Buffy goes on a diet - Repackaged again! (1 Viewer)

TVshowsondvd.com says Fox is going the same route at with the X-files and is going to release Buffy in the slimmer thinpaks. Apparently the disc count is going to be the same so the discs/extras are intact, but that's nothing official.

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=5086


I thought they might do this, I didn't buy the RED box, because I didn't like the setup, even though I had sold the several seasons of BUFFY in advance. I figured I'd wait for another price drop or the chance of thinpaks.

Looks like I'll be getting these thinpaks. Although, if they do a switcheroo on the extras, like with the X-files, it's going to suck!

I fully expect they'll rerelease ANGEL as well, but I only have the first season which I bought for $15 during a Amazon sale, so it's okay.

What other FOX series are in digipaks that have enough seasons to warrent this situation. If they start with "The Simpsons" I'll freak out!

It's starting to make me fear buying digipak sets, at least from FOX. Let's hope this doesn't spread to the WB, then I'll be in big trouble.

"24", "NYPD Blue" and "Dark Angel" are in bulky DigiPaks, so they are candidates.

will they do the same with Angel? I already own The Chosen Collection so no need to get these sets, but I would love to eventually get seasons 1-4 on DVD of Angel (season 5 reminds me of a dark time in my life and I don't want to revisit it for personal reasons) my mother died around the time of the last half of the season and watching Cordy, Fred and Wes all die within 10 episodes of each other was just too much for someone trying to find entertainment value during a depressing time, and I don't think I want to relive that period in my life ever again, plus season 4 of Angel ties in with the end of Buffy, so in a way it can serve as a closer too, while giving Angel a happier sendoff IMO
in the slimmer-cases and cheaper price.

This would be an excellent time for Fox to fix some of the errors and omissions of the original releases (i.e. adding the recap back to "The Gift", making "Once More With Feeling" anamorphic widescreen, etc.), but that is probably a bit too much to hope for in a simple repackaging situation. Still, it appears that they made new masters for the X-Files disks to squeeze the extras off of Disk 7, so it is not out of the realm of possiblity. My Region 1 holy grail (an option to buy Seasons 4-7 in widescreen) is still very unlikely, so I still may not be finally plunking down my change for any of the Buffy sets yet.

Michael, I believe they're going to be using the original masters for the Buffy sets, just changing the packaging.

Gord

not trying to be rude, but when Joss Whedon himself prefers the show in fullscreen than widescreen, why is there so much controversy and hoopla over the Buffy sets? He has said "Buffy=fullscreen, Angel=widescreen" more times than you can shake a stick at and I don't see a point in boycotting the latter sets for being in fullscreen (when you watched it on WB/UPN, it was fullscreen, when you watched the reruns on FX and UPN, it was fullscreen... only European viewers have seen it in widescreen) because it's not the same thing as a movie. He doesn't want his work on that show in widescreen, so that's the way it is.

IF they did this thinpak deal for ANGEL, I would consider selling/rebuying them - I HATE digipaks and have wanted to put the discs in something else forever - but the cost of printing covers, either at home with my own printer/ink or somewhere else, has prevented me from doing so.
Ever since FIREFLY I have fallen in love with thinpaks.

^I agree with Nicholas. When I bought Roswell season 1 about 2 years ago, it was the first time I saw slimcases, and I thought it was odd, but I quickly began to embrace those over digipacks, especially for hour long series that hold more discs to a season. Hating the digipacks was part of the reason I sold my old Buffy DVD's and replaced it with The Chosen Collection. Same with Angel, I'll get in slimcases.

I also like the thinpack cases, they really are nice to save space, as long as they don't take the cheapie way out like Fox did with X-Files

I too prefer the slim cases, but I have gotten various cast members to autograph my season sets of Buffy & Angel, so now I don't want to part with the digipack boxes. But boy, I would love to save that space.

I don't think there's any danger of extras being dropped. Unlike The X-Files, the Buffy (and Angel) sets don't have discs containing only extras. Every disc has episodes on it. Plus with six discs per season, they would fit fine in three double slim cases. It think it would cost a whole lot more to go back and drop extras. There's no reason to change the discs, just the packaging.

I also love the fact that slimcases are replaceable if they break. In fact, the slim cases that came in the Bewitched sets didn't hold the DVDs well, so I replaced them all when I got the sets. Slim cases are definitley the way to go. If only Bueua Vista would make the switch so they can drop the irritaing overlapping discs.

More on topic: If I hadn't bought the Choosen Collection, I probably would have replaced the digipacks with the new slimcases.

Will these be double thinpaks, making for just 3 cases, or the standard 6?

They will be doubles like the X-Files re-issues. Using singles would make the packages no smaller than they were before, which is the other reason for the re-issue, besides the price reduction. There is growing pressure from retail to reduce the package size of DVD sets, with shelf space a major concern as the flood of TV-on-DVD continues.

Anybody here got any of the R2 Buffy sets? I like their "book-style" packaging best of all the alternatives I've seen...

Yeah, I've got S4-6 in the R2 book style, and they are really classy.

Question: Does anyone know if Season One of Buffy is going to be re-compressed? Because let me tell you, the original release of that season was one of the poorest looking dvd sets I've ever seen. Nothing but artifacting and dot-matrixing going on there, contrast issues, which is a fine thing when you're talking about a vampire story that always takes place in the dark... Well if they decide to fix up season one then I may be willing to re-buy it...anyone know anything?

Ethan, it's very unlikely. Keep in mind some of those problems were caused by the 16mm film they were using at the time.

Gord

The re-releases will probably look the same (The X-Files did). However, you'll almost definitely save money if you can find The Chosen Collection. It seemed like The Chosen Collection was going for under $150 (and alot cheaper in other places) but the re-releaes are MSRP at $40 so they will probably all be about $30 a piece.

if you like the entire series (some people stop after season 3, others stop after season 5, I love all seven seasons), the best bet is to get The Chosen Collection while you still can.