Extra, Extra!

When it comes to buying movies and TV shows on DVD, some people want to know as much as possible about the film or program. They want making-of documentaries, deleted scenes, commentaries, trailers and Easter eggs. They want the bells. They want the whistles. Other people, however, could not possible care less what the director's intention was in this scene or actor's motivation was in that scene. They want the movie or show and you can keep the rest, thanx.

For a while, most studios would rush a bare-bones DVD onto the market to satisfy the immediate wants/needs/desires of home video buyers, only to issue a "special edition" a year or so later, thus forcing some consumers to buy the same movie a second time--and thus mightily pissing off large chunks of the DVD-buying public.

The studios, to their credit, seem to have figured this out. Now, they generally put out two editions of individual movies at the same time. Example: Tim Burton's big-screen adaptation of Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, comes in two flavors: Vanilla (the movie, a commentary track and a couple of extras) and Mint Chocolate Chip (a second disc loaded with mini-documentaries on various aspects of the history of the character, the stage musical and the movie itself). I was (and am) a huge fan of the musical--my DVD of the version aired on PBS in the '80s with Angela Lansbury and George Hearn is one of my forever faves, even if it has no bells and no whistles--and was downright apprehensive about the movie, which cast mostly non-singers in lead roles. Johnny Depp may not have a great voice, but he uses his acting skills to compensate admirably. Helena Bonham Carter? Not so much. She seems so focused on singing that she forgets to act and consequently gives a flat, tone-deaf performance in the musical numbers (she acquits herself much better in the dramatic scenes).

So when I bought the DVD, I picked up the two-disc Special Edition. I wanted the bells. I wanted the whistles. I'm greedy like that.

Increasingly, though, it's not just a matter of choosing between standard and special editions--it's a matter of where to buy your special edition.

For a while now, different stores have offered different, exclusive versions of CDs, usually with additional/alternate tracks. Now, this concept has been applied to DVDs, with different stores offering different, exclusive add-ons and accessories. Example: Juno is not only available in regular and Extra Crispy, but you can also get a pen that looks just like a pregnancy test if you buy the special edition at F.Y.E. And at Target, you can snag a small, paperback copy of the Oscar-winning screenplay (while supplies last, of course). I already had a copy of the Juno screenplay, but my neighborhood Target only had one Special Edition left, and it was the Extra Special Edition with the screenplay, so...I didn't really need to buy that first copy off of eBay, now did I?

Then, there's Cloverfield, the mash-up of The Blair Witch Project and Godzilla told from a perspective of the unfortunate souls running away from the giant building-stomping monster. The movie holds up pretty well on DVD, though those of you vulnerable to motion sickness or vertigo might want to premedicate--the "shaky-cam" effect looks even worse on the small screen. The DVD itself is pretty much the same wherever you go, with loads of extras, but the store incentives vary from extra video footage (meh) to "collectible packaging" (something that I generally don't care about, though I did buy my copy of The Evil Dead because the DVD box was shaped like the Necronomicon--at least until the rubber started to degrade and crumble into dust) to the one I wound up with: A CD featuring music from the movie.

Cloverfield doesn't have a soundtrack, properly speaking, but music is heard at various points, especially at a going-away party early on, before the enormous reptile/bat/grasshopper/what-the-fuck-ever shows up to trash Manhattan. The songs are an eclectic mix, running from OK GO to The Vapors to Parliament. Unfortunately, the CD doesn't include the coolest song in the whole movie: "Roar!", the suite by Michael Giacchino that plays over the lengthy end credits, written in obvious, affectionate tribute to Akira Ifukube, the Japanese composer who scored the original Godzilla and many of its sequels.

And don't even get me started on the extras only included on Blu-ray discs--I'm not buying a whole new DVD system just to see footage from the Juno premiere. In fact, I'm putting off buying a Blu-ray player as long as possible. I've spent too much money on my vast DVD collection to pitch the whole thing for a new format. (And yes, I know there are Blu-ray players that also play standard DVDs--Target has one for about $400. Doesn't mean I want or need to drop $400 on that.)

I'm also not going to run all over town trying to find the coolest DVD version. I bought the versions I did because of where i was when I bought them--I happened to be in Target already, so Target exclusives are what I walked away with. If I'd been in Best Buy or Wal-Mart or Circuit City instead, I'd have walked away with their exclusives. When you get down to it, it's not about the CD or T-shirt or poster or book that comes with the movie--it's the movie and the cool stories about it on the DVD that matter.