Starman (1984)

[Blu-21]

What do you guys think is the better overall deal? Today I saw the DVD for $7 and the Blu-Ray for $13. Now every single time at those clashing prices I'll opt for the Blu-Ray (even if its not spectacle), but in this instance the Blu-Ray is barebones while the DVD has all the extras including a Carpenter commentary. So what does everyone think is the better one to go with?

[Katatonia]

Originally Posted by Blu-21

What do you guys think is the better overall deal? Today I saw the DVD for $7 and the Blu-Ray for $13. Now every single time at those clashing prices I'll opt for the Blu-Ray (even if its not spectacle), but in this instance the Blu-Ray is barebones while the DVD has all the extras including a Carpenter commentary. So what does everyone think is the better one to go with?

I've owned both the DVD and Blu-ray. The R1 DVD never had any audio commentary, its sole extra feature was the theatrical trailer. It was only some of the R2/R4 DVD releases that had the commentary and other features.

The Blu-ray looks really good, and is a substantial A/V upgrade over the R1 DVD. It does not even include the theatrical trailer though.

[Seymour]

Isn't the DVD full screen only now? For some reason, I think this is one of those titles that Sony decided to permanently botch (like Sheena, Silent Rage, Idle Hands, etc).

[Villiam Hayes]

Get both.

[VanDammage80]

Bluray looks great. Huge upgrade over the dvd.

[Geoff D]

The R2/R4 is worth it for the mega-cheesy music video alone.

[HD Goofnut]

The BD is a marginal upgrade in PQ and a substantial upgrade in AQ if that helps you.

[bigdaddyhorse]

Go with the commentary, I imported this disc long ago when I found out it existed (along with Shocker with a Craven comm.), but I love John Carpenter commentaries. If extras are important to you, this is a good commentary. It boils down to what you want more, features or PQ. I haven't watched my dvd in a while so I can't comment on quality of that upscaled or anything. If I recall that music video is cheestastic too, not as great as the Big Trouble in Little China vid, but almost on par.

[kngtmat]

Yeah everyone of the US dvd's now only have full screen but I was lucky enough to find the wide screen, if I can remember right the Fright Night dvd also went to full after awhile.

[bigdaddyhorse]

Originally Posted by kngtmat

Yeah everyone of the US dvd's now only have full screen but I was lucky enough to find the wide screen, if I can remember right the Fright Night dvd also went to full after awhile.

So did hundreds of other Columbia or Tristar dvds. Basically everything that had a WS and FS side that never got a SE (Christine stands out here), was re-issued with FS only. I know it happened for The Fan, Sheena, The Deep, Idle Hands, Last Action Hero, Money Train and hundreds of others. Worst part, they kept the same UPC numbers so ordering online became a gamble as to what you would get. Thankfully I was able to track down all the WS versions I wanted at used stores and pawn shops. Sheena was hardest to find, had to go ebay 3 times before really getting an old one with the WS side. Most listed it as having both but would send me the FS only, which I would promptly return.

I think Fright Night is an exception though and got re-issued with just the WS side. One right, hundreds wrong. Makes me proud to be not supporting Sony.

[kngtmat]

The Ghostbuster dvd gift box was also going to have GB2 in full screen but thankfully they changed it in time back to wide screen after fans reactions.

[tylergfoster]

No commentary on any release of Starman in the US. Especially frustrating that Sony didn't port the commentary to the States for the Blu-Ray. Since the DVD also got fullscreened, the Blu-Ray is a no-brainer.

[Blu-21]

I actuelly live in Austarila so the R4 DVD release here is anamorphic widescreen which includes all the extras and commentary. That's what makes the decision difficult because even with the PQ and SQ upgrade of the Blu, it doesn't have any features at all. If at least the extras were available online some where I'd settle for that and just grab the Blu-Ray but I don't think that's the case..

[tylergfoster]

Might as well get the DVD then. I was just on ratethatcommentary.com the other day and at the moment, the Bridges / Carpenter track on the DVD is rated as the best commentary of all time as per user votes.

[bigdaddyhorse]

Originally Posted by droidguy1119

Might as well get the DVD then. I was just on ratethatcommentary.com the other day and at the moment, the Bridges / Carpenter track on the DVD is rated as the best commentary of all time as per user votes.

Really? I would have to respectfully disagree but it makes me want to give it another listen and see for sure now. I found The Thing comm with Carpenter and Russell to be far more fun and it's probably my favorite. Just the right blend of bullshitting and good info.

For some reason the fact that website exists with that name is funny to me, but I'll have to check it out now.

EDIT:
Thing is #48, Spinal Tap 66? That site just all credibility to me.

[tenebre6]

I did not realize the FS reissue thing happened.. Why would they do that? Who wants the FS version? and can we burn them at the stake?

[Blu-21]

After much thought I have gone for the Blu-Ray. I would have loved to see the extras and the commentary but the film in HD with bigger and better sound won me over.

[sukraj]

The blu ray looks better.

[bigdaddyhorse]

I can vouch for the site with the link, but not the site the link is going to. This is my own rip though I shared on tehparadox. Ripped from my R2 dvd, so it may be a slightly shorter runtime due to PAL speedup, but here's the Starman comm. (with a lot of scrolling down, alphabetical order, it's there).
Hope this cool to share, if not mods please delete post and don't ban me. I don't have time to read all the rules right now.

[bigdaddyhorse]

After watching the BD from the library last night I change my tune to both. I didn't even have to compare the R2 dvd, there's no chance it can look as good as the blu which was almost as stunning as Christine IMO. Dvd for extras, blu for watching, period.