All-Time Worst DVD Packaging (1 Viewer)

[JohnMor]

I agree with the OP: far and away the worst is the I Dream of Jeannie set. Cheaply made, ugly, inconvenient, no episode guide. All that's really wrong with The Simpsons S11 is the tightness of sleeves. It's not inconveniently sized and includes the booklet.

 

[Ethan Riley]

Originally Posted by AndyMcKinney




Your post is slightly misleading. It's a UK television show, but what you're talking about is the U.S. Region 1 packaging, since the whole thing hasn't been release in the UK yet (although their releases are in full-size amarays, they are doing one full series/season per release, so the 10 series will only take up 10 cases instead of the 14 we got here where the US market released them in volumes). Also, it wouldn't be surprising if, when they finish the UK run, that they might put out one or two "complete series" digipacks over in R2 land (like they did for such shows as Steptoe and Fry & Laurie.

Well, again--it's going to take up too much room in the U.K. then, because there were 10 seasons and each season only had about 6 episodes. In the U.S. there were 14 volumes in standard-sized dvd cases; when they released it as a complete boxed set, they didn't bother to repackage the discs, so the whole thing took up a lot of room. And I also had Grace and Favour to content with. So out went the cases and my home is now far less cluttered lol

 

[AndyMcKinney]

Originally Posted by Ethan Riley




Well, again--it's going to take up too much room in the U.K. then, because there were 10 seasons and each season only had about 6 episodes. In the U.S. there were 14 volumes in standard-sized dvd cases; when they released it as a complete boxed set, they didn't bother to repackage the discs, so the whole thing took up a lot of room. And I also had Grace and Favour to content with. So out went the cases and my home is now far less cluttered lol

The BBC (at least in the UK) are often slow to release their "classic" stuff. I guess they either perceive a small market or (more likely) the potential to wring more cash out of the customer by doing each series one at a time. As for not reissuing the complete boxes in smaller packaging (such as digipaks), I don't think the American office of the BBC usually do that. They just take the cheap/easy way out (reuse all the individual art/cases and just put them all in a slipcover). In the UK, the BBC sometimes issues a complete set in smaller packaging where the individuals were all in Amarays (such as the Steptoe and Fry & Laurie examples I mentioned above) but other times, they just add a slipcover to the existing ones (such as Worst Week of My Life). I doubt they'll issue a condensed-packaged set here in R1, but they might in R2. Of course, edited versions of some of the episodes sneaked onto the R2s, so even with bulky packaging and the episodes not being divided series-by-series, we have the superior release over here.

 

[Brisby]

Originally Posted by Paul Miller

Fraggle Rock Complete Series (Half of the discs didn't make it into the slots and were badly scratched, everytime I emailed them about replacements, they never followup)

^ This. Exactly half of the 20 discs in my copy of this set were floating free and looked like they had been scoured by sandpaper...and this was right out of the box! The three-ring binder packaging was awkward, and the damn plastic case wouldn't even stay put unless the this was lying on its side. No wonder BJ's was selling copies of this for only $30 last year (before the superior second printing of the complete series was released). Dreadful.

 

[Nebiroth]

The first round of releases of Star Trek:TNG and DS9 in the UK, the ones in the hard plastic cases, were nice but there was a big problem with the actual mini-digipak thing inside, in that the disc holder gripped the discs *way* too tight at the hub. This invariably caused the discs to start cracking with bits flaking off around the central hole because of the huge difficulty in getting the damn things on and off (as well as having to bend the discs alarmingly). But the grip was so tight that even in storage it eventually wrecked the discs. I read about it and went to me collection and eventually sent off 21 discs to Paramount to replace (which they did). They changed the maker of the digistaks a couple of seasons of DS9 in. I went through my older sets and filed down the grippers with a nail file!


There is always a problem with any packaging that has "Scanavo" written on it. Same problem, they grip the discs way too tight, it;s a fight to get them off (again, out comes the nail file)


I'm not a great fan of weird packaging because it;s so often designed to look good but lousy in every other respect.


The Man from UNCLE complete set is great though. The outer "briefcase" box looks lovely, and it's very solidly built, whilst inside they have sensibly just put in the four sets in their standard packaging.


The "coffin sets" released by Anchor Bay here in the UK were notoriously bad. They put five discs in a card box shaped like a coffin . It hinged open and the discs are held in a sort of fanfold affair attached to the lid. But the "hinge" is just a bit of sticky tape, and the disc holders are just rubber bumps....

 

[younger1968]

Outerlimits and Relic Hunter are also contenders. The disks are on top of each other and held in place by a weak clip system that does not hold. You have to be very careful when you open the case because the disk become lose very quickly. I have already complained to Amazon.ca about this issue and they have forwarded to the manufacturer the issues. However, i doubt that anything will be done.

 

[Joe Tor1]

How about ANY set that offers no episode content notes – as so many Warner animation sets have done in recent times.


Sat AM Cartoons sets, Tom and Jerry the Chuck Jones Collection, Ruby-Spears Superman, What’s New Scooby-Doo volumes, to name a few!


If you have a set of many cartoons, at least LIST what they are, somewhere within the packaging!


I shouldn’t have to go to the Internet, or some research book, to find out what they are!


THAT, to me, is BAD packaging!

 

[Kasey]

In my collection, my vote goes to S2 of The Munsters. The flimsy cardboard of Herman's head was a dumb idea. I actually liked the S1 box and wish they had stuck with that.


I actually don't mind the Sex and the City clear plastic season releases. When Walmart had them on clearance, you had your choice of those and the newer white boxes and I chose the original clear ones because I liked the graphics and photos better. I doubt I'll be rewatching them enough for the plastic folds to break anyway.

 

[Nebiroth]

In the UK, the first release of the first series of the new Doctor Who came in a massive box shaped like the TARDIS.


Which fell to bits after you opened it two or three times.


So it was both huge and crap.

 

[MattHR]

Time to resurrect this thread by (unfortunately) adding Lost in Space: The Complete Adventures to the list.

 

[Carabimero]

Time to resurrect this thread by (unfortunately) adding Lost in Space: The Complete Adventures to the list.

I second that. Fox Connect has received more than a few complaints about the packaging.

 

[bmasters9]

How about ANY set that offers no episode content notes – as so many Warner animation sets have done in recent times. Sat AM Cartoons sets, Tom and Jerry the Chuck Jones Collection, Ruby-Spears Superman, What’s New Scooby-Doo volumes, to name a few! If you have a set of many cartoons, at least LIST what they are, somewhere within the packaging! I shouldn’t have to go to the Internet, or some research book, to find out what they are! THAT, to me, is BAD packaging!

I have three that are like that: the Emma Peel Megaset of The Avengers (Lionsgate), the full-series M Squad release (Timeless), and the first release of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (Warner Bros.).

 

[jcroy]

I second that. Fox Connect has received more than a few complaints about the packaging.

Wonder if Fox will do anything about the atrocious packaging.


Going by recent history, IIRC the Lost in Space bluray packaging looks very similar to the atrocious packaging used for The Simpsons seasons 11 to 17 dvd sets. So far FOX has not re-released The Simpsons seasons 11 to 17 in less atrocious packaging.


At this point, I would be quite surprised if Fox reissues the Lost in Space blurays in generic viva multidisc bluray cases. (ie. Fox seems to like "washing their hands" of their past releases).

 

[jcroy]

Outerlimits and Relic Hunter are also contenders. The disks are on top of each other and held in place by a weak clip system that does not hold. You have to be very careful when you open the case because the disk become lose very quickly. I have already complained to Amazon.ca about this issue and they have forwarded to the manufacturer the issues. However, i doubt that anything will be done.

(This may be 5 years too late, but better late than never).


Almost all of those sci-fi/fantasy/action tv shows releases by Alliance back in 2010 in really atrocious packaging, were eventually re-released in generic viva multidisc cases.


A year ago or so, I made a long list of new amazon.ca ASIN numbers of these re-released versions (and the corresponding old ASIN numbers of the older 2010 versions with crappy packaging which warped the discs). I ordered most of these titles with the new ASIN numbers.


http://www.hometheaterforum.com/topic/322475-universal-studios-warner-brothers-reissued-dvd-sets/page-11#entry4103296

 

[CraigF]

Universal has well-mined the pits of annoying disc packaging. And I really dislike all forms of "artifact" packaging: you know: heads, sculptures, globes, everything. So often with those they don't provide decent packaging around the discs so you can put the discs in your disc rack, say, and display the artifact separately (or toss it).


But the Red Green complete collection box wins, because it was intentionally made flimsy so it would easily break, and you are "encouraged" to fix it with duct tape.

 

[Kyrsten Brad]

Well I was going to start a new thread about Blu-ray/DVD packaging and on obtaining new cases to replace sub-par packaging but I searched first and found this thread so here I'll put my info.


As you might know, I've already moved my Lost In Space blu-rays to new packaging (I'll repost my earlier posting from the LIS thread below for easy reference). I just bought new DVD packaging to move my I Dream of Jeannie and Brady Bunch (Shag Carpet Edition) to better storage digs.

The Brady Bunch one should be easy. From Casetopia I bought 3 clear Scanavo 7-disc DVD cases. At 22mm width each, that's a total of 66 mm width (2.6 inches) which should fit into the plastic Shag Carpet holder..


The IDOJ packaging may be more problematic. I got two 33mm 10-disc holders (to hold all 20 discs) but that won't fit into the current packaging. Might end up converting the packaging to DVD case artwork. Hate to do that but its a lot better than unstacking the discs every time I want to watch a selected episode.



For ease of reference:

=========================================================================================

A big thanks to smithbrad for these artwork covers as I put them to good use. I went the Casetopia route, ordered 6-disc blu-ray cases and transferred my LIS discs into the much more accessible (and protective) blu-ray cases.


One note: I took mine to a printing shop and got them printed there (on thin card stock). The shop tech stated that he could not print them himself but I could do a DIY and do them myself (due to copyright rules which all want to respect) and save a lot of ink on the home printer. If you go this route I would suggest taking the original packaging with you and the blank cases to show what you intend to do (and that you're not making printouts to sell or anything) and explain why. Bringing the original purchase receipt may not be a bad idea either.


Correct me if I'm wrong but moving the discs (that you paid fairly for) to a more protective storage medium, with the artwork does come under fair use laws. Just want to be sure.