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Clerks: Collector's Edition
List Price: Unknown [Buy now and save at Amazon]
VIDEO QUALITY: Uh, well...I mean, it's "Clerks". If you haven't seen the film before, it's a little black and white film that was made for about $25,000 that went on to become a cult success. The image isn't terribly sharp, but at least it's pleasingly clear. If you've seen the laserdisc version of the film, it looks about the same(literally, it is the same)- but I'll get into that more in the extras section). The black and white image is a little more defined and stronger than the laserdisc, but there's also a noticable amount of artifacts that detract from the enjoyment. The artifacts aren't nearly as bad as another recent release of another small Miramax film, Flirting With Disaster, but they're noticable. There's some problems with the print such as small scratches and a couple of burns in the film that Smith talks about in the commentary. To make a long story short, definitely not flawless- but "Clerks" has never looked this good.
SOUND: Definitely not great, but better than I'd expected. The film is all dialogue, but the dialogue is pretty clear for a film this size. Besides the dialogue, there's really nothing else to the film except for the rock score, which, according to the commentary, was added at the last minute by Miramax- the songs sound really good and sort of out of place compared to the film's actual dialogue sound.
MENUS: The usual basic Miramax/Disney menus based on the cover art.
Extras:
Comments: Same extras as the laserdisc, with the exception that the alternate ending and music video can now be selected on their own from the menus, instead of being put all together with the deleted scenes, like they were at the end of the laserdisc. There's bigger issues here, though. Disney has promised Collector's Editions of a lot of films to be released, but many of the film's they've promised as CEs still exist as "rumors" only(more like "fairy tales"), and the ones they've released so far("Good Will Hunting" and "Scream") have been mighty unimpressive. "Shakespeare In Love" was announced as a Collector's Edition for a few months, then Disney decided not to release it as a Special Edition, after stores were taking pre-orders for weeks. The $39.99 retail price is especially painful. I can understand charging $34.99(maybe) when you're recording a new commentary or putting together new material for a release of a newer film. $39.99 for "Clerks" seems highly excessive, especially when you're using the same elements that were put together for the laserdisc. There's nothing here that didn't already exist. The commentary is great, but $39.99? There's absolutely no reason that Disney couldn't have put all of the materials that ended up on this disc out in a $29.99 package.
Commentary: Ah, the famous "Clerks" commentary. Raunchy, hilarious and very entertaining, the entire cast(with the exception of Jeff Anderson(Randal) talk about the making of the film and it's production. Jason Mewes(Jay) is passed out drunk for most of the commentary, but otherwise, Smith leads an interesting discussion with the rest of the cast for the film's length. Supposedly, the rumor was that the content of the commentary was part of the reason why Disney originally delayed this disc. It's definitely an R-rated commentary, but it's one of those commentaries that's funny and interesting enough to listen to over and over again. And speaking of the laserdisc, it's the exact same commentary here that appeared on the laserdisc. And before I forget, you can't switch between the commentary and the film with the remote, you have to go to the menu each and every time. Serious bummer.
Alternate Ending: The rather famed alternate ending that is absolutely different in tone than the actual film. I'd tell more, but I don't want to give away details.
Deleted Scenes: The same deleted scenes as the laserdisc, right down to the scrolling menu. Thankfully, Disney has also cut these scenes into chapters that you can skip to instead of having them play without breaks to skip to. The deleted scenes are kind of funny, but were right to be cut out of the final film. Each scene has an introduction by Smith.
Music Video: "Can't Even Tell" by Soul Asylum, a very funny music video with the cast of "Clerks" in the video.... and it's even in color.
SOUND: Definitely not great, but better than I'd expected. The film is all dialogue, but the dialogue is pretty clear for a film this size. Besides the dialogue, there's really nothing else to the film except for the rock score, which, according to the commentary, was added at the last minute by Miramax- the songs sound really good and sort of out of place compared to the film's actual dialogue sound.
MENUS: The usual basic Miramax/Disney menus based on the cover art.
Extras:
Comments: Same extras as the laserdisc, with the exception that the alternate ending and music video can now be selected on their own from the menus, instead of being put all together with the deleted scenes, like they were at the end of the laserdisc. There's bigger issues here, though. Disney has promised Collector's Editions of a lot of films to be released, but many of the film's they've promised as CEs still exist as "rumors" only(more like "fairy tales"), and the ones they've released so far("Good Will Hunting" and "Scream") have been mighty unimpressive. "Shakespeare In Love" was announced as a Collector's Edition for a few months, then Disney decided not to release it as a Special Edition, after stores were taking pre-orders for weeks. The $39.99 retail price is especially painful. I can understand charging $34.99(maybe) when you're recording a new commentary or putting together new material for a release of a newer film. $39.99 for "Clerks" seems highly excessive, especially when you're using the same elements that were put together for the laserdisc. There's nothing here that didn't already exist. The commentary is great, but $39.99? There's absolutely no reason that Disney couldn't have put all of the materials that ended up on this disc out in a $29.99 package.
Commentary: Ah, the famous "Clerks" commentary. Raunchy, hilarious and very entertaining, the entire cast(with the exception of Jeff Anderson(Randal) talk about the making of the film and it's production. Jason Mewes(Jay) is passed out drunk for most of the commentary, but otherwise, Smith leads an interesting discussion with the rest of the cast for the film's length. Supposedly, the rumor was that the content of the commentary was part of the reason why Disney originally delayed this disc. It's definitely an R-rated commentary, but it's one of those commentaries that's funny and interesting enough to listen to over and over again. And speaking of the laserdisc, it's the exact same commentary here that appeared on the laserdisc. And before I forget, you can't switch between the commentary and the film with the remote, you have to go to the menu each and every time. Serious bummer.
Alternate Ending: The rather famed alternate ending that is absolutely different in tone than the actual film. I'd tell more, but I don't want to give away details.
Deleted Scenes: The same deleted scenes as the laserdisc, right down to the scrolling menu. Thankfully, Disney has also cut these scenes into chapters that you can skip to instead of having them play without breaks to skip to. The deleted scenes are kind of funny, but were right to be cut out of the final film. Each scene has an introduction by Smith.
Music Video: "Can't Even Tell" by Soul Asylum, a very funny music video with the cast of "Clerks" in the video.... and it's even in color.
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