Are easter eggs on DVDs becoming a thing of the past? (1 Viewer)

[Gary->dee]

Do you think that studios and DVD makers are shifting away from the somewhat traditional practice of including easter eggs on their DVDs? I'm thinking yes that's indeed the case because I notice fewer new DVDs have easter eggs compared to a few years ago when they were more common. Then again I just might not be buying the titles that have easter eggs...

 

[MartinTeller]

I sure hope so. I hate the damn things.

 

[Duncan_N]

Not if you've got the Duran Duran Greatest DVD!

 

[Chuck L]

Think about it...most people on a remote only know three buttons...on/off, channel and volume. Through more things for them to do and it is overwhelming...

Again...it was another one of those things to lure people in, yet when it became a mass appeal product, things had be dumbed down.

 

[Mark Zimmer]

Goodbye and good riddance. The only time I can understand it is when for legal reasons the disc producer needed to sneak something through under the radar--I can think of a couple instances like that, but it's by far the exception.

 

[Patrick McCart]

I don't like it when easter eggs are like the hidden Walt Disney Treasures stuff (How wonderful it would have been to have all the Walt intros easily accessable!)

However, for stuff like DVD credits and throwaway stuff...no big deal. Same thing with stuff like the MTV Movie Awards segment on the FOTR: EE DVD.

 

[Nelson Au]

With respects, I don't understand the fuss about hating them. I think they can be fun.

I don't go looking for them. Every once in a while I find them and think, cool, I found one.

The newest one I found is on The Italian Job DVD, 2003 version. On the extras section, the top item is the Making of... documentary. I accidentally hit the left arrow button while it was highlighted and I found a useless bit of deleted film of Seth Green ad libbing during the mocking the Jason Stratham routine.

My 2 cents, don't hate me.

 

[Jason Harbaugh]

I just hate when they list them as features. That's not the point of an easter egg. The Italian Job is a good example of a traditional easter egg.

 

[Bill Burns]

I've just located two on the second disc of Yankee Doodle Dandy. They're the first I've seen in a while, but I haven't bought many of the "hot new titles" that so often contain them. It seems they're on the way out, but that may just be a reflection of my buying habbits versus three or four years ago, in keeping with what Gary suggested. I think the title I've found with the most easter eggs thusfar is the reissue (from MGM) of The Terminator; the dang things actually cycle on that disc, so clicking the same "secret item" yields a different interview segment each time. Rather annoying in that form, but I usually enjoy unadvertised "hidden," but accessible, special features.

 

[Steven Wesley]

I don't like it when easter eggs are like the hidden Walt Disney Treasures stuff (How wonderful it would have been to have all the Walt intros easily accessable!)

You said it!

For the most part, I like Easter Eggs if they are somewhat easy to discover. You feel like you "found something secret". But if the experience of finding them is painful, then the luster is gone. I usually just go online to find lists of Easter Eggs anyway. Who wants to sit there and try to figure out every possible location for the cursor with my remote?

 

[David Fisher]

All four discs of the new Simpsons Season 3 set contain an extra commentary as an easter egg. You can find them by some sort of intricate manipulation of the cursor at the title screen, or you can just hit the "audio" button on the dvd remote. I don't have a problem with easter eggs when they can be accessed easily with an audio or title track search. I believe that's how I had to find the original ending of Terminator 2 on the Ultimate edition.

 

[Gary->dee]

Well I've certainly never had a problem with easter eggs being on DVDs. Afterall, it's an additional feature so I don't exactly understand why people wouldn't like them. If it's just a matter of being frustrated in finding them there a number of sites that point out how to access them.

I just hate when they list them as features.

I don't think I've ever seen DVD packaging that actually lists easter eggs as a feature. That would almost betray the point of an easter egg wouldn't it? They're supposed to be hidden gems.

Anyway I'm glad movies like the Star Wars prequels have easter eggs, clever ones too like gag reels. I'm expecting one for the Episode 3 DVD. Probably the same code at the main menu, 1138. It's a tradition now. Not sure if the X2 DVD will have one but the first version of the X-Men DVD had the hilarious Spider-Man outtake as an easter egg so I hope the X2 disc has something as well.

 

[Seth--L]

About time!

I have no interest in having to jump through hoops in order to access material a DVD.



Studios list them as features in press releases.

 

[Joe Bernardi]

Just think if non-movie "software" contained Easter Eggs...

"how the hell do i get upper case letters in this new word processor? every time i hit the shift key, i get italics!"

 

[Jason Harbaugh]

I don't think I've ever seen DVD packaging that actually lists easter eggs as a feature. That would almost betray the point of an easter egg wouldn't it? They're supposed to be hidden gems.

Yes it would, which is why I hate it. There are a few that have it listed on the back of the box. Can't think of the ones off the top of my head, but I'll check when I get home. Even when they list it just in the press releases is just as dumb.

 

[Chris Farmer]

Actually, Joe, plenty of non-movie software contains Easter Eggs. Just like on DVDs they're fun but non-essential. A lot of them include things like a hidden credit sequence, messages buried in text strings, or more elaborate ones. On the Mac side, one of the more famous ones was if you did a text clipping of the text "Secret About Box" to the desktop, it would being up a picture of the Apple campus, a flag with a picture of an iguana with the tail morphing into a plug, and the bottom of the flag read "Iguana Iguana power Surgeis" You could control the waving of the flag with the mouse, and even rip it off the flag poll where it would then drift to eh ground. Across the bottom a set of credits scrolled listing the names of all the people who worked an every version of the Mac Finder. totally non-essential, but loads of fun if you found them.

 

[Nelson Au]

Hey Chris-

That Mac easter egg you just described, How do you activate it? I don't understand "text clipping to the desktop". And will it work on the latest OSX?

Thanks, Nelson

 

[MarkHastings]

Probably with all the competition and SE's that are produced by every studio, they want to make every DVD seem like it is packed with "Extras". Having hidden features would be less stuff they can list as a "Bonus".

 

[Ronald Epstein]

For the record, I hate Easter Eggs.

If the Eggs are obvious, that's one thing.
I agree with most everyone that it's no fun
having to jump through hoops to find them.

To be honest, I don't even look for them.

 

[Norm]

I sure hope so!