Whedonesque : Comments on 16833 : TheDigitalBits.com reports on Firefly Blu-ray delay.

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July 10 2008

TheDigitalBits.com reports on Firefly Blu-ray delay. "Fans awaiting BluRay versions of Firefly: The Complete Series and The X-Men Trilogy can rest assured that both are in the works, but they've been pushed back into 2009, so they're not coming this year." Sigh.

will.bueche | Firefly&Serenity | 06:27 CET | 23 comments total | tags: bluray

I'm not so sure that I would trust that. I'll see if I can get more info tomorrow.

TamaraC | July 10, 06:30 CET

They're a first-hand site with many contacts in the industry, not a second-hand site like most sites are. Sorry to say it is likely true.

will.bueche | July 10, 06:32 CET

I'm sure they are a very reputable site with great contacts, but I may be able to get some slightly more up to date info. Maybe not. We will see.

TamaraC | July 10, 07:23 CET

With all the Jossian stuff in the works all of a sudden, I can't say I'm surprised there's a delay.

ShortFatGuy | July 10, 08:11 CET

I think Bill Hunt has the best reputation on the internet, when it comes to inside the industry information. I would trust what he says 100%.

Zoic_Fan | July 10, 11:53 CET

Could it be delayed to tie-in with the Dollhouse premiere?

Simon | July 10, 11:57 CET

Makes sense, surf on its "free publicity" coat-tails a bit. Or maybe they're now doing new content for extras ?

Saje | July 10, 14:32 CET

I can't say what I think about Bill Hunt, without probably getting banned, but his reputation took a hammering during the HD format wars, with his extremely overzealous promotion of Blu-ray.

bivith | July 10, 17:21 CET

I wonder if this is a sign that Fox may actually be re-rendering the special effects sequences, rather than simply upscaling them. If so, I'd wait until 2010 if I had to.

Break_Atmo | July 10, 17:30 CET

Bill Hunt's reputation only took a hit as far as HD-DVD supporters were concerned. He was zealous without being overzealous, IMO, in supporting what he thought was the format that would win out. Turns out he was right.

zeitgeist | July 10, 17:52 CET

I doubt they'd be re-doing all the FX shots, that would be extremely expensive and time-consuming. The sort of thing they only reserve for re-releases of Star Wars, and Spielberg blockbusters.

On the same token, I do hope the delay is for extra content. Like a more recent and comprehensive retrospective, or more commentaries (I'd love to hear Sean, Summer, and/or Adam...on Ariel, specifically).

Although, to me it seems more likely they're doing what Simon said (no pun intended), and waiting to surf on Dollhouse's premier. That, and there will likely be a much larger user base to sell to in 2009 then there are now.

El_Smacko | July 10, 18:32 CET

I can't recall where I heard/read it, but supposedly Joss is/was going to record new commentary and hadn't done it yet. I'm guessing his busy schedule may be a part of the delay.

danregal | July 10, 18:52 CET

There is a cast reunion feature planned as an exclusive to the BD release. No new commentary is planned at this point. It is still planned to be released in November of this year. Subject to change, of course, but it has not been pushed out to 2009 like the linked article says. I got confirmation from one source and am working to get confirmation from another.

TamaraC | July 10, 20:24 CET

Thanks for the update, TamaraC.

zeitgeist | July 10, 20:54 CET

I just got a reply back from Bill over @ the Bits and his info came from a pretty high end source at Fox Home Entertainment. I guess we'll see :)

zeitgeist | July 10, 21:49 CET

According to my second source it is still November. Now I'm all curious about who Bill's source is and why they are saying that when the people actually releasing the DVD don't know about the change. :) Very interesting.

They do seem to be correct about the X-Men title. Of course that would be handled by an entirely different group of people than Firefly.

[ edited by TamaraC on 2008-07-10 19:00 ]

TamaraC | July 10, 21:55 CET

Tamara, purely speculation on my part here, but, if your insiders are on the creative side of things, could it be that they'll have it done on time, but that there's simply no replication availability until 2009? Or maybe the promotions people simply can't take it on until then, so they're holding it back?

will.bueche | July 11, 02:38 CET

willbueche, maybe something like that is going on. I'm still trying to find out more, but after a while asking someone the same question and having them give you the same answer multiple times tends to just annoy folk. :)

[ edited by TamaraC on 2008-07-11 00:25 ]

TamaraC | July 11, 03:24 CET

Ah, best to wait a couple months before asking again then. After all, we can't get it til we can get it, anyway.

will.bueche | July 11, 05:37 CET

Spoke with Bill again and he did point out that sometmies there is a lot of left hand/right hand stuff at studios and the folks actually doing the work on the disc are sometimes the last to know . Also, as will suggests, replication is starting to get backed up with Holiday movie releases. One wouldn't wonder if a TV show (usually multiple discs, so more replication time) got bumped for that, especially a catalog title.

zeitgeist | July 11, 05:51 CET

Bill and zeitgeist may be right. It wouldn't be the first time that my sources (as positive and convinced as they are) were not completely up to date on the latest.

TamaraC | July 11, 06:55 CET

Thanks to you and everyone else out there who is trying to keep us all informed of the latest on our favorite BDHs, TamaraC.

zeitgeist | July 11, 06:59 CET

'I doubt they'd be re-doing all the FX shots, that would be extremely expensive and time-consuming. The sort of thing they only reserve for re-releases of Star Wars, and Spielberg blockbusters.'

I suppose... but I thought that since all the actual scenes/CGI models/etc are already done, all that would actually need to be redone would be the rendering in 1080p, not the actual building of the various digital scenes. I guess I was wrong. It's a shame, it'll mean that the transfer will be constantly switching from 1080p-from-35mm to 480p-upscaled-to-1080p. Jarring.

I hope we get this release date malarky sorted out, too. I wish Fox could just tell us.

Break_Atmo | July 11, 17:35 CET

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