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TV on DVD is OK
by Matt McConnel
It seems
to be a recent trend among the PTBs (powers that be) of entertainment
to put out seasons, or in some cases entire series out on
DVD. Some are good, some are bad. While I applaud the effort,
this is still a burgeoning medium, and some production companies
still have not quite gotten it right. In the interest of protecting
you, dear readers, the following is a small guide of the good,
the bad, and the ugly.
The
good: Buffy: The Vampire Slayer. Hands down Joss Whedon
has won the hearts and fans with not only his show, but the
high quality of the DVDs. The series is being released one
season at a time, staggered about four or five months apart,
and are priced very reasonably for the five or six DVDs that
they employ. The extras are not overwhelming, and are offered
in a non-invasive manner. The extras include little featurettes,
audio commentary on selected, usually seminal, episodes, plus
stills, bios, and other little tid bits to keep you well busy
until the next set comes out. The release schedule coincides
with the now released Angel series that had its season
one released about three months after the third season of
Buffy was. The series is excellent, and the DVDs offer
a much more enjoyable venue for viewing past episodes than
re-runs or advertisement ridden homemade VHS tapes. Oddly
enough the HBO series OZ also falls into this category,
event though Seth Green has had nothing to do with it.
The Simpsons also are fine exemplars of how one should
release a television show to DVD.
The
bad: Sex in the City. For as well as OZ has been
released, Sex is everything Buffy is not: an
irregular release schedule, high price and deficient extras,
all combined to make a good show a bad DVD set. Sex in
the City is a wonderful show that never fails to make
me laugh, but the release of the show to DVD is reason to
cringe. For such high quality as HBO is known for, Sex
in the City fall surprisingly short of the mark.
The
ugly: Farscape seasons one and two. ADV knows they have
my love, and I salute them for pioneering television to DVD,
but ye cats and little fishes what were they thinking in reasoning
season one of Farscape to DVD two episodes a disc,
and pricing those discs at around twenty five bucks! They
were thinking like an anime company, and thankfully they have
since backed away from this model and have gone to a one season,
one disc pack for their release of season three. The advantage
of the season one and two releases however, was the need to
pack the discs with extras, extras, and more extras. The ubiquitous
audio commentary is rife through the season and is included
on more episodes than any other series one cares to name.
The problem is that ADV runs out of material about two thirds
through the season, and is forced to scale back some of the
goodies until the last two episodes. The same is true for
season two, although ADV then adopted a two disc release instead
of one. Even so, the third season promises to be more in line
with Buffy, The Simpsons, and OZ than
the previous two seasons. Oddly enough, it is another venerated
science fiction show that also has a lot to learn about DVD.
Star Trek's original series was released to DVD one
disc at a time, with very few extras. Not surprising as there
was probably little to put in. The Next Generation
however, adopted the one season, one package idea, and threw
a generous amount of extras in as well. Their pricing structure
leaves something to be desired, as they are generally almost
twice the price of anything comparable.
All of
this denotes an emerging industry standard that most television
series seem to be conforming to. Whether it be the release
of the campy Space: 1999, or the single season/series
My So Called Life there is an implicit understanding
that there will be a certain level of quality in the transfer,
not surprising since the studios are still using Beta or have
gone digital, and a high value in the over production value.
Price is still a variable issue, but that was the same issue
that movies met when they were first released to DVD. The
future of releasing television to DVD seems to be assured
if only because now there are sitcoms being brought out onto
disc. Friends, Mash, Malcolm in the Middle,
and even Simon and Son are all available. It seems
only a matter of time before Cheers and a host of older
shows make the jump into the realm of the digital disc. Should
this happen, it is not far fetched to conclude that DVD will
remain the home entertainment medium of choice for several
years to come.
Matt
normally pisses people off with his anime reviews. Raise your
hackles at him here.
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