Complaints and Grievances-- What's On the Menu by Vicomte

GENERAL DISCUSSIONS

Complaints and Grievances-- What's On the Menu

POSTED BY: VICOMTE
UPDATED: Sunday, August 13, 2006 17:31
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VIEWED: 3011
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Sunday, August 13, 2006 10:57 AM

Firstly, I'm new around here, and this is my first thread, so don't worry about not recognizing me, those drugs were completely safe. 'Sides, you signed the release, remember?

Having been a Browncoat for some length of time, I have become very closely acquanted with my DVD set, as I'm sure we all have. During my friendship with said video discs, I ahve also become very familiar with the disc menus, which I never thought were either bad or great, although my opinion is changing. A few days ago I purchased Season One of Buffy, 'cause I understand that Joss wouldn't let me down. Needless to say, I love it. The topic of this post, however, is the DVD menu. The Buffy menus are fantastic, compared to the Firefly menus, at least. The graphics are crisper, more atmospheric, and seem to reflect the show quite well, not to mention they seem to flow and work more smoothly than my beloved Firefly menus.

The Firefly menus are by no means bad, but they seem to work more slowly, coupled with some lacking images and sound problems. I've thought about it and decided that some of the quirks of the Firefly menus might be deliberate, simulating a broken-down hunk-of-junk quality that we all love in our spaceships, but a part of me also thinks that the Browncoats might have been shafted on menu quality. 'Course, I might just be paranoid, but I'm sure River would sympathize. You only have to be right once...

An attempt to discuss something new, I know how it is to have the same old thing creeping up over and over again. All of us on the Starwars blogs call that the 'Purple Lightsaber Effect'.

Stay shiny.

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Sunday, August 13, 2006 11:44 AM

ECGORDON

There's no place I can be since I found Serenity.

I've heard various complaints about the menus from time to time, but since Firefly was one of the first things that I purchased on dvd I didn't have much to compare it with. I think they are okay, but the main complaint I have with them, and with the Buffy discs, is that a "Play All" option is not on the list.

wo men ren ran zai fei xing.

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Sunday, August 13, 2006 12:38 PM

PURPLEPENGUIN91

I never really liked the main menus. The music is loud, I usually turn it down while I'm getting to the episode, and then turn it up once the episode starts. It takes a while to load, and sometimes doesn't load correctly. And to me the graphics and design just never really felt like Firefly.

Although, after thinking about it, I have come across the volume and loading problems in other dvd's. So either that is a common problem, or I just own really bad dvd players and televisions. And the design, while I still don't like the orange/red color, seems more in the spirit of firefly. And I like the different symbols when you are choosing something. (What are those called? Cursors maybe? But that's just a guess)

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Sunday, August 13, 2006 12:50 PM

CAROLJUDE

I can't stand the music on the menu. It sounds more suited to BSG than Firefly; they should have blended it with the acoustic guitar or 'Riverdance'-y stuff. Those loud action scene "BANG! BANG-BANG!!!!"s are so jarring. Makes me scramble for the remote and just hit whatever button I reach first.

Seems like a rush job to me as far as the overall design of the set is concerned. I wish there were more commentaries as well (and in some cases, better ones - a whole show's worth of variations of 'aw, that was a pretty dress I made/wore' is 3/4 of a show too many. Just my opinion...

Best DVD extras I think I've ever seen are on Team America: World Police. I think there are three separate menu pages of additional material.

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Walk tall, or don't walk at all...

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Sunday, August 13, 2006 2:39 PM

STINKINGROSE

It's loud, the graphics and music are not in keeping, it seems like a halfhearted rush job (are you really surprised?), there is not enough commentary. Agreed.

But (quivering lower lip) some of us *like* to hear about pretty dresses and stuff.
Mind you...jokes, actor insight, motives, backstory, and where they were going with that whatever is even better.

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Sunday, August 13, 2006 2:59 PM

CAROLJUDE

Don't get me wrong, I love the costumes too, it's just that the commentary itself sounded to me like that old "Delicious Dish" sketch on SNL (minus Pete Shweaty and his balls...) I was hoping there'd be more detail, like when Joss talks about what lenses he's using at different times.

I can't help thinking everything's better when Nathan's there

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Walk tall, or don't walk at all...

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Sunday, August 13, 2006 3:05 PM

STINKINGROSE

Well, at least there's *some* commentary and bonus material. At least there's a menu, for that matter.
Could be worse!

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Sunday, August 13, 2006 3:18 PM

CAROLJUDE

I'm an expert at complaints and grievances - except where it concerns this show - so few to be found! Those, and the fact that it was CANCELLED, would be the sum total of mine. Well, those and the way Mal and Jayne always seem to find their shirts. Grr, argh, indeed.

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Walk tall, or don't walk at all...

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Sunday, August 13, 2006 5:31 PM

PHOENIXROSE

You think you know--what's to come, what you are. You haven't even begun.

I think the music should be different. It's almost jarring to watch "War Stories" and hear the same music as what's on the menu. Couldn't they play a nice accoustic "Ballad of Serenity" over it or something? And yes, they do take a long time to load, no matter what menu you're talking about (I'm actually glad to hear it isn't just my player). And why isn't there comentary for all the episodes? Good question. Speaking of comentary, could they have put that option in a less convenient spot?
Still waiting for the Shiny Edition, where everything is perfectly shiny...

No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path. - Gautama Siddharta

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