I just read that the Willy Wonka: 30th Anniversary Special Edition DVD that I've been looking forward to coming out is only going to be offered in full screen.

There is not enough profanity or big enough capital letters in the world to express my disgust.

Warner Bros. is saying this is because they are doing this with a lot of their family friendly dvd products.

Family friendly? Fuck.

I think I'll go steal some Fizzy Lifting Drinks and dive down the bad egg shute.

Amanpour

Was there anything wrong with that original DVD of the film? I see you can still find it at auction.

I join you in your disgust. If I wanted full screen, I'd buy VHS.

-Andrew

full-screen = pan&scan?

Yes

And I'll bet phat money that when Lucas finally releases the "Trilogy" on DVD it'll come out as pan/scan only too... to be followed by a "collector's widescreen edition" once sales taper off.

Marketh my wordeth, w3rd.

Mark, mark, mark...

(This is me marking your words...)

You're probably right, but I don't know. Every now and then I come across a DVD that either has full-screen on one side of the DVD and widescreen on the other, or has the option in the menu to select which one you want. Lucas seems to be the type that might do it that way.

Not that he doesn't LOVE collector's editions...So you could be right.

Either way -- I'll buy them.

"I just read that the Willy Wonka: 30th Anniversary Special Edition DVD that I've been looking forward to coming out is only going to be offered in full screen."

Where did you read this btw?
Amazon's page is still claiming it'll have both full and widescreen anamorphic. Now, of course, they could very well be wrong....

-Andrew

I'm sure they'll offer pan&scan and widescreen editions on the same disk(s). Hopefully, they're bright enough to at least offer both, if not just widescreen. Pan&scan only plain sucks for Home Theater aficionados.

Raphael

From The Digital Bits (one of the best DVD sites on the net):

"... we're absolutely stunned to learn that, in fact, the DVD will ONLY include full frame! And fans of the film are rightly very upset. Frankly, we can't believe this. But it's been confirmed by the studio. It seems several studios have a little bit of a different attitude when it comes to their "family films". "

So its definitely looking like no widescreen version.

Here's an online petition related to this ridiculous news. I have no idea how effective an online petition could possibly be, but here it is anyway.

http://www.petitiononline.com/wonkadvd/petition.html

I feel like I've had something taken away from me. I realize this is borderline pathetic--or perhaps not borderline--but there it is. Older film fans are the reason Willy Wonka has had such longevity. It is our continued fondness for the film, our tendency to introduce it to new people, that makes a 30th Anniversary Special Edition worthwhile. Not just kids.

Even for kids I don't like the idea of pan and scan. It just seems like an example of studio dumbing down that marketing people think kids need.

Amanpour

Okay, seeing that Veruca Salt has signed the petition, I think I know just how effective it will be.

Sheesh. Geeks are such...geeks.

You should open your mouth a little wider when you speak.

Amanpour

WB has announced that a widescreen edition of the movie will be coming out in November (I think I heard the 4th, but I could be wrong). It will have the same extras as the current full screen version, and will probably have the same transfer.