[Sam Posten]

Thanks to Ron and Parker and the rest of the HTF gang, I have been selected as the latest addition to the official review crew here at HTF. I dont know that any kind of announcement has been made, but they stuck the tag over on my banner there to the left, so I guess the cat is out of the bag!

I start with much trepidation, the reviewers here are top notch and I have some ENORMOUS shoes to fill, as this post was last held by Steve Tannehill, who was almost singlehandedly responsible for my enthusiasm for the DVD format since the moment I first found his web site via HTF oh so many years ago.

So, while I'd like to ask you to go easy on me I will do no such thing, the HTF deserves better! But I will be both scouring this forum reading over the last few months of reviews to try to capture the flavor the others have established here and look forward to all of your comments in this thread about what you would like to see in our upcoming coverage of Universal product.

Uni is definitly among my favorite studios, both with exciting new releases and an awe inspiring back catalog, so I cant wait to begin!

Sam

[Greg_S_H]

Congratulations, but I hope this isn't fallout from the Doom review. It might have been a mistake, but not one that couldn't be recovered from. Well, that's the past. I look forward to your first review.

[Sam Posten]

I'm not aware of controversy over the Doom review, will have to search on that. Got a link while I look?

[Greg_S_H]

You probably already found it, but:

http://www.hometheaterforum.com/htfo...hreadid=251910

I don't want to derail your welcome thread, but that was just the last place I saw Steve and I was just wondering if it factored in.

[Sam Posten]

NM, found it, reading it now. Interesting that I missed it =)

[Sam Posten]

No, thats quite alright from my perspective, I'm thankful for the heads up. What is really fascinating is two things, one is that the review I submitted (which led to me being selected) is.... Doom. The other is that, well lets just say that I have a very different final analysis of the disk, tho to be fair I had a retail box and not a screener (and I AM thankful that the HTF management are sticking to their guns and asking that no screeners be reviewed in the future!)

I will ask Ron if I can release that review. On one hand I dont want to torture SteveH any further, cause he has always been a sort of inspiration to me where HT/DVD is concerned. On the other, our reviews are very different and yet both of us take (IMO opinion) very valid approaches to them. While I liked Doom, I noted that for a lot of people it is not going to be a satisfying experience, especially if you are viewing it on a screener. =)

Anyway, its way too late right now but I will follow through on that tomorrow.

Sam

[Sam Posten]

Also, I dont know the specifics on Steve's choice to no longer be the Universal reviewer, but I can say that even if I did, I would not comment on them out of respect for him and HTF.

[Greg_S_H]

I understand. Good luck with your new responsibility, and I'm also glad to hear that proper discs are now a must from the studios.

[CraigF]

Welcome Sam.

Re the Doom review, I can't believe that people would take reviews so seriously. At least those who aren't making money dependent on how a review goes. I sure don't take them seriously, especially for a popcorn flick, it's just an opinion after all and if you don't like one go to somebody who has an opinion you like. Anyway, this section is not really for movie reviews (I thought), it's for DVD reviews, and that was impossible in that circumstance. The new HTF policy should prevent those circumstances from being an issue again.

[Steve Tannehill]

Welcome, Sam! I look forward to your review of Doom, but mostly I'm jealous that you are (hopefully) going to have King Kong before anyone else.

I guess my last review here did not make a big splash, but I did comment on my departure in that thread.

I don't want to derail Sam's introduction, so I'll just pass on my best wishes and fade away...

- Steve

[TravisR]

Thanks for the reviews and best of luck, Steve. Also, best of luck to Posten on his future reviews!