Taking the Red Pill in a Paranormal Fire Breathing Lizard's Den with a Blue Glowing Bug

[thefrickenfilmcritic]

I wish the blu ray packaging for tv shows was cooler :(

[320storm]

you look out of it

[Zaranyzerak]

@320storm I'm not.

[Purcible261]

Nice skulls

[TheWhitestKidUKnow87]

I bet he's in his moms basement.

[Zaranyzerak]

@TheWhitestKidUKnow87 Wow, that's original. Haven't lived at home since 1989.

[Zaranyzerak]

Haven't done it yet. I reviewed the Blu-ray, but haven't reviewed the movie yet.

[mattlincoln524]

I too despise double sided dvds ever since I started collection farscape: starburst dvds. The First two seasons were released on double sided and now most are scratched and unplayable. Of course now I take much better care of my dvds, but double sided ones are to easy to damage. Now the trend seems to be at least from what i've seen is that older shows are being released in that format. Possibly because it is cheaper? Quantum Leap and V the complete series are a few that come to mind.

[measuringstick]

how would you compare the quality of the firefly blu ray to the dvds, i just need a reason to buy it again

[Zaranyzerak]

It looks very good. Effects shots are a bit soft, but I think that's because they weren't rendered in full HD at the time. Otherwise, it's definitely a step up in quality. Plus there are some new extras (in addition to everything form the original DVD release), such as a wonderful (and hilarious) round table discussion with Joss Whedon and some of the principal cast.

[DeflectiveCheese]

you resemble joss whedon and kinda sound like him

[Cloud10v35Aerith]

WOw you got a great deal from buying firefly.They are like $70 in my local dvd stores

[BubbleMonsturrr]

omg u uploaded this on my birthday. WOW. lol.

[TheDarthPotato]

doesn't the matrix (the first one) have a much better looking transfer on the ultimate collection than it does on the old 1 disc release, i think they cleaned it up to look more like the sequels

[Posthuman2003]

I enjoyed supernatural, did you like the Scarecrow epidsode? my fav

[DarthGaras]

I liked the original Matrix. The sequels not so much. I felt they could have cut a lot of waffle and had just one action packed sequel.

[Disthron]

So how dose this thing play? Also, the watch mode, is that where you just watch the game play through without having to actually play?

[Zaranyzerak]

The whole game is basically a short animated film. You watch fir a bit, then the character will come to a point where there's either some kind of peril, an obstacle to avoid, etc. So you have a slit second to decide what the character should do - move up, down, left or right or use the sword. If you choose the correct move, the animation continues to the next sequence. If you choose incorrectly, it cuts to a death scene. It's all in real time, so you usually only have a split second to react.

[Zaranyzerak]

It's quite fast paced, with often several perils ocurring back to back within a single sequence. So there's a lot of trial and error involved, as you try to figure out the right moves.

Watch Mode lets you watch the entire film as if you had played the game perfectly, with no mistakes. So it allows you to simply sit back and enjoy the show without actually having to play. The animation was by Don Bluth, and is of quite high quality. It looks as good as a thetrical animated film, basically.

[Disthron]

I'll admit that the Dragons Lair game had grate graphics and animation but in my opinion that's about all it had. I have trouble even calling it a game and I can't even really justify buying it for the watch mode. I mean isn't it really just a few minutes if you play perfectly?

Not to mention the current trend in quick time events can trace there roots back to games like this and space ace, and I think quick time events are one of the biggest blights on the game play these days.

[Zaranyzerak]

The entire game runs about 25 minutes if you play perfectly. And yes, "quicktime" events can certainly be traced back to this. But bear in mind, when these games originally came out was the early-mid 80's, when game graphics and sound weren't anywhere near what they are today. At the time, they were quite innovative and a lot of Laserdisc games had more interactivity - overlaying game graphics atop a live action video background, for example. I enjoy it as a piece of game history.

[Zaranyzerak]

Oh, and 25 minutes from beginning to end was actually quite typical length for arcade games at the time (assuming they were the type that actually had endings, unlike the other type that just goes forever until you die or run out of quarters). So yeah, I like it as a piece of history and for the animation. There was just a "magical" quality about it for me that other LD games didn't quite match. I liked a lot of other LD games, but Dragon's Lair was (and is) my favorite by far.

[Disthron]

Sure, this game started off quick time events but it also lead more directly to games like Night Trap, Double Switch and basically killed off any potential that FMV had in gaming. There were a few games that used there videos really well and they were berried under the mound of shovelware that was produced on the FMV bandwagon.

[Zaranyzerak]

True enough, a lot of games seemed to throw FMV scene in there simply because they could. I actually though stuff like Night Trap and Double Switch (along with Psychic Detective, probably the single most elaborate FMV game ever made) actually used FMV effectively, since they actually made the game entirely from FMV sequences. I liked the idea of having events unfold in realtime in multiple locations. Psychic Detective took that idea much farther than Night Trap.

[Disthron]

I know it is a peace of gaming history but other than that I don't see that it has many redeeming features. I have not looked into the tech from back then but let's say that Dragons Lair was the best they could have done at the time. I think it's like the 32X for the Megadrive. It was the best outcome for what was a bad idea. Sure, it looks pretty but I think they could have done better if they'd just maid a film or a TV show.

[Zaranyzerak]

Well, the fact remains it was a huge hit when it came out, hence all the knock-offs that followed in the years after. I know a lot of people don't like the limited gameplay, but I guess it all boils down to whether or not you like quicktime event-type games. Which you said you don't, so there ya go. I(n short, it's basically a short film with limited interactivity. But even that level of control does give you the feeling of being in charge of this knight's fate. Have you actually PLAYED it?

[Disthron]

I have, I played it on the Mega CD. I have not played it on the arcade but I have it on good authority that it's the same except for the drastically lower quality video.

[Zaranyzerak]

Ah yes, I've played that version. Some of the moves were changed for that home version, and there are a few scenes missing, but otherwise yeah it's the same game.

[Disthron]

Hmmm.... I hadn't known that any scenes were taken out. Do you know witch ones they were.

[Zaranyzerak]

The Falling Platform, the Wind Room and the Burning Ropes are three that spring to mind. There may have been others, but those are the most conspicuously absent ones I recall off the top of my head. They were removed from a lot of the early home versions presumably because of the high motion, which early FMV couldn't handle very well.

[Disthron]

Wow, that's a bit of a blast from the past Zar. Still don't like quick time events though, still lamenting the death or FMV in games. If you'd like to play a good game that uses FMV track down a coppy of the US version of Realms of the Haunting. Make sure it's the US version though. It will allow you to map your keys to a more modern control set up. You can still find it online for about $15.

[Zaranyzerak]

Hehehe...yeah, someone left a comment the other day and I noticed I hadn't answered your questions from a million years ago. :) There were some good FMV games back in the day, I miss it sometimes as well. My experience was mainly with consoles, so I enjoyed stuff like Sewer Shark (which I know a lot of people hate, I'll do a video about WHY I love it at some point), Psychic Detective, The Daedalus Encounter (with Tia Carerre! Rowr!) and a bunch of others. Playable B-Movies, man! :D

[Disthron]

I actually bought the Daedalus Encounter the other day. I'm still waiting for it to get here. Got it along with A fork in the Tail! Now there's a relic from a bygone age.

[RazMansReality]

Hey buddy I was googling Firefly and wouldn't you know it this old episode that I somehow missed came up lol. So I'll just ask you because you're my friend and I know you won't bullshit me. The reason I was looking into Firefly is because I became a huge fan of Dollhouse I'm still pissed that Fox axed it after one season! Anyway Firefly was also done by Josh Weadon. Anyway I want to know would I like Firefly as a Dollhouse or are they totally different animals as it were? lol

[RazMansReality]

Dollhouse fan

[TheStoryOfMike]

The TV season that Firefly came out was a bummer of a year for me. I loved Firefly, but it got axed about 3/4 through the season. I also loved John Doe which came out that year. It survived the whole season, but then wasn't renewed. Fans petitioned for both shows to be revived somehow. Thankfully, the cries for more Firefly were answered with the movie. Sadly, the cries for more John Doe fell on deaf ears. John Doe ended the season with one hell of a cliffhanger, so it was very depressing.

[Zaranyzerak]

I haven't seen John Doe, might have to check that one out! But yeah, it's always frustrating when you get interested in a show and it gets cancelled before it really gets a chance. Even worse when it ends on a major cliffhanger. That's happened to sooo many of my faves over the years... Twin Peaks and Captain Power being two biggies for me. Oh, the Dark Shadows revival series too... Alien Nation originally, but thankfully they got the TV movies to resolve everything. Rare that happens...

[tonyusername1]

OMG that MTV awards thing on Reloaded is hilarious.

It's the only reason i kept the matrix reloaded DVD i had

[ECW2011]

I HAVE JUST ORDER SEASON 2 AND 3

[guruelectri]

i just got supernatural season 1 too. try to get season two now

[ECW2011]

i just got supernatural season 1 love it getting season 2 soon

[Zaranyzerak]

It's really good isn't it! We've almost finished Season 1, and will be diving right into Season 2. :) I'm kinda glad we waited so long to get into it, now we don't have to wait between seasons...hehehe. Well, until we're caught up, of course...

[ECW2011]

your luckyyou have season 1 2 3 i just one i am up to ep 10 so i will get season 2 soon

[Moviefan2k5]

The show I really think you should check out is Lost. It's amazing. Especially if your a fan of time travel or sci-fi

[Zaranyzerak]

Oh, we're planning to! There's apparently going to be a Complete Series Set put out on Blu-ray once it's done, so we'll likely pick that up then just have a fest of the whole thing. :D

[Moviefan2k5]

LOL, that was a fast reply. The series ends in 2010. It's actually a really good idea to wait for a complete set, since the show is heavily serialized.

[REGIFISHY]

I have not heard of any of the DVDs you showed except the matrix and dragons lair

(did that just say wendigo? If so than that's an indian legend, which Howard Phillips Lovecraft adapted into ithaqua)

[Devotchka13]

Oh and I don't know if you're much of a drinker but you can play drinking games while watching the show. Like for instance taking a shot anytime one of them says, "dude" or anytime Dean makes a sexual joke....maybe not that one, you'll be wasted after an 2 episodes

[Pentium100MHz]

I have not one, but two VCRs :) Right now they are programmed to record new years concerts shown on TV (yep, I will e recording two channels in parallel), after that they will be connected to each other and I will cut out the commercials :)

And with 3hours 45minutes left until the end of this year I wish you a happy New Year!

[Mevlevi1207]

That's a great deal on the Firefly blu-ray! Great video!!

[bringeroffunerals]

I will stay tuned and im looking 4ward to the dark knight review and the blade runner box set u have

[1337Five]

awsome update, I got firefly as well as the ultimate matrix collection (among other things. A show you should really cheak out is Dexter, best tv I have ever seen

[MIKEnBC]

solid video as always, Happy New Year!

[fergmaster]

Supernatural, well IMO Season 1 was fairly hit or miss, but Season 2 onwards it's fantastic! I bet Firefly looks great on Blu Ray, do you know about the new special features exclusive to Blu? (sorry if someone has already mentioned that) Great update as always.

[shonuf]

Thats Awesome !!! Supernatural Really kicks ass in my book I enjoy watching that show. As you get to see a lot more episodes of Supernatural I hope you give us updates on what you think. I also like to add that Supernatural has some damn hot looking women on the show LOL Damn how I love brunettes

[Devotchka13]

yup, that Dean is a slut!

Anyway I second on the updates on what you think!

[Dannyfaye]

happy new year.larry!

[Devotchka13]

You will LOVE LOVE LOVE Supernatural!!

It has been my all time favorite show since it came out and I've only missed like 3 episodes on the days they aired. I make sure I do not work on Thursdays..lol Season 4 is intense but that is all I'll say on it. There are tons of TV sites that you can find all the episodes once you finish the first 3 seasons, and every single season ends on a CRAZY cliff hanger lol You can even download them on Xbox 360 and watch them on your tv

[Zaranyzerak]

You're still alive, hooray! Yep, the general concensus seems to be that we're going to have a blast with Supernatural. We love what we've seen so far, and look forward to the rest. Oh, and don't worry - I'm pretty torrent-savvy, so if the 4th season isn't out by the time we get there, I've got us covered. ;)

[Devotchka13]

I love Supernatural so much!! I even have the necklace that Dean wears all the time...around my neck right now....yes I'm that obsessed but you'll find out why soon enough. Even their last name on the show is badass lol :P

How far are you guys? I got soooo many people hooked on the show they should pay me!

[JPPT1974]

Again nice collection. As well as nice stuff. Hope you have a great New Year's in 2009, in Canada!

[ARCOPWNS]

yay

[xombie25]

I Love Supernatural, you can tell that the director is the same from the X-Files

[Zaranyzerak]

It certainly has an X-Files "feel" to it, which isn't a bad thing in my books!

[Devotchka13]

They have more then one director btw so it's not always the x-files guy, but you can definately tell which epsiodes he directs lol

[tafkase7en]

I love your videos, keep them up.

[Zaranyzerak]

Thanks, will do! :)

[Riddler95]

alot of movies released on Blu-Ray don't contain bonus material that are on DVD, this even happens with film footage sometimes.

[Zaranyzerak]

I know, but with the Matrix collection even the original DVD release of the Ultimate Collection didn't include the old stuff. So it's not so much a Blu-ray thing specifically, more of a "out with the old, in with the new extras" thing...

[Riddler95]

I kept my older Matrix DVDs, I didn't care too much for the ultimate set.

Terminator 2 on Blu-Ray contains only the Theatrical Cut of the film not the Directors Cut, so here the DVD is better than the Blu-Ray.

Planet Earth looks amazing on Blu-Ray but the DVD contains an extra 200 minutes that is not on the Blu-Ray.

This has even happened with movies on DVD, the CAV LaserDisc Box Set of The Lion King contains many special bonus features that did not make it into the DVD. L

[Zaranyzerak]

Yeah, that T2 edition annoys me. BUT! The extras freak in me is going to grab it anyway, since it has two archival commentaries on it (one of which hasn't been available since the original CAV LD set of the theatrical cut way back when). Plus I just saw it on sale for ten bucks, soooo... :)

Didn't know that about Planet Earth, you'd think that one would have everything given all the press it gets.

I still have several of my cooler LD sets for extras that haven't shown up anywhere else yet.

[Riddler95]

I actually kept my Lion King CAV LaserDisc Box Set, I also have the DVD Boxset which is way better in Quality Terms.

I happen to own the special edition DVD of The Muppet Christmas Carol, I bought it because it contains the remastered WideScreen version, however it includes the fullscreen version which contains a deleted song that extends the film by three minutes. I watched the movie so many times on LaserDisc in WideScreen with the deleted song intact.

[Riddler95]

Zaranyzerak

Speaking of Terminator 2 which DVD edition do you think is the better version ?

T2 The Ultimate Edition or T2 The Extreme Edition.

[Zaranyzerak]

They're both really good editions, but it basically breaks down like this:

Ultimate Edition - Better extras, 3 versions of the movie

Extreme edition - Best transfer, 2 versions of the movie (one is only there as a HD WMV file, though)

[5UP3RKR4ZY515]

I love firefly. I watched every episode. I'm a huge fan of Summer Glau and Nathan fallion

[Zaranyzerak]

One thing I forgot to mention, the Blu-ray has some new extras! There's a great (and HILARIOUS) round table discussion with Joss, Nathan, Alan and Ron, and I think there's a new commentary or two as well. Great show, Fox are idiots, I'm sure you've heard it all before by now...hehehe.

[ChasingProductions1]

very informative reviews, nice stuff

[CaptainJackHarkness4]

Supernatural is a great show. I have all three seasons on dvd. I just got season 1 for xmas. Futureshop can have some awesome sales but if you want to cash in you need to get right in there, I learned that today. Great update.

[Zaranyzerak]

Too true! Even though it's a Boxing WEEK sale, it's a good idea to go right on the first day. I usually make a point of getting there within a few hours of opening (they open at 6am on Boxing Day), since I know MOST people go for the doorcrasher electronics bargains, but DVDs and such are usually still there a little later. So avoid the CRAAAAZY crowds (thought there's still gajillions of people there, just not INSANE people), and get a deal or two. :)

[keynesrules]

Supernatural is one of those shows which IMO gets better and better :)

[Zaranyzerak]

That's what Mumsie was saying!  We're definitely looking forward to working our way through the sets.

[1ronoc]

i remember playing dragons lair at some bowling place. i picked up the blade runner "the final cut" 2 disc a little while back. when you do that review (if you seen all the versions), id love to hear which version is the best

[Zaranyzerak]

You know, funnily enough, the ONLY version I have yet to see is...the original theatrical version! Hehehe...I've seen all the other versions several times, so I figure whatever the difference is I've seen it all by now. :)

I used to play Dragon's Lair at Chuck E. Cheese when it first came out. Then it came to the local arcade on my way home from school, much to my parents' relief. No longer would they have to tolerate crappy pizza and animatronic animal musical shows...lol