Holiday Gift Guide: ‘Jem: The Truly Outrageous Complete Series’

Jem: The Truly Outrageous Complete Series Box Set

Available From: Shout! Factory

Price: $59.99

All right, look: I realize that there are some of you out there who may doubt that three seasons of Jem would make a a great present. I was once one of you. But in the two months since Shout! Factory released their box set, I've been watching it every day, and trust me: It's awesome.If you're not familiar with it, Jem was a toy tie-in cartoon licensed from Hasbro and produced by Marvel Studios and Sunbow, the same team that brought you G.I. Joe and Transformers -- in fact, it's even set in the same universe. It's the truly outrageous (and completely insane) story of thoroughly unneccessary secret identities, the most evil businessman who ever lived, unbelievable technology that characters forget they have most of the time, hang-gliders with laser beams, time travel, and at least one actual honest-to-God super-villain, all set against the backdrop of the surprisingly murderous world of '80s glam rock.

There are even a few fun comic book connections: The show featured episodes by legendary comics writers Gerry Conway, Marv Wolfman, Cary Bates and Paul Dini.

And for those of you wondering, yes: Dini's episode does include the entire cast dressed as Zatanna:

The glittery pink box set contains all 65 episodes of the series -- and right now is the only official release of the third season -- and while Shout! Factory has it listed at $59.99, you can also currently find it on Amazon for around $45. If you know someone who has fond memories of the show from its original run, or someone (like me) who had never watched it but loves the eccentricities of stuff like G.I. Joe, it's definitely worth it.