I have explored quite a few DVD boxed sets in the past few months-from the obscure Ed Wood set to the long-anticipated Star Wars trilogy-but I have never seen one as attractively packaged as The Pink Panther Film Collection from MGM Home Entertainment. The set, packed in what looks like padded plastic from a piece of chic '70s furniture, contains six discs-five classic Pink Panther films and one bonus disc. The sixth disc includes two documentaries-one on the films, another on the animated character they inspired-and six classic Pink Panther cartoons.

This September, Big Fat Liar director Shawn Levy will make an attempt at reviving the Pink Panther franchise. The new incarnation of The Pink Panther will unfortunately star Steve Martin in the role of Inspector Clouseau-a role made famous by Peter Sellers.

In the first film, released in 1963, the bumbling Inspector Jacques Clouseau of the Parisian gendarmerie attempts to catch a jewel thief after a rose-hued diamond-the Pink Panther. The famous opening credits feature an animated pink panther pulling zany tricks on an also-animated Clouseau. The idea was to literally animate a character that is nothing but a "macguffin," a term borrowed from Hitchcock for an object in a film that every character is after and that viewers couldn't care less about. It could be a diamond, a roll of microfilm, a mysterious briefcase or anything.

The opening credits feature the music of Henry Mancini, whose now-famous music graces all of the films in some form. Mancini, a veteran of thriller music (including the carefully-wrought score to Orson Welles' Touch of Evil), cast his musicians much like a filmmaker selects his actors-choosing a specific saxophonist to play the ubiquitous Pink Panther theme.

Despite personal differences between Peter Sellers and Blake Edwards, the film's creator, a whole slew of Pink Panther films followed after the original's success. In addition to the original film, the set also includes the often-forgotten A Shot in the Dark-the only Pink Panther film not to include "The Pink Panther" in the title. It was originally intended as a straightforward murder mystery, but when Sellers got the part, he and Edwards transformed it into a film about Clouseau-it became, effectively, a Pink Panther sequel.

The franchise was revitalized in the mid-1970s with a trio of films-Return of the Pink Panther, The Pink Panther Strikes Again and Revenge of the Pink Panther. For reasons beyond my ken, the first of these is not included here.

The final film in the set is Trail of the Pink Panther. The 1982 film stars Sellers, but was released two years after his death. Edwards would continue to make Panther films, including Curse of the Pink Panther the following year and Son of the Pink Panther in 1993.

Although there were (and continue to be) Pink Panther films without Sellers, the boxed set focuses on the actor's immortalization of Inspector Clouseau.

If anything, this set makes me nervous about the forthcoming The Birth of the Pink Panther, when Steve Martin will attempt to fill Sellers' shoes. Only time will tell if the performance will make Blake Edwards proud, or simply make him roll over prematurely in his grave (a distinctive feat, considering he is alive and well at the ripe age of 82).

Either way, MGM Home Entertainment's The Pink Panther Film Collection is a wonderful set of films, and although it lacks substantial bonus material-there is a commentary track on The Pink Panther, but not on the others-it is still a remarkably fun addition to any DVD collector's shelf.