got mine yesterday. got the email notice only the night before, so i wasn't expecting the set so soon. ripped it open to find the set, but with a huge dent on one of the corners. damn, for $120, Sony could've at least used a sturdy shipping box instead of a simple padded envelope! wondering if it's worth the effort to get a swap done. argh.

I placed my LE order on the 5th, and it shipped yesterday. According to UPS, I should have it tomorrow. Sweet.

Some images of the standard 6-DVD edition, which goes on sale at retail on April 6, are posted at:

http://hometown.aol.com/letsgetouttahere/fg6disc.html

Top to bottom:

Front cover of outer storage box.

Back and front of inner slip-case.

Inner spread of slip-case.

Back and front covers of 28-page booklet.

Mine just arrived in perfect condition!

Just did a quick flip through and it looks really cool.

You should read the previous posts, there are only 25,000 of the LE and they will NEVER be sold to retail, guaranteed my the shows producer and creator. Check out Freaksandgeeks.com.

Hey guys,

I just finished a pretty in-depth review for this 8-disc set, and it'll be up as soon as it's approved! By the way, it's friggin' awesome!

Can't wait to read it!!!!!

How many hours did it take to watch?

Well, about 10 hours for the episodes (I skipped a few that I was really familiar with), and a few hours for sampling the commentaries, and a bunch more hours for viewing/sampling a good deal of the extras. Oh yeah, and the review took another 9 or 10 hours, all things considered. In other news, I'm tired and need some sleep. It was loads of fun, though...I hope you enjoy reading it!

Great review Randy.

I also want to say that I just don't understand how this show failed and unbelievable crap like The OC is mega-successful. Is this the fault of the networks, or the lowest-common-denominator TV viewer? But still, F&G is so good, even the LCD should be able to get into it. Ahh, bugger all - at least we have this box set.

I didn't catch the show when it was first on; did it suffer from typical Fox-like 'random schedule changes?' That really does have an impact on the attractiveness of a show....
Mine is 'out for delivery' right now

Well, it was on Saturday nights to begin with, for 2 weeks, then held off for 3 weeks because of the World Series. Then it was back on for a few weeks in a new time slot, but against Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. It didn't last long after that. Really, it just had crummy times.

You'll hear more in that audio interview Geoff posted.

AND it was on NBC, not Fox.

What really surprised me was that no other network or cable station picked this show up after NBC let it go.

It's possible to enjoy both shows. The O.C. is actually much better written than you'd assume if you've never watched it for yourself.

I watched the first episode and then wrote if off as crap. It might be because I'm biased since I'm born & bred OC (I grew up in Newport Beach, and I now live in Irvive/Tustin) - but I thought it was just stupid - a more "glamorous" version of 90210.

i'll just be getting the 6-disc version. it'll fit easily in my dvd rack and i doubt i'd ever watch all the extra stuff.

I just got my LE yesterday. It came in perfect condition. I love it!! Just needed to geek out with other people who have it!!! It looks great right next to my "Six Feet Under" collection. Love it!!! I love it!!!!

I've been considering getting the Yearbook edition since this news broke and after hearing that my one friend got his yesterday, I was quite sure I was going to. After reading this thread, though, it just seems like the best move to go for the retail version at this time. I was a fan from day one, catching the pilot the first time it aired and taping it every week after that, but that's a lot of cash right now and while I may regret it later, Less than 50 bucks for the other version is very manageable. Not crazy about the yearbook packaging, either. Maybe I'm just too traditional, but I would've liked the Yearbook edition to including the retail packaging instead of the clear cases.

Honestly, anyone who's passing on the 8-disc yearbook version simply because it won't fit on their DVD shelves is going to miss out on something extremely special. Trust me, I understand the mindset of geekdom, but there are times not to be anal. This is one of those times.

Here's what Paul Feig, the creator of the show, posted on freaksandgeeks.com about the regular vs. special editions:

Our goal was to not put anything in the regular edition that's not in the SE, so that you wouldn't have to get both. The only difference is that the cast photos from the Honor Roll page in the SE are bigger in the regular edition. I wish we could have done that in the SE but we didn't have the room. One of the goals of the SE was to get as many pictures as possible in there (and I think we did).

The other difference between the regular edition and the SE is that the regular has plastic trays. I know that some of you would have preferred those in the SE (as would I) but the only way we could have done that was to use these very flimsy vacuform trays that made the book really feel cheap (and they squeaked when you held the book too hard) and they made the binding very weak. Trust me, we debated this for a long time and tried everything to make it work but in the end, the sleeves with the plastic envelopes made for the most solid package that felt most like a yearbook and that would stand the test of time.

Anyway, that's the lowdown.

strong agreement Mr. Deep Trout and with what Mr. Feig said.



This is an amazing package.

BTW, Paul Feig had a book called "Kick Me" that is a fun read about life growing up. Anyone that likes the show would like the book.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...glance&s=books




From Publishers Weekly
These interlocking essays on everything from a sadistic gym teacher and geeky after-class pastimes to obsessive romantic tendencies and a prom that wasn't the best night of the author's life are terrifically entertaining, although undoubtedly imaginatively amped up for maximum readability. Feig is the creator of the late-'90s sitcom Freaks and Geeks, a sort of Wonder Years for the Dungeons and Dragons set. Much of the show was based on Feig's own childhood, and this memoir is, in a way, the show's literary equivalent. After Mr. Wendell, Feig's seventh-grade gym teacher, orders a bunch of big, mean classmates to pile on top of Feig and pummel him as he stumbles out of the locker-room showers, the author recalls, "They all started to get off me one at a time, laughing and congratulating each other on a job well done.... All I could do was stand there and think about the fact that this was merely the first day of gym class. Nine more months of pre-teen locker room torture awaited me." But Feig gets the last laugh. Blessed with the sensitivity that landed him in such trouble when young, he lightly slices and dices the social cunning of all the bullies unfortunate enough to enter his orbit. True to form, Feig's mini-hit was canceled after one season, leading to a futile mass uprising, including a full-page ad in Variety, from his fans, who were disenchanted by yet another of life's downers. It is that very audience who will adore this originally written, imaginatively comic missive.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From School Library Journal
Adult/High School-Readers will find plenty to relate to in these true stories of teacher's pets, proms, and riding the school bus. The book succeeds because of the universality of the situations. Feig is not the first person to hate gym class, nor will he be the last, but he recounts his various experiences so vividly that a situation as common as snooping for presents in a parent's closet takes on an extra level of paranoia and humor. Most of the reminiscences are decidedly tame. The author... read more


Book Description
Written in side-splitting and often cringe-inducing detail, Paul Feig takes you in a time machine to a world of bombardment by dodge balls, ill-fated prom dates, hellish school bus rides, and other aspects of public school life that will keep you laughing in recognition and occasionally sighing in relief that you aren’t him. Kick Me is a nostalgic trip for the inner geek in all of us.

Is this a good blind buy? I never saw the show but now I feel like on the other end of the spectrum when people ask what the big deal is about Sports Night.

Agreed, and just to add my two cents, my current plan is to put the 8 discs into two four disc cases (readily available from any number of places on line), slap a few custom covers on (one "Freaks", one "Geeks"), and then it'll fit, and I can keep the yearbook-sans-discs with my E.T. book, somewhere off on a bookshelf. It's a really simple solution, that way I get all the discs I want and they're more accessible than if I left them in the book. (I'd love to just put them in one 8-disc case, and maybe will some day, but those are more expensive.) I can't imagine not buying this set just because of the cases, considering the ease with which discs can be put into new cases.

My problem with the yearbook is not so much the size as the fact that it doesn't say "Freaks and Geeks" on the spine. But that's a minor quibble; the yearbook alone was worth the extra money. I spent more than that on my own high school yearbook, and I *never* look at that.

If you went to high school you will find it to be of interest. What years were you in school? It's set in 1980.

I wouldn't recommend people buy the LE blind unless they have cash to spare. I hesitated for a second when I heard the price difference, but decided that since it's in my top 5 shows of all time I would get it. Plus the other shows have multi-seasons that will add up to more than this one season effort.

High school yearbooks are that much now? I got one for each year in high school, and I think they ranged from 20-30 bucks....of course,you could pay extra and get a plastic cover or name inscription...My college yearbook was about 40 I think.
I don't mind the way the disks are stored--they're easy to get out, you don't have to worry about them getting stuck on the hubs and having to worry about getting them out, and like TGG said, i could always put them in regular cases if I wanted to.
The yearbook is really cool, it looks like everyone actually signed it, and the things they wrote are so perfectly high-school.