Welcome back to another episode of DVD Diggers. Have a heapin’ helpin’ of our hospitality.
I want to take a second to climb up on my soapbox. I’ve been a DVD fan since the beginning of the format. Because I’m a careful consumer, I didn’t actually buy into the DVD format until it had been established for some time, making sure it wasn’t going to disappear quickly like laserdiscs or other short lived formats.
In the early days, DVDs were targeted at real movie-philes. The point of the DVD format was to allow a high quality version of the movie that wouldn’t deteriorate over time like videotapes. The bonus features, like commentaries or behind the scenes featurettes helped sell the concept to the movie buffs who were interested in that sort of thing. For someone like me who had always been interested in the inner workings of filmmaking, this was a great incentive to switch away from VHS.
Soon came the advent of television shows. With DVD discs able to hold more information then your standard VHS videotape, entire seasons could be made available on just a couple of discs. This was a real boon to fans of cult shows, as now television shows could be acquired for less money and higher quality then dealer halls at conventions (not to mention a more legal method of getting the shows).
Time has passed and the DVD format has become more mainstream. You’d be hard pressed to find a movie on VHS that’s been out for more then a couple of weeks, as all the large chains have made the transition to selling DVDs. Unfortunately with that streamlining of the DVD format has come some negative things. For every person I know who pays attention to the behind the scenes documentaries or commentary tracks, I know five who never even look at them. Because of this, studios have gotten away with putting less extras on their discs, or worse - putting out bare bones editions of DVDs for the mainstream public, and then better “Special Editions” out later on, hoping to catch people unawares and sell the movie twice. In order to keep from getting burned on DVD purchases, you now have to be an educated consumer, and that’s part of what we try to make happen here - letting you know what to watch for, or what to avoid.
So why do I mention this? Because the other side of DVDs - the television shows - have also started to go mainstream. Instead of sticking to cult tv shows with a specific audience, studios are going hog wild trying to make a sale out of any tv show that’s ever existed. Why, just this week we see releases of the first and second seasons of “Dallas”, the first season of “The Munsters”, “Boy Meets World”, and “Night Gallery”, as well as season four of “Futurama”. As if that’s not bad enough, we also get the recent first season of “The Apprentice”. Why? What’s the point of releasing a reality game show that’s over with? It’s over! We know who won. It’s not like these shows have a ton of memorable moments that we want to be able to relive over and over again. How many people really want to see Omarosa screw up again and again? Well, the studios think anybody with $50 might want to, so thus the set comes out. It takes the specialness away from television shows being released when every single show gets its time - even short lived television shows. That may be a boon for fans of “Firefly”, but does anyone really want to see “CopRock” on DVD? ( No, thankfully “CopRock” hasn’t been announced yet). Like theatrical DVDs, in the attempt to cash in on any property out there, the quality of the DVD goes downhill, with less background information on the show available and the focus of the set on the episodes themselves.
In short (too late), while DVDs have become mainstream, they’ve also started to go downhill. I urge you fellow DVD Diggers out there - don’t give in to this. Select carefully where you put your money and send a message to the studios that we won’t buy any claptrap they send down to the stores. Hold out for decent releases of DVDs rather then purchasing the first bare bones edition to come out. Get informed about whether better versions are coming out before you plunk down your hard earned cash. Mostly, don’t just buy every single television show that comes out. Yes, putting “The Munsters” into your DVD player may be easier then catching it on TV Land, but are there really that many hard core Munster fans out there?
Okay, climbing off my soapbox now. If you have any opinions on the matter I welcome you to e-mail me. I’d like to see if my opinion is shared with others out there, or reflects a declining minority.
Let’s look at what else is coming out this week. I’ve already mentioned the tv shows, so let’s talk movies.
For the rocker fans out there I found an interesting listing: “8 Mile (Full Screen Edition with Censored Bonus Features)”. Let’s see... take a movie that was surprisingly good, chop part of it up as you convert it to Full Screen, and then censor the bonus footage? Why? My brain hurts just thinking about this. This would be like buying ice cream and watching it melt rather then eating it. For my money, the better purchase would be the 20th Anniversary edition of Prince’s Purple Rain, a 2 disk release that includes several documentaries as well as music videos for most of the movie’s pivotal songs. Heck, I’d probably just pick it up for the music alone. I’m not the only one who feels that way either - this is Bluntchop’s Pick of the Week.
Tremors 4 - The Legend Begins appeared on the scene earlier this year attached with the original Tremors in a two pack. For those of you who already owned Tremors but wanted to watch the final nail driven into the franchise (and Michael Gross’s career), the prequel will finally be available by itself this week. Again though, my money would be better spent on the new Criterion version of David Cronenberg’s Videodrome. It’s probably equally as cheesy as Tremors 4 but with Cronenberg’s name attached it holds a lot more weight in the horror world than Michael Gross.
For more mainstream releases, The Girl Next Door gets both a theatrical version and an Unrated edition. Like most Unrated editions as of late (Eurotrip, American Pie, etc) the idea of new unrated footage sounds a lot better then it is. Sure you get a little more nudity, but it’s never who you want it to be of, like the film’s stars. Nevertheless, The Girl Next Door has been well recieved around Cinema Blend so I do recommend it to anyone who can handle the premise of a movie where the girl next door used to be a porn star. Whether you get the Unrated Edition or Theatrical version is your call.
If you haven’t gotten enough of The Princess Diaries star Anne Hathaway (and I know I haven’t), Ella Enchanted also is released this week. It gives us more of Hathaway then the Princess movies have... and by that I mean she sings in Ella Enchanted which could be a turn for the worse, but hey - can you go wrong with a fairy tale style fantasy with Cary Elwes (The Princess Bride) and Eric Idle (Monty Python)?
Finally, if you’re the type of person who’d prefer John Ritter’s final role didn’t involve an adulterous shopping mall Santa, good news! Ritter’s actual final role was a full length movie version of the Clifford cartoon Ritter voiced. Clifford’s Really Big Movie also comes to DVD this week. Yeah, it’s a kid’s movie so it won’t be fit for everybody, but it is a much cuter and happier (not to mention more family friendly) way to remember Ritter.
DVD Pick
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