My take on the Tales of the Black Freighter DVD

I've had a few days to ponder this article by the New York Times discussing the release of a "Tales of the Black Freighter" DVD which will hit stores five days after the Watchmen movie hits theatres. My initial reaction, this is exactly why I have been buying fewer and fewer DVDs. I know that this will be eventually packaged up with the Watchmen DVD into a "special collector's limitted platinum buy it now or else" edition (though I hope they release this at the same time as the regular DVD and not 6 months later) so instead of paying some over inflated price for this DVD which isn't critical to enjoying the movie I'll end up just having to wait for the above mentioned edition. In fact, wait a couple months after that edition's release and I'll probably be able to pick it up in the 2 DVDs for $30 pile when the newer, better version comes out.

Personally, I like it when a movie comes out with two versions on DVD at the same time and that's it. A slimmed downed version for people who just want the movie and a special multi-disc somewhat more expensive version with the special features, director's cut, etc. And that's it. Because I don't want to buy some "deluxe edition" only to have a newer version come out with some more interesting stuff, smacking me in the face for having the nerve to buy the first deluxe edition. And I suspect those who buy the Black Freighter right away (as the article says, this will most likely be the "uberfans") will feel the same way, when the deluxe edition comes out there will be special features that they'll want too (such as the "webisodes" that the article mentions) and the purchase of the Black Freighter DVD will be a bit of a waste. They'll be stuck with an extra DVD in their collection.

Maybe I'm missing something and some fans may be happy about this. Personally, it feels like the studios are throwing more and more crap at me and wondering why I'm not buying it all up. When what I really want is for them to reduce the quantity of the crap and look at improving the quality. Give me something to buy that I feel good about and not something I'll regret in 5 months when the newer/better version comes out.

And I won't even go into how I feel that DVDs seem to be getting more and more expensive while offering less and less.