Wallace & Gromit: 20th Anniversary Collection

[ajmrowland]

I almost forgot, there's already a review of the UK blu-ray for "Loaf and Death". I'll link it now.

http://bluray.highdefdigest.com/2549/wg ... th_uk.html

[Escapay]

Escapay, what if I bought this collection?

The collection is simply the "20th Anniversary" DVDs that were released in February 2009, only now they're in one package and includes "A Matter of Loaf and Death". If you're not too concerned about some extras being dropped, either collection (DVD or Blu-Ray) is a good buy. The first three W&G shorts (A Grand Day Out, The Wrong Trousers, A Close Shave) will be pillarboxed 1.33:1 on the Blu-Ray, if that's the framework you're concerned about.

Regarding the extras, there's some material from previous DVD releases that you won't get. I only have the 2001 Warner DVD and the 2005 DreamWorks DVD to go by:

From the 2001 Warner DVD:
-Audio Commentaries for all three shorts with Nick Park, Bob Baker, David Sproxton, Julian Nott, Steve Box and Peter Lord (the DVDTimes report says that the commentaries only feature Nick Park, which may be an error or it may be newly-recorded commentaries. So the old commentaries may be on there alread, or they may be new ones.)

-Storyboard-to-Film Comparisons
--"The Wrong Trousers"
--"A Close Shave"

-Scrapbook
--Invention Blueprints
--Gallery

-Animation Tests
--Gromit Test
--Wallace Test 1
--Wallace Test 2

-Two early shorts by Nick Park (one when he was 13, another when he was in college)

-BBC2 Christmas Idents (really short stuff, like 7-8 seconds each, but one runs for 30 seconds)

From the 2005 DreamWorks DVD:
-Sneak Peek at Wallace and Gromit: The Curse Of The Were-Rabbit sneak preview (a bit redundant, but it had some good behind-the-scenes footage)

-Cracking Contraptions: Behind The Scenes (a well-made 8-minute featurette about the CC's)

And of course, this new collection won't include The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. To get the full selections of extras for that movie, you'll also need the Wal-Mart exclusive disc "Gromit's Tail-Waggin' DVD"

albert