baracine

I live in Canada and the version I have is BBCVideo, which is the one you refer to as Warner's.



It's called "The Incredible Adventures of Wallace and Gromit" and has all the extras mentioned here and without the music changes. The new DVD according to that Amazon.com rant has the 3 films with altered music and in the wrong order and no chapter stops.

The "Cracking Inventions" shorts are also slowed down by a half-tone, which sounds like a major goof as if compensating for a European 1/24 speed-up that isn't there!

I'm buying the new edition but also keeping the old one.

slowcloud

I'm glad I held on to my original release and did not sell it off in the anticipation fo the new release, which is at least cheap enough to pick for the "Cracking Contraptions" shorts. Otherwise, the old version, with commentary, chapter stops within the half-hour long shorts, behind the scenes documentaries and the early works of Nick Park is still very much a worthwhile DVD experience for the W&G enthusiast.

Dane

Furthermore, the Cracking Contraptions on the DreamWorks DVD are not anamorphic.

However, they are on the Exclusive Region 2 DVD. Read the review here:DVDTimes

Note! A new Region 2 release will be available October 3rd.



Features:
* Audio commentary on all 3 films from director Nick Park and members of his creative team
* Introduction from Nick Park
* New photo gallery with blueprints of inventions
* 'Inside the Wrong Trousers' featurette (25 mins)
* 'The Making Of A Close Shave' featurette
* 'The Amazing World Of Wallace And Gromit' featurette

baracine

As was pointed out, the "Cracking Contraptions" mini-shorts, which add up to roughly 23 minutes (almost a "new" episode" in itself) with intro and end titles and are definitely a must-have, are presented in 16x9 format, which seems to be the new standard for BBC shows but they have not been enhanced for widescreen TVs. This is somewhat compensated by a very high bitrate, though.

There is no French track on "The Wrong Trousers", which was present in the Warner/BBC Video edition. That is a mystery to me. And the French-language setting for "Cracking Contraptions" only brings up French subtitles. As Wallace would say: "That is taking liberties!" It's also shoddy work from DreamWorks.

And I was wrong about the music not being changed on the Canadian edition of the Warner/BBC Video DVD. I guess I remembered the original songs from the VHS edition. On the plus side, an organ rendition of "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree" played very loud on the Penguin's radio is quite as offensive in itself as the original "How Much is that Doggie in the Window" for a discriminating listener like Gromit.

All in all, I will of course keep the old version alongside the new one.

slowcloud

Which reminds me! The Warner one also has a Spanish language track, as well as French-- great for me to share with my family in Mexico, when we go and visit. Does the new one feature a Spanish language track?

baracine

No. Spanish subtitles only.

slowcloud

Well, there you go. Glad I kept it. So many reasons to! What a step backward the new release is. Also, seems like the UK version is better for the 10 Cracking Contraptions as they are anamorphic, and I am region free.

Dane

Cracking Contraptions is long Out-of-Print, and is therefore not available in the UK. This very limited DVD was available exclusively through CDWOW and Aardmans web-store only - back in 2002.

Unless, Cracking Contraptions also will be available on the Region 2 October 3rd re-release. But nothing in that regard has confirmed that. I doubt they will.