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Other
DVD Awards for 2005
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to Outstanding Achievements in DVD for 2005
 WORST
DVD - OVERALL (TIE) |
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| WORST
DVD - SPECIAL EDITION |
Office
Space: Special Edition with Flair (20th Century
Fox)
Um, Fox? Yeah, we're gonna need you to go
ahead and take another look at the "flair" count on
this special edition. The anamorphic transfer is nice and all
but... y'know, there were a lot of things that SHOULD have been
included on this disc that weren't. Like maybe a commentary by
Mike Judge? Judge's original Milton
animated shorts? Stuff like that. Maybe it was the studio's
fault, maybe it was just Judge being Judge, or maybe it was a
combination of both. In any case, Fox... if you could go ahead
and take another whack at this one, that'd be terrific. OK?
Thanks.
Oh... and we're going to need you to come in on Saturday and
Sunday too. |
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| WORST
DVD - STANDARD EDITION |
The
Big Lebowski: Collector's Edition (Universal)
Oh sure... it SAYS Collector's Edition,
but that just ain't so. When you think of all the cool things
that should have been done for this DVD release, it just makes
you sick. At LEAST Universal could have sent a cameraman to
Lebowski Fest to capture some of the fun, not to mention maybe
shooting a few new interviews with cast members. This re-issue
actually leaves off the theatrical trailer that was on the
Polygram release, though you do get a new gallery of Jeff
Bridges photos and new Mortimer Young introduction to the film.
Still, if you already had this film on disc, there's really no
reason to buy the new one. Universal screwed this pooch, big
time. And you know what we have to say about that? "This
aggression will not stand, man!" |
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| WORST
DVD - BOXED SET |
Star
Wars Trilogy (re-issue) (20th Century Fox)
Despite the original film poster art on the covers, another
chance to see the actual original version of these films bites
the dust. What's more, Fox and Lucasfilm left out the bonus disc
included in the original box set release, and didn't bother to
fix the "creative changes" to the 5.1 soundtrack on
A New Hope. Ah well. Maybe
on the Blu-ray version... |
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| WORST
DVD - VIDEO (TIE) |
March
of the Penguins (Warner Bros.)
Oklahoma!:
50th Anniversary Edition (1955 Todd-AO Version)
(20th Century Fox)
Warner's March
of the Penguins is just riddled with compression
artifacting. That's unfortunate, considering the beauty and
popularity of the film, not to mention surprising. Warner
usually offers much higher quality on their discs.
As for Oklahoma!, the
70mm Todd-AO version should have looked significantly better
than the 35mm CinemaScope version, but that's not at all the
case here. The Todd-AO print is clearly in desperate dire need
of restoration. It's soft and uneven looking - a real mess. It's
cool to have both film versions on the same DVD release, so give
Fox credit for that, but ouch. |
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| WORST
DVD - SOUND |
Star
Wars Trilogy (re-issue) (20th Century Fox)
Y'know, we probably should have mentioned
this one last year. Perhaps sensing this omission, Fox
generously re-released the original trilogy in 2005 with the
same mistakes... er, sorry, we mean "creative rethinkings"...
intact. Mr. Lucas, John Williams provided you with one of the
single greatest film scores of all time for this film. The least
you can do is not fiddle with that too. |
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| WORST
USE OF DVD FEATURES |
Forced
Video Clips
It seems that once the studios realized they could program DVDs
to do whatever they wanted - including playing almost ten
minutes worth of trailers, studio logos, FBI warning screens and
"Piracy is a Crime" messages whether you want to see
them or not - they started abusing that power almost
immediately. We don't pay $30 to watch your damn advertising and
be scolded like children. Part of the reason people aren't going
to theatres as much anymore is to get away from crap like this.
ENOUGH!! |
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| MOST
DISAPPOINTING DVD |
The
Big Lebowski: Collector's Edition (Universal)
We've already told you why. This movie is
already in heavy rotation in any Achiever's video library. A
real special edition would probably never leave most fans'
players.
THE RUNNERS-UP
There were a distressing number of contenders for this category
this year, including the aforementioned
Office
Space: Special Edition with Flair. Mike Judge
is also represented by
Beavis
and Butt-Head: The Mike Judge Collection - Volume 1.
Why? Well, Judge himself says in the disc's liner notes that he
doesn't like about a third of the original episodes anymore, so
they'll never be released on DVD. If Mike would care to check
out The Simpsons: The Complete First
Season, he'll find that Matt Groening and pals aren't
too crazy about some of their early work either. But they aren't
trying to erase it from the public record. Bastard.
TV series are big targets for this category. Two of our other
big let-downs this year:
Speed
Racer: Volume 3 from Lionsgate and
The
Muppet Show: Season One from Disney. Speed
Racer boasts the usual handful of episodes doled out
at a snail's pace, zero extras, and the worst packaging of the
year, an impractical round metal tin perched atop a cardboard
holder that's only slightly more sturdy than a wet tissue. As
for The Muppets, it's
terrific to have every episode from the first season in one set,
but some were edited and the handful of extras only whetted our
appetite for something more substantial on Season
Two.
Finally, yes... it's a late 2004 release, but we're more than a
little bummed that Warner never re-issued their original
Tom
and Jerry: Spotlight Collection - Volume 1 with
the proper unedited versions of several shorts. The packaging
says they're uncut, but that just ain't the case. |
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| DIGITAL
IN |
DVD's
Influence on Pop Culture...
...seen in everything from references in
films and TV shows, the new trend to offer downloadable "podcast"
commentaries for current broadcast TV shows, the brave new world
of Internet filmmaking and distribution (Star
Trek: New Voyages comes to mind), the resurgence of
filmmaker director's cuts and much, much more. Denizens of the
old school may bemoan the loss of the "magic" of the
cinema and/or the breaking of the "fourth wall" with
the audience, but educating yourself in the art of filmmaking
and television production - and actually getting involved - has
never been easier, thanks in large part to the popularity and
influence of our favorite disc format. |
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| DIGITAL
OUT (TIE) |
Blu-ray
Disc vs. HD-DVD
The Decline of High-Resolution Audio
Yeah... we mentioned the HD format war last year, but there was
a real chance at the time that the HD-DVD and Blu-ray Disc camps
might still find enough common ground to give us a single,
unified format. Now, not only is the format war on, but both
camps are rushing their respective formats to market so quickly
that they're almost certain to be buggy and less than
fully-featured, at least for the first year or so. There's a
real chance that both of these formats are going to turn out to
be duds, at least in the minds of those few consumers who might
actually be interested.
Meanwhile, the death of high-resolution audio is also seriously
disappointing. Having two competing formats (SACD and DVD-Audio)
seems to have scared off most consumers - a lesson that,
stunningly, the video industry HASN'T taken to heart with HD
video. Now, SACD is all but dead here in the States (though it
continues to struggle valiantly for life in Europe) and
DVD-Audio has been relegated to flip-side status on DualDisc
releases (problematic because many DualDisc releases have
compatibility problems with both CD and DVD players). One can
only hope that the music industry will get their shit together
on this front in 2006 and beyond. |
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| DVD
STUDIO WE WANT MORE FROM |
Universal
2005 was a better year for the studio,
but honestly, after the past few years, they didn't have
anywhere to go but up. Even so, they're still having tons of QC
problems that are frankly unforgivable at this late stage of the
game. Add in their obsession with producing re-issues with very
little new material (see The Big
Lebowski, The Deer Hunter:
Legacy Series, and the 30th anniversary release of
Jaws which didn't do much
besides correct the mistakes of the 25th anniversary release)
and you'll see a studio that still has a ways to go. |
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| WORST
TREND IN DVD (TIE) |
Reformatting
Widescreen Films to 1.78:1
Defective DVD-18 Discs
Lionsgate has lately been reformatting
2.35:1 and 1.85:1 aspect ratio films to straight 1.78 for their
anamorphic widescreen DVD release. We also know that many
broadcasters are pressuring Hollywood studios to do the same for
HDTV broadcasts. Could this be the new Pan & Scan threat to
Original Aspect Ratio for the 21st Century? DVD fans are going
to have to watch this problem closely, and aggressively get
after guilty studios to keep it from ballooning out of control.
Also worthy of note is the increasing number of defective
titles issued on DVD-18 (dual-sided, dual-layered) discs. This
many years into the life of the DVD format, DVD-18 replication
ought to be a whole lot smoother and more defect-free. Scores of
Universal TV DVDs have suffered for this problem, along with a
number of feature film releases as well. ADV Films' outstanding
Farscape: Starburst Edition
re-issue plans have been screwed because of this too - a real
shame. |
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