Absent Minded DVD release
- Thread starter will
- Start date
Gurgitoy2
Active Member
Well, looks like yet another title to avoid buying form Disney. Whatever happend to the laserdisc mindset? They figured that only collectors were buying the laserdiscs, so they catered to that audience. Well, who do they think also is buying DVD's? Yes, families are too, but they are cutting off that lucrative collector fanbase. No they don't have to release hundreds of thousands of copies, but at least do some nice limited editions of stuff!
Michael Zielski
Member
Will, this is just getting to be totally outrageous! Eisner and company's slimy, cost-cutting schemes just succeed to further cheapen the legacy of excellence that Walt Disney strove for his entire lifetime. He and his henchmen continue to erode the very foundation of the company by giving us poorly produced copies of some of the Walt Disney Studio's classic films. What is going on??!? It's time for the company to undertake some serious soul-searching before Walt's vision is lost to us forever. Mike.
Disney Bean Counte
Member
Come on you guys....
Surely you were aware that there has been a clammering from all of the soccer moms (who have moved up from vhs) for a pan-and-scan, colorized version of the Absent Minded Professor. They say..."not only do my kids not like those black bars on the top and bottom of our 17 inch tv, but they refuse to watch anything that isn't in color."
You know...before we put in a home thatre we watched movies on a square screen with black bars all of the time, and our kids...and there are 4 of them (blended family)...and not once did any of them complain about those pesky black bars.
Personally...I don't think that it has anything to do with their kids. I think that the parents are just hiding their ignorance and biases behind the children. You know that argument that some people put forth that they are against erotica due to its damaging effect on the kids? I think that most of the time it is their own discomfort that they want to be protected from. It is truly amazing that even after having the true benefits of widescreen presentations explained to them, they still don't trust those black bars.
Some of you might be saying...why is Bean concerned with what other people prefer...Well, I have been buying dvd's since the format was introduced. I have an embarassing number of dvd's. To put this in perspective, our first dvd player cost $1000.00+. In the early days of dvd almost everything was widescreen. There was little to no demand for pan-and-scan. It was a collectors market. Now it is so dumbed down that when I was at Best Buy on New Years Eve, I noticed the the copies of XXX that went on sale that day were 3 to 1 pan-and-scan.
I can't believe that they are doing this with these Disney films....Who do they think would be buying these things anyway? It is another example of a company not doing it's market research.
Sometimes I wonder just how much worse that it can get....
Surely you were aware that there has been a clammering from all of the soccer moms (who have moved up from vhs) for a pan-and-scan, colorized version of the Absent Minded Professor. They say..."not only do my kids not like those black bars on the top and bottom of our 17 inch tv, but they refuse to watch anything that isn't in color."
You know...before we put in a home thatre we watched movies on a square screen with black bars all of the time, and our kids...and there are 4 of them (blended family)...and not once did any of them complain about those pesky black bars.
Personally...I don't think that it has anything to do with their kids. I think that the parents are just hiding their ignorance and biases behind the children. You know that argument that some people put forth that they are against erotica due to its damaging effect on the kids? I think that most of the time it is their own discomfort that they want to be protected from. It is truly amazing that even after having the true benefits of widescreen presentations explained to them, they still don't trust those black bars.
Some of you might be saying...why is Bean concerned with what other people prefer...Well, I have been buying dvd's since the format was introduced. I have an embarassing number of dvd's. To put this in perspective, our first dvd player cost $1000.00+. In the early days of dvd almost everything was widescreen. There was little to no demand for pan-and-scan. It was a collectors market. Now it is so dumbed down that when I was at Best Buy on New Years Eve, I noticed the the copies of XXX that went on sale that day were 3 to 1 pan-and-scan.
I can't believe that they are doing this with these Disney films....Who do they think would be buying these things anyway? It is another example of a company not doing it's market research.
Sometimes I wonder just how much worse that it can get....
Michael Zielski
Member
As I've remarked before, I definitely don't think it's the kids either--they have open minds, and are willing to learn. As I've also pointed out before, my son is 12 now; when Sleeping Beauty was last released on video, now probably at least 4 years ago, we played it simultaneously on two VCR's, one with the full screen version, and the other wide screen--we were just absolutely appalled at the images that were lost with the pan 'n scan version--nothing short of butchering, an insult to the artists involved. Needless to say, since then, my son will accept nothing but widescreen--and he was well under 10 when this trend began. If someone is blaming the kids as a justification for disfiguring a director's vision, it's time to just admit that it's really the old dog adults that can't be taught new tricks. Mike.
Disney Bean Counte
Member
Yes...I can hear it now...
Parent: You don't like to have to watch movies with those icky black bars do you son?
Child: ummmm...no I don't like those icky black bars!
Parent: You don't like to have to watch movies with those icky black bars do you son?
Child: ummmm...no I don't like those icky black bars!
Aaarrrgghhh! I haven't been able to check out the discussion board in awhile and the first post I read gives me this bad news. Colorized?!?! Gag. Give me a break. Well scratch this DVD off the list of ones I want to buy. It just makes me sick what is happening to this company now. MM
Disney Bean Counte
Member
The question that keeps runnning through my mind is...
who exactly does Disney see as being their market for these dvd's? I don'y want to burst their bubble, but I don't see them attracting a whole new market, even with fake color and pan and scan. We are the market, yet they don't seem to realize this by the way they are treating us.
who exactly does Disney see as being their market for these dvd's? I don'y want to burst their bubble, but I don't see them attracting a whole new market, even with fake color and pan and scan. We are the market, yet they don't seem to realize this by the way they are treating us.
Gurgitoy2
Active Member
Honestly! Do they think they are marketing them to today's kids? What kid is going to say "Mommy, please buy my GUS on DVD! It's my favorite movie ever!" Those films are not on any kid's radars right now. They should have marketed them at the adults who remember the films, and made them appeal to that group. I would buy them if they actually appealed to me, but I certainly don't need "colorized" crap. I think Disney just went the cheap way, as usual. They didn't even change the artwork, they just reused the old video covers. So there really was very little cost in producing them.
I'm very curious how well these bare bones DVD's are selling, anybody know? I wish they had given all of them to Anchor Bay and let them continue releasing them that way.
I'm very curious how well these bare bones DVD's are selling, anybody know? I wish they had given all of them to Anchor Bay and let them continue releasing them that way.