Something Something Darkside. Something Something Incomplete.

Please present you DVD before continuing.

Before we get started, if you bought ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ on Blu Ray, you can not read this blog post. I mean it! Go away! Why? Because I have decided that this blog post is not to be viewable for people who have purchased ‘The Force Awakens’ on Blu Ray. It’s only available for people who bought the DVD. Because christ they deserve something!

 

Oh you’ve gone and done it now Disney. A few weeks back I speculated about the future of home media, moving onto download. One of the big issues I had with that personally is that it would spell the end for a lot of extras and features etc. Sure some features can be included as promotional material, but these are nothing more than trailer length snippets, because it is considered that the majority of internet users have the attention span of a sexually frustrated teenager. I know many are sexually frustrated teenagers but that is not the point.

Your special features? I think I saw them in.. oh.

I wish to address the controversy surrounding the DVD release of Star Wars the Force Awakens, which has been released with NO ADDITIONAL MATERIAL WHATSOEVER! For a film that has broken pretty much every record known to man and is one of the highest grossing movies of all time, I find it absolutely shocking that the good folks at Disney have chosen to shaft the majority of people who wish to view the movie in their own home and are unlucky enough to live in the UK and only have a DVD player. I saw The Force Awakens three times in the cinema, having the DVD in hand, I don’t get anything more to show for it. I get no more than I would buying a VHS.

 

Come on! This was going to happen!

But the big point of contention is the fact that the Blu Ray or Blu Rey release is chock full of extra content! On social media there has been a huge buzz about the home media releases because $2 Billion Dollars just isn’t enough. This was touted as a must have film. Extra features, commentaries, masses of deleted scenes, find out why Kylo Ren turned to the Darkside etc… Available on Blu Ray and DVD April 18th. Online there has been little to no distinction between the releases, many sites showing the movie on the same page giving the option to buy DVD or Blu Ray or Download (or if you live in Canada, stream on Netflix) with no real distinction. What has been done here is that the special features are EXCLUSIVE to the Blu Ray release. What the DVD is, is a ‘Vanilla’ release. Vanilla meaning, plain, no frills, in DVD terms. Why is the content you get, different just because you play on a different platform? I shall address many possible arguments in turn.

 

1. The content would not fit on one disc. Bullshit! Many movies are able to comfortably place the main feature and at least some additional material on one disc. But more than that, in the past Star Wars DVDs have been issued as a two disc release as standard. Heck, Attack of the Clones was presented more lavishly than this and that is a movie I would gladly see less of!
2. Splitting the content over 2 discs would be more expensive. Bullshit! A DVD cost pennies to make. It is the licensing of the material that you pay for. You pay for a little bit of ownership. Heck if it’s good enough for Lord of the Rings to split the main feature over 2 discs. Given the money Disney has made and is continuing to make, I think they can spare it.
3. The Blu Ray costs more that’s why you get more content. Bullshit! Blu Rays cost more to make because of the superior technology and the fact they are not yet produced on the scale of DVD. DVD Extras are officially termed ‘value added material’, basically bonuses, little extras we’re going to put in because we can. Deleted scenes, they were shot, edited, paid for and just sat on the cutting room floor, might as well stick it on the DVD and draw in a few punters. The RRP of the Blu Ray is £5 more than the DVD. I would happily pay £5 more for a complete release, but it isn’t even an option.
4. Blu Ray is the medium of choice for the film buff. Bullshit! Are you saying that because I don’t want to spooge my hard earned cash on a whole new set up that I am not interested in films? Or how they are made? Or how Kylo Ren turned to the Dark Side? Buying a Blu Ray player and a HD TV is not a right of passage or way of proving my interest. Some people just have more money than sense! If we take this attitude to home media, we are saying to a whole generation of potential storytellers and filmmakers, sorry kid, we can’t tell you our secrets because your parents don’t love you enough to buy a Blu Ray and you aren’t part of the HD club! This is film snobbery on a new level. It suggests some bigwig thinks if people are watching on DVD, then they probably don’t care.
5. They are planning a special edition later on. Bullshit! I was going to call this a semi legitimate excuse but the following statement from Disney contradicts this.“As a company we are committed to seeking out the best ways to provide audiences with access to Disney content. Each territory is different, and we evaluate and enact distribution strategies on a market-by-market basis. In the UK this means we do not include extras across our DVD products.

   Our Blu-ray and digital download offerings for The Force Awakens are providing audiences with a wealth of extras including a special documentary, behind-the-scenes looks and much more that are now being enjoyed by thousands.” (Thousands, but not you.)

   So not only does this mean that no special edition is coming… ever. But no Star Wars DVD release will feature special features EVER AGAIN! Or at least not in the UK. This pretty much confirms point 4. How can you measure if DVD extras are successful if you don’t put them in! Besides, shouldn’t this be measured on a release by release basis? Sure I can understand a kid isn’t going to want to watch an hour long documentary on ‘The Aristocats’ but this is fucking Star Wars! The most successful movie of all time! Your market is so much bigger!

6. What I was originally going to say for point 5 was, Can’t really call bullshit on this as it is probably the most likely situation as Lucasfilm are infamous for their ‘Special Edition’ releases. If this is the case, then I am fine with that. What I am not fine with is having two home media releases released simultaneously with vastly different content, a misleadingly unspecific publicity campaign, meaning should I want to view the full range of content available, I have to either buy the Blu Ray now, or another DVD, possibly packaged with other films I already have at an unspecified point in the future. What I expect will happen is that all the movies will be issued on Blu Ray again as standalone Vanilla releases, given the entire saga was released in a special package a couple of years ago. The DVD collectors however will be able to buy all 7 or 9 movies again on DVD (if it’s still around) with a full compliment of additional material. I doubt we will ever get to that stage though as the idea of an 18 disc set of Star Wars will be laughable by the time the last film comes out.

Disney when you make your intention clear, to pirate the deleted scenes anyway.

That awkward moment when Attack of the Clones shows you more respect!

I am completely aware of how much of a self entitled prick I’m sounding like and I make no apology for that. Yes, I should have read the description more closely, but what can you deduce from a lack of information on a product that has yet to be released? A product, which the producers are saying comes with all this stuff and then not giving it to the majority of UK viewers. Viewers who have pre-ordered the product, a promised package in good faith and found it to be incomplete. I could have looked up the deleted scenes, features etc on Youtube before the release, but I didn’t. I care about Star Wars, Disney did good by giving us a good movie and I respected them for it. That’s why I paid to see it 3 times and paid for a DVD. It just seems on this occasion they have been kind enough to me to say, you might as well keep it, and that I should be grateful. I might as well have taped the bloody thing off TV. Now I see that we are not respected in turn. I shall see your special features, and there is nothing you can do about it. Disney, you have turned me to the Dark Side and I am sure you’re clubbing away like Padme about how ‘I’m tearing you apart.’. This whole debacle has genuinely upset me and will mar my viewing pleasure of the Force Awakens, knowing that despite being a loyal fan just like any other, a relatively privileged few are getting more than me.

I know what I must do. WAIT ARE THOSE FUCKING STREET LAMPS IN THE BACKGROUND!