Wizard Of Oz and Gremlins out 9/29: Post Your Finds! - Page 2

If this is true then the Target version is definitely the way to go.

Aside from the one-month delay and the cover, are there any other reasons the UK version is less desirable than the Target version? Possibility of PAL-format extras?

Bonus content on Warner BD discs are always NTSC. Always.

However, the When the Lion Roars disc is a DVD, so more than likely that will be a different PAL disc in Europe.

FYI:

High-Def Digest has posted a "Just Listed" Gremlins link = bluray.highdefdigest.com/2339/gremlins.html as "Target exclusive".

Paul

I checked with my local Walmart & they will have WOO blu ray tomorrow for $19.96.

Just to be clear, Arnie....know going in that the Wal-Mart $20 version is a single-disc movie only version.  The $35 Target version seems to be a three-disc version (film, bonus features, When the Lion Roars doc).  And the UCE has those three discs plus a four disc with a digital copy and the trinkets.

I think these last minute retailer exclusives have certainly clouded the waters for people thinking they had only the UCE option tomorrow.

It's misleading to describe the Walmart version as "movie only".  It's the first disc from the UCE, which has quite a few bonus features.  Essentially ALL the "making of" features are on it.  Aside from the Lion Roars doc, what it lacks are the silent movie versions plus the John Ritter made for TV movie and a couple of other docs:

DISC 1:

• Commentary by John Fricke. Additional commentary and archived commentary with Barbara Freed-Saltzman (daughter of Arthur Freed), Margaret Hamilton, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, John Lahr (son of Bert Lahr), Jane Lahr (daughter of Bert Lahr), Hamilton Meserve (son of Margaret Hamilton), Dona Massin (MGM choreographer), William Tuttle (make-up artist), Buddy Ebsen, Mervyn LeRoy, and Jerry Maren
• The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Storybook
• Prettier Than Ever: The Restoration of Oz
• We Haven’t Really Met Properly
• Music and Effects Track
• Sing-along Track
• Remastered Feature with Dolby Digital 5.1 Audio as Well as Original Mono Track
• The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: The Making of a Movie Classic (1990 TV special)
• Memories of Oz (2001 TCM documentary)
• The Art of Imagination: A Tribute to Oz
• Because of the Wonderful Things it Does: The Legacy of Oz
• Harold Arlen’s Home Movies
• Outtakes and Deleted Scenes
• It’s a Twister! It’s a Twister! The Tornado Tests
• Off to See the Wizard
• 3 Vault Shorts
• Audio Jukebox Selection
  • Leo Is on the Air Radio Promo
  • Good News of 1939 Radio Show
  • 12/25/1950 Lux Radio Theater Broadcast
• Still Galleries
• Six Theatrical Trailers

DISC 2:

• Victor Fleming: Master Craftsman Feature Length Documentary
• L. Frank Baum: The Man Behind the Curtain
• Celebrating Hollywood’s Biggest Little Stars
• The Dreamer of Oz (1990 TV special)
• The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1910)
• The Wizard of Oz (1933) Animated Short
• His Majesty, The Scarecrow of Oz (1914)
• The Magic Cloak of Oz (1914)
• The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1914)
• The Wizard of Oz (1925)

I'm still undecided on the walmart or target versions.  I really want the MGM doc, but target is 30 miles away & walmart is 4.  Most of the disc 2 stuff I have from the 2005 release

You are exactly right, Robert.  I'm sorry if I misled anyone.  I repeated something I read somewhere else without checking my facts first.  There's no excuse for that kind of sloppiness.  I appreciate your post very much. 

Okay, so I wake up way too early this morning in hopes
of being first in line to pick up my copy of GREMLINS from
my local Target store which isn't so local.

Unshowered and unshaven, I drive through morning rush
hour traffic.  25 minutes later, about 5 minutes prior to store
opening, I arrive at a huge empty lot.  Just excited me, nobody
else, except a few older ladies wearing red vests --- obviously
store employees.

Doors unlock.  It's just me, lonely guy with nothing better
to do walking across an empty store while red-vested 
employees are minding their business putting price tags
on newly arrived merchandise.

I walk over to the MOVIES section and lo' and behold there
is a wealth of GREMLINS Blu-rays on display along with just
as many WIZARD OF OZ copies (UCE and 3-DISC).  No
need to push and shove my way to the display.  It's just...me.

Tempted to scream, "I GOT IT! I GOT IT!" I quickly 
figured that the resounding echo effect caused by an empty
store would be a bit overwhelming.  

I pick up my copy of GREMLINS and take the lonely walk
over to the cashier who is still setting up her station at this
time of the morning and obviously doesn't share the same
excitement I have of my find.

I then make the trek back home, still somehow very proud
of myself for being one of the first to get an EXCLUSIVE 
copy of this film not being made available anywhere else
in the United States except TARGET.

In fact, I was so overjoyed at my purchase I decided to
take a photo and share.   I will be available for signings of
this photo later today out back by the dumpster behind my
workplace.

The Target edition of the Wizard of Oz for 34.99 looks to be very limited.  My Target only got four of those in, along with two of the Ultimate Collector's Edition.  Gremlins was no where to be found, even though it was advertised.

The Target edition of the Wizard of Oz is the way to go.  This is what WB should've had as the OTHER option in all retail stores and online distributors if you didn't want the big box.

ROTFLMAO!  Great post, Ron.  I'll be in a line for an autograph later. 



There have been so many times I have had similar feelings...only to be surrounded by complete ambivalence by those around me...even after I've gotten home! 

I remember when Disney's Newsies hit DVD I felt that same way.  I think I even went to my local Best Buy the day before to see if they had put any out early.

A very enjoyable post, Ron, and one which many of us can identify with, maybe not about GREMLINS, but about a favorite film we finally get our hands on. I'll feel that way when I get my hands on the UCE of OZ.

I can't wait I can't wait I can't wait!

Well, I'm very happy with the Walmart edition.  I have no interest in the silent films or the Ritter TV movie.  After all the talk about the UCE being so overpriced, it's nice that we were actually given multiple choices.  It's even nicer that I paid less than half for the Walmart edition what I sold the 2 disc DVD edition for. 
Edited by RobertR - 9/29/09 at 7:03am

Me, too.  But I keep wavering on if the extra $15 is worth the price of the M-G-M documentary.  I don't already have it and have never seen it.  I'm not sure I can justify that extra expense right now (or for the re-purchase of the film for that matter--but it IS the Wizard of Oz). 


Amen, brother. 

:)  Yes, the MGM doc was the only reason I might have gone for the Target version.  If it helps any, Mike, I'm thinking Target will do something similar with Gone With the Wind, and I may go for that version, which may very well have the MGM doc.

Is the MGM doc going to be in the UCE of GWTW, too?!? 

That would seem like odd marketing to me. 

Robert:  Why would you decide to wait for a stripped-down version of GWTW to get the MGM doc rather than just spring for the Target WoO?  Maybe you're more interested in the GWTW bonus features?

Mike:

Exactly.  I've gone over the GWTW bonus features, and they're all related to the making of the film (no alternate versions or TV movies).  Yes, the MGM doc is in the GWTW UCE.

Your decision sounds so well-reasoned (assuming WB & Target do a similar exclusive release with GWTW) I may just join you in your tack. 

Wal-mart, here I come! 

Did your W-M, Robert, have lots of copies? 

I went to the Riverside Walmart about 6 blocks from me and they had NONE, not even a placeholder.   So I drove to Corona, about 4 miles away, and they had about half a dozen.  Good luck with your "treasure hunt".  :)

Got Gremlins when the store opened in Westland Michigan. They only had about three copies. Aspect ratio 1:85.

I got to my Target a few minutes after they opened at around 8 AM EST.  Gremlins was on the shelf already, so I grabbed one.  Then I looked around frantically for their Wizard of Oz exclusive and couldn't find it.  Finally, I found the place holder for the release, and I asked one of the Target employees stocking the new releases if they had received it.  They had; and she pulled a literally case-fresh copy from the shipping container.  Yay!

I opted to go with the Target WoZ over the Wal-Mart one for a couple of reasons.  One, the Target release is all encompassing so far as disc-related contents is concerned.  Two, I hate Wal-Mart.  Three, I can never be sure Wal-Mart will have anything I want.  The later is one of the many reasons for point two. 

Anyway, good hunting everyone!

Picked up Wizard of Oz at Wal*Mart for the $19.95 for the one disc...PERFECT!!!

Now that's the way they need to release all BDs. If you want all the other stuff, then offer it as another package.

I decided to get the Target edition, and cancel my Amazon UK order. They had 1 left. I suppose I would have gone to Wal-mart if Target had been sold out of their edition but I figured if I did, I might not want to sell my previous edition due to the extras in that set.

Those purchasing the Walmart version might want to make note of the fact that NONE of the bonus content listed on the "Only at Walmart" sticker on the front of the Blu-ray is actually IN the package.  That sticker lists three features that are found only on Blu-ray Disc #2 of the UCE and Target sets.

Granted, the Walmart 1-disc does contain all of the bonus material found on disc #1 of the UCE and Target sets (all three versions share the same disc #1).  But Walmart (or Warner) screwed up with regard to that sticker on the front!  That stuff isn't there and it's not available via BD Live either.

Just sayin'.

Mark

Fortunately for me, I don't care about those features or anything else on disc 2. :)

I purchased the blu-ray box of junk for $42.49 at Borders using a 50% off list price of one item coupon.
http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/7186/33209915.jpg
Coupon link came from DVD Talk. Coupon good until 9/30/09.
There are no Target Stores in NYC and I figured if I waited until after work, Target would be sold out, which happens often. Anyway I paid $7.50 more than the Target price. I am OK with that.

I was at my local Target today and they had both the Wizard of Oz non-ultimate and Gremlins on an end cap. The Wizard of Oz has the lion that roared doc. At $34, it is still too high for me. I wonder if the $19.99 Walmart version is the same as Target's.

Jeff:  The $20 W-M version is only Disc #1 of the Target set. 

Check Post #37 above by RobertR and you'll see the contents of Discs #1 & #2.  Disc #3 in the Target set is the M-G-M documentary "When the Lion Roared."  Disc #4 in the Ult. CE is a digital copy.