Post
by 707 » Tue Mar 13, 2007 5:09 am
Ok, so here's my deal... I went out and purchased the DVD set (25 bucks, from Target, because I work there.) and I've been watching it from the beginning. I'm 9 episodes into it at the moment, and I have to say that I got used to the widescreen quickly. The opening seemed off to me at first, probably because I've seen it so many times that I just KNOW something is missing. But in all honesty, the show frames up nicely in widescreen. Now that's not to say that it should be widescreen exclusively, but its not enough of an issue to force me into boycotting the set.
If it came down to the choice of either owning the series in nice, cheap, compact box sets, or not owning the series in its entirety at all, then I'd much rather make my deal with the devil. The show is pretty important to me, so I don't appreciate being told that I'm not a true fan if I buy this DVD set. I can't in any way afford the Dragonbox releases, nor would I want to own them because they're not subtitled, and on top of that I don't even know if I can play them on my DVD player. I own an HDTV, so the picture actually looks pretty nice on the screen. I'd rather have the fullscreen, since I don't CARE if the image fills up the entire screen or not, but it looks nice for what it is.
I don't know if any of you know this, but Sony recently re-released the Transformers movie in Widescreen with the same "digital remastering" technique (in other words, brighter colors with a red overlay) touting it as "The Widescreen Version That Everyone Has Always Wanted!!" And it was the same deal. Cropped image, with a slightly saturated picture. However, they included a separate UNREMASTERED fullscreen version on a second disc. And everyone in the Transformers community complained, and signed petitions, and vowed to hunt down older releases, or Laserdisc conversions. And to this day, its the only set available, and it has sold insanely well.
The set is selling extremely well at Target. I've seen at least three restocks since it came out, and it doesn't appear to be slowing down any time soon. There was also a huge cross-through sale of the available DBZ games that Target actually still has in stock at first. It seems to me that even the most organized of efforts on the online community's part would have little effect in slowing Funimation's plans for these sets. It would be nice to see them allow for the option of widescreen or full in future releases, maybe that would be a better position to take on the matter.
As for me, I've been quite enjoying the set so far. Yes, I did see Gohan turn blue for a split second. I haven't seen the pepper yet, but I'd like to know where that is. I plan on buying the next one, and any releases after that.
I was inspired to write this message by the podcast reviewing the set. It was my first podcast, and I enjoyed it. I wish I was still in my heyday, and could participate in one of those things. If EX ever wants to hook me up with a chance to chat on one of them, he should drop me a line. Or I guess I'd have to let him know that I'd be interested in talking about a specific topic, of which I don't have the same gusto to put forth as I used to. Now I feel old.
I plan on forgetting that I left this message, and never responding to any direct confrontation, if any should arise. I'll say in advance that I'm right, and anyone who says otherwise is a pugnacious simpleton.
...)
