3rd Rock Exclusive Best Buy Disc/Great Sale! (1 Viewer)

[Carl Walker]

It absolutely works! I did this very thing yesterday at my local Wal*Mart. Keep in mind that my local Wal*Mart is 50 miles from the nearest Best Buy. Chances are that if you try to price match in a city that has a Best Buy, then they will know about the Reward Zone and catch the fine print.

As it is, the electronics associate at my Wal*Mart looked at the price, checked the date on the ad, and price matched. I hope that Best Buy continues to advertise their RZ prices like this in the future...

 

[Carl Walker]

Also, since we seem to be doing an informal poll, the set that came from my Wal*Mart:

1) Does talk. You have to press pretty hard, but it talks loud and clear.

2) Did come with a booklet.

3) Does not say "BEST BUY" in the volume ID.

 

[MattHR]

I compared my set (from Best Buy) with a friend's set (from Target):

1) The artwork and catalog numbers on the actual discs are different.

2) The contents of Discs 1, 2 & 3 are the same.

3) The Best Buy version contains an 8-minute set of clips called "Dick's Best" NOT included on the Target set.

4) The Best Buy set contains an additional 4 minutes of bloopers.

5) Both sets contained the booklet.

6) The soundchip didn't work on either set, but I wasn't about to press the box too hard to make sure.

I had to dig through over 20 sets at Best Buy to find a set that wasn't "crushed". It appears someone picked up every set in the store and pushed the "button" VERY hard to hear the voice clip, and ruined the covers in the process. The "hollow" front portion of the cover allows for easy damage to the box cover from pushing the voice button. The gimmicky box cover is very poorly designed. The voice chip doesn't work properly when pushed where indicated.

I really hate these ever-growing "exclusive" releases, which are mostly available at Best Buy. This is a disgusting trend that I wish the studios would not allow.

 

[John*P]

I'm not really a fan of this "talking box" gimmick. Sure, it sounds cool in theory. But it seems that several boxes are becoming damaged from too many people pressing on them in the stores, and are apparently having trouble getting them to "talk" in the first place. I plan on picking this up in the morning, and I hope I can find a box in decent condition...

 

[Nick_TV]

I'm new to 3rd Rock. Bought the DVD set because it seemed to be up my alley. It's very good, I'm enjoying it a lot. But, there's something I've been wondering about. All the episodes so far run for about 21 mintues. Any experienced 3rd Rock fan know if these are syndicated episodes or full versions?

 

[MattHR]

I was wondering the same thing. I also fear they may be edited. Season one was from 1995, and other shows I have from that year run about 23-24 minutes. Hopefully someone will have some evidence to answer the question.

 

[JamesED]

Ya the talking box thing was a terrible idea. Mine is from Best Buy also, and it doesn't talk. It's a bad gimic I could have gone without since it makes the box about an extra slip pack bigger.

 

[Nathan McMahan]

The episodes were about 22 mins when they ran initially. That's 22 mins max, so I'm sure we are getting the whole deal. I haven't watched any episodes yet, but I don't think they put the little "end cap" scenes over the credits at the end until a few more seasons in.
I exchanged my set at Best Buy for a talking box set and it did have the booklet. A confusing trend to say the least. I much prefer Best Buy's "additional content" stuff to be on stand alone seperate discs a la "Indiana Jones", "The Time Machine" "Tomb Raider" Star Trek sets, etc.
I think there is thread somewhere about exclusive Best Buy content.

 

[Josh_HI]

All the boxes at my best buy were damaged. But not because people press them in for the talking. They were bashed in on either the right top corner or bottom right corner. It really ticked me off! I hope the other seasons don't talk.



My best buy set has 4 different planets on the discs. What is the artwork on the discs from Target?


So for people that have gotten Best Buy Exclusive discs before, do they give them to you at the register or what? I have never bought a set that offers one so I'd like to know how that works.

 

[TravisR]

I don't know about this particular release but usually a store exclusive bonus disc is just shrinkwrapped onto the regular package and it has a sticker touting the bonus disc. If they gave them out, people who bought it somewhere else might lie and say that someone forgot to give them the disc and get it or people who did buy it there might not get their disc if the cashier forgets so they just package the disc on it.

 

[Josh_HI]

That's good to know. Thanks! I was hoping that's the way they did it but wasn't sure.

 

[Mike*SC]

As for the running times...

When "3rd Rock" premiered in January of '96, NBC (concerned that audiences might not get the aliens-on-earth premise) had the producers create a credit prologue that identified the Solomons' ranks and missions. James Earl Jones narrated over clips of the cast (and an animated postcard showing the aliens in their Rambler). There was a different one-liner about Earth at the end of each prologue, which led into the now-familiar shot of the lens flare over the earth from which the show's logo appears.

When the show was a hit out of the gate, demonstrating that audiences understood the concept, most of this prologue was dropped for subsequent episodes (after the sixth or eighth episode, roughly). When those first few episodes reran on NBC, the prologue (which just slowed down the show) was dropped, and the credits were moved to after the "teaser" (or "cold opening"). No deleted material was restored to make up for this extra time lost.

I haven't had a chance to watch more than a few scenes yet (I hope to dive in tonight), so I don't know if the episodes on the set are cut down or simply missing this prologue. If it's the latter, they are the legitimate network cuts, but the rerun versions.

There's an easy way to know for sure. The pdf scripts on disc four are the "as broadcast" versions, meaning exactly as they aired for the first time. So you can compare any of those four scripts to the shows to see if they match (again, ignoring the prologue, which definitely is not there).

The "credit tag" (or "credit window," or "living credit") scenes were added in season two, and dropped in season five.

Incidentally, by season five, the network episodes were so short that they actually had to be lengthened for syndication! Each episode from the last two seasons had twenty seconds more material in syndication than in their initial airings!

 

[Hank E]

I was at the Best Buy in West LA yesterday and they only had about 6 copies left. There were actually two different boxes available: both had the "Best Buy Exclusive Extended Bloopers / Dick's Best" sticker, but only one had the "press here, our DVD talks" sticker and that box was physically different (an extra 1/4 inch of cardboard in the front to accommodate the "talker"). There was only one of them left so I grabbed it, even though I couldn't get it to talk.

I later saw the post where someone said they pressed on Dr. Albright's knee and got theirs to talk and sure enough, I pressed there and got mine to talk (which, of course, is nowhere near the "press here" sticker).

 

[MattHR]

In the case of 3RFtS, the "bonus" content is actually added to Disc 4, not a separate disc. Usually, the Best Buy bonus disc is in a small cardboard sleeve stuck to the back of the case beneath the shrinkwrap. The Best Buy bonus disc for "Seinfeld" Vol. 1 & 2 was merchandised separately in a CD jewel-case, but I can't think of any others that were not actually packaged with the main program. (Not counting the many "promo" or "sampler" discs that Best Buy has offered.)

 

[Josh_HI]

That's weird. So some boxes talk and some dont even have the capability too?hmmm

 

[John*P]

Carl Walker: Thanks for that price match tip! I got 3rd Rock: S1 at Wal-Mart for $19.99 with the Best Buy flyer. I'm a bit surprised that they match Reward Zone prices...unless they just don't notice that part.

Luckily, none of the boxes were damaged at my local Wal-Mart. They were all in great condition.

I'm pretty sure the back of the box mentions "full-length" episodes. The only thing missing may be the James Earl Jones intros, which were 30 seconds long. (you can listen to one of them at Sitcoms Online)

 

[Nick_TV]

Question: In the episode "Dick's First Birthday" the episode summary on the disk mentions "Tommy brings her (Sally) to health class for his project on female reproduction." But, I never see this scene in the episode. Any clues what's wrong? Are some episodes cut?

 

[j.k]

i fund this site forum very nice that why i join the forum ok

 

[Mark Talmadge]

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