The Greatness of TVDJan 07 '05 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line What is TVD? Read and find out.
One of the greatest things about DVD is the availability of TV show collections. I call this TVD or Television Video Disc. From classics like ALF, to rarely aired gems like Kindred The Embraced, to long-running greats like X Files, it is increasingly easier to find any series you care to search for. I had almost quit watching TV altogether because of having to put up with genital herpes commercials, commercials that pop up DURING the show so that it obscures the picture, and the editing of original episodes to make time for more commercials in syndication. TVD has made it possible for me to avoid annoying commercials and enjoy my favorite shows even more as well as sit through things with my wife that I couldn't tolerate on the air. Aside from Star Wars related projects and Jackie Chan movies, TVD's are my most sought after collectables. Therefore, I have many thoughts about the various formats and features tried by various companies. What qualifies as a TVD? Pretty much anything aired on TV as a series. In other words I wouldn't consider a made-for-TV movie like Amityville 4 a TVD, but a movie like Trial of the Incredible Hulk would be since it's directly connected with the TV series. Why is TVD so awesome? Number one is availability. None of the rest of the points matter without having the show itself. I have wanted to see the ALF episode La Cucaracha ever since my friend described it to me back in 1997. I saw it for the first time this month when I watched the ALF Season 1 collection. How about Bad Blood from X Files season 5? It's one of my favorite episodes from one of my favorite shows. I've lost count of how many times I've seen it since I've been able to have unlimited access. One last example is Kindred The Embraced. I saw every episode that aired, but not only is it unlikely to ever air again when I can watch it, I also had no idea there was one not aired in the U.S. at all. If not for the DVD release I'd have never known of it much less seen it. Second is going beyond the show. The outtakes on ALF make me cry they're so funny. The deleted scenes on X Files reveal more about the characters. The commentaries on Futurama clue me in to who does some of the more obscure voices. The Butterfinger commercials on The Simpsons provide a more complete collection of Simpsons animation. The bonus cartoons and other shows on the Looney Tunes Golden Collection offers an entertaining look at history. I could go on and on. Much of this we would never get if not for DVD. Third is convenience. That's what separates TVD from VHS collections and is a major reason why they've sold increasingly well whereas few shows enjoyed extensive VHS releases. The convenience benefit is part of what makes DVD great in general. It's the chapter stops, menus, needlessness of rewinding, those sorts of things. If you want to watch episode 2 on an X Files tape you must search for it, the worst thing you have to do with DVD is remember which disc you need and wait for the interface to load, a miniscule inconvenience by comparison. Jump to the right episode then jump to a particular part of the episode, it's fast and easy. Everybody has a different way of setting up menus and dividing chapters, some better than others. Some of the specifics of the various designs I will talk about more in depth later, but essentially, the easier and more fun it is to get to where the viewer wants to go the better. Fourth is completion. How fun it was to finally get that last season of Futurama and be able to see every episode ever made! That's even better with a continuous saga type of show like 24, being able to see the story from start to finish in the correct order, not having to miss one and wait for a rerun somewhere down the line. I finally caught a couple of the plot nuances when I was able to watch the end of X Files season 5 followed by the movie then the beginning of season 6. That's why the idea of a fan favorites collection like the Incredible Hulk release doesn't appeal to me as much as the whole series (though I will eventually get that set if the complete seasons are never released). Almost as bad is the releasing of episodes edited for syndication like ALF season 1. We're getting all the episodes but not all of each episode. I, for one, have less desire to part with what little cash I can spare on DVD's for something that's only partially complete. Fifth is quality. Maybe you consider quality a higher priority, and I can certainly see why, but I'm the type that will suffer through a little lack of video quality if I like the show enough. I guess that comes from putting up with so many old, low-quality Chinese Martial Arts movies. In the age of digital cable and satellite you can watch a lot of shows in DVD level quality when they're broadcast now, anyway. There's still something to be said about the quality verses what we can get on regular cable or with an antenna, though. When I first watched Detour from X Files season 5 on DVD I saw a few things that I had missed every time I had seen it on TV, and I've never seen an episode of ALF with that much clarity. At worst you're getting VHS quality video (except with the really old stuff), at best it's a crystal clear digital picture. Audio, too, is generally very good. Many releases feature 2.0 surround sound, even those not originally broadcast in it, but some have gone so far as to provide 5.1! Something I would like to see on more releases is a Play All feature. The last 2 seasons of Futurama have it as does the Looney Tunes Golden Collection. The shorter the episodes in the collection the more important it is to have the Play All. I don't miss it as much watching something as long as X Files or 24, but considering there are 15 Looney Tunes shorts on each disc, that would be a lot of trips to the interface in between. It's great on half-hour shows like Futurama and The Simpsons which have an episode selection menu, then a second menu for options like setup and chapters for each episode; it's nice to be able to bypass all that for the next story. What about format? Most releases preserve each episode in its original form as it was broadcast, but there are exceptions. Some edit the multiple part episodes together to form 1. For example, The Transformers trilogy "The Ultimate Doom" has 3 distinct episodes. Each one has opening and closing credits, what happened last episode, and what will happen next time. Jackie Chan Adventures, on the other hand, takes 3 episodes at a time, gives them one set of opening credits, one set of closing credits, and no breaks in between. It's a matter of preference since I can imagine some purists wanting each episode as it was broadcast, but as long as I'm not losing any of the actual story, I don't mind the consolidation. Chapter division is one aspect of a release that gets a lot of attention from me. My favorite thing about chapters is the ability to get past the opening credits easily. Particularly with the half-hour shows, I might want to watch 4 or 5 episodes at a time but not want to see the credits each time. It's terrific to be able to tap one button and be past the credits without missing one beat of the story. The division I like to see is a chapter stop immediately after the opening theme and one at each commercial break. Or, as in the case with Garfield And Friends, where there are multiple individual stories, a chapter for each of them. Some releases have done a perfect job with that: X Files, Futurama, and others. Some fall short, however. The Simpsons, for example, sometimes put a portion of the show on the same chapter after the theme. That means skipping past the opening means missing part of the show. That's annoying because it requires backtracking then going through the opening once again. What's even worse than that is 24 Season 1 which has each entire 45 minute episode on a single chapter. That is taking away from one of the greatest things about having them on DVD in the first place. I'm not likely to make a purchase decision based on how the chapters are set up - 24, for instance, is a series I hope to complete despite the total lack of chapters, but the great job with Futurama did make me more excited about getting the rest of them. TVD is great, and I hope to see new and improved releases in the future. I'd love to see the complete Jackie Chan Adventures, Batman Beyond, The Tick cartoon series, and Cartoon Planet get TVD treatment and eagerly await additional seasons of ALF and Space Ghosts Coast To Coast. Below is a list of the TVD's in my collection. Many I have already reviewed and others will come as I have time to write them. 24 Season 1 ALF Season 1 Batman Beyond The Movie Friends Season 1 Friends The Series Finale Futurama Season 1 Futurama Season 2 Futurama Season 3 Futurama Season 4 Garfield Holiday Celebrations Garfield And Friends Season 1 Incredible Hulk Returns Incredible Hulk: Trial Of The Incredible Hulk Jackie Chan Adventures 1 Looney Tunes Golden Collection 1 Muppet Show 25th Anniversary Edition Mark Hamill, Paul Simon, Raquel Welch Samurai Jack The Premier Movie Simpsons Season 1 Simpsons Season 2 Simpsons Treehouse Of Horror Space Ghost Coast To Coast Season 1 Transformers: The Ultimate Doom Transformers: The Rebirth X Files Season 5 X Files Season 6  |
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