It’s early November and as I’m writing this I’m looking forward to buying the Special Edition of the Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (an extended version). I already have the version released in August this year (which had the version shown in theaters) and so now I’ll have two versions of the same movie. Yes, I know I said last month that we’re suckers for all kinds of collectibles and special editions, but I didn’t I say I was immune.
People call it the double dip; when a studio releases a plain version of a movie with few, or zero, special features, and then later release a version loaded with extras. Most of the time they don’t say they’re going to do it, although sometimes you suspect it. With that expectation I usually wait a while before buying DVDs of high-profile movies. Then six months later it’s not as bad when the studio announces its new special edition.
With Fellowship of the Ring I don’t feel cheated; not like when Paramount released stripped down versions of the Star Trek movies and then started releasing special editions of them about a year later. (I knew I should have waited, but I’m a Trekker) So I’m stuck with two versions, only one of which I want. Lots of other studios do it as well. If it’s any kind of genre movie (action, SF, or fantasy), then you can almost bet on the double dip.
Why is it different from Fellowship of the Ring? I knew two versions of that movie were coming out. The studio said they were going to do it before the first version even hit the market. And they have different features and substantially different cuts of the movie. Besides that the movie was good enough that I don’t mind paying twice for it.
It’s the only occasion that I haven’t been against the double dip.
Dispatches from Obscurity 