Extra! Extra!

[trinityvixen]

So apparently Netflilx does send out completely movie-or-TV-show-free discs when you queue up something. I almost cancelled the last disc of series seven Red Dwarf because I looked up online and found that discs one and two had covered all the actual episodes. Just in case this was not so, I let it arrive at my apartment (also, by the time I realized this, it was already on its way). I discovered it was just a bonus features disc, and nearly chucked it right back in the mail.

I ended up watching it and rather enjoying the retrospective on the entire series seven--the drama! The departures! The something else that begins with a D! They went episode by episode after the initial warm-up, which worked well because you got to see progression, problems with individual episodes dealt with, et al. It's amazing just how much of what is great about a show is completely do to mistakes, cock-ups in management, and the limitations of both budget and material. A lot of really great art comes about by mistake or by response to limitation--a great example (non-Red Dwarf!) would be the limitation on Batman: the Animated Series where they weren't allowed to show the pivotal scene of Bruce Wayne's parents being shot, so instead they just have them walking down a dark alley that transforms into the muzzle of a gun. It's really classy.

What I really loved about the Dwarf extras? British people's non-honesty. Not dishonesty, just honesty by another name that makes it seem like lying but isn't. So the writers had a falling out before series seven, and watching the writer who stayed with the show try to call his ex-partner a git without actually calling him names is both funny and painful. Ditto when people talked about Chris Barrie leaving--the writer was very kind, but instead of saying the actor was tired from working two shows at once, he said something like "Chris got used to the way the other show was shot--just show up, do your lines, go home--and that's not how we did it because we had all the visual effects."

So, basically: "The stupid git was being a lazy bastard about putting up with blue screening, but I can't say that and still look at the man again if we ever bring the show back."

See? Non-honesty. Concession to the other person for having a point while maintaining an air that you think they were being stupid throughout. I loved it!

I guess this is a round-about way of asking this: Do people watch extras on DVDs often? Commentaries, making-ofs, goofs, et al? I rarely do. I make the exception for something that is good or extensive (hello, Lord of the Rings), or inclusive (all-cast commentaries are usually great), but otherwise, not so much. What say the rest of ye?

Comments

[droidguy1119.livejournal.com]

Usually I will try one bonus feature on any given DVD, and if it's good, then I keep going until one of the features bores me. If the DVD bonus features are going to be lazy or uninteresting, then usually all of them are, and vice-versa.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I find that that is often the case. And few commentaries are worth your time because they just get tedious. When they're more dishy on behind the scenes stuff (Resident Evil) or there's a large enough group to keep it lively (again, Lord of the Rings) that's usually pretty good. Or when it's just over select parts, like Jack Davenport and ::SHOCKER:: Keira Knightly on the Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. They were hilarious. Maybe it's a British thing--they just have a better sense of humor about movies they're in.

[droidguy1119.livejournal.com]

What I usually avoid is commentaries with one person, but there are a couple of speakers (David Cronenberg, Terry Gilliam) who can carry a track all by themselves. Cast tracks are usually the easiest to listen to.

Anything simply called a "making-of featurette" is probably kind of crappy since it was produced to give the press some quotes and an overview of the plot as opposed to being interesting. I'm just tired of studios that don't learn: Only five things need to be included on a good DVD: Solid audio/video, audio commentary, good featurette (i.e. made for the DVD), deleted scenes/alternate endings and the theatrical trailer. As long as you have all of those I don't think anyone can really complain.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I think you can skip deleted scenes that are deletions of irrelevant facts or extended scenes that just draw out the junkiest parts of the film. Alternate endings that are truly alternate (not just extended) are okay but only in that they're usually better than the deleted scenes selection (which are almost always deleted for a good reason).

For commentary, I think the magic mix is one of the stars, some minor star (or two), a director or producer, and a techie of some stripe. You represent most of the creation processes, and the egos tend to cancel out.

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

For TV shows? I watch all the extras. And listen to all the commentaries (generally while cleaning) unless they go overboard and have commentaries on every episode by the DP and Gate Technician #1 *cough*Stargate!*cough*. For movies, I usually cap out at about an hour of extras. I'll watch the bloopers, the interviews with the actors, but I've vowed never to watch another feature on the Special Effects. They all say the damn thing. So the Matrix trilogy? With over 24 hours of extras? Hell's no.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

The first Matrix was actually really cool with its extras. But you'll note that I haven't touched the extras disc for the entire trilogy (what trilogy?). Learning about the bullet time was cool back in the day, but little that I couldn't have gotten by reading articles (which I did) then watching the movie again (which I did times two).

Sometimes the bit players are interesting commentators (see my bit about Jack Davenport and Keira Knightly above, and there's also Love, Actually's little kid who's lively and cute enough on the commentary for that), and stars are no guarantee of the commentary being interesting (I tried to listen to Johnny Depp and Gore Verbinski--I really tried--but they put me to sleep).

The bloopers are hit or miss, but some of them are way worth it.

[droidguy1119.livejournal.com]

The first Matrix documentary, The Matrix Revisited, was cool simply because it was a DOCUMENTARY. I have a hard time watching the features on the other two films because they're a handful of little featurettes. I preferred it when I basically was just watching a film on the making of the movie.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Yeah, and it was ground breaking stuff, too, which helps. I really liked learning about the technique and watching the scenes I recognized being created.

The other featurettes, meh, no interest in them because I was hugely disappointed by the effects in the second and third movies. THey were touted as being all that and they were far from. They didn't look better than other things I'd seen at that point.

[ecmyers.livejournal.com]

That depends on the show and how much free time I have. But, if you haven't listened to the commentaries on the Futurama discs, you need to. Every episode has commentary, and it's frequently as entertaining as the show itself! For a while I was watching every episode twice, but that was taking way too long.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

And it's in-character, too, isn't it? I will have to rewatch it since I've almost run out of Futurama to watch.

[droidguy1119.livejournal.com]

No, it's not in-character but the writers are actually very funny and usually Billy West or John DiMaggio is there.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I bet. I will definitely do that when I finish the series.

[cagexxx.livejournal.com]

NETFLILX

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Thank you. It's hard to type with long fingernails at work when you're looking for your boss over your shoulder.

[saikogrrl.livejournal.com]

I adore extras, especially for Red Dwarf. I used to watch all the episodes then go back and rewatch them with the commentary when I got a new series. :D

A lot of really great art comes about by mistake or by response to limitation

So true. I think the coconuts scene in the Pythons' Holy Grail only came about because they couldn't afford real horses, and it's comic genius. ^___^

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

And the ending is actually better than any I could have imagined them cooking up--they did better for having the abrupt WTF ending because they had run out of money.

[saikogrrl.livejournal.com]

Really? I found it kinda weird, lol. And I heard that when one of them showed it to his daughter (could have been Cleese or Palin), she was like "that's IT? That's the end? That sucks!" XD

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

::giggles:: I had the same reaction until I saw some of their other stuff and realized the abrupt endings were usually funnier. Plus it makes the strange historian/narration thing make sense.