inkvoices: (avengers:team)
inkvoices ([personal profile] inkvoices) wrote2012-10-03 08:39 pm

avengers fans, are the extras I haven't seen worth it?

I’m supposed to be waiting for Christmas for the Avengers, which works since I’m currently broke and there were rumours that there might be a special version coming out by then in the UK, but those are apparently debunked. That’s a kick in the gut considering that in the UK not only does the DVD of the Avengers come with practically no extras at all, but Joss Whedon’s commentary has been taken off the Blu-ray (even if you pre-ordered it), the Coulson scene has been censored, and there’s still no Shawarma Scene. I’ve been trying to work out what my best option would be.

The Options:
1) the UK DVD. It’s cheap, it has the film on it!
2) the UK Blu-ray. It has most of the extras.
3) import a region free US Blu-ray with everything. (Amazon tells me that the UK Blu-ray is region free, but it says that the US Blu-ray is region specific. True or false?)

For me, I personally don’t own a Blu-ray player, but I could use a family one. Awkward, but do-able. Blu-ray also costs more and importing a Blu-ray even more than that. The thing is that I managed to catch a fair amount of the extras on the internet before they were taken down:
- the gag reel
- “A Visual Journey”
- Loki and Clint extended scene
- Bruce extended scene
- the extended Viaduct Fight
- Steve Rodgers – Man Out of Time
- the Maria Hill, Fury, and World Security Council alternate bits
- Item 47 (if that’s the one with the two folks in the car with ski-masks and alien weaponary?)
I have also seen blurry footage of the post-credits Shawarma scene that they won’t let us have in the UK. Whilst I object to the censorship of the Coulson scene on principal I’m not too fussed if I end up with the censored version. (I’m still peeved on principal that it’s called by the different title of ‘Avengers Assemble’ over here but I can live with it.) According to the table here of what the US gets I’m missing Second Screen, Assembling the Ultimate Team, a music video, and Joss Whedon’s commentary.

Am I missing anything else? Based on what I’ve already managed to see, is there any point in the extra expense of tracking down a Blu-ray with everything on it? Am I missing some really good things, or have I seen the best extras and should just sit back and rewatch the film?

[identity profile] sarea-okelani.livejournal.com 2012-10-04 02:37 am (UTC)(link)
Edited after reading to the end of your post. :)

The Blu-rays, including US, are region free. However if you don't have a Blu-ray player, or can't get to one easily, that's of little use to you. The DVD from the U.S. set is region 1. I have a regular DVD player and a region-free one, so sometimes I order British DVDs. But if you don't have a region-free DVD player, the U.S. DVD will not be playable for you.

As for the extras, the only thing you really need to decide is how much you want to listen to Joss's commentary. That's really the only thing missing that's of note/value from the UK set. The other items are meh -- music video is fairly useless (you can see it on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3ZNtOcY_1A)), here's (http://www.ign.com/blogs/peteyoneto/2012/09/26/the-avengers-second-screen-impressions) more about Second Screen -- it's basically interactive content you can browse if you watch the movie on your computer, and the Assembling the Ultimate Team featurette was OK but only a few minutes long, nothing that was super great.

Yes, Item 47 is the Marvel One Shot "short" that you're thinking of, with Lizzie Caplan, Jesse Bradford, and Titus Welliver.

Target here, and Sainsbury's where you are, carry an exclusive 90-minute documentary about the making of the movie or whatever -- I haven't seen it myself. From what I've read, 50% of people say it's crap, 50% of people say it's good. So, I dunno. But it's another consideration.

The shawarma scene *is* at the end of the credits for at least the UK Blu-ray, from what I've read -- not sure about the UK DVD.

Hope that helps!
Edited 2012-10-04 03:02 (UTC)

[identity profile] sarea-okelani.livejournal.com 2012-10-06 05:19 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, you're looking at Amazon.com, right? The U.S. site doesn't assume that anyone cares about the region coding outside the U.S. However if you go to Blu-ray expert sites, or read Amazon.co.uk comments, many have confirmed that the Blu-ray is region free (and that Disney hasn't released a region-coded Blu-ray in the last 2 years). And the box itself does say Region A, B, C. I forgot to mention -- Disney UK's official response is that hardcore viewers who really want the commentary should just buy the U.S. version, which their spokesperson confirmed was region free. So. Yeah. Don't think there's any doubt about it.

Since I replied last, I've seen several people comment that the shawarma scene *is* on the UK DVD. I don't think that's been left out of any of the regions' home releases.

Yes, true re: changing a DVD drive to change regions only a limited number of times. I don't blame you for being wary of trying it again. You almost have to have a drive dedicated to a specific region so that that's not an issue.

As for Sainsbury's, that's probably easy to decipher, lol. Either they have some kind of affiliation with Disney, or they worked out some kind of attractive deal wherein they get a smaller cut of the profits, but hope to make that up by more people buying it from them than they otherwise would.

Here (http://sarea-okelani.livejournal.com/405962.html) were my thoughts about Joss's commentary, but they are pretty much limited to Jeremy/Scarlett/BW/HE. Like you, I don't normally listen to commentaries, but Joss is always amusing, and this was one where I felt like I did want to hear it. I didn't feel like my world had changed for the better because I listened to it (in fact, if you read what I said, it's the opposite!), but your mileage may vary.
Edited 2012-10-06 17:46 (UTC)