Monday, February 05, 2007

Jane Eyre DVD

Yay and double YAY! I got my DVD of Jane Eyre today! Oh that rhymes, it wasn't meant to...

Here it is:

Sorry it's a bit blurry! And why am I getting so excited over a DVD?

Talk about a palaver when I was buying it. Being unorganised I didn't preorder and get it delivered, and seeing as I have a week off (that I categorically did not schedule to coincide with the DVD release, it's just a coincidence) I decided to buy it on the day.

Anyway, I ended up buying it from Sainsbury's because I wanted to use some Nectar points up. I don't recommend it. I go to the kiosk to get the DVD's put into the empty case and I get the case back. As I walk out, being incredibly hasty to get my first look at the discs I open up the case and am incredibly confused to see only one DVD in it. Yes, only one DVD that is marked as "Disc Two". Eh?

I go back to the little old lady in the kiosk and ask for both DVD's please. "But there's only one," she replies. I point out the fact that my DVD says Disc Two, so presumably there must be a Disc One to go with it musn't there? As further proof I show her the cover that says: "2 Disc Set". She then decides to shout "Kelly!" for some unknown reason, as Kelly resolutely refuses to appear. She goes back to her little tray and rummages around for a bit before returning and giving me my missing disc. I suspiciously check to make sure she hasn't actually given me two disc 2's or something like that, but I can happily report that I now have a full set of DVD's. As I leave the little old lady screeches "Kelly!" again at quite a loud volume and I scamper off with my DVD a happy bunny.

The special features are ok: a picture gallery, so I expect to see a lot of fan art soon. Audio commentaries on each episode, I haven't had a chance to listen to yet, but expect it to be quite informative. Only about 20 minutes of deleted scenes, I had a quick flick through them and they look quite promising. The only gripe I have is that they look like rushes with the editing timecodes beneath and they are a smallish picture, I would have preferred full screen with a menu at the start, as by the looks of it you can't choose which deleted scene you want to watch, you have to just watch them all. I will watch them all, but it would have been nice to have been able to choose which order to watch them in. The cast interviews look like extended interviews from the ones that were featured in "Reader, I Married Him" which were done by Daisy Goodwin.

There are also the trailers for the series, which makes me wonder, while bashing my head against a brick wall, why I bust a gut transferring them from the tellybox to my laptop, and then sat around for ages while they uploaded to YouTube. I will never do that again. Of course if the producers thought, hey people want to see the trailers because I uploaded them, then great, but I will never know.

These are my first impressions, I'll probably do a longer entry once I've watched all the extras.

And for all the people who were asking why the BBC hadn't released the DVD earlier, say at Christmas, I believe it's due to the fact that a few shops, HMV in particular, are promoting it as one of their range of "Romantic DVD's" in time for Valentine's Day. As a stone hearted cynical pragmatist, I say bleurgh. I'd have preferred it earlier rather than later, especially as the extras aren't that special.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lol tres witty Penny, as per usual!!

Unlike you, I am extremely organised and anal, so pre-ordered my DVD from the Beeb many moons ago, which gives you an achingly long time to look forward to receiving the bloody thing. The DVD duly arrived yesterday and to be honest I was a tad miffed that it wasn't lying on the hall carpet first thing on Monday morning, which it should have been if it was going to fulfil the BBC Shop's bold claim that I could be "one of the first to own this wonderful production on DVD" or words to that effect. Well, bugger me, half the special features had been posted on Youtube by the time I got my copy yesterday evening, giving me the impression that half the world and his wife had got their hands on it well before moi! Next time, I'll just bloody well buy it at Tescos and not bother with the Beeb Shop, methinks.

Like you, I haven't really had time to watch all the extra bits in detail, but have watched the interviews and you are right - they are just an extension of the Daisy whatshername stuff. Am a tad dissapointed with this, compared to the really good cast interviews that came with the Bleak House DVD. But maybe I'm just being unfair and expected too much to start with ;)

Looking forward to the episodes with commentary though, like you say, they should be interesting and give us some interesting new facts about the production and the cast.

Cheers

Fi

pennyforyourdreams said...

Hi Fi,

Thanks for your comment. I was really annoyed that the special features were all available on YouTube already! Why did I bother getting the DVD, I have all the episodes anyway... Oh well I suppose it gives those too unfortunate to be able to buy the DVD a chance to buy it.

I think the BBC ought to have shipped your DVD a bit quicker than they did. And call me tight, but I like to shop around for DVD's and the like, and supermarkets tend to be the cheapest places to get them nowadays!

What I really, really wanted was some outtakes, Ruth flubbing her lines or something, Toby falling over...

I'm hoping to listen to the commentaries soon, hopefully we'll get some great anecdotes.

Kind regards,

Penny

Anonymous said...

I love the screen caps and commentary on Episode 4 of JE. I would love to see more screencaps!
]
We here in the state still have a few weeks to go till the release. Since the extras sound rather meager I may just burn the version I have on my tivo to a DVR and leave it at that.

Anonymous said...

Have you had a chance to listen to the commentary tracks? Do they explain important things like why they changed St. John's missionary destination from India to Africa?

--Anxious in America

pennyforyourdreams said...

Hi anon and Anxious in America,

Thanks for your comments.

I haven't listened to the second commentary track yet, so I don't know if St.John's trip to Africa is mentioned. I'll let you know once I've had a chance to sit down and savour it!

Anonymous said...

I'm in the States and pre-ordered my DVD. It came Feb 12, and does NOT have any extras. I am addicted to it though, and watch some of it nearly every day.

Anonymous said...

I live in the U.S. and received my dvd last week (week of 2/12/07). I cannot open the special features on the dvd. I absolutely love the video; I would like to see the special features though. Perhaps the dvd's sold in the U.S. don't have the special features. Does anyone know?

pennyforyourdreams said...

Hi Anon and Anon,

I don't know if the US version of the DVD's have extras or not, however you can watch the deleted scenes on youtube, if you are a member of the Jane Eyre or Toby Stephens group they should be easy to find. Hope you get to see them soon!

Penny

Anonymous said...

Thank you Penny!
I have found out through my local PBS station here in the U.S. that the dvd is for the UK market. One needs to view the dvd on an international dvd player, in order to view the deleted scenes, hear the audio, etc. I have watched the deleted scenes on YouTube, however, it's not possible to hear the audio extras that are on the dvd. I still absolutely adore the "Jane Eyre" dvd---would have been nice to see the extras though.

pennyforyourdreams said...

Hi Anon,

Try googling your DVD player and international/R1 or 2 hack. Sometimes if you change the settings, it'll play DVD's from different regions. But make sure you know how to turn it back, I wouldn't like to have told you how to break your machine!

Anonymous said...

Greetings from windy Los Angeles! Its now April 2007 -- I just learned that WGBH plans to release a "deluxe" version of the Jane Eyre DVD with the extras in May. I have both versions (and a region-free player), and those extras would have been badly missed!

pennyforyourdreams said...

Hi Janis,

Thanks for your comment! Ooh Deluxe DVD...interesting. Are the extras any different to the british ones?

Penny

Anonymous said...

I will get the deluxe version and watch it very very carefully -- then let you know! Best wishes!!

Anonymous said...

I'm sorry! I am back to say I have had no luck confirming that there will be a Region 1 version of Jane Eyre with the deleted scenes, interviews, etc. WGBH is vague, BBC America is silent on the subject. It might be worth buying a region-free player just to see the deleted scene where Jane slams the door on Rochester's arm! Best wishes!

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