special editions (1 Viewer)

[Lew Crippen]

What's your point, Lew?

When I think about it, I probably don’t have one. For some reason it made sense when I made the post.

 

[Ravi K]

Some special editions, like Criterion's Do the Right Thing are worth the money, but studios seem to slap the moniker on anything with extras. Blue Streak, for example, only has some music videos, a fluff featurette, music videos, and maybe some outtakes, but it is a special edition.

 

[Gordon McMurphy]

That's okay, Lew, I've been known to slip into confusion myself from time to time!


Gordy

 

[Jon Robertson]

What disappoints me is the sheer laziness of most special editions these days. It's the same old retrospective featurette + commentary + stills and trailers.

That's why I champion companies like Blue Underground, Warner Bros, Criterion and Fox, because they're putting on all kinds of unusual extras in just the right amount to give you enough information to satiate one's curiosity, but not so much as to spoil the magic of the film itself.

However, what's almost as bad are those horrifically bloated special editions that are virtually out-of-control in terms of sheer quantity and don't seem to have any kind of organisation - I'm talking about the likes of Fight Club that come along every once in a while and are just hopelessly sprawling, ensuring you have to wade through loads of crap to get to the decent parts.

Discs like tons of content like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Se7en or the 4-disc Lord of the Rings sets I have no problem with, because they're systematically covering all the bases and have made damn sure everything on the discs is worth your time.

 

[rich_d]

"Special" Editions. This has long been a pet peeve of mine. Doesn't there have to be a "regular" edition in order for there to be a "special" edition? Kinda like calling Domino's and ordering a small pizza. "Sorry, we only have medium and large." Uh... no- you can't have medium without a small and a large for it to fit between. So, invariably, I order "the SMALLER of the two". Yeah, I'm a jerk.

"Special" Editions indeed- like the Special "Limited" Edition of Saving Private Ryan. Don't get me started...

I can sum it all up in three words- Marketing, Marketing, Marketing.

Preach brother preach!

Absolutely, like going in to Starbuck$ and I asked for a small and the clerk said we call that a "Tall" (if I remember correctly). I told him I wasn't interested in learning his company's marketing hype. As I waited I noticed that others were using their lingo ... each to his own ..

As we can see the interest level on extras goes the full spectrum. Those that barely have the time to watch the movie let alone any director's commentary to those that fully enjoy them.

Hopefully most of us read DVD reviews that we respect before making a purchase and base it on the content merits and price point. What marketing chooses to call it? Like water off a duck's back.

 

[TommyT]

Me too! One of the reasons I got heavily into collecting DVDs was the extras. The 1st commentary I really enjoyed was on the Criterion ed of Robocop; it's hilarious! The best commentary I've listened to thus far is the cast & crew on the Millennium ed of Re-Animator. They have a blast reminiscing about how fun it was making the flick. Admittedly, many commentaries turn out to be boring but there are many out there that are enjoyable.

One thing I've noticed in discussions about SEs is that there's this mentality that we don't have the time to check out all the bonuses on loaded discs. Everything has to be done now now now!! I say, what's the hurry? I remember when I got my Fellowship SE I wanted to watch & listen to everything now now now! But at the same time I also realized it would take me days or weeks to get thru all the content, so what the hell was my rush? If you bought the disc(s) then take your time. If you rented it, why bother rushing, you'll most likely have time enough to enjoy some of the bonus material.

Here's what I've always considered the (stupid cliche time!) bottom line:

1. If you don't care for extras, then don't watch or listen to 'em. Use the extra disc(s) for coasters.

2. Even if studios decide to re-release prior SEs in stripped-down versions the prices will not come down all that much. The orig price of the 2d Fight Club was $34.98 but I never paid more than $25 for it. Most stores kept it on sale long after it was released. The new vers is listed at $19.98 but that's not a large difference. Prices for discs are probably never gonna go below that figure. Besides, studios will inevitably start raising prices anyway. Gradually, but it will happen, just look at the way theatre ticket prices have gone up. This is not just because of the advent of home video but also because studios so often take losses on films that are predestined to fail.

Perhaps the studios would be able to give us more worthy SEs if they stopped cramming so much money into garbage that shouldn't be released in the 1st place. Tripe like American Pie (a clone of a pretty shitty film to begin with, Porky's), Enough, Scooby Doo (predestined to be trash but somehow made money) will always win over films that actually mean something & will be remembered in 30 yrs.