Nothing says Christmas quite like a boxed set of DVDs. Can there be a better way to celebrate the high point of the Christian calendar than to give Season 7 of “Hawaii Five-O?”
OK. I exaggerate. But let’s be real. When someone points out to you that the new remake of “The Prisoner” on the AMC channel just wasn’t as satisfying as he remembered the old one, or the lady in your life thinks the guy who played Starbuck in the original “Battlestar Galactica” was really great in “The A-Team,” it is very easy to drop by Costco, or go on-line to Amazon and get the complete series to drop into a stocking hung by the tree.
Here we are dealing with a part of the computer technology that simply didn’t exist a decade or so ago. If you wanted to have every episode of, say the original “Star Trek” series, or “The X-Files,” you had to buy them individually. And that got costly.
If fact, everything we grew up thinking we knew about watching TV has changed. Just about every show that ever was is now available, either season by season, or the complete series, on DVD. Not to mention every old movie ever made. Now you can get them packaged by category. Clint Eastwood’s “Man-With-No-Name” Trilogy. The best of the MGM musicals. Loony Tune cartoons. great war movies, The Hitchcock collection—and so on.
There was a time, about 20 years ago, when networks feared what they called “time-shifting.” It meant watching “Hill Street Blues” when you wanted to, not when it aired.
Of course, now you can catch last week’s “Law and Order” when it’s rebroadcast on the weekend. And the cable channels will be running that episode for the next 10 years or so. TiVo and DVRs have made it possible to never miss a show, whether you’re out to the movies or just can’t catch two shows that are on at the same time. Plus, you can run through those pesky commercials, which pay for the show’s production in the first place.
Then too, you can rent DVDs if you wish. Netflex has put the video stores out of business with their disks in the mail with no rewind late fees. Now Netflex also allows you to download movies to watch almost instantly. Not to be outdone, the cable companies offer movies, shows and specials with their On Demand channel.
At my home we never worry about missing last week’s episode of “NCIS.” We go to sleep early on Saturday night and catch up on “Saturday Night Live” during the week. It costs nothing. Just hit the button. And On-Demand also has just released movies on DVD added to their list. Yes, you have to pay five or six dollars, but it’s cheaper that a $20 DVD. Plus you can stop and start it as you and the family wish.
Then there is iTunes. Each week, as movies are released on DVD they are also available for iTunes download. The Apple TV device allows you to watch the show on your TV, or you can play it on your computer. You can even feed the show to your iPod. (I have found that watching a movie on the little iPod screen can be tough on your eyes as well as your battery.)
Keeping up with the competition, Disney now offers three copies of each film. You get a Blu-Ray copy for your new player, plus a regular DVD copy for portable players, like the one you have in the back seat of the car for the kids, and a digital copy to load into your iPod or computer hard drive. Forget Big Brother. Walt Disney is everywhere.
This story is only part technology. There is a vast marketing effort afoot as well. Consider that after a film has made millions in the theater, you find out that there are hours worth of deleted scenes, alternate endings and alternate beginnings. Not to mention gag reels, specials and documentaries about the film. There is actually an alternate ending version of “Titanic.” I know. I bought it. (If you want to find out what was different, you’ll just have to buy it yourself.)
In fact many movies get re-released on DVDs several times. You may know that “Bladerunner” has several versions out. So does “Close Encounters.” But the fact is that “Saturday Night Fever” gets re-released just about every five years with new material and interviews and “lost” scenes. Mel Gibson’s “Payback” released an entirely different movie, as did the first two “Highlander” films. They called these the “Renegade” editions. Superman fans are still waiting for producer Brian Singer to release an extended version of “Superman Returns” with the missing opening that he cut out and covered with a quick graphic.
I have mentioned before that one would never consider a reworked version of film classics like “Casablanca” or “Citizen Kane,” but there just isn’t anything sacred today. Which is why I expect that on Christmas afternoon many of us will look skyward and silently whisper, “Book’em Danno.”