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Lord of The Rings DVD, Now or Later?
Entropy_ah writes "As many of us know, the Lord of The Rings: Fellowship of The Ring DVD was released Aug. 6. It is a 2 Disk version of the movie with a few added goodies. However, New Line Home Entertainment is going to release an extended 4 disk version and a DVD gift set on November 12th. The Kanas City Star has an article discussing the merits of each addition and touches on the issue of this being an attempt by the movie companies to gouge as much money from die-hard fans as possible." I'm waiting, but I definitely find this whole mess frustrating.
I didn't like this whole mess either! I think I found a good solution though. I did buy the 2-disc set and watched all the material. When the 4-disc set comes out I will purchase that one as well and give the 2-disc set to my parents :)
Happy parents = better loot in the will
... [Insert decent Sig]
Honestly, what's the big deal? We all know about it already. It's not like they released the regular edition now and surprised us with the expanded edition a month later. We KNOW and HAVE KNOWN for awhile now they are going to release the expanded edition later in the year. The fact that they've been VERY upfront about this has been a breath of fresh air.
Honestly, if you really can't wait, there's this thing called a VIDEO RENTAL STORE! Go rent it (but please, rent from something OTHER than Blockbuster if at all possible).
Not until the 35-disk set with all three movies, including the Director's Cut, the Producer's Cut, and the Gaffer's cut comes out will I even consider buying a LOTR DVD set. If I really decide I need to see it again, there's always NetFlix.
You can only drink 30 or 40 glasses of beer a day, no matter how rich you are.
-- Colonel Adolphus Busch
That might be true for the version out right now, but the "special extended version" coming in November will contain 30 extra minutes of the actual movie that were removed to make the film more mass-compatible. I'm looking forward to seeing those. All the other extras, I couldn't care less.
Switch back to Slashdot's D1 system.
Because I actually just want to, you know, watch the damn movie.
Guess I'm a bad American consumer or something, but if in November I have a hankering for that deleted footage, I'll rent the "specialer" edition. But realy, I just want to watch the movie! Sheesh. Newfangeld technology... shoulda kept my betamax....
(...but what about the "custom bookends"?)
Karma: T-rexcellent.
I bought the 2-disc set on the 6th. Why? Because it had value to me. I wanted to see the film again, and it was worth the 20 bucks to me to own a copy of it.
When the 4-disc set comes out in November (or whenever), I'll decide if the extra content is worth whatever they're charging for it. If it is, I'll buy it. If it's not, I won't.
Why are veryone's knickers in a twist about this. It's a very simple equation.
Truth table of the thead title:
Now Later Now OR Later
1 1 1
1 0 1
0 1 1
0 0 0
So, I'm the top row, so my answer is "yes".
And yet, all the geeks who go out to buy the 4-disc set and not the 2-disc (myself included) will just be reinforcing the notion that you can "add all the shit you want, they don't want the original version" (the original cut will not be available via branching). Granted, since opening sales of the LOTR DVD outsold the previous winner, Harry Potter, they might not get to say that after all.
Schnapple
I scanned all of the comments, and no one has mentioned the best reason to buy both the editions, which is what I am going to be doing now. I already had the best set on preorder, and swore that I would not get the normal 2 disk edition. However, when I saw how cheap it was at Circuit City (15.99), I went out and got it.
To my surprise, there is a $10 rebate in the set for those who puchase the larger set in November, which means I'm only going to be paying $5.99 for this 2-disk edition. I think that's well worth it to hold me over until that released date, and it's only barely cheaper than the rental suggestion that some people have made.
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Believe me, I know the anger people feel. I'm one of the chumps who bought the Tron bare-bones CD virtually the day before Disney announced the two-disc enhanced version. And I'm steamed about that, because the second release is a proper superset of the first -- the entire first release (which was essentially just the movie) is contained in the second.
But that's not the case here. Not only have I been told, upfront, that there is a later set coming. I also know that the second set is not just a proper superset of the first. The first contains things that the second won't. So my value is not negated.
For the casual fan (and believe it or not, there are a lot of casual LOTR fans), the August release is what they expect: A faithful reproduction of their moviegoing experience, with some typical extras thrown on as is de rigeur. For the hardcore fan, the November release is what they desire: The extra scenes, some more background, a wealth of detail. And the really, truly diehard fanatic can simply consider this a single, 6-disc set that happens to be released in two parts but has all the things a diehard fanatic would want: the theatrical movie, a "director's cut", a Two Towers preview, behind-the-scenes footage, background detail, audio commentary.
To my eye, these guys are the first in Hollywood to realize that the DVD market is not homogenous -- to not treat everyone as the lowest common demographic. They're giving people options rather than making one dictatorial decision. I think it's a development we should applaud, not attack.
(Aside: Note that what transforms this from an underhanded marketing ploy to a consumer-friendly menu of options is the fact that all three discs were announced simultaneously, putting information into the hands of the consumers and empowering us to make an intelligent choice. That's perhaps the most important lesson of the current age: Freely-available information empowers the citizenry.)
The Mongrel Dogs Who Teach
Although the article does touch on the idea that it might be a gouging tactic, they quite plainly follow that up with a perfectly reasonable explanation. The other DVDs are taking more work, and Peter Jackson hasn't finished the extras for release 3. When they put the extra material back into release 2, they had to have the composer add new music. Yes, they could wait until December to release all three... but why on earth would they? Most folks will be quite happy with just their copy of the movie "as seen in theatres". Anyone who wants the extras will wait for their preferred edition, and in the meantime you can rent it if you're desperate.
C'mon, read the whole article. The entire second half deals with this. Peter Jackson's enough of a loon that personally, I don't think he'd try to screw over Tolkien fans. He's shown how committed he is to the material, let the studio make its money while he finishes his definitive editions.
~ Leilah
Call me quirky because I come from a finance background and I read SlashDot...
::Colz Grigor
The value equation for you may be:
Pay $20 now for the access to the content.
Evaluate the November version to see if the additional footage is worth an incremental $30.
_If_ you decide it's worth it, the total outlay is $50.
For me, the equation is:
Avoid being shunned by my friends for not having access to FotR content between August and November. (Opportunity cost)
Buy November version.
Total outlay: $30 + the opportunity cost of having not owned access to the content for three months.
The difference in cost, and thus the debate, is this: from my perspective is three months of not being able to view the content worth $20? from your perspective is the additional footage worth $30?