Josh-da-man

This week Best Buy is running a 3-for-$20 special on a number of DVDs, including "Valley Girl."

VG was recently price reduced from a MSRP of $20 to $15.

Okay, now I was under the impression that this DVD was a Special Edition with a commentary, documentaries, and music videos, but on all of the copies at Best Buy, it only lists a trailer and commentary and also doesn't have the "Special Edition" banner at the top of the cover. When I go to Amazon and DVDEmpire, they both show the special edition cover and list all of the features.

Did MGM strip the documentaries and music videos off when they reduced the price?

AOD

They must have. Because the one on the left is what I have and the one on the right must be the re-release. On the spine of the SE it says Special Edition where on the re-release it says MGM DVD, and of course on the SE it also has Special edition on the top with "Like Totally!" in the background. You can get the SE just about anywhere online and most B&M's for under 10 bucks. If you like the movie, it is an excellent disc with some very good extras that's worth it over a barebones release.

Case01

I was at Bestbuy for this on the 3 for 20 deal I was lucky enough to find the Special Edition behind a bunch load of regular bar ones.It was the last.Are they OOP now or something?

Josh-da-man

What's strange is that both DVDs seem to have the same UPC number. I wrote the number down in the store for reference, and it was 0-27616-88848-8, which matches up with the back cover scan of the SE that's up at DVDEmpire.

Seems kind of strange that two different versions would share the same UPC numbers.

Cornelius1047

Legally Blonde and Jeepers Creepers are the same way and, I believe, have the same UPC codes as their Special Edition counterparts. What's with MGM?

K

Edit: D'oh! What Josh said.

Julie Walker

At least if you find the SE in stores. You should get the same price

But some stores have Jeepers Creepers bare bones stickered at $10 and the SE stickered at $15 or higher. Yet some are also stickered at $10. So who knows if they will ring up at the correct price,or whatever is stickered on them.

I don't have Creepers or Valley Girl yet. But I will have to be very careful when getting them sometime,as I want the SEs!

Buford T Pusser

The SE of Valley Girl is a worthy purchase. Great soundtrack too.

D-Ball

MGM has done this on many of their special editions. They make the disc barebones but use the same UPC.

natevines

That's ridiculous; why do they feel it necessary to release a barebones disc? It's one thing if it's a two disc set or something, but it's just really superfluous.

heffalump

It happened for "Stargate Ultimate Edition". see related DVD Talk thread

Paris

I just came from Best Buy looking for this dvd and they only had one of the SE left. They had 20-25 of the newer version without the SE banner on the cover of the dvd. I got lucky because I was about to give up looking for the SE when I noticed that they had some $9.99 dvd's in the isle. The SE was tucked in the last slot I checked behind all of the non-SE versions of this film.

I bought it for less than $7.00 with two other titles (The Firm & Dragonslayer) with the 3 for $20.00 deal. Not to bad.

scarredgod

what does MGM save in printing these new versions? i would think it costs more money to make a new master copy without extras, as opposed to using the original one they have been using. i just dont see the point in this at all.

Paris

Maybe they are trying to give the people who went out and bought the first edition a bit of a collectors item.

Brian McHale

I can think of two possiblities:

1. Maybe they can fit the movie on a single layer if they dump the extras. This might save them some production costs (don't know that it would, but it's conceivable).

2. There could possibly be some rights issues/costs that might make it cheaper to remove the extras.

Feathers McGraw

Hey, this is a great idea. Maybe next time they press Abbey Road, they can remove a bunch of those pesky songs to save money.

Make those old versions that are complete "collectors editions".

I'm sure anyone who wants it has the deluxe original version already, right? There are no new consumers entering the market any more.

Josh-da-man

I have the Howling SE from MGM, with a number of special features and both fullframe and widescreen versions. Looks like its on a DVD-14.

If these other MGM SEs were also on DVD-14s, then they might remove special features when the price drops so they can use a DVD-10.

What pisses me off is that it looks like they're removing features to save space, BUT KEEPING THE ****ING PAN AND SCAN/FULLFRAME versions of the disc.

I just checked at Wal-Mart, and they had Jeepers Creepers and Legally Blonde on their $9.44 rack. Each title had a mix of both SE and non-SE versions.

What really sucks is that they're keeping the same SKU #s, so you can order a SE of one of these titles online, and possibly receive the non-SE instead.

Aside from Valley Girl, Legally Blonde, and Jeepers Creepers, are there any other titles MGM has pulled this bullshit on?

mikewendt

My Best Buy had plenty of SE Valley Girl yesterday... But they were all out of Meaning of Life, which was also in the ad.

freudguy

I went by BB yesterday just because of this thread (I was going to wait until payday on Friday). I have been on the fence about a couple of the titles listed for this sale and decided to strike during this bargain.
Valley Girl is a guilty pleasure of mine and I wanted to get the special edition, obviously. They had several copies of the SE on a table at the front of the store along with all the others @ 3 for $20. However, on the shelf and on an "island" in another part of the store, they had the new plain version.

I was bummed, however, when I read the expiration date for the free DVD offer with the purchase of Valley Girl & The Sure Thing. It expired last YEAR.

The Exister

What's missing from the current release that was on the SE?

Edit: Never mind, I found it:

SE:
2 Featurettes Including New Interviews with Cast and Crew
"In Conversation: Nicolas Cage and Martha Coolidge" Featurette
Audio Commentary with Director Martha Coolidge
Original Music Videos From Modern English & The Plimsouls
Video Commentary Track
Storyboard-to-Film Comparisons
80s Trivia Track
Original Theatrical Trailer

Chrisedge

Once again thanks DVDTalk. My wife picked up, the $9.99 the other day at BB, and I bought it. Checked this thread, noticed the NON Special Ed she picked up, and ended up getting the Special Ed at CC for the same price.

I may check BB tonight to see if there is two other movies I want (if they have a special ed, among the 3-for-$20), otherwise, I return the non-se.

scarredgod

exactly what happened to me with Jeepers Creepers during the DDD 20% off sale. the SE was pictured and the specs of the SE were listed but they sent the non-SE. i dont blame DDD, not really their fault since the UPCs are the same. i picked up a SE at Borders and swapped them so no big deal. but it will be becoming a bigger deal when the old supply dries up.

Alan Smithee

Does the "new" release have only the pan&scan version? The special edition had the widescreen and extras on one dual-layer side, and the pan&scan version with no extras on a single-layer side.
Nevertheless, it's in my Wish-I-Hadn't-Bought-It section since some music was changed, even though there's no mention of that on the cover.

Buford T Pusser

What music was changed?

freudguy

From IMDB:

Originally, Men At Work's "Who Can It Be Now?" was played during the scene where Randy climbs into the upstairs bathroom through the window and hides in the shower, hoping that Julie will eventually come into the bathroom. In the Special Edition DVD, "Shelley's Boyfriend" by Bonnie Hayes and the Wild Combo continues playing from the previous scene, replacing the Men At Work tune.


As for any other songs, I don't know.

natevines

They did it with Platoon, a barebones disc came out after the SE.