DVD sales and research indicate that even short-lived and little known sci-fi and fantasy TV series fare better on disc than high-profile hits. The box sets of every season of the syndicated series "Stargate SG," for example, have sold better than the recently released "The Bob Newhart Show — Season One," inevitably ranked as one of the most loved sitcoms of all time.

That's also why "Lost in Space — Season 3, Vol. 2" (Fox), collecting the final nine episodes from the show's third and final, 1967-68 season is much anticipated.

Far more sophisticated, and far less commercially successful, was "Earth 2 — The Complete Series" (Universal), a 1994 show set in 2525 and starring Debrah Farantino as a mother who rebels against edicts from a dying Earth and leads her environmentally ailing son and like-minded citizens to a new planet to found a civilization.

On the sillier side of the universe and set in the same year is "Cleopatra 2525 — The Complete Series" (Universal), created by "Spider-Man" director Sam Raimi for the Sci-Fi Channel and broadcast in 2000-2001. It's about a stripper (Gina Torres) who goes under for breast enhancement surgery only to awaken 200-odd years later. Under the guidance of an unseen "Charlie's Angels"-style mastermind known as the voice, she is teamed with two other sexy and athletic women to do battle against a race of evil robots. If you're into "Xena"-style camp, this is your future.

Then there's "Sliders: the Third Season" (Universal), which was not quite up to its first two, but which remained a guilty pleasure for sci-fi fans, as grad student Quinn Mallory (Jerry O'Connell) slipped from our own dimension to various parallel universes via a wormhole and a pimped-out remote control. This four-disc set contains 25 episodes of a clever show that would straggle on for two more seasons thanks to devoted fans.

HISTORY, HUMOR ON BBC

TV viewers who prefer reality are hardly being neglected. "BBC History of World War II" (BBC) is one of the most comprehensive and well-produced documentary series of all time. A 12-disc set contains not only 10 related programs produced and aired over the past decade in cooperation with the BBC, the American PBS outlet KCET-TV, Germany's NDR, and the History Channel, but three other related documentaries — a look at the roots of the Nazi party, an examination of the war in Burma and a film about the contributions of merchant seamen — totaling almost 35 hours.

The BBC also can take credit for "Michael Palin: Himalaya," which has the former Monty Pythoner following his Sahara trek with a 2,000-mile journey into the Asian mountains, by way of Afghanistan and Mount Everest, before hooking up with the royal family of Bhutan, headhunters in the Kyonak, and the Dalai Lama. For all of the tragedy that entails, Palin retains his sense of humor and history.

'IRON MAN' SPECIAL

And yes, there are movies released this week, though nothing to get overly excited about. The best of the lot are foreign-language dramas. "Tetsuo: The Iron Man — Special Edition" (Tartan) is an extremely upgraded version of the extreme 1988 black-and-white Japanese drama about a man with a metal fetish who transforms himself into a metallic, sexually-charged Terminator, and wreaks stomach-churning havoc for 67 excruciating, unnerving, yet artful minutes.

"Producing Adults" (Wolfe) was Finland's Academy Award submission for 2004, and is about the relationship between a fertility clinic counselor, Venlu, and her live-in partner of 15 years, a speed skater who has no interest in parenthood. Venlu finds another means to her goal and things get comically and emotionally complicated.