Home Video Exclusives

[JohnIan101]

Wal-Mart - August 25th, 2015




The Walking Dead: The Complete Fifth Season
Exclusive Daryl Funko figure; DVD $34.98 [did not see any BDs, but I could have missed it]



There was a second exclusive; sheriff badge on DVD pre-order, same price. I didn't see this, but I wasn't searching. Just a casual look.

[JohnIan101]

Here I am, still the same; nothing's changed.

- Joydrop

Welcome to the restart; we kick off the re-launch of "Past Tense" with the second entry. The first PT was for "MTV's Laguna Beach: The Complete First Season/The Complete Second Season" (August 18th, 2011; JoBlo's "DVD, Blu-Ray & Home Theater Discussion" forum).

Why?

I was still making up the rules and format as I went.

This was at the early point of my web media resources; database was still a seed, needed more growth. As a result this entry was incorrect. There were many exclusives to those seasons from Best Buy, Wal-Mart and Target as well as from MTV itself. Since then I've collected nearly all, but one of the bonus discs. *shrugs* I'm still working on it.

Anyhow, this and the upcoming PT posts were altered to reflect the present. As a result, some of them are shorter, much shorter than originally. I will write new material for them.

Often I would take note about then upcoming... things. These have come to pass and were digested by the masses; no point to include them. Others were simply incorporated into the main body - applicable matters.

This started as easy posts that grew into whole essays.

What I'm trying to do is set them in relative synch - as they were the first time around. So for a few months this is going to be weekly, then shift into bi-weekly postings. I have enough materials for three years and in this time I'll work on newer entries for that point - should I get that far.

Why all this? What's the point? Good questions.

This is my creative outlet - keeps me in motion; hopefully you'll understand. It's okay if you don't.

In short, I need this more than I need you to read it.

By the way, don't forget folks, August is National Anal Sex Month which fits nicely with this entry; the S&M demeanor.

This entry originally was posted on August 25th, 2011.

One last thing; none of these items are for sale. I'm a collector and for some I paid in pain. But those are tales for another day. And all of these images have in some fashion been altered; repaired ('70s Wonder Woman pix *shutter*), color fixed, leveled and beyond.

Just discovered that the post limit is 10,000 characters. My old spot was 20k; this is gonna be interesting.

Two parts it is...

Past Tense - S&M Spy Part I

Today we get all spied-up and become morally ambiguous with "MTV's Ĉon Flux"...



"MTV's Ĉon Flux: The Complete Animated Collection" was released on home video on November 22nd, 2005.

It streeted against "Alien Vs. Predator: The Unrated Edition", "King Kong: Two-Disc Collector's Edition" (1933) and "War Of The Worlds: Widescreen Two-Disc Limited Edition" (2005).

This release originally came with an embossed cardboard foil slipcover. The three disc came inside seperate digipaks. There was one insert. Side A was a production note from series creator Peter Chung. It detailed the changes made for the remastering; select dialog re-recorded by stars (voice actors Denise Poirier and John Lee) for better series continuity, voice replacement for the character Clavius (it's now Bruce Willis, uncredited) and CGI elements added for shadows, blurs and various glows. As well as timing errors corrected among other revisions.

The other side featured ads for various MTV products; "Ĉon Flux: The Game", "Ĉon Flux: The Herodotus File" book, "Jackass: The Box Set" and "Beavis And Butt-Head: The Mike Judge Collection - Volume 1".

- - -

There were two exclusives, plus one.



Former retail giant Circuit City sold the box set on street for $27.99; it came with a bonus DVD.

A sampler disc (in a CD envelope) showcasing select shorts from the MTV series that it originated from - "Liquid Television" (1991 - 1994). The shorts (totaling 17:20 minutes); "Uncle Louie's Date", "I Am Normal", "Genie Junkie", "The Block Heads", "Winter Steele" ("Ball Of Communion" episode), "Fred Dharma: Psychedelic Detective" and various tiny bits.

There is no menu screen, just plays.

This offering was limited to five per store. I'm lucky to have mine. *nods*



Best Buy had their own exclusive, a CD sampler of the score (in a printed cardboard sleeve); sold for $26.99.

This sampler is the ONLY official soundtrack to the series.

The eighteen tracks features seven sound bytes from the show.

There is a soundtrack story to tell, but I'll get to that in a few.

Continuing...

Months after the "Complete Animated Collection" release, Wal-Mart had a bonus DVD for the then streeted "Ĉon Flux" live action film, April 25th, 2006.



It was a sampler for complete series with a run time of twenty-three minutes; three of the shorts from the "Liquid Television" days and trailer for the box set. This exclusive set retailed for $19.49.

This bonus came in a standard DVD case with artwork, but was only available with the Full Screen editions of the movie though.

A somewhat common practice by the store at that time. I bought mine, kept the bonus and sold the copy on Ebay.

[JohnIan101]

Past Tense - S&M Spy Part II


Rant.

Since we've talked about it a moment ago. The "Ĉon Flux" movie (2005); bought the DVD on street ( April 25th, 2006), didn't see at the theaters. It has grown on me these past years. The screenplay by Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi is inventive, but seriously should NOT have been called "Ĉon Flux".

You don't want the side effects, you want a dot com.

- Zeromancer



As you can see from the top of this PT, that's the iconic costume worn by Ĉon. Granted for actress Charlize Theron, she doesn't have the attributes to fill out that outfit (that's not a knock on her, she's an attractive woman).

This is the same way, you don't cast Natalie Portman as a live action Jessica Rabbit. She's not for that role. Above you see the costume used for the character, it's not even close to the series outfit.

Then you have Trevor Goodchild played by Marton Csokas, he's not the charismatic amoralist you've come to know from the series. He's played like a stereotypical bad guy. *sigh* Might as well be twirling a mustache.

The same thing happened to "Resident Evil" (2002). The film is so removed from the original concept, it's in name only. If they wanted to do a real adaptation they should've just gone with the novelization by S.D. Perry (published in 1998 by Pocket Books). It took the video game, that's not so linear and made it a sequential story - pretty damn good too.

There are seven books ("The Umbrella Conspiracy" 1998, "Caliban Cove" 1998, "City Of The Dead" 1999, "Underworld" 1999, "Nemesis" 2000, "Code Veronica" 2001 and "Zero Hour" 2004) by her (Stephani Danelle; S.D.) that could be turned into movies, faithful motion pictures.

Anyhow, the Paul W.S. Anderson, written/directed feature has definitely grown on me - one of my favorites and I do enjoy the "Resident Evil" franchise for what it is (I own all the DVDs). But just like "Ĉon Flux" it should not have that moniker, give it a different name.

But I guess the prefect example is the travesty that was "World War Z" (2013). The movie has next to nothing to do with the book it's based on. Which is considered by most fans of the genre the 'definitive zombie' novel. That saddens me to this day. A proper adaptation isn't happening anytime soon.

Minus the excellent book on CD release, not someone just reading the book to you. It's a full scale audio production with cornucopia of Hollywood actors reading various characters, like the golden age of radio - an audio play. Do seek it out, won't be disappointed.

Sorry.

The movie has many flaws. The end result was decent-ish, but really just an echo of the source - which at times was bleak, there was no good or bad, just a lighter shade of grey. And animated episodes ended quite somber; good people were pawns and suffered greatly.

I will say, the soundtrack was excellent, composer Graeme Revell did his best to mimic the flavor of the show... he succeeded! It fits right in the world of the MTV series. Good stuff.

- - - - - - - - - -

Footnotes.

In 1997 composer, Drew Neumann wanted to release series music for anime fans. He asked permission from the show's architect, Peter Chung. He said yes, then Neumann got cock blocked by MTV. The record label, Tone Casualties (now defunct) would be sued if they used the name or image of Ĉon.

Not detoured, Neumann released an unofficial soundtrack, under a different name.



The two disc CD set was re-named "Eye Spy - Ears Only: Confidential" with a cover art done by none other than artist/creator Chung. It mimics the iconic "Ĉon Flux" image of a fly caught in the eye. Because of the name change and different artwork, many fans did not know it existed.

The limited pressed soundtrack soon sold out and became a sought after collector's item to those in the know. I failed to get my copy.

This is the soundtrack from an animated series on a popular cable TV network. The title of the series and the name of the network are secret, and will not be divulged in these notes. There are also cues which have never been released, which were written for the semi-defunct CD-ROM game spinoff from the series. Over a full hour of music had to be cut to make a 2 CD set. Clever fans of the show will know what show it is.

- Neumann liner notes

That game (from Cryo Interactive) was eventually aborted. And that's where the music could've ended. But very much like the titular character, it rose to fight another day.



More than a decade later due to popular demand the score shot up ears again. In 2010 Neumann re-released the soundtrack; remastered and expanded (two to eight minutes longer on select tracks), sway. But the old rules still applied.

Could NOT be named "Ĉon Flux". Unsure if there was enough demand for physical copies (costly to produce), this endeavor was pure digital - 320 kbps MP3s (from the 24 bit masters). The compressed document is close to 400mb. I had to buy and download at a friend's house (he has broadband).

For obvious reasons I'm not going to list the website nor download price (through PayPal). You should be able to find it on your own, it's not that hard.

Virtual disc one has three expanded tracks, disc two has four of them. Exclusive through Neumann is a third virtual named, "Volume 3 Declassified - Freedom Of Information Act". This contains additional music from the series as well as music from the early non-speaking shorts.

It also features the expanded score from the episode "Chronophasia" (aired September 19th, 1995).

- - -

Made me feel helpless, humiliated and sad.

- Peter Chung on the motion picture

Plans were afoot in 2008 to do a direct to video feature, a sequel to the series (animated). But Paramount lost interest in the property and passed. Too bad, that would've rocked.

It also should be noted that most of the episodes in the box set are longer than when it originally aired. Some alternate takes were found and included. That and the series, minus the shorts which aired on "Liquid Television" is only ten episodes long - still fondly remembered.

Programming like this and "Daria" are long extinct on MTV as are music videos.

- - -



Back on August 31st, 2004, Theron was injured on set; she was performing her own stunt. She hurt her neck from a trampoline accident. Production has halted for a month and on September 30th, filming resumed.

The above image is Ms. Theron in her neck brace, then recovering. When filming restarted, she continued to do her own stunts. I'm impressed.

One of the names considered for the title role was Demi Moore. Man, I would've hated her as Ĉon (not a fan of hers). Another name I'm kinda curious how it would've went is Michelle Rodriguez, she almost had the role. And she could fit into that costume proper. A latina Ĉon?

It could work.

By the way, that Wal-Mart exclusive for the full frame movie, can still be bought from Wal-Mart online - now for $22.07.

And there you have it. Come back on September 3rd, 2015 for another scooping. And if you're real good, I'll include sprinkles.