Looking at the DVDTalk website, MGM/Sony has announced a "Pink Panther Ultimate
Collection" box set for region 1 Nov. 25. With a $200 list price (though the
Amazon link has a heavy discount), it's 18 discs worth of material.

The good news:

- If you're really a completist, this set has just about everything save for
"The Return of the Pink Panther", which Universal currently holds the rights to.
Discs 1-9 contain the films, and 10-18 all the Pink Panther cartoons, the
Inspector cartoons, and various other DePatie-Freling shorts.

- The centerpiece seems to be a new Special Edition of the original film that is
exclusive to the set, and is promising over an hour's worth of unseen material
(perhaps a new documentary?).

- Jerry Beck's excellent DK guide to the films and shorts is included with the
set.

The bad news:

- If you aren't interested in the cartoons or the non-PS Panthers, much of this
set will be meaningless; all of them are included including the recent Steve
Martin "relaunch". (This just makes it more painful that "Return of" isn't in
this set.)

- No word yet as to what will be on the discs of the other films; they might
just be duplicating the previous DVD editions.

- The bonus features disc from the 2004 box set is not included. It's possible,
since the setup here would have meant some material from it (such as the shorts)
would be duplicated if it *were* included, that some of the other features might
be incorporated into the first disc. We'll have to wait for further details.
Here's the listing at Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B001EZE5FG/dvdtalk

- Rori