MORE APPRECIATED THAN a fruitcake, and with a shelf life nearly as long, DVD sets make perfect holiday gifts. What's more, they're easy to wrap (so nice and square!), and come January, you can totally borrow 'em and watch 'em yourself.

Everything but a hobbit comes crammed into The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King's four-disc "Platinum Series Special Edition" set. Elvish speakers and those who love (or at least tolerate) them can conquer an extended cut of the Oscar hoarder, plus a huge array of extras: four commentaries (including a cast track featuring both Gollum and Smeagol), and documentaries and image galleries galore. Giftees who've been extragood this year are eligible for the "Platinum Series Special Extended Edition Collector's Gift Set," a five-disc version that also comes with a wee rendering of Minas Tirith (sadly, wee Horn of Gondor not included).

TV fanatics can beg Santa Claus for the newly available inaugural seasons of The O.C. and Arrested Development ; for any cave-dwelling friends on your list, there's always the nearly year-old Chappelle's Show DVD, which was recently named the best-selling TV show on DVD in the history of TV shows on DVD (beating out The Simpsons, bitch!)

Consider yourself warned: Star Wars purists who're still pissed at George "Tinkertoy" Lucas can become violent when confronted with the DVD set of the original trilogy, but it could be worth the risk. "Greedo shoots first" controversy aside, the collection's many bells and whistles (a featurette called "The Birth of the Lightsaber," etc.) just might allow the healing to begin.

And then there are the classics. The mysteries of the Matrix trilogy – like, what was up with that rave in Zion? – may or may not be revealed in a new 10-disc set, loaded with commentaries, behind-the-scenes featurettes, the nine anime shorts that made up The Animatrix, and more. A new four-disc Gone with the Wind set studies the legendary weeper from every angle. And forgo the pitiful Van Helsing (or better yet, erase it from your mind entirely) with any of the selections from the 'Universal Monster Legacy Collection Series,' a handsome multidisc celebration of the Mummy, Dracula, Frankenstein, the Invisible Man, the Wolf Man, and the Creature from the Black Lagoon.