In which I just throw up my hands

[katallison]

OK -- I officially give up trying to understand what the HELL Alliance Atlantis has in mind with its marketing of the due South DVDs. I'm in the midst of preparing a postscript for my old crack_van series outline -- a sort of Magic Decoder Ring for making sense of what's out there on the market. In what follows, "AA" stands for the original DVD releases which I purchased through amazon.ca, and "BB" refers to the oddball versions released without fanfare in Best Buy retail stores (some? all? who knows?).

Seasons One and Two:

AA: released in 2003 (I think) in a two-season set; hideous packaging; double-sided disks; print inserts included. Does NOT include Pilot episode.

BB; released in 2005 in two separate sets, one for each season; single-sided disks, episode titles printed on disks, no print inserts. DOES include Pilot episode, in its proper lead-off position.

Season Three:

AA: released the Canadian short Season Three, 13 eps from Burning Down the House through Mountie on the Bounty, in--early 2005, I think? after originally promising it for Jan. 2004; decent packaging, print insert included, episode names not on disks, cover and disk graphics include CKR. Pilot episode included at end, utterly out of sequence, for whatever odd reason.

Remaining episodes (without a season number, just "The Final Season") scheduled for Sept. 05 release, currently available for pre-order through amazon.ca for $35 CN.

BB: In August 05 released all 24 episodes, BDtH through Call of the Wild, in a single package, for $18.99 US. No print insert; no episode names on disks; no way of knowing what's included unless you pop a disk in your DVD player and see what comes up. Cover and disk art shows only Fraser and Vecchio, and cover credits are Paul Gross and David Marciano; CKR neither mentioned nor shown anywhere.

The more I contemplate this whole muddle, the less sense I can make of it. Some intrepid soul, as I recall, researched and posted info about the rationale for the BB releases (and if anyone can point me to that entry, I'd be grateful).

I continue to be amused by the fact that the Season Three BB release graphics are all Vecchio. I have three hypotheses about this:

1) They didn't know, they didn't care, they had a bunch of Vecchio photos left over from the Seasons 1-2 package, whatever.

2) They figured that anyone who might be buying the DVDs for this show would of course have no clue that there was an actor change, and seeing a different face on the package would simply bewilder customers to the point that they'd put the set back on the shelf.

3) The person responsible for the set's graphics is a frustrated F/RV shipper, taking her revenge.

(I kid, I *kid*!)

And you know the really sad thing? I now own at least one set of *each* of the releases described above (except the forthcoming AA season four, which I may go back in and cancel).

ETA: If anyone out there in LJ land doesn't have ready access to a Best Buy but would like a set of the complete Season Three, just drop me an e-mail; I can pick it up for you, and you can send me a check or Paypal for the cost.

Comments

[c-regalis.livejournal.com]

I vote for reason #1: They didn't know, they didn't care, they had a bunch of Vecchio photos left over from the Seasons 1-2 package, whatever.

But reason #3 is funnier. *g*

[the-star-fish.livejournal.com]

Re: coverpix -- I bought the CotW DVD standalone for cheap, and when it arrived the first words out of my mouth were "What the fuck is Marciano doing on the cover?" Heh.

Is it worth getting the S3(-4) set from BB when I already have them all on DVD except MotB (ripped off the CBC by a fan who shall remain anonymous, but whose name rhymes with ... nothing in English)?

Silly question, that.

I wonder how late our Best Buy is open on Sundays ...

[bonspiel.livejournal.com]

Re the Marciano graphics, at least DM was *in* CotW, as opposed to the rest of S3/4. The folks who are putting out the BB version seem to be very easily confused, or just cheap.

[kageygirl.livejournal.com]

My amazon.ca AA seasons 1 and 2 were separate sets--each season was on 3 double-sided discs in one case, bilingual packaging and inserts, no pilot ep, and the discs were labeled things like "Volume 2, Side A."

[sinensiss.livejournal.com]

::sigh:: It's the Let's Shoot Ourselves In The Foot school of marketing, where the motto is, "guaranteed to annoy and confuse potential customers."

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Season 4 is out? I can get it *now*? I don't have to have crummy avi's with Swedish subtitles as placeholders in my timeline?

I am so happy I might cry. Except then I'll remember how much I forked over for S1-3 three weeks before BB came out with S1-2. I'm probably still gonna cry.

Aw - fuckit - I'm gonna go with a big fat YAY!!! DVD Spurce. YAY!

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

DVD Spurce. Interesting. I have no idea what DVD Spurce is but I am convinced it is something.

I am, of course, interested in DVD Source, but I am open to Spurce. Maybe.

[katallison.livejournal.com]

*g* There is a part of me that would be vastly entertained by a dS vid big chunks of which had Swedish subtitles.

But YAY! not just for the having of season 4, but even more for knowing that you're vidding dS!!!!

(And you and me and renenet and aerye are getting together to talk dS, right? *hopping around with anticipation*)

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

THREE MORE DAYS!!!

I am unable to really communicate outside of caps until then.

[ardent-muses.livejournal.com]

Kat, I had *thought* I heard that the Best Buy versions were not as high quality visually as the AA ones. NOT TRYING TO START A RUMOR! *G* I just heard that so, since you have them, please tell me if it's true.

Thank you kindly for explaining it all. (Although nobody could adequately explain the marketing "strategy" ....)

[imkalena.livejournal.com]

They're not . . . but given the crappy burnings of the first ones, with their skips, teeny holes in the metal layer, two-sided cheapness, and packaging problems that caused discs to crack or slide in shipment, thus scratching them the hell up, alongside the ENORMOUS price difference, I consider them about even up.

[yonmei.livejournal.com]

I can do weirder than that: the second DVD of M*A*S*H season 2 has a pic of BJ on it.

Not Trapper. BJ. And BJ with a moustache - BJ from season five or later.

I think it's a decision made by marketing departments, kind of like the way The Female Man has a picture of a luscious naked woman on the cover because it's a lesbian science-fiction novel and the cover had to be targetted to teenage boys because they're the main market for lesbian science-fiction novels. (This theory was being mooted around at Worldcon, and at Ellen Kushner's kaffeeklatsch I suggested that at least we had the joy of thinking about the reaction of your average het teenage boy to The Female Man, if he'd bought it thinking it was going to be hot lesbian sex from cover to cover.)

[imkalena.livejournal.com]

Some intrepid soul, as I recall, researched and posted info about the rationale for the BB releases

I had a POOMA guess, but I'd sure like to hear a real answer myself.

[mlyn.livejournal.com]

That tears it. I have S3 (and "S4") as AVI files, downloaded in June from the kind souls who were doing the flurry of YSI activity on ds_noticeboard. The only reason I was contemplating getting the disks was so that I could show the episodes to friends if we ever watch that far in the series.

It sounds like it's hardly worth the $20, if they care so little about the production values of the product. Besides, I promised myself I'd boycott Best Buy after buying S1 and S2, since they were such supremely royal assholes to gwyn_r.

[renenet.livejournal.com]

Hi. Right, so, now that I'm not trying to simultaneously vid LKBV, follow VVC chat, and squee about dS at both you and sisabet in two separate windows, I can breathe deeply and participate in this conversation. So, first of all, thank you *so* much for posting this information. It is, as you know, Vital For National Security. And Vidding.*

Just to toss a little more info into the mix, those cheap, U.S. S1&2 releases? Seem to be available for purchase on Amazon.com. Season One and Season Two.


*as determined by the Council on National Security and Vidding.