Indecision 2006

(And no, I don't mean the elections)

Regular readers of this blog will not be surprised to hear that I am well aware that the DVD for Pixar's Cars hits the stores tomorrow -- Primus knows I've certainly raved about the movie enough both before and during its theatrical release.

Regular readers of this blog, therefore, might be surprised to hear that I do not have the afformentioned DVD on pre-order, nor do I have any current plans to pick it up six nanoseconds after its release tomorrow.

Why? Because while I wouldn't consider myself a home movie videophile snob (no Dolby 5.1 Surround and no 60" plasma 1080p HDMI here, sorry), I am enough of a hobbyist DVD watcher to get miffed that the Cars DVD is being released in a single-disc, feature-stripped edition.

I can usually take-or-leave most extras on DVDs, but the one thing I really want on my movie discs is a director's commentary, and its absence is a deal-breaker for me. This wouldn't be the first time for me, either -- I still haven't picked up Lilo & Stitch or The Hitchhikers' Guide to the Galaxy because the North American DVD releases are short on the extras.

(To further establish my DVD geek credentials: a two-disc version of Lilo & Stitch was planned but cancelled, while the feature-rich release of Hitchhikers is available only in Europe.)

Why is the Cars DVD short on extras? The official word from Pixar/Disney/Buena Vista Home Entertainment is that director John Lasseter is busy doing other stuff, but that sounds as plausible as Ted Haggard's "I just wanted a massage" excuse, especially since all previous Pixar movies have been released on fully-loaded multiple-disc DVD "collectors edition" packages as standard. Unfortunately, the cynic in me believes that Pixar/Disney/Buena Vista/somebody is holding back on the goodies for a later release, so they can soak the die-hard fans like myself into buying the same movie twice (once at release, once with the extras). At least one Buena Vista representative has already agreed there might be a two-disc release in the future. And, truth be told, it's not as if Pixar/Disney/Buena Vista hasn't done this before.

So it's settled. I'm passing on the Cars DVD until a proper two-disc set comes out.

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On the other hand, I have a son who's still nuts for Cars even after seeing the movie only once.
...And it is a good movie.
...And I'd hate to have a gap in my Pixar movie collection (ah, those old comic-book collectors' habits at work!)...

Indecision, indecision, indecision... *Sigh*