The
Rage In The Kage VIII: Budgets & Quality Control
Written by: Kage
Alan
With so many tragic things going on in the world
lately, it's been difficult
to sit down and write a column full of happy sarcastic thoughts.
Heck, even
a visit to Best Buy, Circuit City and Media Play hasn't helped lift my
spirits. I mean, listening to all the little DVD voices begging
me to buy
them and take them home with me. Does life get any better?
Well, yes, when
I actually can take them home with me. Considering the economy,
though, my
partner has introduced me to something called a "budget" and
also a word I'm
not accustomed to that sounds like a word pronounced "no".
Whatever their
meanings, my inner child is pissed.
In DVD news, Universal made a holiday blunder by releasing an
incorrectly
framed disc in their "Back To The Future" Trilogy.
According to the Digital
Bits, shortly after the error was found, Universal stopped sending the
discs
out to critics, yet continued selling the sets to the public.
NICE.
Replacement discs are apparently going to be available to those who
purchased the original version of the sets. Gotta love quality
control. Apparently there's a problem with a disc in Season 6 of
the X-Files too, so thank God I fell behind buying all these box sets.
Well, I call it falling behind, but really it was those words
"budget" and "no" that came up. I'm
seriously not
liking them!
My spirits were lifted recently though when I finished my first two
interviews for this year. The first was with actress Robin
Curtis and early
feedback has been extremely positive. Most of you will recognize
her as Lt.
Saavik in "Star Trek III" and "Star Trek IV", but
she's nothing like her
character in real life. Duh. I do feel very honored that
Robin was so open
and honest about so many things regarding her past and present in
life.
She's truly remarkable and I urge you to read the transcript. My
second
interview was with singer Fiona, NOT Fiona Apple. While there's
a certain
degree of professionalism one is expected to convey during an
interview, I
was allowed to regress back to my late teens and relate more as a fan
than as
some kind of journalist. How often are we given opportunities to
do that?
Both women were tremendous and, ahh, the things I had to cut out of
the
interviews.
I do feel a little bit bad about one thing, however. Robin liked
"Star Trek:
Nemesis" and I didn't have the heart to tell her I didn't.
Okay, it's not
that I didn't like it per se. Honestly, I thought it was the
worst film in
the entire series. Writer/Producer Rick Berman was quoted as
saying the he
couldn't understand why "Nemesis" didn't do better than it
did, that he felt
they made a very good film. I don't know what scares me more,
the fact I
could pick out all the inconsistencies and story flaws or he (Berman)
couldn't. While he managed to create a perfect
"product" film, it was by far
not the kind of "Star Trek" film fans have come to love,
expect and respect.
Need more proof? Look at the box office receipts. Right,
I'll get off this
subject and save the rest for when I write my DVD review.
Let's see, coming up in the next month or two are a number of
additional
interviews. A definite will be with singer Linda Eder and some
tentative
ones I'm hoping for are… Oh, why spoil the surprise? As
always, feedback is
welcome and even encouraged. Until the next time, in the words
of the
British, "Keep your pecker up." That means "chin"
in North America.
Sincerely,
Kage Alan
The DVD Snob
Previous installments:
Vol. 1 -
Critic Kage Alan rants about dvds and Warner Bros.
Vol. 2 - Railing
on Region Coding
Vol.
3 - Widescreen Vs. Pan And Scan
Vol. 4 - Artisan,
PFE and Conventions...Oh, My!
Vol. 5 - DVD Special Features
Vol. 6 - The Horror of It All
Vol. 7 - From The Inside Out
Vol. 8 - Budgets & Quality Control
Kage holds degrees in Creative Writing, as well as Film & Video. He has been
featured in a Life Journey Tele-Course, published poems in several national anthologies,
been a contributor to The Third Coast Magazine and written several
novels. kage@modamag.com
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