AAARGGH! Special Editons redux! When will it end? (1 Viewer)

I just read Digital Bits massive list of expected 2002 DVD releases and on it are about a half dozen titles that are getting the special edition treatment:
Alien, The Posideon Adventure, Star Trek 2, Robocop, Starship Troopers, Peter Pan, Sixth Sense, Reservior Dogs, Good the bad and the Ugly, Blade Runner, Blazing Saddles, Batman, Superman 2, Evil Dead and Highlander are scheduled to get special editions in 2002!
As much as I absolutely LOVE special editions, when are the "this one is even better!" going to stop?? It's gotta stop somewhere right? I mean, there is only so much "Army of Darkness" information in the world, right? Why can't the first special edition be the Ultimate one? I have other DVDs to buy, movies that HAVEN'T already come out on DVD! I don't want to be re-buying my collection over and over and over again!

In this instance, I prefer a flood to a drought.

Alien Special Edition??? What could be covered that hasnt been already covered by the original DVD and Making Of DVD??
Is that for real? Perhaps a restored Pic and Soundtrack... but thats about it.

I know where you are coming from. But, you do have a choice whether or not to purchase them.
There are MANY DVDs that need to be remastered and I am looking forward to them. But, where there is little or no improvement in special editions' audio/video quality (such as Donnie Brasco, American Pie, etc.) I don't purchase them. Many times, these are just marketing schemes of the same thing re-wrapped.
As for extras - they are nice. But, they never sway me to buy a disc.
On a related note, you mentioned Star Trek II. I know this special edition is due out next year. I wonder how much they will improve the audio/video which is already pretty good for a film on this age. Unless they are doing major restoration work to it (anyone know?), it won't be worth MY while.

Keep in mind, the DVD format is only four years old. Not all of the studios were big supporters of the format early on. Couple that with the big push to get titles out and there are a lot of DVDs that could stand an upgrade.
What irritates me is a company like Vivendi/Universal that comes out with DVDs of new, recent movies, then turns around and releases "Ultimate Editions" just a few months later.

I think the reason for the Alien Special Edition is alot of people didn't get the 5th disc that you had to mail order for. I think that the 5 star collection will be the release we already have with the 5th disc included.

It will all end when people stop buying Special Editions..
And I am one of these movie geeks who just love having as many informative extras on a movie as possible.
Alien : If they can squeeze some substantial additional material onto the 5 Star edition, count me in! (commentary from the cast and crew would be nice)
The Posideon Adventure : Never seen this one
Star Trek 2 : See TPA
Robocop : I loved the Criterion edition, but more varied extras and the anamorphic transfer will sway my wallet.
Starship Troopers : Superbit style maxxed out bitrates, DTS and a boatload more extras (a proper making of hopefully).. yay!
Peter Pan : Never seen this one either. Haven't heard any really positive reviews either.
Sixth Sense : I don't think this is rereleased with new extras, just being repackaged as a Vista Series with no change in contents.
Reservior Dogs : Damn straight! Tarantino's movies just plain work for me, and a new transfer and extras would persuade me.
Good the bad and the Ugly : I only hear that the deleted scenes will be reedited back into the movie, and that's not enough to sway me.
Blade Runner : 'Nuff said.
Blazing Saddles : Great! I'll rebuy it, given sufficient motivation.
Batman : New extras and a state of the art transfer over a dual layer disc. Yum!
Superman 2 : Richard Donner cut, restored, rescored and remixed, with the remaining deleted scenes available. (with original soundmix available for the purists.)
Evil Dead : I'm happy with my Elite version at the moment, only the new transfer and new extras will sway me.
Highlander : never seen this one either..

This is a tricky dilemma for me. I don't mind re-purchasing a title for one or all of the following reasons.
1. An anamporphic transfer. Like many, I wasn't too worried about this at first, but now that I'm considering buying a widescreen tv, I won't buy another disc without one. I'm getting rid of all my non-anamorphic discs regardless of extras, transfer, etc. EVEN CRITERIONS.
2. An improved anamorphic transfer. Some of the first discs were obviously sub-par in the transfer department, a lot of my favorites non-anamorphic.
3. A vast improvement in special features.
I personally don't see the point in re-buying a disc becuase it has 1 or 2 new extras. (Ultimate Editions are the prime example here). I'll gladly buy the new editions of Goodfellas, Unforgiven, John Hughes SE's, (among many others) simply becuase they will likely be a huge improvement in all my above-mentioned categories in regards to their initial releases. For the past year, however I have not bought many discs that I'd really like to have in anticipation of a SE in the future. (Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs in particular). I guess it just depends...
[Edited last by Matthew_S on October 22, 2001 at 01:55 PM]

What I found odd about his list is that there are 2 titles listed that don't belong to the studios listed:
Better Off Dead he has as coming from Fox even though it now belongs to Paramount.
Poltergeist II belongs to MGM, not Warner.
Jeff

I won't be buing any of them.
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Given how poor almost everyone thinks the current Highlander DVD is, I don't see how anyone can object to having it redone.
The same goes for The Great Escape and Andromeda Strain (which I just heard about, and am very happy to hear, because the current transfer is awful).
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Alien, The Posideon Adventure, Star Trek 2, Robocop, Starship Troopers, Peter Pan, Sixth Sense, Reservior Dogs, Good the bad and the Ugly, Blade Runner, Blazing Saddles, Batman, Superman 2, Evil Dead and Highlander are scheduled to get special editions in 2002!
I'm fine with most of those titles as they have been out for a while or are non-special editions right now. Sixth Sense will not be a new SE but just a repackaging of the first release.
The one studio however that does give me the red ass is Universal.
They seem to announce their ULTIMATE EDITIONS right after everyone is done buying the prior release from just months ago. Don't be surprised to see Universal announce an Ultimate Edition of Josie and the Pussycats or Bring it On now that those titles have been in release for a few months. And I'm sure we all know that Mummy Returns will be getting rereleased within the next 12 months.

Tops on my list from the mentioned titles above:
1. Highlander- Highly looking forward to an anamorphic transfer, the current edition is one of the poorest quality dvd's i own.
2. Starship Troopers- I lilke my current editon but hey, it's Superbit! I saw a great improvement in Desperado. The DTS track will be nice also
3. Star Trek II- Loved the movie but don't have the current edition so that one is a no-brainer.
4. Superman II- Have it but would like a Donner recut.
5. Robocop- Have this one but the sound and picture could be better.
Looking forward to 2002!

I wish the studios would concentrate on their back catalog, instead of re-issuing the same titles!
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Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation
http://apacure.org/

Well, the upcoming Star Trek 2 SE could very well include the cut footage from the ABC broadcast, so count me in if that's the case.

I agree.
While movies like Goodfellas and Star Trek II need a good SE, lots of films without even a DVD release YET need to be released.
Some SE's are of not-so-bad discs. I'm confused to why Universal has almost no plans to re-release their Image-licensed titles.
There's still a bunch of AFI 100 films not even on DVD yet or planned (Jazz Singer, African Queen, Yankee Doodle Dandy, and Mutiny on the Bounty. Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Grapes of Wrath, Bringing Up Baby, and King Kong are of course, in the works.)
I hope the reason many are coming out so slow is because the studios are restoring them and doing it right the first time.
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I don't really have too much of a problem with re-releases if they satisfy the following:
1. The original DVD was one of the first batch released by the studio. Technology changes, and some of those early transfers that looked good then look terrible now.
2. A bare bones replaced by an SE.
3. Major restoration/cleanup/retransfer done.
As mentioned above, I'll take a flood over a drought. What kind of pisses me off are the Mummy:CE/Mummy:UE type of things, unless the studio announces early on that there will be another edition (ala Almost Famous, Pearl Harbor).
Besides, no one's forcing me to purchase the new edition.

How many times have I stared down the specs of a DVD case and wondered, "Is this the best they can do, or can we expect a special edition in six months?"
We don't want to pay twice, but there is the reality. Some of us are addicted to film, and can't help ourselves, and we want the special features. It may be difficult, but an exercise in restraint is required. You'll just have to ask yourself that question (above) and decide.
I admit that when they talk about re-doing "Aliens" it seems absurd, but then we didn't exactly get ripped off the first time now did we?
Thank goodness for the web awareness of multiple versions, and comparisons.
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Kyle
www.toldyouso.net

I'm against all re-releases. They grin when they sucker somebody into buying a better version but I'd much rather have a DVD that hasn't been released at all yet.
I'd rather have 2 crappy DVD's instead of 2 copies of the same movie and 1 crappy VHS tape.
Glenn