“To me, the true meaning of Christmas has always been Santa … you’re allowed to believe in something you know doesn’t exist.” Sad, but oh so true. Life is filled with a great many illusions. Thankfully, we’ve arrived at the one time of year when clinging to them isn’t only accepted, but celebrated. It also happens to be the season for reuniting with faithful friends who are dear to us … making it all the more appropriate that Ally McBeal is now available on DVD in a complete series set.

Right now, you’re probably wondering: “Who exactly considers Ally McBeal a friend?” After debuting on FOX in the fall of 1997, the character became infamous more for her weight, neuroticism and hallucinations than anything else. When Time Magazine asked if she was the new face of feminism, public outcry was unanimous. No way was anyone going to stand up and say that Ms McBeal represented the kind of person any of us truly hope to be.

For those who followed the series closely, though, it wasn’t Ally’s sense of empowerment (or occasional lack thereof) that brought them back week after week. It wasn’t the lead character’s attempts to balance a personal and professional life that struck the biggest chord. It wasn’t even the gender politics or celebrity guest-stars or that 90s-era-CGI internet revolution, the Dancing Baby. It was one belief – a belief that defined every character that passed through the law offices of Cage and Fish, and continues to define each of us as individuals in the real world today – a belief in the unseen.

Unicorns, soulmates and happy endings – these were Ally McBeal’s true business. As each court case forced her to confront an element of her personal life – be it her continued love for married coworker Billy (Gil Bellows) or the resentment of his wife Georgia (Courtney Thorne-Smith) – Ally maintained that her dreams were attainable, even when faced with overwhelming evidence of the contrary. For every hopeful chat with fellow romantic John Cage (Peter MacNicol) would come a withering glare from coworker Ling (Lucy Liu) or a sobering observation from therapist Dr Tracey (Tracey Ullman).

As the seasons passed, it began to seem less and less likely that the lead character would ever find her happiness. After Bellows departed the series and Robert Downey Jr. stepped in to play Larry, a practically-perfect love interest, fate played its hand off-camera. Downey was arrested on drug charges, forcing series creator David E Kelly to rewrite Ally and Larry’s intended marriage into a sudden, devastating break-up. Though a fifth and final season followed, the series never regained its footing, and Ally ultimately walked off alone and in tears … but hopeful still.

It helped that she had the support of some of the most quirky characters to have ever been created for television. Top tier talents like Jane Krakowski (30 Rock) and Portia de Rossi (Arrested Development) made their mark portraying legal professionals as relatable and often musical observers of world. The cast’s ability to balance tearful dramatic monologues and madcap physical comedy earned them numerous awards – including a Screen Actor’s Guild trophy for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble – and led to the coining of the term “dramedy”.

On this 32 disc set, all five seasons of their weekly trials are present and accounted for, along with all of the original music – an important inclusion, given the show’s then-groundbreaking integration of popular songs into the narrative, courtesy of vocalist Vonda Shepard. Though, this being FOX, one cue of Family Guy‘s theme song has been not-so-subtly inserted into a scene. Bygones.

The first season is also being sold separately (with more individual season releases to follow). But if you’re one of those crazy dreamers who called Ally a friend, the complete series set is the only way to go. Fans should be warned, though, that despite a couple of vintage featurettes, a tie-in episode of The Practice and a new retrospective feature, the holy trilogy of DVD extras – commentaries, deleted scenes and bloopers – is inexplicably absent from this package.

This is especially odd considering that Kelly had enough unaired footage and alternate takes to create a spin-off, half-hour series called Ally that focused purely on the romantic subplots and bombed utterly in the ratings. Whatever new format this show is eventually rereleased on, FOX would do well to include those lost episodes, along with the final filmed scenes of Larry and Ally’s engagement … for those of us still holding out for a happy ending for our heroine.