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2001: A DVD Odyssey by Dan Linzmeier
Another year has passed, so that means my DVD collection has
grown by (hold on, I checking my DVD listings) over fifty percent!
Now that may not seem by much to some of you out there, but considering
I already had over 650 discs at the end of 2000, well you do the
math.
2001 has to be considered the breakout year for DVD. On the hardware
side, nearly 10 millions units have shipped to retailers in 2001.
On the software side it was even brighter - we finally received
Forrest Gump, Close Encounters, Superman, Star Trek: The Motion
Picture, The Godfather Trilogy, Snow White and yes, an actual
Star Wars movie. With the strength of those last three titles,
DVD achieved a new milestone in its short four year history -
the total DVD units sold outpaced VHS. True, it was by a whopping
0.2%, but it's a start!
With these little factoids out of the way, it's time to present
my thoughts about 2001, the year that was A DVD Odyssey...
Best Studios
Fox -- Where do I start with these guys? I could lavish
praise on them for doing a wonderful batch of special editions
this year, which included The French Connection, Die Hard Trilogy,
and Big Trouble in Little China (finally!) I could also rave about
their commitment to actually listen to the fanatical DVD consumers
out there who buy them (i.e., someone who will actually buy Zardoz
or Chain Reaction.) But Fox deserves the highest kudos for getting
the one genre correct all others seem to drop the ball with -
television. We knew they had a clue when they began releasing
X-Files episodes in order last year, and the trend continued this
year with The Simpsons and Planet of The Apes: The Complete Television
Series. Thing are looking even brighter as Buffy: Season 1 and
MASH: Season 1 will arrive in January 2002. Fox even began to
release more catalog title at lower price point.
DreamWorks -- This is another no-brainer for this category,
since everything was released day and date, and usually contained
some form of supplements. As usual, all of their transfers were
top notch, and most of their releases included both Dolby and
DTS audio tracks. Perhaps the only blemish their record this year
centers around the inclusion of pan and scam on Shrek. Then again,
perhaps my "Pan and scan must die!" bias is clouding
my judgment on this issue?
Best Independent Studio
Anchor Bay -- OK, I'll admit it, I don't buy too much
of their product, but they receive a bonus biscuit for finally
releasing Maximum Overdrive and The Beastmaster on DVD. While
their DVD authoring department could periodically use a swift
kick in the pants (numerous defects on titles like Opera), Anchor
Bay is doing a wonderful job of continuing to build a strong slate
of obscure horror titles, feeding that frenzied mob who eats this
stuff up.
An honorable mention goes out to A&E for being the
only other company that understand the concept of releasing TV
shows in order, plus a great line of specialty programming.
Most Improved
Lucasfilm -- Say what you will about King George's polices
about releasing films on DVD, but he delivered the goods with
The Phantom Menace. Possibly one of the best DVD's ever released,
the only thing missing was the digital removal of Jar Jar Stinks,
er, I mean Binks. If I have to wait until he's finished with Episode
III to receive such treatment for the original films, I'll get
over the four-year wait. (It does help that I two LD box sets.)
Now if he would get off his butt about Indiana Jones...
Holding Pattern
Disney -- After tremendous leaps and bounds last year,
Disney has settled comfortably into the groove. VHS is still their
bread and butter, but their DVD department seems to understand
what the high-end collector really wants. There are some major
plans for back catalog next year; let's just hope the master tapes
for some of these titles haven't been lying around for a couple
years like Sister Act...
Paramount -- Everything is anamorphic, but they're still
hit and miss when it comes to special editions. But from the news
gathered during Studio Day 2001, the times, they are a changin'...?
MGM/UA -- They would have gone in the "most improved"
file, but five to ten good special editions doesn't make up for
the other 350 releases. They were either hit and miss when it
came to anamorphic transfers, or non-SEs that should have been
(Escape From New York and The Howling). The prices were great,
but you get what you pay for.
Columbia/TriStar -- Last year I used the old adage, "If
it ain't broke, don't fix it," but they didn't learn. As
much as I'll blow off the idea of the SuperBit collection, I've
seen marginal improvements in the few I've bought. Too bad they
wasted a whole disc for a pan and scan edition of The Mask of
Zorro, it could have been an awesome looking semi-Superbit release.
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