Page 1 of The Phantom Menace on DVD. Then they bring out.......

So, Lucasfilm have finally announced The Phantom Menace onto DVD. But whats the betting that a a year or so down the line we get (just like Universal are doing) some kind Ultimate Dogs Danglies Special Ultra Edition of the film. Next they will bring out special edition of the other films and then of course like the recent videos, they will basically repackage the same films year after year, and pass them off as an even more "special" edition by putting on a special five minute featurette about Jar Jar Binks on them.

Cynical? You betcha!

Dave

Now why would Mr Lucas abuse his loyal fans like that? :D

Ah yes, here we go - the interminable Star Wars saga continues. It`s gotten to the stage now where George Lucas could take a s*** on a roll of film and certain members of the public would rush out to get their hands on a piece. Let`s face facts here people: Episode 1: The Phantom Menace was a load of w***.

Granted, the pod-race and light-saber duels were excellent, however the remaining 95 minutes of CGI were most definitely NOT. If you listen carefully you can almost hear the chinless wonder getting ready to laugh his ass off as 90% of all prepubescent 12 to 50 year olds prepare to hurl their money at him. And do you know what the saddest part of all is? I`ll probably be one of them.

The simple reason for this is no matter how s***e the movie is we can be sure that the DVD is going to be reference quality. Remember this will be the first Star Wars film on the DVD format and, as much as I am tired of contributing to the poxy Skywalker ranch, you can be sure the audio and video are going be first rate. So I`ll be looking forward to listening to those opening credits in lovely DD 5.1 EX from the comfort of my couch....

....and safe in the knowledge that I`ll be forking out again in 6 months time for The Phantom Menace: Ultimate Nerds Edition and then again in a couple of years time for the Complete Star Wars: Episode`s 1-6 Supremely Ultimate Lord of the Universe & Beyond Edition, Volume 1....

I hope this is toungue firmly in cheek! Buying a disk because the sound is high quality and the picture looks good is a joke!
What do you do spend 2 hours or something watching out for pixelation effects and seeing if every channel of the DD is being used? Are you not a fan of the films themselves?

That`s like buying a Skoda cos you liked the colour or something! WRONG WRONG WRONG!!!

bravo kenny.like i mentioned in another thread about r2 extras,its not the extras ITS THE FILM which makes a disc.case in point;i bought the lethal weapon boxset-all films with new transfers,dts etc-extras and transfer are negligable(old films=poor dts),but the films remain classics for a modern era.
phantom menace is,and will always be,a load of toss.reference quality or not,will you REALLY be spending your hard earned on a very sub standard movie?mission to mars is reference quality,did people rush out and buy it?of couse not.
obviously there`s a large star wars fan base so there is a market for the movie-but buying a film for its demo credentials is plain stupid.excuse me for being a bit `right on` here,but is that what we want our kids to do-waste money on things they really dont need!
im all for a bit of messing about and a bit of humour,but at least show you mean it!
as i said b4 and ill say again, Star Wars Episode 2:A No Hope...

cant agree more to this. the one thing that really annoys me about dvd`s and dvd websites is the hero worship that goes on about the extras that come with the film. i could go on but all that i feel has been said in the comments above. crap films are crap films even if you have the only cpy of the film in the world and the extra consists of the director coming around your house to give his voice over in person!

how many times will any one watch all the extras anyway? films like brazil or citizen kane are touched by genius, if the extras consisted of nothing more than language and scene selection then they would be worth a million star wars / star trek / mission impossible etc etc etc

I think the issue of extras is DIRECTLY related to price and the type of film. Many big budget films deserve to have accompanying featurettes and explanations as to how it was done, whilst a lot of smaller low budget stuff is just crying out for director`s commentary track.

Ultimately DVD is a film-buff`s format that is being adopted by the mass market. Whilst the average person doesn`t care about extras, they should care if they have to pay £19.99 for a disc which doesn`t have any.

After all why is something that costs less than a £1 to make retailing for so much money? The only justification is production costs, and if there is nothing more than scene selection and a trailer, there really isn`t much of a production cost.

But back to your original point, are you really saying that you don`t want any extras on a DVD that contains your favourite film of all time? :)

Everyone likes the extras. You`d be a bit cynical not to. But to buy a film JUST because of the extras and the high quality of production is taking it to an extreme. An extreme I`m not willing to go to. Why would anyone want to watch 60 mins + of extras / making of / trailers for film that`s a pile of w*nk? Not me. And not a hell of a lot of people out there. I would hazard a guess that most of the people buying that disk will be REALLY REAL die hard fans of the Star Wars franchise or they will be preants buying it for their kids or dumb people who don`t know better.
We, here, DO know better and know our films. This one`s not even worth rating. CGI rubbish.

I see no other reason to bu the thing. Waste of money, waste of time.

couldnt agree more.fine,t2 is a great film embraced by possibly the greatest dvd package of its time-BUT-how many people will put their hands up and say that they`ve watched the extras more than twice.no matter how much extra material is on the disc,i always go back to watch the film simply because its a classic film that doesn`t need to rely on countless extras to make the package SEEM good!
extras for me will always be an added bonus,nothing else.and for those that agree with me,those are the people who use their heads and shop around for the best price-play247 anyone?i haven`t paid £19.99 for a disc since two years ago!never mind the politics behind pricing,it will never change cos money makes the world go round and we accept to live in it.
good film+extras=added bonus
bad film+extras=value added compensation for short sighted consumer.

westy :-)