I miss the DVD era of jam packed special features for physical releases

[wafflebrain]

I get it, streaming has taken over and there's probably enough metrics out there telling studios hardly anyone will pay attention to a commentary track, deleted scenes, or hour plus long making of features, but its still a bummer that for the majority of new releases you can't find this sort of additional content. It's there for re-releases on blu-ray of older films as a carry over, but rarely do you see investment in new content maybe outside a commentary track or one of those sub 30 minute 'making of' featurettes that are pretty much just glorified ads for the feature with barely any substance as to what went into making it.

When DVDs were first blowing up you got some truly amazing special features, some of my personal favorites being the Fight Club DVD and of course the LOTR trilogy that had an insane amount of behind the scenes docs that were often feature length. Years later I'm discovering things about older releases like the Inland Empire DVD had 75 minutes of deleted scenes. Watching these on YT with godawful compression isn't really a substitute.

I know some iTunes digital purchases allow you to watch special features, though you're forced to use the desktop client to access them. Maybe they're available on Apple TV devices?

TL;DR: Anywho I guess this is more of a bellyaching thread about the loss of special features, it would be cool to see a resurgence of them again with an easier way to access them via streaming services, but I'm not holding my breath. Olds of Era come lament their loss with me :P

 

[Kapryov]

Disney+ includes some special features for some films, it's kinda random. I know they had a bunch of Star Wars ones available.

I miss them too, I like deleted scenes but the real gold are the behind the scenes docs and commentary tracks.

 

[Dan-o]

Commentaries were a total blast when done right, but deleted scenes are what I love the most. I like getting a view into the concepts that got cut from a film in the editing room.

 

[Slim Action]

Boutique labels like Criterion, Arrow, etc. still invest in meaningful special features.

 

[TaySan]

Arrow Video, Criterion, Vinegar Syndrome, and others still jam-pack their movies with special features. One reason why I don't mind paying extra for their movies along with their fantastic packaging.

 

[Apathy]

Futurama, Simpsons and family guy commentary tracks are so fucking funny.

 

[LProtagonist]

I remember as a kid being totally jazzed about this stuff thinking like "you can change the perspective of the scenes and see it from a different angle" because I read about that somewhere and clearly it never took off as it was a dumb idea, haha.

 

[BringBackSonics]

Deleted scenes and behind the scenes stuff were great.

 

[DiipuSurotu]

Release the TROS deleted scenes you cowards

 

[RedVejigante]

Part of why I grew to love Guillermo Del Toro was because of how he'd absolutely pack out the DVD release of his films with a ludicrous amount of content. His 3-disc directors cut of Hellboy remains one of my favorite releases in my movie collection.

 

[Slim Action]

Yeah a lot of big name directors don't like to pull back the curtain like that, but Del Toro is always excited to show people his process.

 

[PeakPointMatrix]

I can't believe none of the streaming services have looked to invest into providing legacy + current special features and commentary. It would be such a leg up on the competition.

 

[MoonsaultSlayer]

I voted making ofs but the magic is kinda gone in this age of digital filmmaking.

 

[Richiek]

I wish streaming services (Netflix, Disney+, etc) would offer audio commentary tracks for its libraries.

 

[MoonsaultSlayer]

Honestly, the only special feature I want is the ability to cut out scenes and save that as a playback option. I could watch so much more with my kids and actually fix Godzilla King of the Monsters lol.

 

[Slim Action]

You want a streaming service with special features / commentary integrated? Criterion has you covered.

 

[wafflebrain]

You want a streaming service with special features / commentary integrated? Criterion has you covered.

Click to shrink...

I really need to use my Criterion Channel sub more, didn't realize they did this, thanks!

 

[CaptainTrips]

I was reminicing the other day how Robert Rodriguez would include cooking recipes as a dvd extra in his films


Some of the best extras included that I enjoyed were the Blade Runner and Alien films in-depth making-of which were super thorough and interesting.

You want a streaming service with special features / commentary integrated? Criterion has you covered.

Click to shrink...

Criterion continues to prove that it is by far my favourite streaming service available.

 

[oatmeal]

M Nigjt used to do childhood movies on his. I always liked that.

 

[BLEEN]

Commentary is best bang for buck.

 

[NinjaScooter]

the 5 minutes of trailers that sometimes you couldn't skip

 

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For recent studio releases it definitely is a fact that the studios don't invest any time/money into producing features any more. Every once in a while you get a commentary track though, like for the new release of The Suicide Squad.

 

[Unknownlight]

I've always felt that commentary tracks tend to give the best insights because it's a lot more informal than full-on making-of documentaries. It's also the easiest to produce and the easiest to integrate with existing streaming services (just add it as another "language"), so that's my vote.

 

[Dalek]

I was going to make this same thread this weekend. I hate that most digital movies lack special features.

ITunes Extras are random by studio. My digital copies of Back to the Future have nothing. But Lord of the Rings has everything.

 

[wenis]

Me as a bulk physical collector:

yeah I guess it's a bummer.

but also like, for a lot of movies all the bonus features are a quick YouTube search away.

 

[Consequence]

Put the damn LoTR Appendices on streaming somewhere!!!!

 

[Anth0ny]

Simpsons commentary is god tier

not available on D+ :(

 

[Ultima_5]

Yeah I️ miss em too. Mostly cuz without them IMDb trivia sections are ghost towns for newer releases

 

[Dalek]

Simpsons commentary is god tier

not available on D+ :(

Click to shrink...

Wasn't it on Simpsons World? What's up with that.

 

[ArchStanton]

The David Fincher movies usually had a ton of great desires throughout. There was a great 90-minute doc on the making of The Social Network.

But then for his Dragon Tattoo movie, Sony Pictures didn't want to pay the (likely) union fees on another feature-length making of doc, so all the featurettes were cut up into smaller segments.

 

[chairhome]

Protip that I found out a month ago:
If you use Movies Anywhere, special features sometimes show up for certain movies on that service only. For instance, the Spider-Man (raimi) movies don't have any special feature listed when I look at them on Vudu, but if I go to Movies Anywhere, they're there. Can't find any commentaries though.

 

[ThatBigDude]

I pretty much only watched deleted scenes. Never really cared about anything else

 

[HorseFD]

I don't see why this stuff isn't released on streaming services.

 

[bwahhhhh]

i think deleted scenes were my favorite. some commentary tracks i really liked, but i stopped listening to them as many of them "broke" the movie magic for me and when rewatching the movies, all i could think about was how the shot/vfx was done. this never bothered my friends, so i realize that's more of a me problem. I totally get why people like them. I'm more apt to listen to them for movies that I don't particularly enjoy a lot, but those aren't the movies I buy haha

my favorite feature of physical media were the liner notes/translation notes/recipe cards that Animeigo put in their Urusei Yatsura and other DVDs. Especially for shows/movies so steeped in another culture. that could easily be a thing you could view from a menu when pausing a movie in a streaming world, I would love that. maybe someone has already done it.

 

[Flygon]

I love the director commentaries. It gives some real insight as to why something was done, or gives an amusing story from on-set.

 

[Mr. Snuffleupagus]

As a little spin-off from this, I do enjoy/find it curious how the old TV shows about the 'Behind the Hollywood magic'/'Behind the Stunts' are now prime fodder for YouTube channels breaking down exactly the same thing for a new generation who never saw those shows in the 90s.

 

[NekoFever]

I know some iTunes digital purchases allow you to watch special features, though you're forced to use the desktop client to access them. Maybe they're available on Apple TV devices?

Click to shrink...

iTunes extras work on Apple TV and iOS devices. I know because I used it to watch the extended cut of Doctor Sleep on my iPad while staying in a hotel the other day.

The only place I'm not sure if they work because I've never tried is in the Apple TV app for smart TVs, consoles, etc.

 

[ninnanuam]

I do miss good commentaries.

 

[Possum Armada]

Boutique labels like Criterion, Arrow, etc. still invest in meaningful special features.

Click to shrink...

This right here.

 

[Zach]

I don't even care about extras much of the time, but I'm glad Criterion is getting mentioned in here. The physical releases and the streaming service both offer tons of stuff like this.

 

[Wubby]

I remember always buying the versions that came with the most extras. Then... never actually ever watching any of it lol.

 

[Rendering...]

Same, I absolutely adore DVDs packed with special features. Commentaries were my favorite.

As ever, the gold standard remains the Lord of the Rings Extended Edition box set, with those fantastic appendices that lay bare so many elements of production. Not to mention, the four commentary tracks for each extended film, most of which I've heard in full. The cast and director commentaries are so good.

One nice thing about Disney+ is how commentaries are included for Marvel and Star Wars films. I wish this were a thing on Netflix for both shows and films. A good commentary adds so much value.

 

[Temascos]

The Lord Of The Rings Extended Edition and The Ultimate Matrix Collection were my go to sets for many years. Great films, great features jam packed. Although as a boxset I'll give the edge to LOTR, outside of having to change discs it is perfect, whereas The Matrix Collection has some great alternative commentaries and its fun watching the behind the scenes for stuff like Neo vs Smith in Revolutions or how the Burly Brawl was filmed.

 

[Ivol]

The Seinfeld dvd boxset is STILL to this day a perfect example of an embarrassment of riches when it comes to special features. If I remember correctly, that thing won awards when it came out.

 

[Solo]

Still happens in certain places. I just got the Shout Factory new 4K releases of Halloween I/II/III and they are filled with stuff. You tend to have to get that from these small/more niche labels these days though for sure.

 

[Jims]

DVD was such a good time for fandom. They gave you so much stuff sometimes (to get us to buy them) that they were literally hiding content in Easter Eggs sometimes, just for fun. I remember in The Simpsons Season 3 DVD, there were some ridiculously hidden outtakes that required typing in some code hidden in the episodes or DVD or whatever. Would it had been better if they just gave you the hidden outtakes upfront? Probably. But it was interesting how much effort they put into these products sometimes just to make them unique.

The worst thing was getting a movie you really enjoyed, and all they provided in the special features was the trailer. :(

 

[Faceless_Caesar]

I really only watched the special features on movies that I really love. It's really a small list of films that I own physically anyway.

 

[NottJim]

I enjoyed watching the extras when they were a new thing, but these days I just don't care outside of some very specific things (deleted scenes).

What I really want is for every spare bit of capacity on the disc to be dedicated to giving me the best possible quality for the movie/tv show.

 

[HK-48]

I love audio commentaries! I miss them on streaming services. I hate when under the special features you'd get trailers and scene selection. How is that a special feature?!

 

[abellwillring]

I rarely watched them but found it nice that they were included.