I got my first DVD player way back in 1998, and the first two movies I purchased were Highlander and Aliens. One of the best things about a DVD verses a VHS were all the extras they started adding to the disc. You didn’t just get a the movie, you sometimes got interviews with the actors/directors, deleted scenes, original trailers, and even commentary from the director/actors. Aside from being entertaining, it was actually educational as you could gain some insight into how filmmaking was done.
In the age of streaming, does anyone miss those DVD extras?
Yes ! In preparation for seeing “The Banshees of Inisherin” I broke out my DVD of “In Bruges”. I was pleasantly surprized to see that there were extras (deleted scenes/extended scenes, outtakes, etc.). They were fun to watch.
If I remember correctly, buying one DVD back then cost as much as one month’s subscription to some of these streaming services. Providing “extras” was the least they could do!
Some DVD commentary tracks make it worth having the physical product. I’ve probably watched Sideways and Paul as many times with the commentary as just the straight movie. I’ve seen a few movies on streaming services that have the commentary option but it’s pretty rare.
Roger Ebert did commentary tracks for Citizen Kane and Casablanca (as well as a couple of other movies) and they’re helpful in understanding why these movies are important. And deleted scenes can help add depth to a movie.
It was basically a way to make people fork up the extra $$$ a DVD cost as compared to a VHS. The same happened in the early CD era, when there were often 12", instrumental or other versions added.
IIRC, there was some talk in the very early DVD days of being able to watch some scenes from different angles, though I never encountered one and don’t know if it were ever made real. I do remember having some buttons on the remote to my first player that indicated extra features, i.e. beyond commentary track.
Yes, I do miss some of them. I wonder if Criterion editions might still include some of that stuff. However, the Movie-Industrial complex quickly got lazy and just slapped on one or two of those 4 minute “making of” featurettes.
I watch DVDs all the time, but almost never listen to the commentary. It so often sounds like a bunch of bros sitting around, drinking beer and watching the movie together while letting their mouths run off, no offense intended. Sometimes there’s gold present, but it’s never worth sifting through all the chat. I do enjoy many of the other extras, and I must say Roger Ebert commenting on Citizen Kane sounds worth listening to.
That’s the one which comes to mind for me – the LotR DVDs had hours of additional content, on the making of the films, extended scenes, etc.
But, otherwise, the “extras” which I’d often watch on DVDs were the blooper reels and deleted scenes. I miss those, at least a little bit, but I suspect that that same sort of content could probably now be found online.
Commentary tracks are the thing I miss most, they were like a built in “oral history” for every movie. Even today, most trivia tidbits you see shared around about movies from the last 30 years or so come from the movie’s DVD commentary.
I really do, yes. I loved checking out all the bonus features, whether that was behind-the-scenes development progress, or a short (mostly referrring the original Monsters Inc DVD release here; that was my jam back in the day).
Yes! The only DVDs I’ve bought in the last 10 years were due to wanting the commentary tracks.
It never really occurred to me to buy DVDs at the thrift store for commentary. But last week I was at a thrift store and they had the first season of “30 Rock” on DVD for $2.50 and I was like hell I would like to listen to Tina Fey for a few hours for under $5! So I bought it. I’ll be watching it next week during my winter break.
Back when I started buying DVDs, the only alternative was VHS because there weren’t any streaming services. But, yeah, streaming services are so much more convenient and less expensive than purchasing physical copies. I can’t remember the last time I bought a DVD/Blu Ray disc.
I just checked my copy of the LOTR films on Vudu - all of the commentary and extras are on there. I paid $2 a piece for them, and I can watch them wherever I am. Not all of my library has those extras though, so it’s not nearly as prevalent these days. Can’t say I’ve watched a commentary track or an extra in maybe a decade though? I understand their appeal, but I’d rather just watch another movie with my time.
Very much so. I’m a big fan of behind-the-scenes things, and those commentaries told SO much about the movie. You could tell when the cast liked each other, and when there’s seething tension behind things. Great stuff.