November 28, 2009
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The ‘Glee’ DVD: Beware of This
The Glee people are really milking everything they have. Even for a substantial show that I enjoy, I’d hate to get lost in the glare of ‘new’ and realize I’ve been duped. I’d even hate for it to happen to you, too.
Not only can you buy the overpriced Glee Director’s Cut Episode, Glee: The Music Volume 1, Glee: The Music Volume 2, Glee: The Music Volume 1 (Special Edition with 3 Bonus Songs) , every song on iTunes, and every episode on iTunes… but now you can also pre-order and purchase Glee, Vol. One: Road to Sectionals. I enjoy this show and support it… but for something that hasn’t even had an entire season there’s an awful lot of merchandise already. What’s more, lots of this stuff is the same. It’s just repackaged with a few bonus elements that probably only run a few minutes. Talk about wasting your money.
I’d implore you to learn from Buffy the Vampire Slayer fans. Some bought every season of the show as it released, but the smarter people held out to buy the entire Chosen collection of all the Buffy DVDs for what I estimate to be less than half the price. Unless you have a burning desire to re-watch Glee episodes now (and you know you can do that on Hulu.com – right?), save your time and money.
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November 28th, 2009 at 11:01 pm
I’m pretty sure that the reason the season is being split, is because Fox ordered the original 13 episodes, and most of the marketing was surrounding those 13 episodes. The tour, the release dates, all of that was because they knew the cast would be free to promote it. Then Fox ordered 9 more episodes, and they’re going in to start filming those soon.
Personally despite the fact that it is a money making MACHINE, I am glad they’re releasing the DVD of the first part of the season. This will hopefully give them even more viewers, and more support for those back 9 episodes when they return in January.
November 29th, 2009 at 9:38 am
Actually you can’t watch all the episodes on Hulu anymore because they only show the most recent ones. So unless you have it saved on your DVR, buying the DVD is a must to get through that long dry spell until April 13.
November 29th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
I suppose that making the DVD for new viewers to catch up is a good thing. But I don’t understand how anyone would only wait a couple months before rewatching episodes they just saw. I love rewatching things more the longer it’s been since I’ve seen it.
December 2nd, 2009 at 12:26 am
Actually, it’s a lot cheaper if you buy Buffy DVDs now since most of them are running under 20 dollars.
The DVD Sets don’t go on sale when the DVDs do like they should. So when the DVD’s jump down prices, the DVD sets do not. I found Buffy DVDs for like 13 bucks. You don’t get anything new with the Chosen DVD Package, no new footage.
December 11th, 2009 at 6:41 am
Who cares? Surely people are capable of making their own decisions on what to buy and what not to buy. Plus, sure you could wait until the DVD’s get cheaper. That’s a no brainer. Everything gets cheaper. Doesn’t mean everybody wants to wait.
I’ve had my Buffy DVD’s for almost 10 years now. I don’t regret buying them when I did because I’ve had at least 5 years worth of extra value out of them being able to watch them when I wanted than having to wait til they went ‘cheaper’ to buy them.
December 28th, 2009 at 12:16 am
Hulu does not work outside the US. The DVD set has not been released in Australia yet . . . Amazon again, six week wait, thirteen episodes? Like Dave, I still watch my Buffy DVDs.
January 30th, 2010 at 4:59 pm
To clear up some things:
1.) The Buffy “Chosen” set does NOT cost “half the price”. My parents got Buffy season 3 at Target for about $50 while the show was still ON THE AIR. Granted, this was a couple years after the season first aired, but still. The “Chosen” set cost $700 when it was first released. It contains ALL the episodes and bonus features that were on the old sets. The only thing it adds is a pretty new package and a single disc with some new featurettes that, since they’re basically just discussing themes and characters (i.e. stuff that the creators and fans have already examined and continue to examine ad nauseum) probably isn’t worth it. In the meantime, the “Chosen” release happened around the same time or shortly after the thin-pack versions of the seasons were released. These packages aren’t as prettily-laid-out as the packaging for the original season sets, but they’re half or even a third the physical size and ALL the content from the discs is the same. On top of that, because they were made “redundant” by the complete series set, I was able to get them – all six that I didn’t own, AS WELL as all five seasons of its sister series, Angel (which Buffy fans will tell you you can’t miss if you want to get the entire story) – for $16 apiece. This is now about what they retail for in stores like Target and WalMart and the like, and they’re still easily found pretty much everywhere. Do the math, and you’ll realize that the “Chosen” set is at least FIVE TIMES as expensive, for 99% the same item and 99.999% the same content! In short, there’s pretty much zero reason to buy the “Chosen” set now regardless of whether you own the series yet or not, and every reason, if you don’t already own the series but want to, to get it in thin-packs at any major retailer that sells television series DVDs. And if you just wanna try the series out for cheap, it might also be worth it to just watch it on Hulu, as I’m told that (in the US at least) the first and/or second season was already being shown for FREE on Hulu.
2.) I am SO glad that I’ve discovered the very real possibility that Glee won’t be released with a Vol. 2, but rather just a a full-season set. I almost bought Vol. 1 to help catch up, now I’m glad I didn’t! I did the math, and while you do miss out on DVD extras (which will be on the full series DVDs anyway!), it’s actually cheaper to buy the episodes individually through iTunes! Do the math: $1.99 per episode x 13… compared to over $27 for the same 13 episodes on Amazon. If you can’t live without seeing the extras super-soon, that’s the only reason to buy it. If you just want to catch up on episodes you haven’t seen or want to rewatch again, then iTunes or (assuming the episode you want is still up) Hulu is the cheapest option.
3.) BEWARE the music sets. First, half the time the music isn’t as fun without the visuals, and second, there are some awesome and borderline iconic tracks that are available for mp3 download from Amazon (note: this means NO DRM!), but are NOT available on either of the first two CD volumes; the best example of this is the absence on either CD of easily my favorite remade song from the series, Vocal Adrenaline’s bouncy, sock-hop-esque version of Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab”. It is true that if you wanted EVERY track, it’s marginally cheaper if you get the CDs (yes, the CD versions are cheaper than the mp3 albums on Amazon. No, I have no Idea why, and yes, these are CDs that qualify for SuperSaver i.e. free shipping if you purchase $25 worth of stuff at once). Thus, my advice for all but the most obsessive “Gleek” collectors then is to just buy your favorite tracks from Amazon in mp3 format, unless you like EVERY track from a given CD, in which case get the CD so long as you’re already ordering enough to get free shipping and don’t mind waiting a few days for it. This is exactly what I’m doing, because some of the tracks are fun but nothing special, whereas I really dig some tracks (like “Rehab”) that simply aren’t on any of the soundtracks yet. The iconic “Don’t Stop Believin’” is available on the $9.99 Vol. 1 soundtrack, but it’s also available DRM-free as an instantaneous mp3 download from Amazon for $1.29. Choose wisely, folks.
4.) Not sure which tracks are good enough on their own to buy? Go to YouTube, search for a given track’s title with the word Glee in the search bar too… you will probably find tons of videos that feature it, including some from obsessive fans that put it up for promotional reasons and will give you a link to download the mp3 or itunes copy if you want it. This is how I’m choosing which tracks to buy, and it’s working well for me.
In the meantime, I’m definitely using Hulu and iTunes to make up for the episodes my DVR ate.