The Sword In The Stone - My Early Pickup

[drfsupercenter]

Um...Colin Jacobson is nowhere near a "n00b with HDTV". He's a veteran DVD reviewer who's been on the 'net for years, as has DVD Movie Guide.

I don't know any of them by name... just watch the user video reviews, all of them but one have the picture stretched to widescreen making all the characters look horrible. (Except the couple people with CRTs)

Oh, and what does the back of the box say? Aladdin 3 says it's fullscreen but it's actually widescreen... does this new SitS release say it's 1.66:1 on the box? Or did they actually change what it says?

[DarthPrime]

My copy says 1.33:1 on the back of the box.

[JiminyCrick91]

Anyone ever heard of Buy.com?

Your new(er) so I geuss I should expect it but I've said here a whole bunch of times I'm only 16 and I have parents that don't like to buy things online (overly afraid of identity theft I believe).

[drfsupercenter]

I'm 17 and I buy stuff online all the time...

What I do is this: Save up enough to get a $25 or $50 prepaid Visa card (they sell them at just about any drug store), then I just use it to buy stuff online. Would your parents let you do something like that?

And thanks for the info... at least they remembered to fix the info on the back of the box... now if they'd only fix Amazon's info

[Escapay]

I'm 17 and I buy stuff online all the time...

Even so, not everyone that has the ability to buy online chooses to.

Albert

[JiminyCrick91]

Good God! Never once did that ever cross my mind! I'm pretty sure they have 'em her in Canada. I may just try that! I feel a tad naive to not have thought about it. Thanks though.

[drfsupercenter]

Well I was just pointing out that not all hope is lost in getting the original.

Also... Amazon does still have the GCC in stock (Buy.com is cheaper ATM though), and it does list it as 1.33:1 (back in the pre-order days it said it was 1.66:1)

I know my local Wal-Mart still carried the GCC title (of course, this was a month ago which was the most recently I stepped foot in that place)... maybe try there.

--Edit--

Gee, thanks for the sarcasm

I didn't realize you lived in Canada... I don't do massive research on each person I reply to so you can't blame me for not knowing. My parents are kinda like yours in that they'll only buy from Amazon and one or two other sites, not random third party sites I ask them to buy stuff from. Which is why I do it myself now.

[JiminyCrick91]

Gee, thanks for the sarcasm

Ya think that sounded sarcasic you should have read my first two or three drafts before pressing 'Submit'. I meant that to be genuine but I geuss you can't always predict how you will come off in text. Even with years of practice. (shrugs)

[gregmasciola]

My parents are kinda like yours in that they'll only buy from Amazon and one or two other sites, not random third party sites I ask them to buy stuff from.

I know BestBuy.com still has copies of the Gold Collection for sale for $15.

[drfsupercenter]

Yeah I know... I'm sure the Best Buy brick-and-mortar stores have it too... I just tend to not like buying movies there because they're (usually) more expensive than Buy.com or even Micro Center (a brick-and-mortar computer store near me that has better prices than even NewEgg at times)

[2099net]

Well, my only surprise about this whole sorry affair is that other people are surprised.

Really, I have a feeling some of you would keep placing your hands in a fire if there was a Disney DVD on its other side. Hasn't everybody learned their lesson yet? Once burnt, twice shy.

[David S.]

I'm not surprised, but what doesn't make sense to me from a business standpoint (and we know how Disney loves money) was that they didn't make it at least a *little* better than the first one.

Aspect ratio issues/preferences aside, from a bonus feature point of view, the recent Robin Hood and Aristocats reissues could be considered upgrades from the original as they added things specific to the films like art galleries, deleted scenes and featurettes that weren't on the GC versions. The same is true for Fox and the Hound.

Admittedly, these still aren't packed with content, but they are at least an improvement over the original that may entice fans to double-dip.

I guess the first Sword DVD was already at the level the others were upgraded to, and they couldn't be bothered to make it better. But going through the trouble of cutting down the "All About Magic" seems strange.

By not making Sword even a little better than the first version, they are basically throwing away the "double-dip" money they could have made here.

[drfsupercenter]

Robin Hood has like one feature the original didn't have... In my opinion it adds absolutely nothing to the original.

[goofystitch]

For those of you who wanted to see some comparisons between the two DVD versions, here are a few that I took. I can't spot a difference between the two. The 45th Anniversary Edition is just as cluttered with white spots as the Gold Collection version. None of the colors seem to have changed. Nowhere on the box does it mention that this DVD features an all new restoration, so perhaps this is the first re-release of a WDFA film to not get a new restoration. If so, that would explain why they made this edition fullscreen (as opposed to The Aristocats, which was restored and matted into widescreen). Perhaps they merely ported over the same copy of the film. Compare for yourselves.

GC
<a href="http://s16.photobucket.com/albums/b45/a ... 252761.png" target="_blank"><img src="http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b45/a ... 252761.png" border="0" alt="GC 1"></a>
45th Anniversary
<a href="http://s16.photobucket.com/albums/b45/a ... 238543.png" target="_blank"><img src="http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b45/a ... 238543.png" border="0" alt="45 1"></a>

GC
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45th Anniversary
<a href="http://s16.photobucket.com/albums/b45/a ... 242120.png" target="_blank"><img src="http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b45/a ... 242120.png" border="0" alt="45 3"></a>

GC
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45th Anniversary
<a href="http://s16.photobucket.com/albums/b45/a ... 242917.png" target="_blank"><img src="http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b45/a ... 242917.png" border="0" alt="45 4"></a>

GC
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45th Anniversary
<a href="http://s16.photobucket.com/albums/b45/a ... 243850.png" target="_blank"><img src="http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b45/a ... 243850.png" border="0" alt="45 5"></a>

GC
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45th Anniversary
<a href="http://s16.photobucket.com/albums/b45/a ... 247588.png" target="_blank"><img src="http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b45/a ... 247588.png" border="0" alt="45 6"></a>

GC
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45th Anniversary
<a href="http://s16.photobucket.com/albums/b45/a ... 250201.png" target="_blank"><img src="http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b45/a ... 250201.png" border="0" alt="45 7"></a>

And in case anybody is interested, here are the main menus for both versions.

GC
<a href="http://s16.photobucket.com/albums/b45/a ... 252432.png" target="_blank"><img src="http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b45/a ... 252432.png" border="0" alt="GC menu"></a>
45th Anniversary
<a href="http://s16.photobucket.com/albums/b45/a ... 250720.png" target="_blank"><img src="http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b45/a ... 250720.png" border="0" alt="45 menu"></a>

Merlin's Magical Academy is pretty deent, as far as Disney DVD bonus games go. However, it's addition feels pointless when you take into account that they edited "All About Magic" to make room for it. All in all, I really regret downgrading from the Gold Collection version of the film and for anyone out there who doesn't own this film and is torn between which version to buy, I say track down a copy of the Gold Collection edition. Since there is little (and possibly no) improvement in picture and audio quality, the longer All About Magic makes for a meatier bonus feature then Merlin's Magical Academy.

[Disneykid]

The newer edition looks a tiny (and I stress "tiny") bit sharper, but that's probably because it's compressed better than the old disc. It's obviously still the same master. I was planning on picking this up since I didn't own the Gold Classic disc, but now I'm having second thoughts, especially since I now own a Blu-Ray player. I think I'll just wait for the BD to be released in a couple of years unless I see the 45th AE for dirt cheap. This isn't one of my favorite Disney films, anyway, so I can certainly live without it a while longer.

[Widdi]

Did the movie come with a slipcover?

Not that I care because I hate the things, but all the copies I've seen in my city thus far have been slipcoverless. I just find it odd that this release doesn't have one; or if it does, that the copies shipped to stores near me for some reason don't have them.

[goofystitch]

Mine came with a slipcover. It is shiny and embossed.

[Jan<3]

Okay, so I went to go buy this DVD and I noticed none of them had slipcovers. I mean I picked up The Jungle Book 2: Special Edition today, and they all had slip covers, but... The Sword In the Stone: 45th Anniversary Edition did not have slipcovers. All of them were cover-less. Anyone else notice this?

[SleepingBeautyAurora]

Maybe all the copies in Canada don't have a slipcover ?

[DarthPrime]

Okay, so I went to go buy this DVD and I noticed none of them had slipcovers. I mean I picked up The Jungle Book 2: Special Edition today, and they all had slip covers, but... The Sword In the Stone: 45th Anniversary Edition did not have slipcovers. All of them were cover-less. Anyone else notice this?

All the copies I've seen so far have slipcovers.