The Not So Lucky Country!

Australia's known the world over as the lucky country, but when it comes to our entertainment, we're anything but that.

Bands are reluctant to tour Australia due to the distance and cost in doing so, regardless of the number of fans desperately waiting for concerts that never come.

Higher quality overseas TV Shows are at least five months behind their original overseas airing, in some cases longer: American sitcom That 70’s Show is currently in its 8th season in the United States, while the last episode that aired on Australian television was from the 4th season.

And Movies are more often that not released locally months after their original release, in some cases longer. And when it comes to DVD’s, the highest earners in modern day entertainment, some titles are never released locally at all.

From all this you may very well get the impression that Australia is not greatly liked in the global community – in fact we may very well be considered a bastard step-child by some. And certain exported entertainment properties (Crocodile Dundee and The Crocodile Hunter for instance) have done nothing to change peoples perceptions.

What’s worse than a second class treatment from our overseas friends, is the fact that we are doing the exact same thing to ourselves. Companies based locally, releasing the latest overseas DVD’s, are well prepared to let Australians have a second rate product, citing a smaller sales demographic as the reason certain titles fail to match up to their overseas doppelgangers.

Well I for one have had enough. I have a voice and it’s time that it was heard.

I love my country and couldn’t imagine living anywhere else, but when it comes to Buying Australian, I just can’t do it. I’ve yet to find a hidden vain of gold in my backyard, or composed the next classic rock anthem, and until I do I’m just not made of money. So when the next DVD is released I’ll be asking myself two questions:

Is the price right?

And does it have all the goodies I desire on my release?

And if ether one of those questions comes up pear-shaped, I’m taking my Australian dollars overseas.

The Cost of Being Region 4!

When it comes to my entertainment needs, DVD is king. I’m an avid reader and I page through my latest paperback hero each and everyday, but there’s nothing better in my mind than watching the stories comes to life on my Widescreen telly. And with the improvement in Television storytelling, and the subsequent television boxset revolution, I find myself in an entertainment golden age.

But the cost of these boxsets in Region 4 Australia is just astronomical. Let us look at a few for starters.

Star Trek Deep Space Nine is for me the greatest science fiction show of all time, second only to the revamped Battlestar Galactica, but I simply refuse to buy the SEVEN boxsets from Australia.

When the Star Trek Deep Space Nine boxsets first started hitting selves the world over, they came with a very hefty price-tag. In Region 4 if you were to buy a single Deep Space Nine boxset, you would find a price close to $230.00! And one must keep in mind that for all Star Trek series, but the Original and Enterprise you are looking at SEVEN boxsets – at $230.00 Australian per set, a sci-fi lover would be looking at the massive price-tag of $1610.00! That’s a small fortune for one show alone. And while the boxsets have recently come down in price to $100 Australian, the price is still dragging its feet when facing off with the overseas market.

If you were to take a trip across the cyber-sea of blue to Amazon UK, you’ll find all SEVEN Deep Space Nine boxsets on sale for about £30 English. With the current Exchange Rate to Australian dollars you are looking at $72.00 Australian per set, or $504.00 Australia for the complete collection. Even adding on five dollars or so per set for shipping, the Amazons are pretty reasonable when it comes to their shipping charges, you’re looking at around one third the cost for being a good Australian, and buying locally.

Star Wars Episode III Revenge Of The Sith was released with a retail price for a respectable $30 Australian in some shops with their discounts, but lets face it, the real RRP was more like $45 Australian and that’s what you’ll pay for it in some stores. But if you were to visit Amazon in the United States, you could get the disc, with the exact same Special Features for $16 US, which comes in at $21 dollars Australian – add on a couple of dollars for shipping or drop it into an order with another couple of discs, and you’ve just made out like a bandit.

It’s a wonder that the Region 4 DVD market even exists with prices like that.

And while there is a certain level of convenience being able to visit your local DVD shop and walk out, on the spot, with a copy of your latest, thus avoiding a seven day wait for your imported discs to arrive in the post, when it comes to bigger purchases, the idea of Buying Australian comes into serious question.

A Question of Quality!

When buying Region 2 instead of Region 4, the question of picture and audio quality isn’t really on the cards. More often than not the Australian Region 4 release and UK Region 2 release are one in the same.

If not, they’re close.

Both releases are PAL format, and both have the same amount of lines in picture compression. But when it comes to heading east to the U S of A, then the question of picture quality comes into play.

16x9 enhanced PAL (Region 2 and 4) 1:85:1 picture has 720 x 554 lines in the picture, while the 16x9 enhanced NTSC (Region 1) has only 720 x 461 – a drop of almost one hundred lines in picture quality. Which essentially means that there is more room on an NTSC disc for extras than a PAL.

A number of times the question of space is quoted as the reason why certain NTSC extras are dropped from the PAL release, but that’s never stopped some companies from making up for the lack of disc space with an extra disc.

Sure a PAL transfer tends to be off a higher quality than an NTSC transfer, but the drop is of such a small amount it is almost laughable. And let’s face it, I would happily sacrifice a little quality, for the better deal in extras.

Here’s your DVD – hold the packaging!

With the increasing popularity in Television Show to DVD releases, and the Complete Season Set releases that follow, it seems that Region 4 Australia is again getting a second class treatment here when it comes to packaging. Sure, it’s a pretty fickle thing to complain about theirs being pretty than ours, but this is us against them dammit, so what are we gonna do.

Until recently, the slim-sized plastic keep cases were an almost pipe dream for Region 4 Australia – as though distributors couldn’t afford to make them locally. Season set release’s like Firefly – The Complete Series and Roswell – Season 1, which we’re released in Region 1 North America with four or six slim cases respectfully, were replaced with two or three regular sized cases with ether an inlay or a second spot on the inside cover’s other side for a second disc, robbing the locally released set of its overseas charm. But with the recent releases of the Charmed season sets, Region 4 Australia has finally been granted the slim keep case, but one wonders if the slims will continue to see the light of day in Region 4 Australia, or will Charmed be the exception to the sad Region 4 rule.

Figure 1. The Region 1 Dead Like Me release.

But Australia’s lack of cool overseas packaging doesn’t stop with the slim cases.

In Region 1 North America, the four season sets of Smallville are packaged in a Book-style packaging (see Figure 2), made up of a number of thick plastic pages, while Region 4 has the standard fold-out digipak. Recently however, the digipak has been replaced by thinker version of the plastic Keep Case, often called an Alpha Case that can hold the entire set in one small packaging – while cool in and off itself, is unfortunately is no match for Book-style.

Figure 2. The Region 2 Sliders Season 1 & 2.

Another cool packaging of note is the Sliders – Season 1 & 2 set from Region 1 North America, which comes packaged in a special box fitted with a cut piece of foam, in which the disc rest, giving them the impression that they are floating in mid-air. Very Cool. However Region 4’s release of the same set came in a simple digipak instead of the hover-case (See Figure 3 below) – and while it would appear too difficult or costly for the local distributor to give us the same packaging as Region 1 North America, the Americans have also abandoned the hover-case for a digipak with the recent of Sliders – Season 3.

Figure 3. The Region 1 Sliders Season 1 & 2.

No time for releases, Dr Jones!

Be it due to licensing or demand, like our imported TV shows, Australia is light years behind our overseas friends when it comes to our releases, forcing those of us who want a certain title to take our local dollar across the ocean to a foreign market.

For example, lets look at the season set releases of The Dead Zone. On October 18th this year, you can finally buy a copy of the First Season set locally for around $60 Australian. However The Dead Zone – Season 1 boxset has been out in Region 1 America ever since June 17, 2003, at a cost of $38 Australia minus a few bucks for shipping. Furthermore Region 4 Dead Zone fans, Season 2 has been out since June 2004 and Season 3 (which has yet to screen in Australia) has been out since June of this year – and when it comes to cost, they’re actually a couple bucks cheaper than Season 1.

No doubt the most anticipated television release in recent days is that of Lost and its First Season boxset. Local stores are certain to be gearing up for a big promotional campaign, with huge sales and money to be made for all. The release date is November 30th and the current going price is a staggering $89.95. But never fear Region 4 Lost fans, because I’m here to give you the good news. At Amazon you can pick up for yourself the Lost – Season 1 set from September 7th for a measly $52 Australian. What a difference three months and a trip overseas makes.

No time for releases, Dr Jones! Part 2: The Kevin Smith Effect.

I’m going to let you in on a little secret. Back in 1998 when I first heard about the DVD format and the upcoming revolution, I could care less. I didn’t buy a Lazerdisc player when that came out and couldn’t see myself buying a DVD player ether. But when I found out about the (then) soon-to-be released Mallrats Collectors Edition DVD, I went out and brought myself the finest multi-zone DVD player I could fine that very day(granted it died a slow and painful death a year and a half latter – but that’s neither here nor there).

And this brings me to the real reason I’m here – God’s gift to Generation X, Y, and whatever the hell kids are today - Kevin Smith.

Figure 4. Kevin Smith. God’s potty-mouth!

Mallrats Collectors Edition was released back in the dark age of DVD – 2000 – but stands as the whole reason I brought a DVD player in the first rate. In fact to date, it’s my favorite DVD, bar none.

Figure 5. The Region 1 Mallrats

Those beautiful animated menus, a Featurette looking back at the film, an Audio Commentary (with pop-up video to boot) with Affleck patting himself on the back and us laughing along for the ride, and OVER AN HOUR OF DELETED SCENES!! I was in Askewverse Heaven, sitting on the side of the divine deity Alanis, when I then learnt that I could enjoy another hour of one of my favorite films – a film, along with all of Kevin Smith’s movies, that was not at the time released on DVD in Australia. I brought it along along with it the Miramax Collector's Edition of Clerks, Chasing Amy, and the bare-bones Dogma.

I was totally geeking out. Audio commentaries - the greatest commentaries ever made are from Kevin Smith and company. Deleted Scenes – a beautiful way of extending Kevin’s classic films. And other bits and bops.

But when Region 4 Australia got Clerks, Chasing Amy, and eventually Mallrats, all of the extras that Kevin Smith himself had worked hard in giving his fans we’re nowhere to be found. Region 4 Australia didn’t get the Widescreen transfers or 5.1 Surround soundtracks, in fact the original Clerks release is widely considered to be one of the worst transfers in Region 4 history.

Soon the two disc Dogma release saw the light of day in Region 1 North America, with around 100 MINUTES OF DELETED SCENES, TWO AUDIO COMMENTARIES, and other extras including the beautiful BIBLE-LIKE PACKAGING (see Figure 6 below), while the Region 4 Australian release got a couple dis-joined interviews.

Figure 6. The beautiful Bible-like

Next on the Region 1 release slate was the Two disc Clerks Cartoon Series which came with more Audio Commentaries and Kevin Smith’s trademark goodies. The Clerks Cartoon stands as the first of a number of Kevin Smith Region 1 DVD’s that have never seen the light of day in Region 4 Australia, and as for screening on TV, I think it played for one week up in Sydney at 4 or 5 in the morning!

The Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back and Jersey Girl Region 4 Australian releases stand as the only two Kevin Smith DVD’s that saw all of it’s overseas content make it through the Region 4 extras death machine.

Next up on the never see it locally block is An Evening With Kevin Smith. Running almost four hours and released in Region 1 North America in December 2002, An Evening sees Kevin Smith tell stories about his life and movies. Taken from his various Q & A sessions, it’s more stand-up comedy than a director Q & A. Very funny. Very brilliant. Very never released in Region 4 Australia. A sequel is due out within the next year, and you better be sure to import that as well, because we will never see it locally released.

And finally, the Clerks X and Mallrats 10 Anniversary DVD releases. Released last year and Sept 2005 respectfully to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the film’s releases, the plethora of extras on these discs, that will never see the light of day in Australia, is just not funny.

Clerk X has two versions of the movie – one a restored version of the Theatrical, the other the Original pre-Sundance Version, a brand new VIDEO COMMANTARY, an almost two hour documentary on the films making and Kevin’s life up to the sale of Clerks to Miramax, the Cast Reunion Q & A, the animated Lost Scene, plus other goodies spread over 3 DISCS.

And then there is the flipper release Mallrats 10 Anniversary Edition, with two versions of the film – the theatrical and a new never before seen cut of the movie -, the cast reunion Q & A, new featurettes and introductions, plus bloopers and almost all the material from the original Collectors Edition release carried over.

Taking that into account, Region 4 Australia certainly has been treating Kevin Smith and his brilliant Region 1 DVD releases like bastard step childred. It’s a wonder that people even buy locally anymore.

Special Features? We don’t need no Special Features!

Looking at all the special features missing from the Kevin Smith releases alone and you know before reading one more word, that this section isn’t gonna be pretty. But I’ll do my best to keep in short, sweet, and as painless as possible.

Farscape – The Peacekeeper Wars.

The title that pushed my buttons and made me write this article in the first place. An Australian made American show, Farscape never EVER got the due it deserved in it’s homeland. The Nine Network treated the show like a entertainment leper - never placing the show in a good time slot, never giving it a decent run of promotion, and in the end dumping the show with no advertisement 5 days a week at 5pm. In America, the Sci-Fi Channel canceled it a year before the five year story was complete.

Farscape was never loved by the networks.

But the fans, however, did love the show and after they showed their incredible demand and support for the show, the Sci-Fi Channel wised up and allowed the producers a chance to finish the story with the Peacekeeper Wars mini-series.

But keeping in mind the Nine Network’s treatment of the series, the likelihood of them screening the mini-series seems slim to none. So a DVD release is something that Australian fan need, just to see the series.

And again, my friends, we got the short end of the stick. In fact, I’d go so far to say that Region 4 Australia got the worst of all the Farscape PK Wars DVD releases.

Missing was the thirty minute Featurette ‘The Battle Behind The War’, detailing how the fans were able to resurrect Farscape – available on both Region 1 North America and Region 2 UK releases. Gone was the fifteen minutes worth of Deleted Scenes and Interviews found on the Region 2 release. And no where to be found was the Image Galleries found on both the Regions 1 and 2.

Following my review of the Peacekeeper Wars, I received an email from Vaughn Arnup, who worked on both Farscape and the Peacekeeper Wars (as well as The Matrix Reloaded) as a Digital Composer. He said:

“As someone who worked on this mini series’ visual effects, I was very disappointed in this release, not to have anything included in this DVD that documented or even mentioned the high degree of talent that made this all possible was shameful.”

Battlestar Galactica (2003)

Figure 7. The Region 4 release of

Region 4 Australia’s recent release of the first season of the New Battlestar Galactica, along with last years release of the Mini-Series, were the self same editions released in Region 2 England. The Mini-Series came with a half an hour Featurette, and the Season 1 boxset came with a load of deleted scenes.

Figure 8. The Region 1 release of Battlestar

When Region 1 released the Mini-Series late last year it came, not only with the Featurette, but a 3 hour Audio Commentary, and some deleted scenes. Add to this, in a matter of weeks, the release of the Complete First Season, that takes each and every item from the Mini-Series release, and couples it with all 13 episodes from the first season, audio comentary’s, deleted scened, and more goodies in the only complete set... then suddenly the Region 4 doesn’t look so rosey.

Toy Story – Toy Box

The original Toy Box release in Region 4 Australia missed out an the two Audio Commentaries that were found on the Region 1 North American version, much to the distress of the fans at the time. Perhaps the soon to be released Special Edition version will fix this. Perhaps not.

Fantasia & Fantasia 2000.

The all time Disney classic gets a less than classic Region 4 treatment with missing commentaries on both releases, featurettes, and DTS TRACKS. Not to forget the 3 disc The Fantasia Anthology released overseas, that has never seen a release in Region 4 Australia, and the bizarre need that the Australian Disney distributor has to remove and re-release and remove and re-re-release titles again and again.

Looney Tunes – Golden Collections.

To date Region 1 North America has three ‘packed with special featurettes’ four disc boxsets, none of which have ever seen a Region 4 release, while the best we can get locally is a two disc set, with some of the special features but no where near as many as our American friends.

And finally, Fight Club.

First rule of Fight Club is, there is no Fight Club. First rule of the Fight Club Region 4 is, there is no full set of Region 1 Special Features. While Region 4 was packed with Special Features on a two disc release, somewhere along the way from North America to Australia, 3 Audio Commentaries seemed to have fallen out. I guess they figured we wouldn’t notice.

Whoops! We messed up!

A number of years ago, the Warner Bros release of Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone caused such a storm of hatred from DVD lovers. It happened when the two disc movie was released in FULL FRAME only, while the Region 1 and 2 fans we’re given the option of buying ether a FULL FRAME and WIDESCREEN edition. The backlash was such, that Warner Vision Australia was forced to re-release the film again a few months later with a WIDESCREEN edition, but instead of just re-releasing the film with the same packaging, Warner Vision choose to release a BOXSET (coupled with the films soundtrack and a t-shirt) no doubt looking to make a little more cash from Potter fans. At this point, no FULL FRAME edition is available in Australia, and the original release’s cover is now proudly WIDESCREEN.

Welcome to the next chapter in second rate Australia – Single Disc Editions: Less money, zero extras.

I don’t know about you, but the whole reason I got into DVD’s had nothing to do with a crystal clear picture and surround sound (I only recently improved my set-up to where I can enjoy these features), it was because of extras (It was a way for me to extend the enjoyment of the film beyond the movie itself). But now in Region 4 Australia, distributors have decided to waste their time and money releasing single disc versions of some of the bigger movies on the market (X-Men, Braveheart, The Aviator, Terminator 3 to name a few). Thanks guys for taking away the extras completely from my local market.

In writing this article, I contacted Ezydvd about the Single Disc releases. I wanted to know for certain if I was right. Do people want special features or not. Ben Schultz replied:

“Our sales favour the special edition 100% of the time, ranging from between 134% (Alexander) to 431% (League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen)”

Seems people want special features after all.

And hands down the dumbest of all the dumb Region 4 exclusives – Split Season releases.

Back in the day, Buffy and Angel season releases were split in two by Fox, but to be quite frankly I didn’t really mind. They were released together and to be honest, the sets were rather nice looking. And add to this was the fact, that I really didn’t know any better. But times have changed and spilt season sets are no longer acceptable.

Released earlier this year was first That 70’s Show season set for about $60 Australia, only slightly more expensive than the Region 1 set, currently selling for $52 US. But starting in late September, Region 4 That 70’s Show fans can kiss the 4 disc Season 1 boxset goodbye as Fox splits the sets in two with a price tag of $34.95 each, bring the total price for Season 1 to $70 Australian, ten dollars more expensive than the Region 1 Complete set.

The same thing has been done with X-Files, Millenium, Tru Calling, and C.S.I. boxsets – split in two, twice the release, twice the cost, unlike that of Region 1.

But above and beyond these bad moves is the decision to split up the season set releases of 24.

24 is a series designed for a single boxset release, being that an entire season’s worth of episodes is meant to make up a whole day of storyline, but now that is gone with 24 Season 1 Part 1 and 24 Season 1 Part 2 – a decision so unpopular in stores in my area, that some of them are refusing to stock these spilt sets. But to add insult to this is the upcoming release of 24

Season 4 Part 1 in October, following NEXT YEAR by Part 2.

Honestly what’s the point? It would seem that distributors no longer want DVD fans to buy locally.

Rated MA – And Just in Case you missed it, next year it’ll take up half the cover!

Recently the Office of Film & Literature Classification introduced a new set of Classification Markings, markings that take up quite amount of space on your DVD’s cover, and in same cases take away from the beauty of your DVD’s cover.

DVDBITS recently ran a news item about this, asking the readers of DVDBITS to write to the board to express there disapproval, if you have any, and I would ask you the reader to do as well. Send your emails to oflcswitch@oflc.gov.au, but remember to be articulate and kind in your criticism... remember, talking blue like a drunk sailor is not going to accomplish anything.

So, what can we do about it?

Many companies would state that the reason why Region 4 releases do not match up to the overseas releases, is due primarily to the major difference in the sale’s demographic between the two areas. Region 4 by example is made up of 15 million DVD consumers, while Region 1 or 2 is five times the size. More money is to be made in the larger area, so therefore more money is to be spent on their releases.

But that excuse is growing old.

We now live in the digital age and we are all part of the global community. No longer are we cut off from the rest of the world. If we so desire it, a quick trip to an overseas based online store will take our money away from Australia, and as more and more people do so, the Australian economy will start to suffer.

By withholding that which the oversea market gets by simply being a larger marketplace, ultimately does the local market a disservice. As increasing numbers seek cheaper, higher quality products overseas, the local product rises in cost to compensate for the lack of profits, thus sending more consumers overseas, and continuing the vicious cycle to the marketplace’s ultimate demise. And while a large number of older people do not shop online and are more than happy to settle for what is issued locally, the numbers heading elsewhere continue to grow as younger generations comes forth to take their elder’s place in the marketplace.

But by standing together in a united voice, perhaps we can do something to a make a change for the better. If we stand together and let the companies know that we are no longer happy to suffer sub-standard releases because we live in a country that is not overpopulated, maybe Region 4 releases will stand side by side with their Region 1 and 2 brothers as equals.

Acknowledgements.