So does anyone else geek out and watch the special features

[GrubbTheFragger]

OK i mean like the how they made the outfits , the blood , and the special f/x from the movie those type of special features

[Ashley]

There are only 2 movies I have ever done that for: Memoirs of a Geisha, and the Indiana Jones Trilogy. Oh, well, I guess I did watch those "specials" right before the Star Wars Special Edition movies when I was a kid (back when movies came out on VHS and you couldn't just skip straight to the movie!)

[rii namuras]

(When the LotR Extended editions came out, I spent every spare moment watching the way-super-awesome documentaries - two disks per set - mostly during lunch breaks (being a homeschooler). I loved the FotR and RotK, but didn't care for the tTT at all. The Towers one was just low on quality compared to any of the others I've watched, LotR or not.)

(I also like watching any special features any of my anime have (D.N.Angel, Last Exile, Rurouni Kenshin, and Hikaru no Go, currently), as well as other movies including but not limited to Star Wars (all except the Phantom, because we don't have the DVD), including most of the Hyperspace stuff for Revenge of the Sith.)

(The FotR and RotK Extended Edition documentaries are my all-time favorites, though, and I like them quite a bit more than the movies themselves.)

[Authority3000]

I usually watch almost all of a DVD's bonus features. And have learned some interesting things (not just about movies) in doing so.

I find it rather amusing when a film is so horrible that the "making of" documentary is more entertaining then the film itself.

[Kaligraphic]

My father likes to put on the special features even before the movie - sometimes we tease him that we should just rent the special features, but skip the movie entirely.

[Radical Dreamer]

*cough* I've watched the LOTR special features and featurettes for all three movies (and their extended versions) more times than I care to mention. Actually, no, I've only watched the special features on the extended versions once, but the regular DVD's...many many times. XD Especially this one feature on The Two Towers. I even used portions of it for a video visual for my speech class back in 9th grade. I'm such a freak. XDD

[Sephiroth]

i watch all the special features after watching a dvd, though tend towards any audio related ones, because am an audio techie

[ShiroiHikari]

I do watch special features for movies that I really like. I think it's fun to see how they did things, why they did them, stuff like that.

[Bobtheduck]

I always do special features... Commentaries, making of, deleted scenes, unaired episodes, short stories, other random stuff... Oh, I love it... DVD totally pwned VHS... So, did Laserdisc have menus and stuff?

[Tenshi no Ai]

For some movies, I think "the making ofs" can be pretty amusing^^ Like when I watched the one for Star Wars on TV and saying how most compaines rejected it cause they thought it was a kid's movie that would flop at the box office, and how they designs the sets and this and that. For certain movies, yeah it can be entertaining^^ To know all the little tidbits and stuff... I think the only other specials I watch are music videos (if they are actually GOOD ones) and/or gag reels... but usually those aren't as funny as they used to :/

[uc pseudonym]

On occasion. For example, I watched a few scenes from the LotR trilogy with SFX-crew commentary on because I was curious how they did specific things. The only ones I am likely to watch in full are features on a specific subject I am interesting in (fight coreography, for example) or ones likely to be funny.

So, did Laserdisc have menus and stuff?

The ones I remember in my early school years did. Basically like tracks on a CD, however, if my memory serves me well.

[mitsuki lover]

For the anime DVDs I love to watch the previews of other series as it can be a good way of getting a peak at series I haven't seen before or get a quick glance of some old favorites that I haven't seen in a long time.
As far as non-anime,since I only have the one,Gods And Generals,yeah I have watched the extras on it too.It has a couple of really great music videos on it.Including one by Bob Dylan.
Also the commentary on Stonewall Jackson was interesting and the making of.

[RineyX21]

I fancy any DVD extra if it's from a favorite movie or show. The first DVD I ever bought (The Matrix) began my love of trying to appreciate the process involved in movie-making. Heck, even the technical commentary tracks for some of the movies give out some really neat tidbits of the process itself, granted if you have the time to watch the entire movie listening to the details.

[martinloyola]

listening to the commentary audio overvoicings is one thing that if I had all the time in the world to do and no one cared if I watched it... I would, but then I don't have the time and most people get turned off when I'm watching extras because I'm so thorough and they get "bored"

[Tenshi no Ai]

listening to the commentary audio overvoicings is one thing that if I had all the time in the world to do and no one cared if I watched it... I would, but then I don't have the time and most people get turned off when I'm watching extras because I'm so thorough and they get "bored"

Ah commentaries... IMO, the most pointless DVD feature ever^^ Well, I guess it COULD be fun to watch through the whole movie with actors/voice actors commenting on anything and everything and going off about whatever, but honestly, there is NO WAY I would ever have the time to sit down and do that...

[bigsleepj]

It depends on how much I'd like to see of how they made the movie. I found, for instance, the special features on the Godfather DVDs to be pretty dumb. The special features on the recent re-releases of Sergio Leone's movies were profoundly informative, for instance. It all depends on how interested I am in the movie.

[SnowLeopard]

I'm a geek. Of course I love those things. =)

[RineyX21]

Ah commentaries... IMO, the most pointless DVD feature ever^^ Well, I guess it COULD be fun to watch through the whole movie with actors/voice actors commenting on anything and everything and going off about whatever, but honestly, there is NO WAY I would ever have the time to sit down and do that...

The spontaneousness of the commentaries is what makes them so great. It sort of feels like the director or the actor is in your living room - watching the movie with you and dishing out whatever fact or trivial thing about making it comes to mind.

Some commentaries digress a lot, often to the point of hilarity. Like Will Farrell in the Anchorman commentary, who says something along the lines of, "Does anybody even bother listening to these commentaries?".

So yeah, it does require you to be either really bored or really curious enough to actually listen to them.

[Maledicte]

Dude, I watch the special features AND audio commentaries.

I even quote audio commentaries, it's sad.

I don't know how I ever lived without DVD's.

What all DVD's need now is more gag/blooper reels.

[Bobtheduck]

Some commentaries digress a lot, often to the point of hilarity. Like Will Farrell in the Anchorman commentary, who says something along the lines of, "Does anybody even bother listening to these commentaries?".

No, Billy Boyd and Dominic Monasdgnkdf from Lord of the Rings digressed into hilarity... I couldn't sit through Will Farrell's commentary on Anchorman... Of course, I watched Anchorman Unrated, so maybe it was a different commentary track on that one... They just go off on all sorts of nasty things, and it wasn't remotely funny...

Commentaries are not worthless if you are interested in the process... FOr instance, I love the Simpsons DVDs because every single episode in the show (so far that I"ve seen) has had a commentary track. It was awesome. I listened to every single one of them. They were very informative.

Then there was the Marmelade boy commentaries (and if you're bothered by the premise of Marmelade boy, get over it... The basic premise tells you NOTHING about the show or the manga... *sigh* sorry for digressing) They are done by the dub actors, and they're very funny... It's like Mystery Science Theater!

Not all commentaries are worthwhile, though... Sometimes they're entirely irrelevent, and don't really shed any new light on anything...

[Radical Dreamer]

No, Billy Boyd and Dominic Monasdgnkdf from Lord of the Rings digressed into hilarity...

Yes, yes they do. XD Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan + a description of a Sigur Ros CD = awesome.

[ShiroiHikari]

I like listening to commentaries, but I often never get around to it. I usually watch the movie, then go to play with the features and I'm like, "I just watched the movie, I don't really want to watch it again right now just to hear the commentary." So I usually forget to do it. XD

[MorwenLaicoriel]

Depends on the feature/commentary. I like listening to commentaries when they're either entertaining, or informative...or sometimes both, in the case of the LOTR commentaries...but sometimes they're just talking about whatever (like the Luci Christian/Chris Patton commentary on the last disc of Princess Tutu, which just gets...a bit tasteless after a while XD), or when they're just droning on and on...(I don't really like the commentaries on LOTR by the costume/set designers, etc...normally it's stuff like "that dress has 30,000 stitches in it!"). But some of the stuff is pretty good.

And yeah, some of that stuff is REALLY quotable. XD "No, Elijah, you can't tag on a double tig."

[uc pseudonym]

As a whole, I realized, I barely watch films at all, so most of my earlier comments were limited to the Lord of the Rings trilogy (because they were around our house). Other DVDs I have generally borrowed for about the amount of time it takes to watch the actual film and no more.

But I did find the cast commentary on LotR pretty funny, though I haven't watched all of them or all of each film. Some of my favorite quotable lines:
"I can see your bottom."
"Orlando practiced a lot for the Oliphaunt climbing scene. We'd all be on our lunch break and he'd be climbing donkeys and cows. / And he had to work his way up to the bigger animals, so for a while he was climbing hamsters and gerbils."

[Sephiroth]

i rarely watch the commentary tracks, though i watch most other features. though i watched a few commentary ones, teh only one i can remember at the moment being serenity.

[mitsuki lover]

The Gods And Generals DVD comes with alternate language tracks so if you want to you can watch it in French for example.

[GrubbTheFragger]

The Gods And Generals DVD comes with alternate language tracks so if you want to you can watch it in French for example.

yea those can be alot of fun sometimes XD. Personally I like the special features like how they made weapons (like in LOTR) and blood (sorry i am a horror movie fan XD)

[Ashley]

There's been a few times when those audio commentaries have really ruined a movie for me. I remember once in the Fellowship of the Ring the scene where Sam comes to Frodo's room in Rivendell, Ian McKellan goes on a "this scene is so touching to homosexuals like myself" rant that completely ruined the moment. Likewise, I tried to watch my favorite scenes from A Walk To Remember with the commentary on, but hearing Mandy Moore diss her character's personality and warddrobe at every occasion really killed the illusion of the movie for me.

I forgot to mention I've seen all the special features on the Samurai Jack boxsets 1-3. Now THOSE commentaries are great; they tell you a lot about what they were trying to convey in a scene or what the original idea was, and also make some great jokes.

[rocklobster]

I occassionally watch the commentary. I think anime needs more of them. The best I ever heard was on the NGE movies. Amanda Winlee (the voice of Rei) has a very quirky sense of humor and with a crazy story like Evangelion, a crazy sense of humor is a definite necessity. Her best joke was "UCC Coffee, your caffiene source for the apocalypse." But yeah, sometimes it can get boring. Analyze This and Alien 3 had some pretty boring commentary.