Flexibility with director cuts still weak

[Jason Anderson]

I was hoping the "increased interactivity" that is often (yet vaguely) boasted would include better control/options over versions of a film. So far BD releases have been (like DVD selection) a mixed bag.

Take Terminator 2 for example. I love some of the addiditons in the directors cut but not others. It would have been a delightful (interactive!) innovation to have the option to pick and choose which extras to include when the movie plays.
Okay, maybe that's a tall order, but in the case of T2 I can't forgive them for releasing a shiny new version with only the original cut when they've alreay sold the director's version in VHS/DVD wide/cropped formats. Including it would not have been hard, they just want to get money for yet another version next year.

Unreleased versions bother me even more than the one-at-a-time game. For example, the original version of Yellow Submarine was never released on DVD. The DVD version is slightly cut with an extra (Hey Bulldog) song added near the end. Anyone who has a sentimental attachment to the old version or thinks that the addition detracts from the pace is out of luck. This limited choice is not nessecary on BD, nor was it on DVD, but I haven't seen anything to indicate that BD releases will be any better about cut options.

Resolution is nice, but it only serves to display the movie you're watching. Some 'directors' cuts are poorly-done afterthoughts, and given the choice I would sooner watch the cut I wanted on VHS than a high-def version of an ill-concieved cut. Do the studios get this concept?