Home Video Exclusives

[JohnIan101]

Past Tense - Cosmic Nightmares And 2122 Terrors Part II


There are in fact other extras in "Legacy" which didn't carry over.

1) "Alien" - commentary by director Ridley Scott (new one was recorded for Quadrilogy); isolated Jerry Goldsmith score with alternate music; screensaver for Mac and PC) plus hidden gems (covered later).

2) "Alien3" - EPK (Electronic Press Kit) featurette on the making.

3) "Alien Resurrection" - EPK featurette on the making.

"The Alien Legacy" is included in the "Alien Anthology" Blu-Ray set; streeted on October 26th, 2010 for $139.99.

I have my exclusive inside the DVD case for "Alien" - 20th Anniversary; bought since I found out - was missing the above (number one). You see 20th Century Fox had re-released the DVD with new cover art and added a lenticular slipcover. The iconic xeno egg.



My copy came from Wal-Mart for ten bucks - which came with a single chapter sheet insert. Later I found on eBay, the original DVD. Got it rather cheap just for the booklet (above) and wraparound. Then moved this all into a two disc transparent case.

The new cover on the outside and the older one inside. Inside is the inserts and documentary sleeve. Two disc case says it all; extras not in Quadrilogy are here.

- - -

I want to begin part two with a quote. A massive logic problem with the first film...

In the end, Ripley and the Alien are in the escape ship. She grabs a harpoon gun of some sorts.. and opens the door. The Alien is holding on, and Ripley shoots it with the harpoon.

The Alien's chest is punctured, and it flies out of the door. The door shuts, just as the gun reaches it, causing the Alien to hang behind the ship like someone water skiing.

Okay, considering the biology of the Alien, and it's ACID FOR BLOOD, that can eat through 3 floors of a ship in seconds.

HOW THE HELL DID THE HOOK AND CABLE NOT MELT OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- NataliePortmansYummyAfterbirth

He's totally right. Never thought about it until reading that internet comment.

- - - - - - - - - -

Rant.

Want to make this clear - I do not own this set... but do now in a very round about way which I'll cover in a while.



This seems like a stupid error, but turns out to be something deeper that got cut, not a game changer, but an option not used. And it all started with TV Guide advertisement for ABC; first time on television - "Alien". Was doing research and fell into this other rabbit hole.

WTF? That doesn't look like Tom Skerritt - a lot more like Richard Chamberlain from "Shogun"; NBC's 1980 mini-series (if he was in a disco outfit). Wishful thinking by the artist? 'Chamberlain would've have totally kicked alien butt.'

What up with Sigourney Weaver's Jay Leno chin? And John Hurt looks very Korean - oh my God, Jonesy!

That's raaycist!!! Little Tiger soup. Yup I went there.

Well at least Yaphet Kotto looks like Yaphet Kotto.

Do you see the problem in the ad, beyond my comments? Let me give you a moment and show you the network opening for Sunday night - March 25th, 1984.

YouTube - ""Alien" 1984 ABC Sunday Night Movie Intro (Parental Discretion Advised)" or fQ2TnT-33ec; uploaded by RetroTVnstuff on July 14th, 2016. This is how I first saw the movie. Never had cable, still don't.

Catch it?

That gun isn't in the movie. No gun is in the feature, just stuff they improvised. Right? Right? Why is it in the ad? Dramatic license? Yes - and no. There WAS a gun in the movie.



It's in a deleted scene. When Caine (Hurt) is inside the derelict - within the egg chamber; he gets spooked and pulls out his weapon. Each of the space suits has a hip holstered pistol. You'll notice the gun is very similar to the weapon Ripley is holding in the broadcast ad. The artist probably saw a print of the movie with that scene in it and drew it from memory.

Can see why the scene was taken out. Having guns mean the crew could've defended themselves. Strip that away, they are left to creative measures - which makes for a better story and characters. Plus a bullet to the critter means acid blood getting all over the place. See Pvt. Mark Drake (Mark Rolston) from "Aliens" as a warning - what not to do to a xenomorph. *nods*

Want more proof?

Look at the promo pix with the cast for "Alien" in part one...



Zoomed in - Kotto and Skerritt are both holding their space suit guns! Kotto is being all gangstar. 'Bitch where's my space dollars!'

- - -

This next rabbit hole goes into lore - does it exist? Was it filmed? There is production photo that kinda hints at it and the comments from a comic book artist which said it was made.

What am I talking about?

The infamous flesh box scene. A step back...



In July 1979 Heavy Metal/Futura published for $3.95 - "Alien: The Illustrated Story". The comic adaptation was done by Archie Goodwin with art by Walter Simonson; sixty-four pages. "Alien" opened on June 22nd, '79.

Movie; Ripley has set the Nostromo to auto-destruct, tried to abort it. But MU-TH-UR cancels her, too late - can't undo. She has her pet, Jones in a cat carrier running down corridors hoping not the run into the monster, trying to reach the Narcissus - the craft's escape shuttle which navigator Joan Marie Lambert and chief engineer Dennis Monroe Parker (Kotto) was stocking with coolant.

Dashing down one of the corridors she nearly runs into the star beast as she tries to peek around a corner. In her panic she drops her cargo and flees like it's nobody's business. Later she require the carrier when she goes back to that corridor to reach the lifeboat.

In an earlier version - the escape shuttle was named "Leviathan". Random trivia.

BUT...

The official comic book has a different version of that moment.



The xenomorph can compress into itself to lure prey.

Attempting to reach her escape - Ripley runs into a mysterious box at the center of the floor, very out of place. She gets curious, moves closer and sees movement in it. Not a box, flesh - she dashes away. The creature unfurls to full form. The nightmare tried to get her to come to it.

In an interview with Simonson in 2014, he claims he saw the scene. He was privy to a preview screening in December 1978 (rough cut) with illustrations beginning in March. He drew what he saw. The movie was still being edited at the time. Simonson wanted to know if the scene was still there or revise the comic. He was told the flesh box was still in the movie. It's not.

There is no mention anywhere of this moment - NONE. Like it never happened. Simonson says he saw it.



But there is this image, a promo shot or something else? By the way, that's graphic artist, Bolaji Badejo in the suit. A very skinny fellow.

Now this could very well be foreshadowing the ending with the beast compressed within the workings of the Narcissus.

The end of the lore? No, that would be too easy. There's another deleted scene which gives serious consideration to the flesh box.

It would take decades before Scott would direct another movie in the franchise - "Prometheus" (2012). A prequel to the movies.



There is a cut scene where an infected - more like mutated, Fifield (Sean Harris) returns outside of the gangway of their ship. Fifield had folded into his space suit; one of the crew is confused and comes to him. He's murdered, pounded to death - then Fifield goes onto killing rampage in the hold.

A random moment, coincidence or callback to that deleted scene?

[JohnIan101]

Target - January 28th, 2020


Harriet
Exclusive slipcover; BD/DVD/DC combo $22.99

- - - - - - - - - -

CD available 1/31

"Meghan Trainer - Treat Myself" with two exclusive bonus tracks $11.99

[JohnIan101]

Best Buy - January 28th, 2020


Terminator: Dark Fate
Exclusive steelbook; 4k BD/BD/DC combo $34.99

Black Panther
Exclusive steelbook; 4k BD/BD/DC combo $34.99

Spider-Man Legacy Collection (available now)
Exclusive steelbook; 4k BD/BD combo $89.99

Zombieland: Double Tap (available now)
Exclusive steelbook; 4k BD/BD/DC combo $32.99

[JohnIan101]

Best Buy - February 4th, 2020


Doctor Sleep
Exclusive steelbook; 4k BD/BD/DC combo $32.99

The Breakfast Club: 35th Anniversary
Exclusive steelbook; BD only $14.99

[JohnIan101]

Past Tense - Sword And Sandal Quarter Part I


[An earlier version of this PT was originally posted on March 13th, 2013 on JoBlo's "DVD, Blu-Ray & Home Theater Discussion" forum.]

This PT kicks off - "Sword And Sandal Quarter", three months of manly dudes doing manly things. SADQ starts with a retelling of the Battle Of Thermopylae (480 BC) with a living God, a giant, flashy cinematography and dudes with swords protecting their realm in "300"...



The motion picture opened on March 9th, 2007. It was made with a budget of $65,000,000 (estimated) and grossed over 210 million during its U.S. theatrical run; worldwide it made over $456 million. The film opened number one at the box office, the following week it remained at number one

The feature opened against "Ghost Rider", "Bridge To Terabithia", "The Number 23" and "Wild Hogs".

This was released in two main versions; full screen as a single disc and a two disc widescreen special edition - which is what I'm going to be talking about.

There was no insert for the two disc set, but it did come with an embossed cardboard slipcover which mirrored the case's wraparound. I apologize, can not recall if the single disc came with a slipcover. Sorry, that was nearly thirteen years ago.

- - -

As mentioned in the last Past Tense heralding this gimmick *cough* - I mean 'showcase'... this feature had so many exclusives from multiple stores and itself. Coverage will take two months just on this movie. The inaugural entry will cover the two items which came from Best Buy.



The first was a pre-release, promo disc; weekly ad shown above. It came in a black slimcase and was made available on February 27th, 2007; free with the purchase of any DVD.

There was a minimum ninety per store. It came with a theater voucher to see "300" for free ($10.50 value for one; the window was March 9th to April 9th, 2007). I didn't use mine, it's still in the slimcase. I'm a collector.

This was both in the new releases display rack and in the 'Adventure' section.



Got mine from buying a copy of "Giant: Two - Disc Special Edition". Don't ask, can't remember the price. It's a great flick, James Dean just eats up his scenes. Granted I had to make an exchange since one of the discs was scratched up.

The promo disc has a run time of 43:01 minutes. Most the webisodes carried over onto the two disc set.

Most not all... minus "Sneak Peak At 300", "First Look", "Creatures" and the mobile game trailer "300: March To Glory". *nods*



The next exclusive arrived on its street date of July 31st, 2007. A mini Spartan helmet with four collectible art cards. All the store exclusives was for DVD only. This movie did come out on HD DVD/DVD combo ($39.98) and a single disc BD for $34.98 on that date too.

This came in box with a folding side door (sealed/locked with two velcro dots) that opened to a large window showcasing the replica.

One side also had a window, didn't need to be opened to view. This exclusive was for the two disc special edition and sold for $34.99.



The art cards were printed on card stock and embossed on "300" logo/name. They are 5 x 7 inches each.

The back is blank minus some fine print, studio credits ("For promotional use only. Not for sale. © 2007 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All rights reserved." Below that it read "116724-90-CR"; with a number at the end of CR indicating the card number, such as CR4.).

Have my BB cards here and Circuit City's (next Past Tense) inside the slipcover - inside that big box. I'll explain in a few.



Above is a couple of photos from a fellow enthusiast. Man, getting this particular exclusive was a pain, not as much as it was for the FYE/Suncoast offering (next month's post). *shakes head* I'm way too anal for my own good.

That helmet is not some plastic crap, it has real weight to it. Kinda like what Best Buy did with the ceramic mask for "V For Vendetta" (2006; have that too). Thing feels like it was made from some kind of resin - not metal. It measures 5 1/2 inches tall.

A good sculpt and paint job on it. I'm lucky to have mine, very sway.

On release day I arrived in store around noon and they were already sold out. Only fifteen per store.. Crap! Fanboys like myself had been waiting in front of the store before it opened to get that exclusive - found that out later from an online forum.

That means I had ZERO chance finding it. In fact that was happening across the nation. A thought popped in my head (wasn't the only one) - I raced home.



Could the internet save me? I went online (home) and saw through the store's website - still available. Hope it was accurate and ordered it. What you're seeing above is an actual screen snap from that afternoon; image was taken roughly at four PM (did I not tell you, I'm anal?).

The question was whether or not my order went through. You see, the email I got shortly there after said, it was on back order. Then I got a second message saying the same. I pretty much figured, I lost it.

There was a bit of false hope. Looking about on the web, read that some Best Buys might be getting restocked that Thursday. I gave it a shot, nope - my local store didn't have it.

I did however talk to a clerk there - did happen, but only to a few stores in Las Vegas. Which means - my order still could happen, hadn't gotten an email saying it was canceled.

On August 7th, came a message saying it was shipped; five days later it arrived. *smiles* This very exclusive is now selling from Amazon resellers from $75.99 to $80.00 (as of this morning, posting). With one seller asking for $647.74 for a mint in box copy. I'm glad I have my set.

The cards.

All and all I bought this movie three times over. The DVD with slipcover fits inside the box, behind the replica giving it structural support, otherwise would wobble.

Sold my extra copy on Ebay (didn't break even), but kept the extra slipcover for the box. I use that slipcover like a pocket for the card exclusives. The movie isn't inside the box, I would rather have easy access for viewing. And would put ware on it, opening and closing the flap each time; damage can happen. I'm a collector.

There you go folks, "Sword And Sandal Quarter" continues with Part II which will pop up on February 20th, 2020. See you there - in fancy slow-mo.

[JohnIan101]

Best Buy - February 11th, 2020


Ford Vs. Ferrai
Exclusive steelbook; 4k BD/BD/DC combo $34.99

[JohnIan101]

Target - February 18th, 2020

Midway
Exclusive steelbook; BD/DVD/DC combo $24.99

[JohnIan101]

Target - February 11th, 2020


Ford Vs. Ferrai
Exclusive packaging and photobook; 4k BD/BD/DC combo $34.99

[JohnIan101]

Best Buy - February 18th, 2020


Midway
Exclusive steelbook; 4k BD/BD/DC combo $29.99

Ford Vs. Ferrai (available now)
Exclusive steelbook; 4k BD/BD/DC combo $34.99

[JohnIan101]

Past Tense - Sword And Sandal Quarter Part II


[An earlier version of this PT was originally posted on March 28th, 2013 on JoBlo's "DVD, Blu-Ray & Home Theater Discussion" forum.]

Part two of the mega "300" post comes at you like a well thrown spear. Duck if you want, won't really matter though.

- - -

I'll forgo the theatrical stats, just scroll above to Part I.

This outing we focus on the exclusive that came from the former retail giant, Circuit City. This will be one of the shorter entries.



This arrived at their stores on July 31st, 2007, four exclusive collectible cards (4 x 6 inches). These were not packed with the DVDs; but were available for both the single and two disc editions ($13.99/$22.99), but at the register.

You would buy the movie then receive them in a milky transparent envelope - first come, first served. There were a minimum of twenty sets per store.

The cards were printed on thick card stock. As mentioned previously, I have my cards inside the Best Buy, Spartan helmet exclusive gift set. Cards came with comments by the director, sway.

Quite fortunate that I didn't have to buy rebuy the DVD to get a set. Yeah, let me address this - my DVD Crawl back in the day.

I used to go to Circuit City first since it was the first store on my weekly trips. It was located roughly a block away from Best Buy. After that, as needed (not really part of my weeklies) Target, then Wal-Mart.

Anyhow, back to that story...

Politely asked the woman at customer service and she handed me a set for free. One of my easier acquisitions.

Going the extra mile for you guys. Here is each card with Zack Snyder's commentary. The back of each reads "Collector's Edition" and "Zack Snyder Commentary On The Scene"...

One of the most challenging, and rewarding, part of making 300 was dissecting some of Frank Miller's illustrations and their individual elements, ultimately finding creative solutions as to how to bring those images to life. In this scene two of the key elements in capturing that look were the lighting and the rendering of the rain. We relied on intense lighting to give us hard highlights and dark shadows. The rendering of the rain was also pivotal to capturing the look of the original illustration, so we opted to use a combination of both practical and CGI raindrops.

We did our best to faithfully translate Frank Miller's fantastic illustrative style, textures, lighting and geography into live action in a way that captures not only the action, but also the attitude, exaggerated perspectives and overall intensity. For this particular frame we shot many passes of our stuntmen falling off the rock cliff set into padding below. Combine those elements with a layer that included Leonidas and his men pushing several soldiers back, throw in some digital battle grit and CGI blood, and with a little luck, you have a Frank Miller illustration come to life.

"A thousand nations of the Persian army descend upon you, our arrows will blot out the sun," threatens the Persian Emissary. Not intimidated, Stelios defiantly replies, "Then we will fight in the shade." The arrow scenario was something included in our original test shot and then later in the actual film. As each new version arrived for commenting, I would look at it and exclaim, "More arrows!" In the end, I think the final result is an intimidating cloud of weapons raining down on the Spartan soldiers.

There are four distinguishable battles in the film. During battle three, we turn the fantasy aspect of the story up a notch. We decided to play on the fact that the audience is seeing the battle through the eyes of the ancient Spartan mind as Dilios spins this fantastic tale around the campfire. The storyteller device allows us to embrace the surreal and elevate the tale of Leonidas and his 300 soldiers into the stratosphere of legend.

- - -

From 2007, can't recall where I found this on the web.



Saved that pix all these years, still think it's cool.

C'mon, you know it made you smile.

- - - - - - - - - -

Footnote.



Above is the home video ad for stores and merchants. You'll noticed the HD-DVD edition came with a "Strategy Game". Did some looking and found out it was called "Vengeance And Valor".

You get x amount of Greeks to keep Xerxes' army at bay. Command them where to go and what weapons to use - attack or defend. That's interesting, I guess.

The only strategy game, I've ever played was "Battleship".

The HD-DVD came with another exclusive (at the time) - Picture In Picture mode. See the film as it was shot with blue screens, minus the visual effects. This became available in the 2009 Blu-Ray re-release, "The Complete 300" - which isn't. So many of the exclusive written about here were not included.

- - - - - - - - - -

Easter Egg.

Never owned the single disc version (why would I?), so I can not say if this is also available on the single disc edition. *shrugs*

Snyder explaining how he convinced Frank Miller and the studio to make the feature, plus the transition from graphic novel to cinema.

Disc 1 -> "Special Features" -> highlight 'off' for commentary, press up; highlight "Special Features" - ENTER.

OR

Disc 1 -> "Special Features" -> highlight 'Main Menu', press down; highlight "Special Features" - ENTER.

And there you go folks - the end of Part II. Half way done - there is much more to cover. Come back here on March 5th, 2020 for the next exclusive installment AND you don't have to go shirtless for it.

[JohnIan101]

Best Buy - February 25th, 2020


Frozen II
Exclusive steelbook; 4k BD/BD/DC combo $34.99

Knives Out
Exclusive steelbook; 4k BD/BD/DC combo $29.99

[JohnIan101]

Target - March 6th, 2020


CDs

"Lauv - How I'm Feeling" exclusive stickers $12.99

"Mandy Moore - Silver Landings" with two exclusive bonus tracks $12.99

[JohnIan101]

Best Buy - March 3rd, 2020


Up
Exclusive steelbook; 4k BD/BD/DC combo $34.99

Monsters University
Exclusive steelbook; 4k BD/BD/DC combo $34.99

Monsters, Inc.
Exclusive steelbook; 4k BD/BD/DC combo $34.99

Wall-E
Exclusive steelbook; 4k BD/BD/DC combo $34.99

A Bug's Life
Exclusive steelbook; 4k BD/BD/DC combo $34.99

[JohnIan101]

Past Tense - Sword And Sandal Quarter Part III


[An earlier version of this PT was originally posted on April 11th, 2013 on JoBlo's "DVD, Blu-Ray & Home Theater Discussion" forum.]

Still not surrendering, part three of the mega "300" post hold its ground with more exclusives! Not great ones, but hey - they do count.

*nods*

- - -

As mentioned last time, I'll forgo the theatrical stats. Look at the February 6th, 2020 entry for that data.

This time out we focus on the remaining stores, plus a tangent entry with its exclusive. I kinda have to include it, though I know in my heart - it's crap.

Lets address this alphabetically...

On street, July 31st, 2007, FYE/Suncoast had their own exclusive bonus disc. This became one of the hardest acquisitions for me for the movie.

My voyage for that exclusive took me to three FYEs - in three different cities. Man, I'm too anal - don't want to think about how many miles I drove to add it to my collection.

The first store didn't have it, sold out.

The second store said they had copies, but couldn't sell it to me.

Apparently the exclusive was ONLY available on pre-orders. You can't just walk in; buy the movie and get a copy. Their exclusive had a limited window of customer availability. I kid you not.

I saw a surplus of bonus discs not attached to any pre-orders.

Asked what they were going to do with them? Their reply - "send them back to corporate". WTF? What kind of imbecilic policy is that? I left so pissed.



Got lucky at the third store. Sway. But there was an effort. The two clerks there argued over whether to sell it to me. Granted, I had to rebuy the movie just for that disc. It had to be under a pre-order... well I bought the two disc set once more, $22.99.

As mentioned in Part I; sold my extra copy on Ebay, I lost money on this venture.

Their exclusive came in a printed cardboard sleeve. Sorry, no menu screen, it just plays. The bonus disc has a run time of 22:53 minutes and is presented in letterbox.

- - -

This was the crappiest of the exclusives and it was from Target; download, "Making Of 300". A quote from their weekly ad:

Target Deluxe Edition includes 300 movie download (full theatrical version) for PC or mobile device with exclusive 'Making Of 300 download', and over 90 minutes of thrilling extras on a bonus disc.

Yeah - a digital copy too. Oh joy. That ad was borderline false advertising, or at least poorly worded. The store had a history of doing stuff like that.

Sorry I don't have their weekly ad.



The image above is a recreation of their exclusive embossed slipcover. I would say it's roughly 95% correct. As I wrote, I don't own this, so no scan is possible. I did however find a couple of low-res pixs, which I used as references.

Continuing...

So many were upset with Target; their exclusive was loaded with DRM (Digital Rights Management).

So... you needed to register with Movielink.com (Windows only - and required Internet Explorer), fork over your email and various personal information to download the movie...

THEN they email you the link to download the making-of.

What was it? It was the HBO special that aired on March 1st, 2007 (22 minutes). And that Digital Copy ran through their proprietary software. No, do not want. This 'exclusive' was only on the two disc edition that sold for $22.99.

- - -



The next offering was from Wal-Mart. It is weak, but still beats out Target's offer - a bonus movie; the director's cut of "Alexander" (two disc set), side packed with the single disc edition of "300".

This combo sold for $19.98. It's not a bad deal if you just wanted the basic version of the movie - you got a free, two disc special edition of a solid flick. As I recall this set was available on both the widescreen and full screen editions of "300".

- - - - - - - - - -

Tangent.

Don't get mad.

As I wrote, I kinda have to include this mess here too. *sigh*



The motion picture "Meet The Spartans" opened on January 25th, 2008. It was made with a budget of $30,000,000 (estimated) and grossed over 38 million during its U.S. theatrical run; worldwide it made over $84 million (how sad is that?). The film opened number two at the box office, the following week it dropped to number seven.

The feature opened against "National Treasure: Book of Secrets", "Juno", "Cloverfield" and "Rambo".

Never bought this, so I can't tell you if it came with any kind of insert. The film had two editions; theatrical and unrated. Each were single disc releases.

The theatrical edition came with both the widescreen and full screen versions. Unrated was widescreen only.

Can't tell you if this came with a slipcover. *shrugs*

- - -



Circuit City offered on release - June 3rd, 2008; free muscle t-shirt (large size); packed on the back of the "Unrated Pit-Of-Death Edition" DVD. The set for $16.99. Looks like it came in a slipcase for the tee, sorry for the poor quality image. It was the best I could find.

Have no desire to see this garbage. A movie made for the bottom, lowest common denominator.

Okay, lets think pleasantly ahead - one more exclusive for "300". Final installment in this mega post will punch you on March 19th, 2020.

[JohnIan101]

Target - March 17th, 2020


Superman: Red Son
Exclusive steelbook; BD/DVD/DC combo $19.99