DVD's Do the Supidest Things!

[on:]

Special features, they're great aren't they? Except when they suck. Filmmakers seem to have a thing about dumping a load of crap that we'll never use onto DVDs, simply so they can add that lucrative 'Special Edition' label on the cover. So what's the crappiest gimmick that's been put on a DVD?

My vote goes to The Simpsons: Season Two set, with the 'swirling' opening pages. Completely pointless. At least if there had been a game involved it might have been 'fun' instead of wasting an extra twenty seconds of my life   

EDIT- Damn, a typo in the title! I feel so ashamed   

[Reply #1 on:]

I still think listing "interactive menus" and "scene access" as a Special Feature is pointless.

There's a "Death Clock" on Final Destination.  That's pretty pointless.

[Reply #2 on:]

Making every button except fast forward and rewind inaccessible while the previews are playing. Grr.

Or when they list "Theatrical Trailers" as one of the special features, and the trailers are for entirely different movies.

[Reply #3 on:]

I hate when they list all the sound options as Special. Yeesh. Also, when they make the DVD into 2 Discs for no reason other than to jack up the price. It's wasteful. Disney does this all the time. Most notably with the Ghibli releases. Kiki was 30$, two discs, and NO SPECIAL FEATURES[aside from a five minute dubbing featurette that was CRAP]. Wtf?

[Reply #4 on:]

I love some kind of behind the scenes documentaries and a blooper reel is a must, I wish every DVD had one.

[Reply #5 on:]

The trivia quiz on the Big Fish DVD is cool.

[Reply #6 on:]

Does it have random questions and how many does it have?

Hey, would it be possible to include some kind of game on a DVD?
Maybe like a driving game or something which uses the remote control menu select buttons?
That'd be awesome!!
Like a little GTA1 version of the chase scene from Bullitt! 

[Reply #7 on:]

I wish DVDs were better protected against scratches, perhaps like minidiscs. I have tried buying DVDs that were so damaged that none of my DVD players could read them. The scratches came from the plastic sleeves some stores keep their DVDs in.

[Reply #8 on:]

 

Hey, would it be possible to include some kind of game on a DVD?

They have games on some DVDs I know, but they seem pretty pointless to me. The space would be better used with some extra deleted scenes, bloopers or documentaries rather than a game that will give me five mintues of fun.

[Reply #9 on:]

"Dress Up The Gingerbread Man" on the Shrek DVD.

What the fuck was that all about?

[Reply #10 on:]

I love special features on DVD's. Documentaries are a must. What I hate are these so called "in depth behind the scenes looks" that last about 20 minutes and only include superficial interviews with the main cast and crew and a lot of movie clips. I want real documentaries that show me the filming process in a complete and interesting way.
But then, there are also this unnecesary special editions for little movies that try to include like 2 audio commentaries and 3 featurettes and a lot more stuff, and it just ends up being repetitive.

[Reply #11 on:]

I recently got the Disney On the Front Lines set, which has all of Disney's WWII-related cartoons.  The most interesting is "Der Fuehrer's Face," which shows Donald Duck living in Germany and went unreleased for a long time because of its Nazi imagery (Donald constantly chants "Heil Hitler!").  It's finally on this set, but when you try to play it, you get an introduction from Leonard Maltin that cannot be skipped or even fast-forwarded through.  This cartoon is what people will most want to see and most want to watch multiple times.  But they won't want to sit through this introduction every time.  A few other cartoons have similar introductions.

   

Originally posted by EvilLunch
Kiki was 30$, two discs, and NO SPECIAL FEATURES[aside from a five minute dubbing featurette that was CRAP]. Wtf?

Didn't that have the complete storyboards?

[Reply #12 on:]

Doesnt matter how old you are but get the lion king dvd, its got the cutest games on it. but with all the good special features on it, it still lists interactive menus and scene selection as a special feature.
Also Lord of the Rings, great movie but i think 24 hours of special features is a bit much, who really cares what the guy that designed the costumes had for breakfast everyday. Then again im the idiot that sat there and watched it so maybe disregard that statement.

[Reply #13 on:]

I didn't get the Lion King for it's features, but 65 documentaries that each only last for 3-5 minutes is just wrong. At least they had the feature so the docs could be edited together. The games were fine, just too many of them. And the Menu for Disc 1 takes WAY to long to appear.

Another DVD that had not great special features was AKIRA. Great movie, but did it really need an extra disc? The only big thig was about 100 storyboards for the movie and a short featurette about the restoration and the dubbing process, which I liked. The rest was trailers and such and that was it.

That's it for me.

[Reply #14 on:]

Ah, to live back in the day when watching the movie is enough ..   

I personally don't like DVD extras. I dont want to see how they made the movie or some uptight actress talking about how the movie changed her life. What use does the 'making of' serves me? That they spent millions of dollars on casting & make-up? Oh wow. Watching the 'making of', to me, pretty much ruins the whole experience of the film.

Why can't everyone be happy with watching the film and enjoy it.

edit: Its proberly just me, but I just have a thing against over-indulgence.

[Reply #15 on:]

 

Originally posted by scooty puff snr:
Also Lord of the Rings, great movie but i think 24 hours of special features is a bit much, who really cares what the guy that designed the costumes had for breakfast everyday. Then again im the idiot that sat there and watched it so maybe disregard that statement.

I'm the idiot who sat there and watched all the documentaries three times. But I only do that with movies that really interest me like LOTR.

A big part of my decision in buying a DVD are the special features, if it has a lot of great special features, I'll buy it, if not, I'll just rent it.

[Reply #16 on:]

I think that DVD special features are essential to DVDs that I want to own... mainly because it is really hard to convince my parents to buy DVDs of stuff we have on VHS, as they claim not to see the quality difference (I don't know why... it is quite clear...).  But, even for stuff that I buy myself, I usually prefer to get releases with good features. Of course, if I want it enough, I will buy in anyhow, but I'd be more likely to buy something that has a few deleted scenes or a commentary than something without.  They just allow for more time spent "in the universe", so to speak.  They are also good for falling asleep to (LOTR EE on play all... interesting, but LOOOOONG)

[Reply #17 on:]

 

Originally posted by Action Jacktion:
Didn't that have the complete storyboards?

Well.. that is true. And I suppose it does count as a special feature. It could have easily fit on the first disc, though, and if I want to look at storyboards it's much more interesting to see them in paperback form.
Now, controversial Disney cartoons..
THAT'S what I'm talkin' 'bout! 

[Reply #18 on:]

The menu's on KoRn's "Duess" DVD are nothing short of terrible. Almost impossible to navigate, and you have no idea where you're going until you've wasted a few minutes getting there. Some nice artist ideas, but the layout is dreadful...

[Reply #19 on:]

 

Originally posted by eggsandwich:


Why can't everyone be happy with watching the film and enjoy it.

Well If you've seen the film before you might not want to pay more than the amount you paid to see it at the cinema. just to see the same thing again, I'll rarley buy films on DVD anyway

and its not just films, with T.V shows you want extra things, I wouldn't buy Simpsons and futurama DVD's if they didn't have commentaries because otherwise it would just be the episodes I can see on T.V.

[Reply #20 on:]

One of the Harry Potter DVDs (Sorcerer's Stone, if I'm not mistaken) has a pretty cool game that you have to beat to get to the deleted scenes.

The "Making-of" featurette on the Jurassic Park DVD is easily one of the best ever made.  Not only is it hosted by James Earl Jones, but it's really pretty cool.  The only other one that compares would be the Indiana Jones documentaries on disc four of the box set...but those aren't hosted by the illustirous Mr. Jones.