The folks at Fox still haven't learned about their "24" mistake.... (1 Viewer)

[Ronald Epstein]

I love 24.

For the past three years I have been patiently
awaiting each new season's release. Now on Season
Three, I am as enthralled with this show as I was
when I first started watching it.

That being said....

The folks that put these sets together obviously
have not read our complaints here.

The Menus once again rear their ugly head.

I'm not sure about Season ONE, but I know that
SEASON TWO had menus that ruined the episode you
were about to watch. How did they do this? By
using a picture that depicts a character or action
that has not yet been introduced.

Here is the perfect example of what I am talking
about in Season Three....


One of the episodes on Disc THREE has a picture
of Nina in the menu before I even knew about her
surprise return. It totally ruined her surprise
return for me.



Now mind you, this is not the first time they
have done this with the 24 season sets.
Last Season HTF members complained about the
spoilers in the menus but it must have felt on
deaf ears.

I also get the feeling that these sets are put
together by people not familiar with the show
who have no idea they are ruining key plot
developments with their menu photos.

I hope the folks at Fox are reading this and
will be more careful in the future.

 

[TravisR]

I, fortunately, saw the episodes when they aired but I thought the worst spoiler was on Disc 5 when they show Chappelle with a gun to his head.


I have to say though that the DVD menus ruin alot less than the commercials for next week's episodes do.

There's two ways of watching 24. You can watch it week to week when it airs which is cool because you get to 'agonize' over the cliffhangers. The other way, you can go from episode to episode on DVD which must be cool to get to see the whole story back to back.

 

[MaraKM]

I'm not sure that Fox Home Video understands the concept of spoilers. Which I can sort of understand -- I know that when I work on a season set (proofing packaging copy, mostly), I don't generally have time to watch all the episodes, so I have to read the full synopses and spoil myself, so I guess you could lose sight of what was originally meant to be a plot twist.

That said, I still think Fox has been extraordinarily clueless about their copy & menu choices with Buffy, so while I've never watched 24, it doesn't surprise me that they're making the same mistakes. While they seem to understand on some level that they are selling these sets to people who are new to the series, that knowledge does not seem to get back to the art dept, authoring house, & dvd producers.

 

[TravisR]

I can understand to some degree if the image they use for the menu is really great but the 24 menus are kinda bland and ugly. That only makes me more confused as to why they spoil stuff. Like I said, I can't say that anything has been spoiled for me by the menus but I feel bad for anyone who hasn't seen the episodes before they put in the DVDs.

 

[Joshua_W]

Yeah, Fox also does this with Buffy. The menu shots, the discs, even the boxcovers, give away critical plot points.

I think the assumption is that only people who have already watched the episodes are buying the sets.

 

[Don Giro]

The second season of ROSWELL has a MAJOR spoiler printed on the back of the box!

I guess the "powers that be" aren't fully aware that there are plenty of us who haven't previously experienced these shows during their initial runs.

 

[Tom Brennan]

Plenty of people at the HTF and beyond complained about the sound mixing mistakes on the Star Wars DVD set (also distributed by Fox) and that was never corrected either. That must have really fallen on deaf ears: those that made the disc and those that did nothing to correct it. Maybe they just don't care.

 

[Andreas_K]

I too, don't like the spoilers on the Fox packages and menu screens - one explanation for why they use them might be that the viewer can more easily identify a special episode he is looking for. It's especially difficult with "24" where the episodes don't have names. That's the only reason why it might make sense for them to use pictures of key scenes on the episode menu. Of course you could also use the scene selection menu to identify the episode but maybe that is the way they think. That doesn't excuse spoilers on the package though.

Also I want to mention it's not only Fox who make this mistake!

I think Warner's method of not having a special menu screen for each episode is just as bad. Take Smallville or the West Wing for example. You select an episode (I never use "Play all") and you get the scene selection screen immediately with all the chapters for the episode. If the pictures aren't revealing then surely a chapter name or two is. That has spoiled a few episodes for me as well. Of course I don't read the info before I watch but my screen is pretty big so it's hard to avoid at least a glimpse.

It's just as bad as what Fox does!

 

[John Simon]

Ron,
I'm thrilled you brought this up. While I watched the eps when they aired, I've managed to get my parents to watch them on DVD. Both of the spoiler images mentioned in the first two posts of this thread should have been surprises, and were instead ruined by the idiotic placement of images from those scenes. How difficult can this be for Fox to realize? I truly hope that they're paying attention.

Any chance we can get another Fox chat soon so we can raise this more directly?

 

[Ronald Epstein]

I'll mention this to the folks at Fox
next time I speak with them. I really
think its a mere oversight -- nobody is
doing this maliciously.

To change the subject just a bit....

Almost done with Season Three set.

I taped last night's (1/17) episode on my
ReplayTV in hopes of keeping up with the show
as it happens this season.

Was last night's show the SECOND one for
this fourth season?

Should it be easy for me to jump right in at
this point? They usually give a good roundup
of last week's happenings at the start of the show.

Thanks.

 

[PaulP]

Yeah I think studios just assume that nobody blind-buys TV shows. I have done so with 24 and also with The Sopranos, and a few other shows.

 

[TravisR]

Ron,

Last night's episode was the fifth episode. They played two episodes on Jan. 9th and two more on Jan. 10th. Then last night, they put the show on its normal time slot.

I don't think it would be too hard to keep up with the story so far though. Check out the 24 website's episode guide. It's detailed enough to catch you up. http://www.fox.com/24

 

[John Simon]

I guess that's my problem. How can Fox possibily not know that? I mean, we know more and more people blind-buy TV shows, and that's just based on our discussions on these boards. One would imagine that Fox and all the studios base their sales on some type of studies. They must be aware that people are buying the DVDs without having seen the show before (heck, how else do you explain that the 2nd season's ratings were so much higher, a development that was largely attributed to the show finding a bigger audience on DVD).

I'm also sure that they're not doing this on purpose. But I'm a bit upset that they're fairly negligent in their choice of images, and also apparently deaf to the pleas of their consumers (this isn't the first time we've raised this issue). Hopefully they'll get it right the next time around.

On a totally unrelated note, another reason I'd like a Fox chat is so I could inquire about their customer service. I noticed recently that one of my discs from the 3rd season of The X-Files has gone bad. When I called Fox's CS dept., I was told Fox doesn't offer replacement discs. I'm not sure if this is standard for all the studios, but it struck me as quite a turnoff to TV-on-DVD. After all, season sets are expensive enough without the constant concern that if something happens to one of the discs, there's nothing to do but buy the set again. Here's hoping that'll eventually change one day as well.

 

[Tarkin The Ewok]

While I definitely do not support the inclusion of spoilers in menus or packaging, I've thought of a possible reason for the studio indifference to them. They may be of the opinion that everyone who buys these sets, even those who blind buy them, will watch them multiple times. On subsequent viewings, the viewer knows the whole plot anyway, so spoilers in the menus won't affect the experience.

For those who want to avoid spoilers, try to insert the discs without looking at them and remember the sequence of buttons that will play the episodes. This doesn't always work, but it does help.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

I just finished Season Three.

Remarkable.

I have last night's Season Five episode sitting
on my Replay TV waiting to be watched....

....I tried to catch up on what is going on through
Fox's website (thanks for the link) as listed above.

My God! To sit and read through all that is just
a bit too much.

Can I actually pick up on the show at this point
or is it better to wait for the DVD set to come out?

I'm now kinda avoiding watching this series on
DVD as the menus are really spoiling the enjoyment
of it.

 

[TravisR]

The show ties up most of its storylines freuqently enough that you should still be able to jump on and follow it pretty easily.

And if you think the menus are bad do NOT watch the commercials for the next episodes

 

[TonyD]

I HAve gotten used to not looking at the menus and somehow just see the text on the menu so i dont spoiler it for myself.

also it seems that this show would be perfect for a play all feature.
i dont get why it isnt an option on so many tv shows.

 

[Rolando]

I almost never blind buy movies. out of over 300 DVDs bought I have bought MAYBE 5 blind that I can remember. 4 of these were re-sold.

TV on DVD however... I have discovered 24, Dead Zone and Smallville and Buffy this way. I look forward to doing the same for Alias and a few others...

Spoilers are a BIG deal for me. This is VERY dissapointing.

Someone should start a thread with warnings. I am getting 24 season 2 on Saturday (yes I know, I am late). Any thing I should watch out for?

 

[TonyD]

roland, if by watch oout for do you mean for the dvd's of 24?
then, yes as has been noted in this thread, dont look at the pictures on the menues, just look at the text, click it and get out as fast as you can to the show.

 

[MattGSmith]

Ron,

You could watch the 5th episode you have taped, but my suggestion? Try to find someeone you know that taped the first 4. I've watched all 3 seasons when they aired. I missed these first episodes, luckily my brother taped them, so I just borrowed his. You could catch up, but it pretty much sets everything up. SO good! I think this is the best season yet. Maybe even try fansites, to see if any fan would be willing to send you a tape of the ones you missed. I've done that before too!

Matt