The Prisoner – Complete Series Megaset (40th Anniversary Edition) [$139.95]

It’s the Gravity’s Rainbow of ’60s British science fiction series, an utterly compelling and completely baffling exercise in puzzle box plotting and sly social commentary. Co-created by its star, the elegant Englishmen Patrick McGoohan, as a critical response to all the action oriented espionage brought about by a certain 007, it was only supposed to last seven episodes. But ITC executive Sir Lew Grade demanded a full season, and a compromise was reached. Oddly enough, after only 13 installments, Grade cancelled the series, and then reluctantly allowed an additional four episodes to finish up the storylines. Still talked about nearly 40 years later, this finely crafted conundrum is wildly inventive and intelligent. Now collected in one complete box set, you too can get lost in this excellent episodic experiment. [Amazon]