A few thoughts about.....LET THE RIGHT ONE IN (1 Viewer)

[dpippel]

I just emailed them as well. One can only hope that they'll see how idiotic this policy is, rescind it, and take care of their customers.

 

[IanDP]

Thanks Ron.
I emailed them.
I let them know that the ones who are getting the shaft are the fans who ran out and bought this disc on day one, like myself. As a distributor they know that week one sales are very important, and it's the folks like us who keep them in business.
I don't know the logistics of a recall and swap, but it's probably complicated and expensive. Nonetheless, they have already admitted that they screwed up, and sold an inferior product. If they are going to admit they were wrong, then they owe it to us to replace it.
It's great to see this story getting coverage all over the net. Consumerist has picked it up too, which surprised me because it's really very "inside baseball", if you know what I mean. I didn't expect anybody else to care.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

By the way, if it helps, here is the email I sent them this morning...

 

[Bleddyn Williams]

Good job Ron. Anyone who cares about this film should try and take a minute or two to write. Given that this is all over the online forums, I think we can persuade Magnolia to do the right thing.

 

[Adam_S]

it's worth noting that dvd@magpictures probably goes to a low level staffer with no say in an exchange program.

however imdb pro yields a few other email addresses: [email protected] [email protected] and [email protected]
The last one goes to Andrew McGraime, director of interactive marketing, that might be the best bet in terms of email contacting as it's the only 'real' email address, though ccing all the email addresses is probably an excellent idea, as flooding four emails makes a squeaky wheel a whole lot louder.

IMDB pro also has phone numbers for their NYC and Austin offices (though not for the home entertainment offices which are in Santa Monica) if people really want to express their displeasure in another form than email. And I've got to say that most of those emails are probably caps locked emails with poor spelling and grammer. (having known low level staffers on the receiving end of stuff like this before, I can tell you that emails like Ron's are HUGELY appreciated and outnumbered about 95:1 by folks who spell "people" as "PEOPUL")

 

[Paul Arnette]

Thanks for the additional e-mail addresses, Adam. I have sent my e-mail to those as well.

 

[Bleddyn Williams]

Thanks, Adam! I forwarded my email to these extra addresses.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

We should remember that what we consider to be a mistake was likely a considered business decision to use a different subtitle track. It's not as though the new track magically appeared out of thin air -- someone had to create it. Where did it come from? They may consider making the change to be doing fans a favor, not a disservice (regardless of whether fans agree).

I'd still be very interested to hear why they chose to use one track over the other.

 

[James_Koch]

Yeah, I specifically mentioned that in my email. I said something to the effect of (I don't have my email infront of me)
"Why use a new translation that strips out all the subtleties, especailly when you felt a need to use the theatrical translation while recording the dub?"
and I even said that if an exchange program should never happen (though it should) I would at least like to know why they did what they did.

But I'm sure I'll never get an answer.

 

[David Levine]

It looks like the technology is in place to allow for new subtitles over BD-Live.

Imagion » News »*The Orphanage - Subtitles via BD-Live

With their second Blu-ray release after PAN’S LABYRINTH, Senator Home Entertainment enters a new era: The Blu-ray release of THE ORPHANAGE which will be in stores September 29, 2008, features two audio commentaries with German subtitles – one with the director and writer and one with the sound designer and director of photography - made available via the Internet.

“We are happy that we, together with our authoring studio Imagion, managed to implement the subtitles via dynamicHD that were not available before the pressing of the disc. So we were able to react promptly to the great demand for these audio commentaries that were already included in the limited edition DVD.” says Peter Heinzemann, CEO of Senator Home Entertainment. Andreas Thran, CEO of Imagion adds: “To produce the first disc worldwide with this functionality together with our partner Senator makes us very proud. This release emphasizes the enormous potential of the Blu-ray format and gives an outlook on the exciting possibilities of this disc internet combination.”

 

[KeithAP]

So what is a renter to do? I have Netflix and have removed the movie from my que. I would assume, all Netflix copies will be the original incorrect version. I would also expect the same from any local rent outlet.

So it would seem I would have to wait until the corrected version hits store shelves and then buy it, to get the correct subtitles.

Its stuff like this that drives some people to bit torrent. Not me of course, but some people.

-Keith

 

[Carlo_M]

Wow. I knew BD-Live might be good for something some day!

Okay, so now we have a potentially low-cost answer for those of us who already own the disc.

Problem is: does the current disc support BD-Live? If not, how would the disc be able to launch Live in order to grab the new subs if they were made available? My guess is that it can't.

But what this does do is suggest that most if not all BDs should have BD-L enabled in some rudimentary form, even if it's not being used much at the point of release, just in case something like this ever happens again, it's an easy way to rectify small mistakes.

 

[Mark Cappelletty]

Ugh. I didn't have a chance to see this when it first came out and bought it, sight unseen, from Amazon. I opened it up but still haven't had time to watch it. I sent them an email mentioning that I am seriously thinking about returning it to Amazon-- who will then pass on the issue to Magnet. If you don't fix it, or even acknowledge the problem, that's one thing (not that it's good); if you admit that you screwed up but are not going to make good to customers who blindly trusted you to do the right thing the first time around, it's a public-relations disaster.

Thanks, Adam, for those additional email addresses. I'll be copying my message to them as well.

 

[RickER]

I just watched the Blu-ray of this movie, rented from NetFlix.

Glad you guys liked it, but i guess im not into European art films. European, VAMPIRE, art films at that!

It was dry as toast, about as exciting as watching grass grow in winter...BORING!

It was well made, looked great, but the story sucked the life out of me, about as well as the vampire did its victims.

I think i need to watch Underworld.

Oh well.

 

[Felix Martinez]

Is it me, or am I alone in thinking that the home video industry's movement towards The User As Beta Tester model of product distribution is rather distressing? Get the darn thing right, and then put it out there. Or if a mistake's been made, fix it and recall what's out there.

 

[IanDP]

The following post is from the cheapassgamer forum, where we have a pretty good discussion of this going on. See my comments below his quote...
Let The Right One In - Page 4 - Cheap Ass Gamer

This is the best post I've seen so far on this issue. I've been around to other forums and nobody has done a direct comparison to the book yet.
I did some checking, and it turns out that Lindqvist DID NOT write the English version of the book. His Swedish version was translated to English by Ebba Segerberg (according to the Amazon listing for "Let me in"). Therefore, the book and disc English dialogue is only one translation of what Lindqvist wrote.
The other translation is the theatrical translation by Ingrid Eng, which we can assume is a straight translation of the movie dialogue or screenplay. This translation of the screenplay would not necessarily be the same as the book, as we know that Lindqvist's screenplay differs from the book in a variety of ways.

So, we can assume that they didn't pull these new disc subtitles out of thin air, but instead went back to the book's English translation. Nonetheless, IMO, that was a mistake because I've read posts on other boards from folks who have said that the theatrical subtitles are more in line with what is actually being said up on screen. This guy "Don" did a google translation:
Icons of Fright News and Updates: Let The Wrong Subtitles In To LET THE RIGHT ONE IN?!

 

[Bleddyn Williams]

I don't think BD-Live subtitles can be done with this title, but to be honest, I don't want to mess around with online patches. I want the disc to be correct.

If you haven't written yet, please consider doing so!

[email protected]

 

[Paul Arnette]

I am definitely starting to get that vibe as well. Where is Warner Bros. fix for the Matrix Revolutions video issue or Disney's comment on Pinocchio's audio?

It certainly doesn't seem to pay to be an early-adopter of this technology lately.

 

[David Levine]

I don't think its anything new. I remember back in the late 90s where it was a gamble if a given DVD was compatible with your player or not.

 

[Bryan Tuck]

If this is true, then they basically decided to ignore the filmmakers' artistic choices, as far as dialogue goes?

There's a line in the George C. Scott version of A Christmas Carol that differs slightly (but is equally effective, I think) from the corresponding line in the book. When Marley tells Scrooge of the 3rd ghost, his line in the book is something like, "The third spirit will appear upon the next night when the last stroke of midnight ceases to vibrate." In the movie, this is changed to, "The third, more mercurial, shall appear in his own good time."

When I watch a movie based on a book, I want to see the filmmakers' interpretation of the material. Otherwise, I'll read the book.

If this is what's happened here, that's kind of a baffling decision that really makes no sense.