ShaunoftheDead

I know we have many incarnations of our favorite movies and some "final" editions are spectacular and some, well, not so much.

With the recent controversy over the "Apocalypse Now" Complete Dossier...I was wondering what release that is deemed the last/final or at least the 3rd or 4th incarnation which you think was just a total and utter disaster and not worth its' super special "ultimate" or "fancy-schmancy" edition....

AJH

The 10th anniversary editions of Reservoir Dogs had brutal video quality. That was the first to come to mind.

Harry Lime

anything by Sony after the 2nd double dip

matome

The Cutting Edge: Gold Medal Edition actually removed the anamorphic transfer of the original disc and replaced it with a sped-up PAL to NTSC converted non-anamorphic transfer. No sound upgrade and the only extras added were a 10-minute retrospective featurette and a bunch of promo stuff for the craptacular DTV sequel.

DeanoBKN

Well...21 Grams came out years ago as a barebones release. In a couple months, we will be treated to a special edition. Can't wait right? Yea...for a 5 minute promotional clip. THAT'S IT.

JerVL/kg

The Muppet Movie: Kermit's 50th Anniversary Edition -- only minor improvements to video & sound, and the "Camera Test" extra (which included a hilarious section of Kermit & Fozzie trying to interview cows in the field; actual cows, not muppets!) was replaced with some stupid promo clip featuring Pepe The Shrimp...who wasn't even in the movie!!

Simpson Purist

Star Wars Trilogy

*runs and hides*

Harold Wazzu

Black Hawk Down - extended edition & Patriot - extended edition

marcellusk

King Kong (1976 version)

ShaunoftheDead

I thought this was an extended edition?

dx23

This wasn't a multi-dip, just a re-release with a different cover, something that Paramount and Sony are famous for doing.

Mike Adams

ICE AGE, definitely. First they re-release it as a single-disc version with the only extra being the trailer for Robots, then the "Super-Cool Edition" is similar to the original 2-disc version but with LESS content? Puh-leeze. Cool box, though.

Another one worth mentioning would be Monty Python's "The Meaning of Life", which I guess might be great if you just want the movie, but if I recall correctly, the 2-disc SE was selling for the same price as the "new" single-disc version when it came out.

Also, any release where they change the cover art, but it's exactly the same content on the disc -- LAME!!! SEs are one thing, but I much prefer something like they did with "Sneakers" or "Billy Madison" instead of Photoshop composites that never existed as actual key art when the film was released (Wanda, anyone?)

Mike Adams

Oh yeah, I forgot. How many different variations of the old "put a cardboard sleeve on it with different artwork and people will buy it" trick have you seen? The lame single-disc version of Independence Day has to have been re-released at least twice with some store-exclusive or Fox promotional sleeve on it.

islandclaws

Evil Dead: Book Of The Dead edition. Decent extras even though some felt like fluff pieces, but worst of all a shoddy cropped widescreen transfer. Ugh... And now there's word of another release.

Peep

With shelf-space shrinking in many major stores, this is one of the few ways to get some stores to stock back-catalog.

Mike Adams

Heh? You might be right, but why would anyone be so dumb as to say "We don't want ANY more copies of 'The Great Outdoors'... you know, that DVD with the cover that looks like a magazine. Now this new DVD called, what was it, 'The Great Outdoors', with the two guys on the front? Yeah, give us 20 copies of that!!!"

Besides, although I know I'm in the minority here, if it's an older title that's already been released on DVD, I sure as hell don't want it if it's just got some recently-slapped-together-with-Photoshop cover art. If studios want back catalogue on the shelves, let 'em dig into their archives and cough up some SEs!

Mr.Briggs

Remember The Titans EE (wish I'd kept the first one). The last incantation of Zorro (4th I believe) where they just inserted moviecash & added a promo for the sequel. Every release of Shrek since the original 2 disc which is the only widescreen version ever made. Especially the box set with the 3D & still Full Screen.

Willh51

The Boondock Saints re-release was pretty shoddy. The case was great and the A/V is good, but the second disc with 20 mins of extras is stupid. I'd have rathered they drop the fullscreen and add the extras, I hate having a flipper and a disc with art. Couldn't they have made some kind of documentary, and for a MSRP of $19.99, please.

Mike Adams

Haven't seen it, but I agree with you in principle. It's interesting to note, though, that the second disc with only 20 min. of bonus stuff is EXACTLY what I'm talking about when I defend retailers who offer exclusives. They could have left that stuff off and licensed it to BEST BUY or somebody so the list price for the DVD would have been lower, then whoever loved the movie enough to want every little bit of extra stuff could have just bought it at BEST BUY and got the bonus disc.