By Rob Lowman, Staff Writer

"Spaced" - the final frontier.

I know, terrible joke. Not as clever as anything in the marvelous British comedy series that has fans the likes of Quentin Tarantino ("Pulp Fiction," "Kill Bill"), Kevin Smith ("Clerks," "Dogma"), Matt Stone ("South Park," "Team America: World Police"), Bill Hader ("Superbad" "SNL"), Patton Oswalt ("King of Queens," "Ratatouille") and Diablo Cody (Oscar-winning writer of "Juno"), all of whom do commentary on the DVD set.

"Spaced" revolves around a pair of 20-something slackers who barely know each other but pose as a "professional" couple in order to get an apartment.

Simon Pegg is the skateboarding would-be comic artist Tim, and Jessica Hynes (she was Stevenson then) is Daisy, a would-be writer with seemingly perpetual writer's block and on the dole. They have a landlady, Marsha (Julia Deakin), who constantly has a cigarette in her hand (mysteriously always the same length), and downstairs lives tortured artist Brian (Mark Heap), who paints by whatever means necessary. Tim's best friend Mike, an overgrown GI Joe (Nick Frost), once stole a tank to invade Paris while in the military reserves, and Daisy's friend Twist (Katy Carmichael) is in fashion. She works at a dry cleaners.

If "Seinfeld" was about nothing, then "Spaced" was about doing nothing, only with cooler and funnier references. It helps to know post-"Star Wars" movies (that's 1977), although one quick subplot spoof - and some of them go by so quickly - involves the 1975 "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."

Pegg and Hynes did all the writing, and Edgar Wright, who has paired with Pegg for the hilarious spoof films "Shaun of the Dead" (zombies) and "Hot Fuzz" (buddy cop films), directed all the episodes.

Like "The Office," the series only ran two short seasons (one in 1999, the other in 2000), 14 episodes in all, which allowed it to have its own arc instead of being open-ended like American sitcoms. Since then, it's been a cult favorite, with people watching episodes on Internet sites like YouTube.

Fans are plentiful, though, and the three-set DVD has loads of fun extras, which will help you sort out those movie references. Beside the commentary from the celeb fans, there is commentary from Wright and the cast, a "Spaced" reunion Q&A, a feature-length documentary, outtakes and deleted scenes.

The trio will be in town Wednesday. From 12:30 to 2:30 p.m., Jay & Silent Bob's Secret Stash West (10587 W. Pico Blvd., L.A.) hosts a "Spaced" signing event with Pegg, Hynes and Wright. Call (310) 475-4788.

 At 7 p.m., there will be a special three-episode screening event of "Spaced," immediately followed by a Q&A with Pegg, Hynes and Wright, moderated by Kevin Smith, at the ArcLight Hollywood. (It's a Facebook event, so check at facebook.com).

On Friday, they will be at Comic-Con in San Diego.

And considering the dearth of funny sitcoms recently, "Spaced" may be the final frontier in TV comedy.

Also out>

People worry what will happen to the Earth with global warming. Actually, the planet will adjust and move along in its own way - maybe without the human race - but there is likely to be some kind of life. "Earth - The Biography," a series currently airing on the National Geographic Channel, looks at the great forces that shape the Earth and explores their central roles in our planet's story.Based on the story of MIT math whizzes who made money playing blackjack at casinos, "21" is chancy entertainment. The best and brightest - like Jim Sturgess ("Across the Universe"), Kate Bosworth ("Superman Returns") - recruited by statistician Mickey Rosa (Kevin Spacey) to take on Vegas look a lot more glamorous than the average math geek. "21" is flip and shallow and pretty fake-feeling, but Sturgess and some of the others are likable.

Jazz fans may want to check out reissues of Clint Eastwood's 1988 "Bird" in a two-disc edition," Jack Webb's 1955 "Pete Kelly's Blues," director Anatole Litvak's 1941 "Blues in the Night" and Bertrand Tavernier 1986 "' Round Midnight."

Rob Lowman (818) 713-3687 robert.lowman@dailynews.com

out tuesday>

NEW FILMS

"21" $28.96/ $34.95 two-disc edition/ $34.95 Bly-ray

"Picture This!" $26.98

"The Last Winter" $19.95

"Two Tickets to Paradise" $24.98

TELEVISION

"Spaced: The Complete Series" $59.98

"Earth - The Biography" $29.98/ $39.99 Blu-ray)

"Las Vegas: Season Five" $59.98

"Robot Chicken: Star Wars" $14.98

"Comedy Central's TV Funhouse" $26.98

"Transformers Cybertron: The Ultimate

Collection" $59.98

"Masters of Horror: Season Two" $86.97

"Autumn Hearts: A New Beginning" $27.98

"L.A. Ink: Season 1" $24.95

NEW TO BLU-RAY

"The Mummy" $29.98

"The Mummy Returns" $29.98

"The Scorpion King" $29.98

"The Perfect Storm" $28.99

"I Know What You Did Last Summer" $28.95

"Urban Legend" $28.95

"The Exorcism of Emily Rose" $28.95

OLDER FILMS

"Vampyr - Criterion Collection" $39.95

"High and Low - Criterion Collection" $39.95

"Bird (Two-Disc Special Edition)" $20.98

"Pete Kelly's Blues" $19.97

"Blues in the Night" $19.98

"'Round Midnight" $19.98

"Satantango" $79.95

"Andre Techine Boxset" $34.98

MUSIC

"The Time Machine Tour - Darren Hayes" $15.99

"Electroma - Daft Punk" $22.98