We hate it when critics say "Best of the Year" in mid-January, but the DVD set for the first season of Torchwood will be one of the best TV-DVDs of the year in eleven and a half months. If it's not, we've just experienced the best DVD year in history. Torchwood feels like a show that's just been bubbling under the surface of pop culture and is about to explode. The best sci-fi series on TV (yes, better than that "Frak" show and even Heroes), Torchwood is consistently clever, enjoyable, and each episode plays like a mini-movie. With a star-making lead performance by John Barrowman, this is the show that all of you Buffy/Angel/Firefly fans should be renting or just buying this season. It would be stunning if you were disappointed.

"The 21st Century is when it all changes and you've got to be ready..." The title of Torchwood refers to a special ops group - kind of a modern "Men in Black" - who work in Cardiff, where there just happens to be a rift in space and time that allows some undesirable stuff to sneak through. Like aliens and such. Torchwood is headed by Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) and the audience's window into this world is the newest member of the team, Gwen (Eve Myles). Sweet Gwen has to balance her normal life with hunting down aliens and her attraction to her new boss. Other members of the team include the volatile doctor Owen (Burn Gorman), weapons specialist Tosh (Naoko Mori), and loyal servant Ianto (Gareth David-Lloyd). Each week, the young team (everyone's under 35 because the life expectancy of the average Torchwood member is pretty low) keep the creatures of the dark from coming into the light. And they do it all with an unbelievably sexy style and action choreographed about as well as a modern big budget blockbuster.

Torchwood would be a series that you should check out even if the DVD was bare bones but it's the exact opposite. BBC and Warner Brothers have not only remastered the video and audio on Torchwood better than your average TV show (the sound mix, in particular, is very impressive), but they've given Torchwood fans one of the most extensive collections of special features in the history of the medium. Every single episode includes a commentary track and there's a seventh disc full of incredible featurettes and extras. The series "Torchwood Declassified" looks at every single episode individually and with more than two dozen other featurettes, there's nothing left to the imagination. You'll know the motivation behind and the details about the execution of every single episode of the first season of Torchwood. This is one of those great DVD sets that you won't treat casually. It's one where you'll have to clear your schedule and put your phone on mute. It may only be January, but Torchwood: Season One is the best DVD of the year to date.