Anybody else bothered by Criterions new 'variations' on DVD packaging?

Lately, we've had Monterey Pop, Fear and Loathing in LV and now the Antione Doinel box set all are in new packaging. The box sets are in oh-so-easily destroyed cardboard, while F&L had a plastic case with the numbering and the title on it.

Criterion, if you are listening PLEASE STOP. As some on this forum have pointed out, part of the allure of Criterion, besides being introduced to great cinema we normally wouldn't look at and restoring classics for the ages, is the collecting aspect.

Being a comic book collector, I took very quickly to the spine numbers and would like to continue in that vane. Cardboard and plastic covers is really killing the brand for me.

Oh well, I suppose that's why they made DVD cover art.com. Also, I am still enjoying the movies themselves, so please keep em coming!

I don't call myself a big Criterion collector (36 Criterions), but I own two of the ones you specifically mentioned. You won't like me saying this but I like the new packaging. I keep my Criterions in a different storage rack, so there's less chance of any damage. Even though they used cardboard with Complete Monterey Pop, it's sturdy and not very flimsy.

But we all have our opinions and I'm glad the different packaging hasn't prevented you from buying these gems. All I can say is to voice your opinion at Criterion. Just try to avoid writing on a Tuesday. Jon Mulvaney said he gets most of his emails on that day so give the poor guy a break

I must say I love the Monterey Pop cardboard packaging.

Maybe I like it less because I collect them all. Like Pokemon or something...

I really like the F&LiLV packaging

The alternative packaging certainly makes it more difficult for bootleggers to trick folks into buying illegal copies, assuming any of those releases with alternative packaging go OOP...

The Fear and Loathing packaging is great.

ditto

Could not have said it better!!!

Egads... I'm not saying that the packaging isn't 'cool', rather I'm just saying it doesn't fit on the shelf together like the library that it is...

I still don't get the strange box set numbering either...

Anyway, guess I'm in the majority.

WTF!!! So do you collect Criterions for what packaging they come in or for the films???

I honestly wouldn't give a flying **** (well maybe a little) if they started releasing titles in SUPER JEWEL CASES!!!

Oh and Kerborus I think you're in the MINORITY regarding this situation you've brought up.

i like the difference in some of their newer releases...it makes them seem more special

I have the entire Criterion Collection and they look great in my shelving. They look like a fantastic little collection. Each movie hav it's identity after Insomnia since each film is unique.

haters of the snappers keep saying the same thing. makes it not look right...wont fit where I want it.....all that. but like you said, as long as the films keep coming!!! and I dont know about anyone else, but re-organizing parts of the collection is a weekly agenda item for me, so this is no big deal.

There's always one...

Let's see, yes, the packaging does add an extra incentive to my collection of the criterion collection. The movies are 90% and the collectable aspect is 10%. I actually so hate snappers, sliders, cardboard, jewel cases, etc. I have about 1000 DVD's and I like them to all fit on the same bookcase and look uniform. I like the spine numbers even.

OH GOD! Am I EVIL? WTF???!?!?!?

And thanks for pointing out the obvious. As I have said, it looks like no one cares but me. Oh friggin well.

They're all the same size, vertically - so I don't see why they wouldn't fit together on your shelf.

And if you just mean aesthetically, then why not be pissed that the movie titles on the spines are all in different fonts?

Having a bad day Heliosphann?

Go have a beer or two on me.

Nah, I'm fine... I just hate it when people bitch and moan about little stuff (aformentioned above) because their Mommy and Daddy stopped wiping their asses at the age of 13...

I mean COME ON, mine stopped when I was 12!!!

Wow, man. I think that on this type of board, you'd realize that people posting care about every aspect of the DVDs they buy, including packaging.

Although I think the F&LILV packaging looks cool, I've cut myself on its sharp corners. The Royal Tenenbaums slipcover is god-awful ugly (I suspect it was a compromise with Buena Vista), and quite flimsy.

I'm worried that DVDs are becoming like comic books in the mid-1990s. Everyone had to have super-souped-up special edition covers and event issues, when all I really wanted to do is pick up a comic and be able to read it on its own merit. The special packaging really doesn't bother me, but when every new disc has to be a two-disc set, or have a slipcover (any need for Bull Durham or Usual Suspects slipcovers...really?), or some other bell and whistle, it gets tiresome, and not "special" any longer.

I'm all for the best possible presentation of movies. Why not just publish single discs in keep cases, with commentaries, trailers, and deleted scenes, and maybe adding another disc if the studio decides to dedicate the entire storage area of the first disc to audio/video content of the film (like Superbit Deluxe DVDs), or the extras are so good and plentiful that all of the good stuff won't fit on one disc (i.e. Die Hard collection, Fight Club, Do the Right Thing: CC, Straw Dogs:CC, F&LILV: CC, and E.T., with two cuts of the movie in the set)?

Sorry a lot of that is off-topic, but I had to put my $.02 in. Thanks.

I think we need a DVD packaging forum. Seems like daily there is someone upset about not getting an insert in their $10 MGM DVD, or not happy with snappers, or upset about a slip case, or something else.

We are becoming way to focused on the least important part of a DVD release.

I personally thouroughly enjoy the F&LILV release from Criterion. The package is excellent. Anyway, as others have said, isn't always about the movie/DVD and not the cover? Oh and by the way cupcake jesus, The Usual Suspects DID need a slipcase cover (Bull Durham didn't though). A movie well deservant of it, just my opinion though.

I take the trash cardboard cases and cut them to fit the plastic cases I buy in bulk. When a case is good (The Kubrick Collection and a few others) I keep it on a seperate shelf. I also wish they were more similar but such is life. Easy to fix unlike too many other things.

Is this a joke? Look up.

I disagree strongly with the original post in this thread - I think there's plenty of room for all types of packaging in one's collection.

And no, snappers don't really bother me either.

On Antoine Doinel - I think the package is beautiful. To be honest, I expected a bunch of keepcases in a card cover, but was pleasantly surprised. Sure the individual cardboard sleeves might not be as durable as keepcases, but so what? Don't abuse your collection and they should last a long time.

There's a quality or appearance and feel to card and paper stocks that is lost with plastic cases with inserts. While the keepcase is fine for most releases, I find Criterion's approach in this case to make the finished set "extra special."

I would be saddened if these packaging variations disappeared, to be replaced with nothing but keepcases.

In some ways I like the consistency of the earlier Criterions - black keepcases, colored titles - but I really do love the newer releases, just having their own touches - do the right thing, rushmore, chasing amy - I personally like that they have consistency (title, spine, etc), but have their own touches.

Since that isn't the point of this thread (by the first post):

I've liked the cardboard and plastic - but I do see the advantage of double amaray keepcases, etc, just because cardboard can get dinged so easily. Plastic is kew with me, but the only one of those I have so far is Brazil. Jacked up cardboard is an annoyance, but compared with the reasons I like Criterion, I don't let it bother me.