Between Bag End & Orodruin

With the impending premiere of the new Star Trek movie I thought perhaps I should rewatch the early movies. I know many don’t find much to praise about the first movie, but I do like it and appreciate it in spite of its failings. Many of them could probably have been avoided if “executives” had faith in fans and ideas! “Wrath of Khan” is probably my favourite as for many. I shall follow these 2 with “The Final Frontier”, definitely my 2nd favourite: it’s a “cerebral” thing! Unfortunately watching them again reminds me how disappointed I am in the DVD releases as a whole. They seriously need to be “remastered” properly. Perhaps I’ll be happier with the impending Blueray versions. However I’ll be renting those first, or going to someone else’s to watch them. I won’t be wildly buying them. This moves me onto a Blue-ray rant in general.

It seems we must, just as we did with DVD, be subjected to the blatant “pig in a poke” attitude of studios once again. I’ve now gathered a small library of what I have considered the “necessities” for me, based on what’s available. Of those, I’m content that I’ve been given “reasonable” value for money with regard to most of them. In general my disappointments relate to one aspect or another, rather than a complete dud. I’d also preface this with the fact that I’ve on average only paid $25 (AU) for each of them.

Out of the 33 movies I’ve now bought, it’s amazing that several STILL come with only the standard audio tracks that were on the DVD. Admittedly the do sound noticeably better, but that ISN’T the point. It’s supposed to be a HIGH DEFINITION medium. All of them display superior visual quality, although I’d say that Coppola’s Dracula is a let down visually and audibly. It should have looked so much better. I appreciate that given that the film may have presented some test of skill to pull up for the newest medium, but I remember it looking glorious on the big screen. Surely it should have presented better. Especially given that as a movie it was a such an artistic and visual feast. Additionally why the fuck am I only getting a standard definition soundtrack? Alexander is the same: yes it’s visually better, but WTF is with the audio? Hopefully consumers in general are going to indicate that this is not acceptable. Paying 3 times as much for a better quality picture and “marginally” better sound is just a blatant rip off! Again.

We went through this with DVD early on with cheap trashy transfers at an exorbitant price. It held me back from purchasing many DVD’s, and it is also going to do the same re. Blue-ray. At the ridiculous price of Blue-ray discs at the moment I’m now vetting extremely carefully future purchases. Additionally I’m suggesting the same to my friends. It’s unlikely I’ll be buying Alien and it’s sequels without a preview on someone’s system or renting them first. The same will follow for any of the George Lucas films IF they EVER get to Blue-ray!

And, if the studios think they can extort $70 or more per season for shows, they (hopefully) are fooling themselves. NONE of the series I have so far seen offer a HD soundtrack, so why should I be paying 3 times the price? Presumably they believe that those who buy Blue-ray are not affected by any economic downturn, and will just buy anything regardless of consideration.

*sigh* Commercial extortion all over again, the cycle continues.