Last-minute ideas: Gadgets and gifts

By Bruce Dancis, McClatchy Newspapers
Like Pinocchio’s nose and Rupert Murdoch’s wallet, DVD boxed sets are growing larger and larger. Last year, consumers were offered mega boxes filled with dozens of discs featuring every episode of particular TV shows — and this season finds more of the same.
Older TV series are getting into the act too. “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” (41 discs, Time Life/Warner, $249.99), the mid- 1960s James Bond-lite series about unlikely spy partners Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughn) and Illya Kuryakin (David McCallum), presents all 105 episodes and nearly 10 hours of bonus features in a fancy silver attache case. (It’s available exclusively online from Time Life at www.manfromuncledvd.com.)
For those on your gift list with discerning comedic taste, the one “must-have” set is “Seinfeld: The Complete Series” (32 discs, Sony, $283.95), a tastefully packaged collection of all 180 episodes of the landmark sitcom. It also includes a 226-page anthology of photos, quotes and trivia; a bonus disc featuring the cast and co-creator Larry David reminiscing about the series; and all the deleted scenes, episode commentaries, bloopers and other bonus features that have appeared on the single-season sets.
Fans of Alex Haley’s work on black history should enjoy “Roots: The Complete Collection” (10 discs, Warner, $119.82), which includes the original, historic “Roots” miniseries, the sequel “Roots: The Next Generations,” the holiday movie “Roots: The Gift,” plus interviews and short documentaries.
For folks who don’t subscribe to pay-cable channels such as HBO and Showtime, gifts of these superior TV shows are highly recommended:
From HBO Video, “The Sopranos: Season 6, Part II” (three discs, $99.98), “The Wire: The Complete Fourth Season” (four discs, $59.99), “Deadwood: The Complete Third Season” (six discs, $99.98), “Rome: The Complete Second Season” (five discs, $99.98) and “Extras: The Complete First Season” and “Extras: The Complete Second Season” (both three discs, $29.98 apiece).
And from Showtime, on Lionsgate DVD, “Weeds — Season Two” (two discs, $39.98). New movie “franchise” boxes available this year include the “Ocean’s Trilogy” (three discs, Warner, $51.82), starring George Clooney and Brad Pitt; the five-film “Harry Potter Limited Edition DVD Giftset” (12 discs, Warner, $119.97), including souvenir bookmarks and trading cards; and “The Jason Bourne Collection” (three discs, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, $49.98), starring Matt Damon in “The Bourne Identity,” The Bourne Supremacy” and this year’s “The Bourne Ultimatum.”
Notable movie directors get their due in “The Coen Brothers Gift Set” (five discs, MGM, $49.98), featuring Joel and Ethan Coen’s “Blood Simple,” “Raising Arizona,” “Millers Crossing,” “Barton Fink” and “Fargo.”
Changing genres, for baseball fans of a righteous nature, “Yankeeography” (12 discs, A&E, $99.95) offers 34 spectacular episodes of New York Yankees history, while those less fortunate — historically speaking — Red Sox fans might be content with “The Boston Red Sox 2007 World Series Collector’s Edition” (eight discs, A&E, $79.95).