Jeff Bridges is a warm and intelligent human being, and I would've loved for him to provide a commentary. It's a character he appears to adore.

This movie was the first DVD I ever watched (saw it at a friend's house way back in Dec. '99). I don't think I'll be upgrading any time soon, though.

Exactly. It would have been great if they would have included two commentary tracks. One with Bridges, Goodman, and Buscemi as themselves, the other in-character as The Dude, Walter, and Donny. The in-character track would be hilarious.

Walter: "What the fuck, Dude? What were you doing writing a 69 cent check to Ralph's for?"

The Dude: "Jesus, Walter. I didn't have any fucking cash on me, man."

Walter: "Oh, come on, Dude. Everybody's got 69 cents. I bet that fucking pederass on the bowling league even has 69 cents on him."

The Dude: "Would you just shut the fuck up, Walter? What the fuck are you talking about?"

Donny: "I've got 69 cents, Walter."

Walter: "Shut the fuck up, Donny!"

Well, deleted scenes, commentaries, maybe some Lebowski Fest stuff, a featurette about how Lebowski took off after flopping on release, a featurette all about Jeff Dowd...wouldn't have been hard.

I've waited a good 3 years for the SE of this DVD, it sucks that there isn't at least a commentary, but... The Dude abides. I've waited long enough.

I can actually hear their voices...too good!

To anyone complaining about the lack of features: blame the Coens. They were involved with this disc, that's why the Mortimer Young introduction is on there. George Ives is a Coen regular and they write his introductions (the other one was on "Blood Simple"). Now, on the other hand, MGM's "Fargo" SE had no input from the Coens and it was pretty packed. The moral of the story? They Coens don't like extra features.

All great ideas. Especially love the "in character" commentary idea above. Fuckin genius, man.

I will enjoy the new transfer, but other than that it is a wasted effort, IMO.

So, any pictures of the boxset opened yet?

Our review's up for the Achiever's Edition: http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/read.php?ID=18242.

Enjoy!

Randy, does the new disc come with an insert? (have to ask, sorry) I'm looking forward to the packaging pics, as well.

I don't have the packaging on hand, actually---I was just going off what I've read and seen from other advance reviews---but I'll let you know (and post the pics) when it arrives in the next few days. Unless anyone else can answer this one tomorrow, that is!

the back of the box set has a pic of everything in it set out for display. It is lackluster to say the least. a few black and white photos, a bowling towel (think hankerchief style for buffing, not like a sweat towel) and a copy of the dvd.

Disappointing, but since I just sold my original in anticipation for this release - guess I'd best buy the new one...

yea , was thinking of getting the boxset , but until i find out my price for it ... the standard might be the one I get.

the gift set was way too more expensive for what you get, I got the $15 "regular" CE.

you could just get the new coen bros set

Has anyone heard about the gift set being delayed?? I got two e-mails from dvdempire where I pre-ordered it. The first one stated that the title was in short supply from the distributor and the second one stated that the release date has been changed to "TBA".

I hope this is just a manufacturing delay and not a recall/cancellation or anything. Anyone have any additional information?

neilo13, read my earlier post, #124 on page 5.

So you reviewed a disc without actually viewing it? Just cobbled it together from other reviews? Please tell me I am reading that wrong.

I noticed that, too, but once I thought about it, I'm guessing he reviewed the standard (new) $15 DVD and didn't have the extra bells and whistles that come with the deluxe box set - the coasters, towel, etc. are what he's not positive about having not seen them firsthand (at least I hope I'm right in thinking that).

Thanks, guess I should have read the last few pages. Has anyone found the gift set at a retail store?? I'm thinking I should go seek it out today after work, if I get two of them I'll just sell one.

The Borders at Lincoln Center in NYC had one copy of the Achiever's Edition in stock.

$49.99 for a box, towel, and coasters. Pass. Regular edition of this megafan of (in my opinion, of course) the funniest movie ever made, and that's sad.

Yea...very very overpriced for what you get. But considering it's Universal and the Schindler's List box set dropped in a price rather quickly, I'm gonna buy the "normal" version now and hope for the box set to drop.

I picked it up & put it down at least 5x today at BB... just couldn't pull the trigger, too much other great stuff came out today... settled for the standard CE.