"Space: Above and Beyond" Best Buy exclusive - what's the deal? (1 Viewer)

[MarkBirds]

Will this set be a Best Buy exclusive indefinitely?

If it becomes available at other retailers, will it be the same set, or will the extras be different, a la Battlestar Galactica?

Any info would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Katherine_K]

Best Buy exclusives generally last a couple of months.

I highly doubt there will be a difference between the BBE or the general retail set for a show that lasted one season a decade ago. Battlestar Galactica is a show in it's current run and extras can be made for it more easily.

 

[BrandonJF]

Plus, the BB set was specifically labelled the "UK" version, which was a big warning sign that the official R1 release could be different.

 

[David Lambert]

I don't EXPECT it to remain a BB exclusive forever, very few items that the chain secures as an exclusive remain their's forever (it's too limiting to the studios to promise this to BB at ANY price). Give it 3 to 4 months.

I know some people won't buy from BB because they dislike the chain, or the local store in their area. Others don't HAVE a local branch of the chain, and don't want to buy via BB.com website. Some people simply protest the "exclusivity" thing, since it seems to be rather a monopoly-inspiring situation. Some are hoping to get it cheaper when it's available at other retailers. Other than those reasons, is there any other reason not to just get the set from Best Buy?

 

[Scott-S]

I agree with David. I would never buy an exclusive. Calling something an exclusive is the same as saying "buy this a mrsp or not at all". It is a monopoly.

Besides, up until recently, the closes BB was an hour and a half away.

 

[Katherine_K]

I on the other hand, will be at Best Buy at ten tomorrow to get it.

 

[todd s]

I wasn't going to order it from BB. But, they had a deal where I could order Space and Millennium season 3 and get $20 off.

 

[BrandonJF]

I can't understand that. First, none of the exclusives sold so far have been at what I would consider "MSRP". Tru Calling may have been a tad pricey for 6 episodes, but I'm still not sure that price was at all inflated. A full season of Space: Above and Beyond for 39.99? Is that out of line with how much it would've been had it not been a BB exclusive? I know I've seen similar Fox sets go for that much on release week (or more). Had they been charging 69.99, I might agree with you, but 39.99 is what I would expect to pay.

Second, how is this in any way a "monopoly"? That term seems to be thrown around rather loosely in these situations. To me, it's the exact opposite. Best Buy negotiates these exclusivity deals to give them a competitive advantage and get people into the store. It's competition. Now, if Best Buy were the only company that sold DVDs period, we can call it a monopoly. Otherwise, we have to call every retailer that has a special promotional exclusive a monopoly. One week it's Wal-Mart for having a bonus disc on this title. Next, it's Target for having a bonus disc on another. I get this is an exclusive window on a title as opposed to a bonus disc, but there are plenty of retailers that have items that are exclusive to their stores. Is McDonalds a monopoly because my kid can only get the happy meal toy of the month there? Is it not fair that Burger King doesn't have the exact same toy?

 

[Scott-S]

In my view, having a special bonus disc is different than being the only place I can buy something.

The problem I have is the Brick and Morter places are usually much more expensive that the online places I use. I would buy from Best Buy, or Walmart but I refuse to pay more money. Plus, if I can order online, I don't have to pay sales tax. All this means that in general any given DVD is more than a few dollars more than online.

I really want to buy this particular DVD set, but I know if I wait for it to get to Amazon, it will be cheaper.

 

[Katherine_K]

And that Scott, is the price premium of getting the set earlier.

 

[Kevin Grey]

In my experience online (if you include shipping charges) can't usually beat the first week sales at the big box retailers. After that though and online becomes a much better deal.

For example, Lost Season One is on sale at the big box retailers for between $37.99 and $39.99 this week. Deep Discount DVD is offering it for $38.89 so not really any savings. Now next week when Lost is no longer on sale at the brick and mortars, the DDD saleprice will be a much better deal.

 

[TravisR]

To me, paying the extra amount to get it months earlier is worth the $10 (and that assumes that it's $30 at other stores when it ceases to be a BB exclusive). Now if it were $100 and probably/possibly going to be $30 in a few months, I'd wait. However, for the chance of saving $10 and having to wait months, I'll pick it up.

And as someone else mentioned, I'll be getting Millennium: S3 so with the $20 off for both, it'll be like I'm paying $30 anyway

 

[Philip Klein]

BestBuy Atl $34.99

 

[TravisR]

If you're a Reward Zone member ($40 if not)

 

[Mark Talmadge]

That's pretty cool. But usually the Best Buy exclusives last for about two months. The Battlestar Galactica set was something different because this was a case where the first season aired in the UK first, long before it aired in the United States and also saw it released in the UK first before the United States saw a release date for it.

I would expect that the S:AaB will be the same set that will be available everywhere else as well. If you recall, the BB exclusive for Battlestar Galactica was in fact the UK version which wasn't compatible with all DVD players.

 

[BrandonJF]

I my view, having a special bonus disc is different than being the only place I can buy something.{/QUOTE]

It is different, but every retailer has the opportunity to do something like that (and many of them do with one type of product or another). It doesn't make them a monopoly.



There was a time (way back in the beginning) when online was comparable to first week at the brick and mortar stores. Now, it's often not even close. After the first week, I find the brick and mortar stores to be about even with online, not counting any insane DDD sales. I actually stopped buying online due to the number of loose discs I was receiving and the increased frequency of exclusive bonus discs. The cheaper prices have been an added bonus.

 

[Philip Klein]

duh on my part:b

 

[Rob T]

It looks like it won't be available at the Best Buys in Canada.
I went in to get it today and I didn't see it and the guy working in the department didn't know anything about it. I checked bestbuy.ca and it's not listed and bestbuy.com won't ship outside the states.
my parents are on vacation now though so they said they'd get it if they see it.

 

[Andrew Bunk]

Wasn't going to get this, but the $20 off deal changed my mind. Never really saw the show when it was out, but I didn't realize it was a Morgan & Wong production so thought I'd give it a chance.

On a related note, seems like stuff is kind of scarce today-maybe because of the holiday. My Best Buy only had one copy of Millennium S3 out at 5pm, and about 8 copies of SA&B. Plus no Rocky & Bullwinkle S3. Target only had one copy of R&W and no Millennium S3 to be found.

And, I had to go to Borders just to find The Girl In The Cafe. Yeesh!

 

[Katherine_K]

Morgan & Wong wear SAAB t-shirts in a few of the X-Files extras, and one of the characters from the X-Files season 3 episode "Jose Chong's From Outer Space" is also wearing a SAAB t-shirt.

Watched the entire series today, and it was as I remembered it very well done. Definately more a war show with SciFi elements than a SciFi show with war elements. My favorite episode is Sugar Dirt.