Falling Skies: The Complete Series (2011-2015, TNT/Warner Bros., 10 Blu-rays, NR, 38 hours 8 min.). Star Noah Wylie is hot again with his new series “The Pitt,” having recently won two acting awards, including a Golden Globe. He stars in this series, which I enjoyed, that begins in the chaotic aftermath of an alien attack six months ago that has left most of the world completely incapacitated. At the center of the series is Tom Mason (Wyle), a Boston history professor whose family was torn apart. As the series progresses, Mason must put his extensive knowledge of military history to the test as one of the leaders of a Boston-born resistance movement known as the 2nd Mass. To the aliens, humanity is nothing.

The 2nd Mass is one of the small group of survivors surrounding major cities around the world who have to band together and rebuild some sort of society, while trying to figure out how to eliminate the alien race which has taken over the planet. While Mason’s knowledge of how civilizations are born makes him an ideal leader, his desire to reunite family leads him down a dangerous path. The 2nd Mass is led by Capt. Dan Weaver (Will Patton), with Mason his second-in-command.

Mason’s family worries include his oldest son Hal (Drew Roy of “Secretariat”), 16, is serving at his side, while his youngest son, Matt (Maxim Knight), is still dealing with the death of his mother and his middle son, Ben (breakout Connor Jessup), has been taken by the aliens and outfitted with a "harness," a device that fuses to the host's spine, making the victim a mindless slave. Mason also has to worry about opportunistic convict-turned-military-asset John Pope (Colin Cunningham), and an unharnessed boy (Daniyah Ysrayl) who exhibits strange behaviors and an affinity for the aliens.

Season one ends with Mason reluctantly boarding an alien ship in an attempt to save Ben. Season two brought onboard a new showrunner in Remi Aubuchon, sharper writing and clever twists on genre tropes. The cast is stronger this season, bolstered by the additions of Terry O'Quinn (TV’s “Lost”) as Arthur Manchester and Matt Frewer (“Watchmen,” TV’s “Max Headroom”) eadroom”) Heas Gen. Bressler. The timeline moves forward three months and Pope has taken command of the Berserkers, a renegade group within the 2nd Mass that Weaver does not fully trust.

Season three opens seven months after the 2nd Mass arrives in Charleston and relative safety from the alien invasion. Mason has been elected president of New Charleston, but the enemy has become more resourceful. Season two ended with a wonderful cliffhanger, introducing a new alien race, the Volm, arriving on Earth to join the battle against the Espheni. Or are they more taking over control of the war? And what about the giant weapon they are building? Charleston's nuclear specialist (Robert Sean Leonard) is concerned about that weapon. Meanwhile, Mason and Anne (Moon Bloodgood) are expecting their first baby, but the pregnancy is doing strange things to Anne. Mason’s oldest son Hal is being manipulated by the Espheni to be a mole. The season is not the series' best, with too many clichés in the writing, but it still looks good.

For season four, there was yet another new showrunner, this time David Eick (TV’s “Battlestar Galactica”). After dismantling a major Espheni base, Mason and his fellow fighters realize their nightmare is only beginning as, on the outskirts of Charleston, they find themselves under brutal attack by a new Espheni war machine, plus facing a deadly creation unlike anything they have previously encountered. Mason even gets a trip to the moon to destroy the Espheni power core.

Season five generally resolves everything. Robert Rodat (Oscar nomination for his screenplay for “Saving Private Ryan”) wrote the pilot from an idea he co-conceived with Steven Spielberg. The 52-eoisode alien-invasion saga is from DreamWorks Television, TNT Productions and executive producer Spielberg. It was basic cable’s No. 1 summer drama among adults 18-49 and adults 25-54 in 2012.

The set comes with more than 11 hours of extras, including audio commentaries, character and cast interviews, including after-episode debriefs hosted by Wil Wheaton, and behind-the-scenes featurettes. Grade: series 3 stars; extras 3.75 stars

Rating guide: 5 stars = classic; 4 stars = excellent; 3 stars = good; 2 stars = fair; dog = skip it

Shameless: The Complete Series (2011-2021, Warner Brothers, 27 Blu-rays, NR, 116 hours). The show, which lasted 11 seasons and 134 episodes, gave us the six Gallagher children, fighting, including sometimes with themselves, but more often with the world in their South Side of Chicago neighborhood. It is a family headed by Frank Gallagher, (William H. Macy of “Fargo,” “Boogie Nights”), the proud, working-class patriarch of the family, who without him the family might be better off. When Frank’s not at the bar spending what little money they have, he is passed out, leaving his brood to fend for themselves.

Since their mother split long ago, eldest daughter Fiona (Emmy Rossum of “The Phantom of the Opera”) tries to hold the family together. Eldest son Lip (Jeremy Allen White of TV’s “The Bear”) trades his physics tutoring skills for sexual favors from neighborhood girls. Middle son Ian (Cameron Monaghan of TV’s “Gotham”) is gay and strong-hearted, while youngest daughter Debbie (Emma Kenney of TV’s “The Conners”) is stealing money from her UNICEF collection. Debbie becomes a mother at age 15. Ten-year-old Carl (Ethan Cutkosky of “Happy Gilmore 2”) is a budding sociopath and an arsonist, and toddler Liam (Brenden Sims) might actually be black, but nobody has a clue how.

Other key players are Mickey Milkovich (Noel Fisher) as Ian’s sometimes boyfriend; and Veronica “V” Fisher (Shanola Hampton) as Fiona’s best friend and neighbor, who lives with her husband Kevin (Steve Howey) and, later, their twin daughters. Veronica and Kevin often help out the Gallaghers, being their only real adult role models. Kevin owns the local bar, The Alibi Room. He comes from a rough childhood as he was in the foster care system for the majority of his childhood life, but has an eccentric personality and is always goofy. Svetlana Yevgenivna (Isidora Goreshter) is a Russian émigré who became Mickey's forced wife and the mother of his child. She later divorces Mickey and engages in a throuple with Kevin and Veronica, while working at their bar.

The show is full of parental neglect, vile behavior and outlandish subplots, but the dysfunctional-family dramedy, despite being reprehensible, also is very funny and sometimes hilarious. The cast is superb, especially Monaghan as Ian. It was a show I looked forward to every season.

Extras include featurettes, audio commentaries, unaired scenes and a music video. Grade: series 3.75 stars; extras 3.25 stars

Ladder 49 (2004, Sony, Blu-ray, PG-13, 115 min.). The film, directed by Jay Russell, has some extraordinary fire sequences, while the rest is a bit more ordinary. The four flashbacks cover several years in the life of Baltimore firefighter Jack Morrison (a strong Joaquin Phoenix), covering his transition from inexperienced rookie to seasoned veteran. After he transfers from the hose to search and rescue, he struggles to cope with his risky, demanding job that regularly shortchanges his wife and kids.

Morrison’s support comes from his mentor Capt. Mike Kennedy (a solid John Travolta) and his second family, the brotherly bond between the men of the firehouse. Through the flashbacks, Morrison considers the things he holds important — family, dignity, courage — as he hopefully awaits rescue while trapped in the worst blaze of his career.

That fire is in a 20-story building that has potentially-explosive grain dust inside. Morrison stays behind the rest of his crew to rescue a man trapped on the 12th floor. He lowers the man to safety, but then a couple of explosions collapse the floor beneath him and he is trapped by fire on all sides and additional structural collapses and explosions, all while the other members of Ladder 49 do not know his location and, when they do, the size and scope of the blaze make it difficult for his fellow firefighters to reach him.

As he waits for help to arrive, Morrison thinks back on his life as a firefighter, which we see through flashbacks. There is his first day on the job, including some fun rookie hazing; his first fire call; meeting and falling in love with his future bride Linda (Jacinda Barrett of “Poseidon”); the loss of a fellow firefighter; and a rescue that earned him a medal, while convincing him not to take an offered desk job.

Extras include audio commentary by director Russell and editor Bud Smith; a making-of featurette (21:16); “Everyday Heroes” (13:41), a collection of interviews with real-life firefighters; Robbie Robertson’s music video for his “Shine Your Life” (4:16); and 10 deleted scenes, all but three of which take place in the fire station (14:04). Grade: film 3.5 stars; extras 3 stars

Out of the Nest (Thailand/China, 2024, Well Go USA, Blu-ray, PG, 87 min.). This fun animation feature is set in the Kingdom of Castilia. Days before the coronation of Prince Damien as the new emperor and his empress, the eggs of their seven royal fledglings are stolen and it becomes up to one unlikely hero to return them safely. He is teenage delivery boy, Arthur the Goat, who dreams of becoming a world-class barber so he can perform the annual ritual of cutting the emperor’s hair so the harvest will be fruitful.

It turns out that Arthur’s professor, Master Toad, was one of the seven heroes who defeated the Dark Wizard, before Zhao became emperor and brought prosperity to the land. That is why the recovered eggs are given to Master Toad. Now the evil Order of the Claw is working with the Dark Wizard to take over the government, with step one being the theft of the eggs so they can be used as leverage to make Prince Damien decline the title of emperor.

Before he is attacked, Master Toad turns the eggs over to Arthur, instructing him to return them to Prince Damien by first seeking out Jacobus. During the often-dangerous journey, one of the eggs hatches and the baby cracks open a second egg, which starts a sequence, as they float down river on a raft, that has all the eggs hatching. Interestingly, all the heirs are different sizes, colors and shapes – but ultimately cute, even if they are rambunctious.

Along the way, Arthur meets two more of the seven heroes and learns about two others.

The film is presented in English, with just a little Thai. It is a lot of fun. Grade: film 3.5 stars

Rent: 20th Anniversary Edition (2005, Sony, 4K Ultra HD, PG-13, 135 min.). Directed by Chris Columbus (“Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone,” “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,” “Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief”), this adaptation of Jonathan Larson’s successful Broadway musical is successfully broadened from the stage to the streets of New York City’s gritty East Village and the apartment co-habited by several of the leading characters.

They are part of a group of bohemians who are struggling to live and pay their rent. "Measuring their lives in love," these starving artists strive for success and acceptance, while enduring the obstacles of poverty, illness and the AIDS epidemic. Larson's musical won a Pulitzer for drama in 1996 and won four Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score, out of 10 nominations. The other Tony win was for Wilson Jermaine Heredia, who also plays young drag queen and AIDS sufferer Angel in the film. The musical became one of the longest running shows on Broadway.

Other holdovers from the Boadway cast include Adam Pascal as musician Roger and Idina Menzel as performance artist Maureen, both of whom were nominated for Tonys; as well as Rosario Dawson as Mimi, a Latina stripper and a drug addict who lives downstairs from Mark and Roger, becomes Roger's love interest and is HIV-positive, as is Roger; Anthony Rapp as Jewish-American Mark, Roger’s roommate and Maureen’s former lover, who works as a news filmographer and is working on a documentary film; Taye Diggs as Benjamin, the landlord of the apartment building where Mark, Roger and Mimi live that is being bought to become a digital virtual studio; Jesse L. Martin as Tom Collins, a gay anarchist professor with AIDS and enough cash to help with the rent; and Tracie Thoms as Joanne, Maureen’s new lover.

One of the faults of the film is that its best two songs come at the very beginning. They are the wonderful full-cast “Seasons of Love” and the aggressive “Rent,” sung by renters on balconies as some toss burning papers to the street below. Bejamin approaches Mark to ask him to stop Maureen’s planned protest rally over the apartment building’s takeover.

During “The Tango: Maureen,” Mark meets Joanne and their dance turns into a fantasy dance set piece with a couple dozen dancers. Tom performs a lively “Sante Fe” in a subway car, while Tom and Angel sing “I’ll Cover You” while walking down the sidewalk. Mark starts off “La Vie Bohème” atop pushed-together tables in a restaurant. Many of the characters and plot elements of rent are drawn directly from Giacomo Puccini's opera “La Bohème.” The weakest song is “Over the Moon,” sung by Maureen at the protest, but really having nothing to do with the apartment takeover. It does lead to aggressive police action and a riot, though, which helps get Mark a new job.

The film covers a year in their lives.

Extras include audio commentary by director Columbus from San Francisco, and Rapp and Pascal from New York; “No Day But Today,” a solid documentary on creator Larson, showcasing his life from childhood to death after the show’s first public performance (112 min.); four deleted scenes, including the song “Goodbye Love,” and an alternate ending (12 min.); and two public service announcements for the Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation (5:53) and the National Marfan Foundation (1:02). Grade: film and extras 3 stars

Over Maine: The Complete Collection (1996-2020, Gemini Entertainment, 2 Blu-rays, NR, 316 min.). From rocky shores to vast forests, discover Maine, where I have lived since 1976, as never seen before, as cameras soar high above the state’s landscapes, seasons and landmarks. Filmed with helicopter-mounted cameras, the collection features breathtaking aerial journeys that capture islands, lighthouses, towns and wilderness in stunning detail. It is an unforgettable bird's-eye view of the Pine Tree State.

The discs collect eight films, two covering Acadia and others on Downeast Maine, the state’s coast, the lighthouses, the northern part of the state and two on aerial Maine. There are thousands of islands, winding rivers through untouched wilderness, blazing autumn foliage, working harbors, rugged headlands pounded by surf, fertile farmlands and hidden valleys. Grade: collection 3.5 stars