Breaking News: Universal Announces Blu-ray plans! (1 Viewer)

[Paul Arnette]

As engaging as Heroes S1 was, I found S2 to be a major letdown. :frowning: I'm actually quite glad that I was able to catch-up on S1, so that I could watch S2 via my HD DVR because I would have been even more disappointed with S2 if I had cost me anything more than my time. That said, I'm still wiling to give S3 a chance.

 

[Paul_Scott]

Paul, could part of your disappointment have been due to seeing the show via small doses (with distractions) staggered over weeks and months or do you think the content was honestly less satisfying? Reason I ask is I noticed many reviewers of the season 1 set say how much better they felt it played revisiting it on disc as opposed to watching it unfold week to week. That is something I can easily understand and why I don't miss conventional tv watching anymore. The bugs , the commercials, 40 minutes of plot advancement having to last 7 days or longer is maddening. Think the season might play better if you're watching 3 or 4 hours of it at a clip- or is it just too scattershot , contrived, or otherwise fundementally flawed for that to help?

 

[Jason Seaver]

Eh, I figure I saved money getting them in the sales. I doubt the BD reissues will be easy to find at $12 for a while, and I can actually watch them in the meantime

 

[Jeff Robertson]

Any new BD titles from Universal is nice, but the real question is-- will they be barebones or include features that take advantage of the format?

 

[TravisR]

I can't answer for Paul but I think that's part of the negative fan and critical reaction to S2. However, another larger part of it is that S2 just isn't as good as S1.

Heroes creator Tim Kring did an interview with Entertainment Weekly a few months ago where he was brutally honest about (and, in some cases, overly critical) and acknowledged the problems with the second year. Apparently, he's been working on a more detailed idea of where he wants to go with the show in future seasons which will hopefully thwart any major missteps in the future.

 

[Jim_K]

Well I'm just glad to hear Uni is ramping up. Day and date new titles are essential and should be a given. It's hard to get excited over movies I've never seen but based on the previews I am looking forward to Hellboy II.

As for the catalogs mentioned it's a bit underwhelming but I'll be upgrading to the BD's of The Mummy, Hulk (which isn't mentioned but it's pretty much a given) and maybe American Gangster if they do it right. The others like Knocked Up, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Miami Vice, End of Days, U-571 and Land of the Dead are marginal titles to me which I passed on HD DVD so I'll be doing the same with the BD's.

Not surprised to see the same titles previously offered on HD DVD, but it would be nice to see some new ones thrown out here and there. I'd imagine that'll make up the bulk of Uni's catalog output for the next 2 years. Which is fine I guess, because I'd like to convert as many HD DVD titles over to BD sooner rather than later - while the HD DVD's still have a fraction of their aftermarket value left.

Now where's Paramount?

 

[ScottJH]

Hopefully their plans for "among other" catalog titles include some new to HDM, such as the Hitchcock films, Conan & Scarface and not just titles that have been available on HD DVD.

 

[Sam Posten]

Good god no please dont drop all the HD DVDs on BD at once =)

 

[Yee-Ming]

My thoughts exactly. I held off buying Heroes S1 since I was waiting for the format war to end and stayed out, but figured I'd ultimately want an HD set, so held off the SD release.

For BSG though, I've always bought the SD versions upon release, so this would be an expensive double-dip.

 

[Derek M Germano]

Put me down for THE THING as well.

I would be especially interested in seeing titles like VERTIGO and SPARTACUS on Blu-ray.

 

[DavidJ]

I thought parts of S2 were very good, but it also wandered a bit too much at the beginning. OF course, we watched it several shows at a time as we had saved them up on the DVR. I plays better that way for us.

I'm glad Universal has announced their Blu-intentions. I a bit bummed that my season 1 will be red and season 2 will be blue. I'm also not fired up about the announcements other than the fact that we now know some of what is coming and when.

More stuff on HD media = good.

 

[Jari K]

Of course I don´t know what extras are included at this point, but why they would be "barebones", when most of those HD DVD-releases at least ported all the extras from the SD DVDs? I doubt, that they´ll think: "Oh well, since HD DVD is gone, let´s release these without extras just to piss people off".

I have faith for Universal.

Btw. About "Heroes". I bought the "S1"-set (HD DVD), but I still haven´t watch it.

 

[LCD22]

I feel the same way. There's really nothing there I'll be buying, but on the other hand with no announcement yet for "Bourne", it gives the studio time to really give the films a solid Blu-ray release. I don't want them rushed out onto the market. I'm in no hurry.

 

[Shawn.F]

If I missed someone mentioning this in the thread, my apologies in advance, but one thing I can never be reminded about enough with Universal and their Blu-ray releases:

NONE OF THESE WILL BE FRAAKIN' COMBO DISCS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Whoo Hoo!

 

[Paul Arnette]

It may have a bit to do with it, but if it does I don't think it is that much. Granted one of my most memorable TV viewing experiences was catching up on five seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer in a 5-days-a-week 'marathon' format on FX, but mostly I will agree with creator Tim Kring and the others that the initial episodes were just sub-par. The story meandered in the begining, too much time was spent with not very interesting new character while neglecting the old ones, the new 'big bad' was telegraphed from a mile away, the stakes weren't high enough, soon enough, and the 'threat' was too similar to S1.

Below is a link to an EW article where Kring outlines some of the missteps with S2. I think he's right on the money. It is refreshing to see a creator accept responsibility for mistakes, and he seems to have a genuine desire to rectify them, which is why I say that, for as big a letdown as S2 was for me, I am willing to give S3 a try.

''Heroes'' creator to fans: I'm super sorry | Heroes | TV News | TV | Entertainment Weekly

I now return you to your regularly scheduled topic...

 

[Jason Seaver]

Yeah, that being able to play them on every machine in the house sucks. :rolleyes

 

[Jari K]

Amen.

 

[RickER]

Not a problem if you have more than one machine.

 

[Jeff_HR]

I agree 110%!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nothing there to earn my $$$!!!

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Yeah, it's good news long in the coming, but not exactly great news due to the somewhat lackluster list of titles mentioned so far.

STILL, what did y'all really expect? It's Universal afterall (and they're still in the business to make $$$ last I checked) -- and the market hasn't changed *that* much just yet. OTOH, didn't they mention somewhere they plan to release some 40 odd titles this year -- apparently w/ just a tad less than 1/2 the year left when the first wave arrives in late July?

Anyway, I will no doubt be buying a few titles from them this year since I enjoy variety for my collection and won't stick my nose up at everything that appeals to the "PS3 demographic". Heck, the wife and I just got around to enjoying The Mummy on DVD again just the other day.

_Man_