Just imagine how much fun it would have been if they'd thrown Bruce Campbell and a few crates of beer into the recording booth!

I've heard that during the commentary on the lowbudget horror film Jack-O, producer Fred Olen Ray so infuriates the director with his deprecatory comments that he storms out of the booth, leaving Ray on his own for the rest of the film!

Awesome!! That I need to hear!

'I Spit on Your Grave' Millennium Edition has that hi-larious commentary from Joe Bob Briggs, way more entertaining listening to him than watching the film without it.

I did pick up 'The Devil's Rejects' after Ben and Dan's high recommendations for the documentary available on the 2 disc version (not watched it yet).

I still think that photo galleries are a waste of time, acres of deleted scenes bore the tits off me, out-takes make me 'meh' and cast and crew biographies rarely get more than one quick look over.

I like photogalleries if they feature behind the scenes shots. Stills are pointless, unless they're colour shots from old black-and-white features - the colour stills from Bava's Black Sunday are awesome.

I'm also a Mac user, and have the same problem with DVD-ROM content... it's like we're lepers. Is it really hard to make a freakin' SCREENPLAY available to Mac users as well? Do you stupid DVD producers think that Macs can't read PDF files too?

However, I've picked up a bunch of the classic Doctor Who discs (including "Web Planet" and "Tomb of the Cybermen," both bought this week with a Christmas gift certificate), and I have enjoyed the commentaries and (especially) the making-of documentaries. The BBC has been good to us with these discs. As a rule, I'm a major commentary junkie, though I agree that director tracks are *far* more interesting than tracks by CGI artists or model builders. Loved PJ's commentary on the Lord of the Rings sets, as well as the cast commentaries, but couldn't get through the effects/WETA tracks.

I'm not terribly interested in deleted scenes (if it wasn't in the film, there's probably a reason), and most making-of documentaries are little more than studio-produced fluff pieces, where Actor #1 talks about how great it was to work with Actor #2, and vice versa), but there are exceptions.

-CSJ

Yeah... the best 'studio' documentaries are retrospective ones, while the best ones attached to current movies tend to be one lower-budget films where there is actually something interesting to talk about. "Spent millions of dollars, everything went smoothly, everyone was wonderful to work with, hopefully we'll make lots more money" just isn't very interesting...

Even though I don't watch that many extras these days, it is still a big selling point to me. I'll always pay for more for a special edition packed with bonus content, even if I don't watch any of it... eg the Lord Of The Rings special editions. I don't think I've even taken discs 3 and 4 out of the box for any of the LOTR films, but I'm glad I have them. Maybe I'm deluding myself that one day I'll have time to sit down and watch it all...

I urge you to Dan - the extras on the LOTR DVDs are worth your time, in the same way that the Alien Quadrilogy (what a stoopid word) boxset is loaded with gems of a particularly fine quality.

I concur. In terms of quality and thoroughness, you just can't beat the LOTR extras. The only thing missing is some juicy backstabbing - everyone loves everyone else a little too much. I'd love to hear Peter Jackson explain what pissed him off so much that he is suing New Line, and potentially blowing his chance to make The Hobbit (and blowing our chance to see his version of The Hobbit, which is a greater crime).

In that case, I shall check them out! Got quite a bit of time over Christmas, so I shall dip in.

My girlfriend and I have been trying to find the time to sit down and watch the extended editions of the films (never mind the extras) for over a year! I can't imagine when my next 11hrs of free time are going to come from.

Each LOTR extended edition movie is rather conveniently split across two discs. When we watch the trilogy, my wife and I watch a disc per night; each disc ranges from 90 to 120 minutes. So we set aside a week and go through the trilogy in this episodic fashion and it works beautifully.

The only problem with that is that most of the last disc will be taken up with people saying goodbye to each other and hobbits bouncing in slow-motion!

Also you need to sit and watch the entire trilogy in one sitting if you can, numb bum alert if you do the Extended cuts but definitely worth it.

Sadster that I am, I did the fanboy thing when all 6 Star Wars movies came out on DVD too.

I draw the line there! They are great films, but there's only so much Treebeard and Wormtongue action I can take in one sitting. The extended versions are definitely superior to the theeatrical cuts though... especially the Mouth Of Sauron in ROTK. Bruce Spence is the man!

I've watched and enjoyed the extended cuts of both Fellowship and Two Towers, but haven't watched the extended King yet, although I've watched the DVD supplements for all the extended editions. (Whew!) Has anyone checked out the new documentaries in the latest (senseless) repackaging of the Rings trilogy? I understand there's a new feature-length doco on the making of each film.

-CSJ