To sell something half-baked

(At first glance)

I bought the Twilight DVD from a record bar in Abu Dhabi a week before the package came. Included in the package is a surprise Twilight DVD my closest cousin got from one of the record bars in Metro Manila. I watched it as if that’s the first time I’m seeing it. Lol.

But the moment I opened it and rolled the first disc for the first 10 minutes, that’s when I concluded something’s wrong. What you don’t know won’t hurt you. But because I happened to have a basis of comparison, I thought “bakit parang clear copy lang at hindi DVD copy yung nirelease ng Viva?” Aside from the inclusion of advertisements (i.e. Volvo, Choco Mucho, etc.) in the one released in the Philippines, the following discrepancies were glaring:

(a) Viva-released cover is better. At least. It has a cute cut-out packaging. The back cover is practically just the same, except for the promo lines:

Released in the Philippines
The immortal romance based on phenomenal bestseller.

Released in UAE
The most epic romance since Titanic. – Hollywood.com

But the rest of the discrepancies, I’m not sure you’d like to know if you are planning to buy a DVD from the Philippines or if you already got one.

(b) Absence of Scene Selection mini-poster

(c) Absence of disc separator and censor’s rating indicator

While those are tolerable, I think these make a big difference:

(d) Missing Audio Commentary. This is a significant portion and generally a standard feature.

(e) No option for subtitles and spoken language selection . Isn’t this standard?

(f) 6 out of 7 portions in the documentary The Adventure Begins are missing! How come? That’s equivalent to at least 54 minutes missing scenes. To simply state it, it’s not worth the price.

Here’s an excerpt from the statement issued by Viva Video:

The 1st disc contains the full feature or movie in its entirety. The 2nd disc contains the DVD extras or DVD add-ons licensed to us by the international licensor. Such content are confined and limited to the rights granted to us by Summit Entertainment. The release of the Twilight video is in accordance with the License Agreement between Viva and Summit Entertainment.

Ganun? Eh, bakit yung narelease dito complete naman. I was thinking of the aspect of censorship. Hindi pa rin eh. The regulators here are stricter with regard to the media being circulated.

Although there are missing parts in the Special Features in the DVD released by Viva, the entire movie (as shown in the cinema) came out as it is. BUT, the video quality is really inferior to the one I bought here.

If you’re planning to buy the DVD, the following should be included in the two discs:

* Entire film as shown in the cinemas
* Audio Commentary
* Muse music video: “Super Massive Black Hole”
* Paramore music video: “Decode”
* Linkin Park music video: “Leave Out All the Rest”
* Five extended scenes with director introductions
* Five deleted scenes with director introductions
* Seven-part documentary: “The Adventure Begins: The Journey from Page to Screen”
* Comic-Con Phenomenon
* Theatrical Trailer and Theatrical Campaign
* A Conversation with Stephenie Meyer
* Music: The Heartbeat of Twilight
* Becoming Edward
* Becoming Bella
* Catherine Hardwicke’s Vampire Kiss Montage and Edward’s Piano Concert
* Catherine Hardwicke’s “Bella’s Lullaby (Remix)” Music Video

What you don’t know won’t hurt you. But whether you ignore it or not, you’d feel something half-baked.

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