomas for a remake of “Cupid,” the first series he created, which is now back in development at ABC.)

The most talked-about TV this year was the whack-happy final nine episodes of “The Sopranos,” which today hit DVD, Blu-ray and HD-DVD. Bobby beat up Tony and went train shopping, “Cleaver” premiered and Christophuh rolled his auto, Walnuts got nervous in Florida and lost his mom, Hesh craved collection and lost his girl, A.J. lost Bianca and hit the pool, senile Junior organized a poker game, Tony avenged Meadow, and Phil Leotardo ordered Tony dead. Fantastic episodes capped by one of the most memorable series finales in TV history. Even so, $54.99 ($83.95 if you want to watch in HD) is a lot of money for nine episodes.

Feeling enthused about George Lucas’ coming “Star Wars” TV shows? “The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones” could and maybe should dampen those expectations. It’s loaded with dull mysteries, one-dimensional characters, expensive-looking but not-always-involving action sequences, and an Indiana Jones who never encounters anything supernatural. And no John Williams music. Mostly, it’s preachy kid stuff, edutainment with way too much emphasis on the “edu.” The new set will play spectacularly to kids trapped in classrooms (as Lucas intends), but parents who buy the set may just want to skip over the bulk of the Indy tales to its many new and zippy documentaries. The new DVD version of Young Indiana Jones duplicates the 1999 VHS version – which combined the ABC series aired in 1992 and 1993, the leftover episodes that aired on the USA Network, the four subsequent 1994 Family Channel TV-movies, and hours of footage shot in 1996 for the VHS version. A total of 44 “hours” comprised the 1999 VHS version, which presented them as 22 feature-length adventures. Volume one of the DVD version contains the first seven of the 22 feature-length Young Indiana adventures and a whopping 38 companion documentaries. (The many hours of docs help explain how volume one takes up 12 discs.) As with the VHS version, the three DVD volumes move in chronological order, meaning that all the adventures of preteen Indiana (Corey Carrier) are on volume one, consuming five of its seven adventures. The teen Indy (Sean Patrick Flannery) turns up only for the final two features on volume one. The wraparounds featuring the 93-year-old Indy, excised for the VHS version, are still missing on the new DVD set. The decision to retain all the old episodes as two-hour movies is curious, since each “movie” (or at least each “movie” on volume one) still feels like two episodes slapped together. It made a tiny bit more sense when the 1999 VHS set came out, since “Young Indy” was then packaged with the three “real” Indiana Jones movies released to cinemas in the 1980s. (Is it too late, I wonder, to include the “Old Indy” segments starring George Hall and Harrison Ford as an extra for volume three?) Supplemental factoid. Lloyd Owen, star of CBS’ feculent “Viva Laughlin” until about 10 minutes ago, adopted a Scottish accent to inherit the role of Henry Jones Sr., originated by Sean Connery only a few years earlier. Writers on these episodes included everybody from the great Frank Darabont (“The Shawshank Redemption,” “The Green Mile,” “The Mist”) to Jonathan Hales (“Attack of the Clones”), Jonathan Hensleigh (“Jumanji,” “The Saint,” “Armageddon”), Rosemary Anne Sisson (“Upstairs, Downstairs”), Jule Selbo (“Melrose Place”), Matthew Jacobs (the 1996 “Doctor Who” TV movie) and Reg Gadney (the 1983 miniseries “Kennedy”). The two scripted segments I liked most on volume one were the one with Michael Gough (who played Alfred Pennyworth in most of the “Batman: movies) as Leo Tolstoy and the one with Elizabeth Hurley as a hot young suffragette. The Tolstoy segment, credited to Darabont, Jacobs and Hales, works because it feels more like a literate buddy comedy than a history lesson. The suffragette hour, credited to the very elderly Sisson, features a nifty zeppelin attack just before teen Indy reunites with the tutor who starred in his preteen segments. It also features a relatively entertaining (if chaste) romance with the character played by a twentysomething Hurley. Five years before “Austin Powers,” Hurley is plucky and extraordinarily adorable as the quick-thinking bus conductor Indy wants to marry -- before he hits the bloody volume-two battlefields of World War I. CBS DVD’s rundown for Volume One:

1) MY FIRST ADVENTURE (1:25:47) While on an archaeological dig in Egypt's Valley of the Kings, Indy uncovers an ancient mummy and a fresh corpse. With the help of T.E. Lawrence - the legendary Lawrence of Arabia - Indy solves an intriguing murder mystery only to find himself thrust right back into danger when he is kidnapped by slave-trading brigands. Dragged on a terrifying journey across the burning sands of North Africa to the slave markets of Marrakech, Indy finds that he must rely on his courage and wits to survive the brutal ordeal. Directors: Jim O'Brien, Michael Schultz Writers: Jonathan Hales, Jule Selbo Companion Historical Documentaries: Archaeology: Unearthing Our Past (19:17) Howard Carter and the Tomb of Tutankhamun (22:33) Colonel Lawrence's War: T.E. Lawrence and Arabia (36:05) From Slavery to Freedom (30:08)

2) PASSION FOR LIFE (1:34:12) The beautiful Masai Mara game reserve in Kenya is the locale as Indy goes on safari with former President Teddy Roosevelt. When he becomes lost in the savage African bush, Indy finds that he must fight for his life against all manner of exotic and dangerous wildlife. Wildlife of another kind awaits him in Paris when he accompanies a young Norman Rockwell on a rollicking tour through the bohemian world of Parisian fine art. Wild parties, wilder women and artistic temperaments are on full display as Pablo Picasso and Edgar Degas clash over their contrasting styles of painting, while painting the town red at a gaudy late-night soiree. Directors: Carl Schultz, René Manzor Writers: Matthew Jacobs, Reg Gadney Guest star: Lukas Haas Companion Historical Documentaries: Theodore Roosevelt and the American Century (30:52) Ecology: Pulse of the Planet (24:12) American Dreams: Norman Rockwell and the Saturday Evening Post (24:17) Art Rebellion: The Making of the Modern (26:07) Edgar Degas: Reluctant Rebel (22:53) Braque + Picasso: A Collaboration Cubed (23:14)

3) THE PERILS OF CUPID (1:33:02) In beautiful Vienna, Indy falls for the lovely young daughter of soon-to-be assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. But the course of true love does not run smoothly and he must seek advice from two of the founding fathers of psychology, Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. Romantic complications of another kind turn up in Florence, Italy, when Indy and his mother meet the great opera composer Giacomo Puccini. Dismayed to find his lonely mother succumbing to the sensuous charms of the charismatic Puccini, Indy frantically looks for a way to reunite his parents and rekindle their love before it's too late. Directors: Bille August, Mike Newell Writers: Matthew Jacobs, Jule Selbo Guest Star: Max von Sydow Companion Historical Documentaries: Giacomo Puccini: Music of the Heart (25:34) It's Opera! (29:02) The Archduke's Last Journey: End of an Era (20:56) Powder Keg: Europe 1900 to 1914 (26:06) Sigmund Freud: Exploring the Unconscious (21:57) Carl Jung and the Journey of Self Discovery (19:30) Psychology: Charting the Human Mind (26:33)

4) TRAVELS WITH FATHER (1:32:29) A trip to Russia takes Indy from the opulent palaces of the aristocracy to the fetid villages of the peasant class when he runs away from home after an argument with his parents. Joining up with novelist Leo Tolstoy, the two go on the road, engaging in philosophical discussions and clashing with colorful Gypsies and ferocious Cossacks. Realizing that there's no place like home, Indy rejoins his mom and dad and travels with his father to an isolated Greek monastery perched high on the peak of a mountain. The arduous journey, including a harrowing trip in a tiny cage up a thousand-foot mountainside, brings father and son closer together. Directors: Michael Schultz, Deepa Mehta Writers: Frank Darabont, Matthew Jacobs and Jonathan Hales Companion Historical Documentaries: Seeking Truth: The Life of Leo Tolstoy (31:15) Unquiet Voices: Russian Writers and the State (25:59) Aristotle: Creating Foundations (21:37) Ancient Questions: Philosophy and Our Search for Meaning (23:52)

5) JOURNEY OF RADIANCE (1:35:43) A jaunt through the mystical Far East takes Indy to the Holy City of Benares where he befriends the lonely and isolated young spiritual leader, Jiddu Krishnamurti. Surrounded by supplicants and hangers-on, Krishnamurti struggles to have faith in himself and to fulfill the destiny decreed for him by his worshippers. In the process, he shows Indy just how strong the power of faith can be. Indy's mother also learns a lesson in faith and trust when she must rely on some poor Chinese villagers and their traditional medical techniques to save the life of her son, who lies perilously close to death with typhoid fever. Directors: Deepa Mehta, Gavin Millar Writers: Jonathan Hensleigh, Rosemary Anne Sisson Companion Historical Documentaries: Jiddu Krishnamurti: The Reluctant Messiah (26:50) Annie Besant: An Unlikely Rebel (26:56) Medicine in the Middle Kingdom (26:49) Eastern Spirituality: The Road to Enlightenment (29:06)

6) SPRING BREAK ADVENTURE (1:35:58) Indy and his girlfriend Nancy Stratemeyer, whose father created the Nancy Drew mystery series, visit the fascinating laboratory of inventor Thomas Edison. The two must contend with dangerous German spies as they struggle to keep Edison's top secret new invention out of the hands of hostile enemy agents. To keep him from getting into any more trouble, Indy is sent to visit his aunt in New Mexico. While there, he is kidnapped by Pancho Villa and swept up into the Mexican Revolution. Chaotic, free-wheeling border towns, a “Wild Bunch” style train robbery and a colorful barroom encounter with a young George Patton make for thrilling entertainment in this action-packed movie. Directors: Joe Johnston, Carl Schultz Writers: Matthew Jacobs, Jonathan Hales Companion Historical Documentaries: Thomas Alva Edison: Lighting up the World (26:53) Invention and Innovation: What's Behind a Good Idea? (22:55) The Mystery of Edward Stratemeyer (26:15) Wanted: Dead or Alive: Pancho Villa and the American Invasion of Mexico (28:10) General John J. Pershing and his American Army (28:26) George S. Patton: American Achilles (29:35)

7) LOVE'S SWEET SONG (1:32:54) Landing in Ireland right before the Easter Rebellion, Indy mixes romance and revolutionary politics when he falls for a beautiful young colleen whose brother is involved in the Irish resistance movement. Across the waters in England, he encounters a similar problem when his love affair with a strong-willed young woman is derailed by her fervent belief in the women's suffrage movement and her need for independence. Violent street brawls, a terrifying Zeppelin raid and a seriocomic dinner party with Winston Churchill provide plenty of thrills in this exciting, romantic adventure. Directors: Gillies MacKinnon, Carl Schultz Writers: Jonathan Hales, Rosemary Anne Sisson Guest Stars: Elizabeth Hurley, Vanessa Redgrave Companion Historical Documentaries: Easter Rising: The Poets' Rebellion (25:54) The Passions of William Butler Yeats (27:43) Sean O'Casey vs. Ireland (25:18) Ireland: The Power of the Poets (26:53) Winston Churchill: The Lion's Roar (33:48) Demanding the Vote: The Pankhursts and British Suffrage (27:07) Fighting for the Vote: Women's Suffrage in America (31:29)

Disc 12 of volume one is an “interactive bonus disc” containing three items: 1) “Historical Lecture: The Promise of Progress” (41:28) is given by H.W. Brands, a University of Texas history professor, and illustrated with documentary footage. 2) The “Interactive Timeline” goes into the DVD drive of your computer, and allows one to explore – via a map and Young Indy’s notebook – the various topics tackled in the series. The prologues to the documentaries in all three volumes seem to be here, along with lists of recommended movies and books, and Internet links. 3) “Revolution Interactive Game” also goes into the DVD drive of your computer. Based on volume one’s Pancho Villa episode, it sort of teaches users how to survive a trek in Northern Mexico. There’s a casino and a store and a deadly lizard! You can get help by looking up trivia related to the region and exploring.

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