Owls Head — Super 8 (Paramount, Blu-ray and standard  DVD, PG-13, 111 min.). Writer-director J.J. Abrams (TV’s “Lost”) produced this film along with his longtime idol Steven Spielberg, and there are lots of emotional echoes of Spielberg’s films.

It starts off as a simple tale of a small group of junior high students (they call their school a middle school, but I don’t believe that concept existed back in the 1970s) who are making a zombie movie. Charles (Riley Griffiths) is the director, while Martin (Gabriel Basso) is the lead, Cary (Ryan Lee) handles explosives, Joe (Joel Courtney) does makeup and special effects -- and becomes the audience’s center point -- and then there is Preston (Zach Mills) who throws up a lot. The group talks Alice (Elle Fanning) to join them and play the wife. They go out to the train station to film and, when they see a train approaching, decide to get some added production value. However, their biology teacher drives his truck onto the railroad tracks and creates a very impressive train wreck. In fact, the scene is quite stunning and worth watching over and over.

What their film later shows is that some kind of creature escaped during the crash. The Air Force moves into town (led by Noah Emmerich’s character) and things like microwaves and car engines start disappearing. The sheriff also disappears as a gas station convenience store is just about demolished. We don’t really see but bits and pieces of the creature until the end, when Joe, who has quickly fallen for Alice, must rescue her from the creature. Also running through the film is the now-difficult relationship between Joe and his father, Sheriff’s Deputy Jackson Lamb (Kyle Chandler), as Joe’s mother has been killed in an industrial accident just prior to the film’s start

The production values are outstanding and the sound is absolutely terrific. The child actors all do a wonderful job. The film is full of exciting scenes, including the creature attacking a bus that carries four of the children as prisoners. Extras include audio commentary by Abrams, producer Bryan Burk and director of photography Larry Fong; 14 deleted scenes (12:47), one of which shows Joe actually wrote the additional scenes for the wife role and a nice, almost kiss moment between Joe and Alice; an extensive, interactive look at how the train wreck sequence was put together; and eight featurettes that total 97 minutes. These include Abrams and Spielberg recalling their own childhood days of amateur movie making; a look at the casting process, including auditions footage (Courtney actually had 14 auditions before he got the role of Joe); a day on the set with Courtney; finding the town to make the film in; an extensive look at the development of the creature with creator Neville Page; making the music (a very John Williams-like score, I might add); cinematographer Fong revealed as quite the good magician, including Tom Cruise involved in one trick; and the 8mm revolution home film revolution. Grade: film 3.75 stars; extras 3.5 stars

Rating guide: 5 stars = classic; 4 stars = excellent; 3 stars = good; 2 stars = fair; dog = skip it

Tucker & Dale vs. Evil (Canada, Magnet DVD, R, 88 min.). In his feature debut, co-writer/director Eli Craig turns expectations around with humorous results, and yet still delivers a high body count. We all know the tale of the college kids going up into the woods and being terrorized and killed one by one by a family of hillbilly cannibals. Well, this time, the supposed hillbillies are two sweet guys who are just headed to the vacation home/cabin one has bought up in the hills of West Virginia. Oh yes, the cabin turns out to be dilapidated and still has the newspaper clipping decorations from its previous, serial killer owner.

The guys are Tucker (Alan Tudyk of the film “Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon” and the TV shows “V,” “Good Vibes” and “Suburgatory”), the cabin’s new owner, and his friend Dale (Tyler Labine of TV’s “Reeper,” “Sons of Tucson” and “Mad Love”), who is so insecure that he has a hard time talking to women. On the other side are nine students, headed to a lake to have a good time. They first cross paths on the road and then at a convenience store, outside of which Tucker talks Dale into approaching Allison (Katrina Bowden of TV‘s “30 Rock”). Not only is he tongue-tied, but he also is holding a scythe, which gives entirely the wrong impression. Naturally, Tucker’s cabin ends up being near the lake and hilarity ensues. While fishing, the two come across the students swimming, only a startled Allison slips, hits her head and nearly drowns. They rescue her, but what the students see is her being kidnapped and her face being eaten (Dale was actually trying to revive her). The fun continues until one of the students is accidentally impaled. Another accidental death leads Tucker ad Dale to believe the students have a suicide pack going, and they try to protect the still-recovering Allison from it. One of the students, Chad (Jesse Moss) becomes particularly determined to mount an attack on Tucker and Dale, and eventually becomes the “evil” of the title.

Extras include audio commentary by the director and stars Labine and Tudyk; a 12:23 making-of feature; 16:47 from the film that just shows the college kids’ viewpoint; 7:51 of outtakes; storyboards; and a 4:32 HDNet feature that basically repeats stuff from the making-of. Grade: film 3.5 stars; extras 3 stars

Smallville: The Complete Series (Warner, 62 DVDs, NR, 9261 min.). I grew up on the original Superman TV show and always loved the character. Clark Kent -- just had a thought, is that why I became a journalist? -- was always by favorite comic book character, along with Green Lantern. The growing up as a farm boy in a small town and learning about his powers and learning to control them was especially appealing. So, I was prejudiced toward this series from the start, and despite some ups and downs on occasion (mainly the whole Lana Lang fixation), the series delivered and became one of my favorites. Now all 218 episodes from all 10 seasons are presented in one gigantic box set, which is handsomely put together with one important caveat.

The 62 discs come in two slide-out, gorgeously illustrated hardcover books. Each book contains five seasons and has thick, dual-cardboard pages, with one large photo from the series on each side. Each side also holds two CDs, so there are four CDs located back-to-back but not touching. The bad thing is that the discs are down in a full pocket, instead of say a half-pocket; thus, making them difficult to remove. The secret is to rotate each disc slightly. That, though, makes them very susceptible to scratching, especially if any foreign matter gets down in the pocket. A half-pocket, with the top half of each disc visible and therefore easy to remove would have been so much better. If you are like me, you already have the individual seasons and thus do not have to remove any of the discs except the final two bonus discs, which I will get to in a moment.

Tom Welling -- a reluctant Welling at first, as we learn in the extras -- plays Clark Kent, a k a Kal-El from the planet Krypton. His adopted parents, Jonathan and Martha Kent, are played by John Schneider and Annette O’Toole. All three are perfectly cast. Welling, in particular, has an early openness in his face and an earnestness, not too mention those steely blue eyes. Schneider brings particular warmth to his role as the father, so successfully that you wish he was your father. Kristin Kreuk plays Lana Lang, who early on is off-and-on-again girlfriend to Clark, while also coming under the attention and affection of Lex Luthor (Michael Rosenbaum in another bit of spot-on casting, although he would leave the series for the last few years due to his choice). Clark actually saves Lex’s life from a car crash early on, but there good friendship sours as Lex seems to inherit more of his father’s (John Glover as Lionel Luthor). Lex is famously bald, the result of the Kryptonite meteorite shower that disguised baby Kal-El’s arrival on Earth. That shower also cost Lana her parents and created the many “freaks of the week” that Clark and friend Chloe Sullivan (Allison Mack) have to track down and deal with. Chloe, who ran the high school newspaper, and later became a Daily Planet report before Lois Lane and then Clark, was a character series creators Alfred Gough and Miles Millar came up with that was never in the DC comic books. Another was Clark’s friend Pete Ross played by Sam Jones, but that character proved superfluous and was quickly written out.

Chloe originally had a crush on Clark, but quickly realized she did not stand a chance. She eventually falls in love with photographer Jimmy Olsen (Aaron Ashmore), whose fate eventually shook up the viewers. Midway through the series, Erica Durance is introduced as Lois Lane, destined to be the love of Clark’s life. Much of the fun of the last couple of seasons is seeing that relationship develop and how it helps lay the groundwork for the details of Clark/Superman’s life as we know so well from the comic books. Another key later addition is Justin Hartley as Green Arrow, who helps Clark realize he must act for the good of the world and not just Smallville and helps introduce the whole idea of the Justice League, with Hawkman and other superheroes. Callum Blue plays Zod, the messianic escapee from the Phantom Zone, who, being from Krypton, has powers similar to Clark’s, but intends to take over the world.

In all, there are more than 28 hours of extras, including all the material from the individual season releases and five hours of new bonus features on the last two discs. These include a retrospective look at the series with season featurettes; a three-part look at the making of the 100th episode (65 min.; it included revealing the Fortress of Solitude to Lana); a panel discussion at the 2004 Paley Fest with the show’s actors, producers, writers and composer Mark Snow (26:04); a fun look at appearances at a decade of Comic-Cons (13:52); a documentary on DC Comics; and two unseen pilots. The first pilot is from 1961 for “The Adventures of Superboy” (29:37), with John Rockwell as Superboy. Here, Jonathan Kent runs and owns the Smallville grocery store; Lana Lang is a good friend who always wonders where Clark disappears to; and where Clark disappears to is a cave beneath the Kents’ house. Police Chief Parker calls Superboy by radio, when needed, and it makes the light in the Kent living room blink. In this episode, three crooks steal some diamonds on display for a movie premiere in Smallville. The show is black-and-white and uses the same flying sounds as were used in the original “Superman” TV show. It is interesting to watch, although the presentation on an old-fashioned TV set is a bit strange, but I have a feeling the show might not have been too successful.

Far better is the pilot for “Aquaman” (2006, 41:23),which makes me wish the series will get the go-ahead. Playing Aquaman is Justin Hartley, who went on to play Green Arrow in “Smallville.” Now that that series is over, why not return to “Aquaman”? Arthur Curry (“AC”) knows he is a fast swimmer, but he does not know he is a prince of Atlantis until McCaughey (Ving Rhames) tells him. Of course, by then, AC has been repeatedly attacked by a beautiful young woman Adrianne Palicki) who turns into a deadly siren. The film opens with the pre-teen AC and his mother flying over the Bermuda Triangle, when a waterspout -- obviously not natural -- knocks the plane out of the sky. Mom disappears, but AC is rescued. Lou Diamond Phillips plays the man who adopted AC. Looking to have a larger role in future episodes is Air Force pilot Lt. Rachel Torres (Denise Quinones). The show was developed, and the pilot written by, Gough and Millar, who brought us “Smallville.” Part of the reason the show was not picked up was the merger of the WB and UPN networks into the CW, meaning fewer programming hours were available.

The set comes with a handsome, 36-page soft cover episode guide that is loaded with pictures (its cover features the series’ iconic shot of bare-chested Clark tied up in a cornfield with a red “S” on his chest) and four pages of production sketches. There also is a 16-page October 15, 2017 edition of the tabloid Daily Planet, which has a headline of Superman thwarting a billion dollar gold robbery and a picture of Superman as “The Blur,” while inside are stories about a possible Lex Luthor run for president, the return of the Justice Society, whether Aquaman is an eco-terrorist and a profile of Oliver Queen (a k a Green Arrow). If you do not have “Smallville” in your collection yet, this set is an easy and emphatic recommendation. If it were in Blu-ray, it also could be highly recommended, as the first six seasons have never come out on Blu-ray (season six did come out for the now defunct HD system). If you already have all the individuals seasons, then the decision to buy comes down to the packaging and the two bonus discs. Grade: overall series and extras 3.5 stars

Smallville: The Final Season, The Complete 10th Season (Warner, 4 Blu-ray discs, NR, 929 min.). “Smallville” ended its run strongly, making me wish it would continue into a new “Superman” series, but star Tom Welling wants to move on with his career. An interesting twist in this final 22 episodes have several superheroes emerge from the shadows, only to be driven underground when officials and the public label them as vigilantes. Episodes include Lois Lane in peril (mirroring a season one peril for Clark Kent); Cat Grant becoming Clark’s co-worker and writing negative things about superheroes; the return of Supergirl; Oliver Queen announcing he is the Green Arrow; Clark and Lois attend their five-year high school reunion, only Brainiac 5 time-travels to show Clark his future; Lois is transformed into the goddess Isis; Tess Mercer continues to oversee the too-rapid growth of Alexander, a Lex Luthor clone; Tess takes over Watchtower from the absent Chloe; Clark ends up in a parallel universe, where Clark Luthor is a killer, and that universe’s Lionel Luthor crosses over into our universe; Clark and other heroes are trapped in a virtual reality; Booster Gold arrives from the future; Clark and Oliver visit the Phantom Zone and have to battle each other in gladiatorial style; Jor-El gives Lois Clark’s powers for a few hours; and Clark has to deal with Darkseid. Bonuses include an extended version of Swank’s Song from Clark’s bachelor party; creators and cast reflect on making the 200th episode. And a look at how Clark and Lex’s father-son relationships evolved over the series’ 10 years. The season is also available on standard DVDs. Grade for season 3.75

Doctor Who: The Complete David Tennant Years (BBC, 26 DVDs, NR, 2385 min.). Tennant, who played the 10th Doctor overall and the second since the reboot of the series in 2006, was my favorite Doctor of all time, although I have taken a shining to Matt Smith as the 11th and current Doctor. Tennant, who recently had a wickedly funny turn as a seedy Las Vegas magician in the “Fright Night” remake, played the Doctor for three seasons, plus five specials. All is included here, as are the original releases bonus material, which includes Doctor Who Confidential, Tennant’s video diaries, Billy Piper’s video diaries, Freema Agyeman’s studio tour, audio commentaries, deleted scenes, outtakes, two “Children in Need” specials, a look at music and monsters and Doctor Who at the Promos. New is a three-hour look at Doctor Who’s greatest moments, divided into The Doctor, The Companions and The Enemies, with material also covering Christopher Eccleston’s one year as the Doctor. There also are two animated spin-off adventures.

Tennant had a different human companion each season. For his first year, it was Billie Piper as Rose Tyler, a carryover from the Eccleston season. Their interaction very much was a love story, and its ending tore me up emotionally. Next came Agyeman as Martha Jones, carried along with everyone else when a hospital was transported to the moon. She had a big crush on the Doctor, but he, still getting over the loss of Rose, never saw it. Finally, there was Catherine Tate as Donna Noble, snatched up from her wedding ceremony to adventures she never dreamed of. I must admit that she took me some time to accept, but I finally did. There also are brief returns of the late Elisabeth Slaten as Sarah Jane, a companion from the mid-1970s, in series two and four. John Barrowman returns as Capt. Jack as well. In there adventures, the Doctor encountered William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, Agatha Christie and other historical characters. He and Donna also go to ancient Pompeii on the day of the volcanic eruption -- the big question here is whether the Doctor would bend his rules to save a few lives, with always in his mind that even though he can travel in time, he can not go back and save his race of Time Lords. The Doctor also meets his daughter in a unique episode, and the mysterious River Song (Alex Kingston) in an abandoned library world where Shadows are to be feared. Old foes are encountered, including the Cybermen, the Daleks, the Weeping Angels and the Master (John Simm), masquerading as politician Harry Saxon. There is even an encounter with Satan on a planet being drawn into a black hole. In one of the specials, the Doctor encounters another Doctor.

The packaging is the same as the “Smallville” complete set, only just in one hardcover book. There still is the risk of the tightly-held disc getting scratched. Grade for overall set: 4 stars.

Doctor Who: The Complete Sixth Series (BBC, 6 DVDs, NR, 644 min.). This was Matt Smith’s second season as the Doctor and his companions remain the now-married couple of Amy Pond (Karen Gillan) and Rory Williams (Arthur Darvill), whose child becomes a pawn in a game to decide the fate of the universe. The season shockingly opened with the death of the Doctor -- a future Doctor. Then, the trio have to aid President Richard Nixon in facing a new foe, the Silence, who cannot be remembered if seen. A change of pace episode involves a pirate ship whose crew is threatened by a Siren. In the future, doppelgangers used to provide protection against intense solar radiation gain their own identities and go on a deadly strike. Then there is the battle of Demon’s Run, the moment of the Doctor’s greatest triumph and biggest failure. The amusingly titled “Let’s Kill Hitler,” does feature the dictator briefly, but it more of a growing battle between the Doctor and River Song (Alex Kingston). Several of the episodes ended with oh-my shocks or revelations. The set opens with the 2010 Christmas episode, which presents a unique world, where fish swim in the atmosphere and a wonderful guest turn by Michael Gambon

Bonus features include additional scenes, two Comic Relief sketches, five audio commentaries, four Monster Files closer looks at the Silence, the Gangers, the Cybernauts and the Anti-Bodies, and 14 Doctor Who Confidentials. The second half of the season was very strong. Grade season 3.75

Doctor Who: Colony in Space (1971, BBC DVD, NR, 146 min.). There also have been four recent releases or older Doctor Who episodes. Jon Pertwee plays the Doctor here, when the Time Lords discover the Master has stolen secret information about the Doomsday Weapon. Jo Grant is the companion and the action takes plave in the 25th century. Extras include audio commentary by Katy Manning (Grant), Bernard Kay (Caldwell), Morris Perry (Dent) director Michael Briant, script editor Terrance Dicks and assistant floor manager Graeme Harper; a 25-minute making-of feature; 13 minutes of deleted scenes; and a photo gallery.

Doctor Who: Day of the Daleks (1972, BBC, 2 DVDs, NR, 96 min.). Jon Pertwee as the Doctor battles the Daleks on an Earth they have enslaved in the 22nd century. Disc one comes with audio commentary by actors Anna Barry (Anat), Jimmy Winston (Shura), producer Barry Letts, script editor Terrance Dicks and vision mixer Mike Catherwood; a 30-minute making-of feature; a 20-minute look at vision mixing; and a photo gallery. Disc two has an exclusive special edition of the story with specially shot sequences, new effects and new Dalek voices. There also is a 13-minute look at making the special edition; a five-minute visit to where it was shot; a 31-minute part two on the UNIT Family; nine minutes of the UNIT dating conundrum; and eight minutes of the Cheating Memory.

Doctor Who: The Talons of Weng-Chiang (1977, BBC, 3 DVDs, NR, 146 min.). It is up to Tom Baker as the Doctor to solve the mystery of Li H’sen Chang, a sorcerer and hypnotist at the center of young women going missing and horribly mutilated bodies found floating in the Thames in Victorian London. Chang has a grotesque sidekick, the ventriloquist’s dummy Mister Sin. The set comes with audio commentary by actors Louise Jameson (Leela), John Bennett (Chang), Christopher Benjamin Jage), producer Phillip Hinchcliffe and director David Maloney; a 32-minute making-of with Baker and Hinchcliffe (this was the final story he produced, but there is a brief look at what the next series might have been like had he stayed); a visit to the areas where the episode was made; a look at the unmade story “The Foe from the Future”; a 22-minute look at British music theater tradition; a 19-minute look at putting the story in context of Victorian Chinatown; a photo gallery; and the 2003 DVD “Whose Doctor Who” BBC documentary with Melvyn Bragg (59 min.; part of The Lively Arts series), plus behind the scenes material (65 min.).

Doctor Who: Remembrance of the Daleks (1988, BBC, 2 DVDs, NR, 97 min.). Sylvester McCoy’s Doctor has a new companion (Sophie Aldred as Ace) when he returns to Coal Hill School in 1963 London. The Daleks are searching for Time Lord technology that the Doctor left behind on Earth. It involves time travel. There is audio commentary by McCoy and Aldred; a 32-minute making-of documentary, featuring Simon Williams (Gilmore), Karen Gledhill (Alison), writer Ben Aaronovitch, script editor Andrew Cartmel and director Andrew Morgan; 15 minutes of cast and crew talking about the influences and references to oher Doctor Who adventures in the story; 12 minutes of extended and deleted scenes; outtakes; multi-angle sequences; an isolated music option; a photo gallery; and a production notes option. Disc two is a 43-minute, in-depth look at scientist Davros’ creation of the Daleks.

The Sarah Jane Adventures: The Complete Fourth Season (BBC, 2 DVDs, NR, 315 min.). Although aimed at a younger audience, I always found Sarah Jane Smith’s stories to be a delight. Sadly, actress Elisabeth Sladen has died and there will be no more. She first played companion Sarah Jane for the third and fourth Doctors in 1973 through 1976. Jo Grant (Katy Manning) and the 11th Doctor (Matt Smith) make appearances here. There are six stories in all, with the last a farewell to Sarah Jane, as she prepares to hand over defense of the Earth to a new regime at Bannerman Road. Early in this season, her adopted son Luke goes off to university with the robot dog K9. The following stories include battles with ghost hunters, Nazis and Tudors, plus a visit to the Doctor’s funeral. Ms. Sladen will be sadly missed, but she goes out on a high note. Grade: season 3.25 stars

It Takes a Thief: The Complete Series (1968-70, e-One, 18 DVDs, NR, 50-plus hours). This show was, and is, a delight. It stars 38-year-old Robert Wagner -- although he looks in his mid-20s -- as smooth, suave, sophisticated thief Alexander Mundy. He is released from prison so he can steal for the government, specifically the SIA (Secret Intelligence Agency). The box set contains all 66 episodes, digitally remastered, filled with jet-setting and beautiful women (a large portion of the third season was filmed in Rome). In season one, Mundy is set up in a mansion, filled with cameras so there would be no hanky-panky with his three lovely assistants. Of course, he easily and consistently thwarts the surveillance. In season two, he is given a Washing D.C. apartment.

The show’s fusion of the heist and espionage genres made it special, and it was always more serious than its contemporary “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.,” which turned toward camp in its third season. Star Wagner also pushed for the incomparable Fred Astaire to come onboard as Mundy’s father, also a master thief.

As we learn in the supplemental materials, the pilot initially was rejected, so it was expanded into a 100-minute feature film and released overseas as “Magnificent Thief.” That is included as a bonus here. What I like about the pilot is the large number on Universal stars who crop up in small roles, including Wally Cox, Clu Gallagher, Leslie Nielsen, Raymond Burr and Rochester, to name a few. John Saxon plays the heavy in that episode, a former agent turned rogue and selling out the identities of his fellow agents. The pilot won an Emmy for cinematography for Ralph Woolsey. It included a fight on a trampoline and use of an arena scoreboard. During the run of the series, there were notable guest turns by Ida Lupino, Bette Davis and Bill Bixby. Wagner, who lived at Universal during the week while the series was shooting, had casting approval. Those are among the facts learned in a wonderful 29:48 interview with Wagner. There also is a 28:27 interview with producer/writer Glen A. Larson (later “Battlestar Galactica”), who, I learned, was a member of the Four Preps, who recorded for Capitol Records for 12 years. He quit the singing group to work on this show, launching his successful TV career. There also is a limited edition senitype ( a reproduced 35mm film frame), a four-piece coaster set and a booklet with a fine retrospective essay by Dean Brierly, a frequent contributor to Cinema Retro magazine. (You can see the genesis of such shows as the current “White Collar” in this series.) Grade: series 3.5 stars

Boston Bruins: 2011 Stanley Cup Champions Special Edition (Warner, 5 DVDs, NR, 350 min.). Last winter, the Stanley Cup returned to Boston after 39 years. This set includes the seventh and final game against Tampa Bay in the Conference Final, and games three, four, six and seven of the Stanley Cup Finals against the Vancouver Canucks in their entirety. The Bruins had lost the first two games of the Finals before putting together a stirring comeback.

BBC Holiday Comedy & Drama Gift Set (BBC, 4 DVDs, NR, 621 min.). The comedy set includes eight seasonal episodes from “Are You Being Served?,” “Good Neighbors,” “To the Manor Born,” “’Allo ’Allo!,”, “Last of the Summer Wine,” “Keeping Up Appearances,” “Blackadder” and “The Vicar of Dibley.” The drama set includes five holiday episodes from “All Creatures Great and Small,” “Ballykissangel,” “Monarch of the Glen,” “Lovejoy” and “Lark Rise to Candleford.” The two sets are also available individually.

The Office: Special Edition (2001-02, BBC, 4 DVDs, NR, 250 min.). “The Office” originated in Great Britain with star/creator Ricky Gervais, but only ran one season. The 10th anniversary set includes the 12 regular episodes and the two-part Christmas special. All the original extras are here from the previous DVD release, plus new features. The new extras include episode introductions and extended interviews with Gervais, Stephen Merchant and special guests Matthew Perry, Ben Stiller, Richard Curtis, Hugh Jackman and others. There also are the original pilot and a “Comedy Connections” retrospective documentary. Grade for collection: 4 stars

Gunsmoke: The Fifth Season Volume 2 (1960, CBS/Paramount, 3 DVDs, NR, 496 min.). With Westerns making somewhat of a comeback on TV, here’s a look at three classic series. “Gunsmoke,” the longest-running Western series, starred James Arness as Marshal Matt Dillon of Dodge City. Episodes include the new saloon owner having possibly killed his predecessor; Doc Adams (Milburn Stone) is mistaken  for the judge who put an ex-con in prison and Deputy Chester (Dennis Weaver) must protect him; Miss Kitty (Amanda Blake) is taken hostage; Doc is shot by some wolfers on the prairie and Chester has to save him; a severely-beaten Native American boys is found; and an Army corporal has run off with his unit’s payroll.

Rawhide: The Fourth Season Volume 2 (1962, CBS/Paramount, NR, 710 min.). This classic series stars Eric Fleming as trail boss Gil Favor and Clint Eastwood as Rowdy Yates, Favor’s right-hand man as they lead a 3,000-head herd of cattle across the West. Episodes include encountered a group of mail-order brides (stars guest Alan Hale); Favor’s young daughters visit; a Pawnee chief is talked into surrendering to soldiers to save his tribe; Buddy Ebsen guests as a traveling salesman; a young Indian travels to Fort Lacey only to find his sister has married the fort’s commander (James Coburn and Debra Paget guest star); Pete leads a young Army officer to his father, a famous general intent on attacking the Pawnee (Walter Pidgeon and Darryl Hickman guest star); Rowdy ends up in a remote house with a group of people being held prisoner; and the prospect of gold excites the drovers. A bonus is the season five episode, “Abilene.”

Bonanza: The Official Second Season Volume 2 (1961, CBS/Paramount, 4 DVDs, NR, 13 hours 17 min.). This set collects the final 16 episodes of the season. The Cartwrights include brothers Adam (Parnell Roberts), Hoss (Dan Blocker) and Little Joe (Michael Landon) and father Ben (Lorne Greene). Episodes include a scheming millionaire banker plans to close his bank to force a miner to relinquish his claim; Hoss kills drunken Willie Twilight (Keith Richards) accidentally; James Coburn plays a man exhibiting strange behavior and Harry Dean Stanton plays a cattle rustler); J. Pat O’Malley plays a British boxing manager; Joe sneaks off to Yuma with a vaquero (guest Martin Landau) to buy Ben a horse as a gift; Joe is arrested for the murder of a girl; and Ben recalls the end of his sailing days in New England. The episode “Sam Hill” was a pilot for an untold series and starred Claude Atkins as an itinerant blacksmith. Extras include an archival interview with producer Davis Dortort; audio commentary on four episodes; photo galleries for most episodes; and rare on-air promos.