• Factory sealed DVD.

After three episode compilations, nostalgic baby boomers can now saddle up this beloved series' entire first season (those looking for the Clint Eastwood and Zsa Zsa Gabor episodes are directed to The Best of Mister Ed, Volume One). It's funny how well Mister Ed holds up. In its day, it was derided by critics (the Chicago Tribune sniffed that the show was a pale carbon copy of the Francis the Talking Mule films) and snubbed at the Emmy Awards. But despite its fantastic premise, the fundamental things apply: solid writing, a classic theme song, and palpable chemistry between Alan Young, as affable, modest, and unassuming architect Wilbur Post, and gelding Bamboo Harvester as slacker horse Mister Ed. Ed can use the telephone, he enjoys watching television (he prefers Leonard Bernstein to Westerns), and he can talk. "It's been a long time since I was a pony" are the words that launch one of TV's funniest teams, and it is a testament to Alan Young's skills as a comedic actor and his finesse as a straight man that you absolutely believe his genuine friendship with and affection for his equine costar (voiced by B-western star Allan "Rocky" Lane). The rest of the cast is good, but their characters are strictly 1960s sitcom stock. Wilbur's new bride, Carol (the charming Connie Hines), is the dutiful wife with a roast in the oven and who frets over asking her husband for money to buy a new television set. Neighbors Roger and Kay (Larry Keating and E Skinner) are the affectionately bickering married couple next door who take the newlyweds under their more cynical wings. It is Ed who gallops off with every scene with the horse's share of the punch lines. In one early episode, Wilbur complains that he could be rich if Ed went on TV and talked. Ed says no thanks to stardom. "I know Trigger," he states. "He's a very mixed-up horse." This season also features a curiosity, an episode that served as a pilot for an unsold spinoff show starring William Bendix as the hess owner of a rustic lodge (look for a pre-Beverly Hillbillies Nancy Culp). Young, still sharp, and Hines provide audio commentary for the pilot episode. They also appear in a half-hour featurette about the history of the series that yields some surprises, namely that Mister Ed was inspired by a short story that preceded the Francis the Talking Mule movies. They don't make 'em like this anymore, and one can easily see Mister Ed winning over a new generation of kids, of course, of course. --Donald Liebenson