OK, this just isn't fair. It's sitting right there, available to me with the cheapest international shipping for what the currency converter tells me is only AU$35 or so, but I don't know what the region status is (likely locked, since it's Fox). Stupid Fox.

Break_Atmo | July 17, 06:26 CET

This is the same as the US release, right?

Jor | July 17, 07:29 CET

Yep, same release, Jor. That price won't last. IJS.

TamaraC | July 17, 07:31 CET

Thanks for the heads up just ordered it with a couple of other blu-rays.

Doerr007 | July 17, 07:38 CET

That's a great deal. I'll buy it so I can see "Epitaph 1", the original pilot, and to lend it out like crazy (already have two friends who will for sure watch it--one who didn't like "Ghost" but I've reassured it improves, and one who liked the first two eps but lost track of it 'cause Friday nights are a shitty night for television and he doesn't have a PVR and can't be bothered to coax his ancient VCR into taping stuff).

I don't understand how the list price/Suggested Retail Price can be "$89.99" for only a 13-episode season of TV. Even on Blu-Ray, that's nuts. Then again, HBO used to charge a fortune for their shows on DVD and I remember once buying one, so it's not unheard of. Season 1 of Six Feet Under was something like $85 when it first came out and I pooled together a bunch of HMV and mall gift certificates to make that happen.

I decided a few months ago to give up on buying any show or film in disc format (Dr. Horrible was supposed to be the last). Partly for practical reasons (I don't need the clutter and if I really wanna own something there's nothing wrong with only owning a digital copy of it--plus that's a format that never gets outdated, at least as far as I can see happening, whereas any physical disc format likely will and they can get scratched and broken too), but also because I'm gradually going more and more green and way too much of the world's resources are being wasted on unnecessary package waste (from the plastic wrap on brand new DVDs to the trees/paper pulp that go into creating the fancy boxes, much as I love the fancy boxes--plus the metal and plastic that go into making the discs also equal more unnecessary waste and energy and every bit of plastic you buy causes more oil to be used, a finite resource). It's encouraging to see more DVD packaging from some franchises and companies using less (the Futurama direct-to-DVDs come to mind), but why not just eliminate it entirely, y'know ?

I'm making an exception for Dollhouse Season 1 because it's a lot easier to lend out a Blu-Ray than it is to share digital files (which we're probably not supposed to do after purchasing anyway), plus I'll freely admit that awesome sales are hard to pass up, even when ideals would require you ignore them. Maybe when I've used it and lended it out as much as possible, I'll donate it to a library or something so folks can see it for free and maybe a few less people will go out and buy it.

Kris | July 17, 07:54 CET

Another interesting quirk: the Watchmen Blu-ray Director's Cut with the Amazon Exclusive Nite Owl Ship is $6.00 CHEAPER on Amazon.ca!

kmb99 | July 17, 08:04 CET

Kris, I'm right there with you as soon as all the bonus features and commentaries are available digitally. That's why I buy BDs. When all the extra stuff is available through iTunes (or whoever), I'll stop buying the physical product too. However, right now, that doesn't seem to be an option.

Do any of you know of any TV show that has all the extra features and commentaries available anywhere else except the DVD or BD?

TamaraC | July 17, 08:05 CET

Thanks for the tip -- ordered!

Casira | July 17, 08:14 CET

Wow. Awesome deal, Canada.

twinkiefoo | July 17, 08:16 CET

Dollhouse is now the #1 selling DVD on Amazon.ca.

twinkiefoo | July 17, 08:20 CET

Don't forget about SuperSaver shipping, guys. If you order the Dollhouse Blu-Ray off of Amazon.ca and then buy something that's about $16 more, you'll be above the $39 requirement for free shipping. Another DVD, blu-ray, a book, a comic/graphic novel, video game, merchandise.

I bought an art book I'd had in my Wish List for ages. Obscure, can't find online for downloadable viewing, outside of a few promotional pieces.

Tamara, good point about the extras. Another time I could still justify getting the DVDs or Blu-Ray is for obscure cartoons that aren't likely to see release as iTunes downloads (although there're a surprising number of officially released digital downloads of cartoons), big animation fan here. Rather than just see them fade away and never have access to them (and there're still a ton of cartoons unavailable for download), to at least preserve them in some format.

Kris | July 17, 08:51 CET

Kris: the $39 free shipping applies only to Canadian addressees, sadly. I got really excited about that and started added other stuff to my cart, then I read the fine print :-(

Jor | July 17, 10:14 CET

Break_Atmo: someone tweeted us at our Whedonesque twitter account to say "Can you also tell Break_Atmo that #Firefly Blu-Ray is multiregion & works in UK. Amazon (usually) states if region locked! Thx."

Simon | July 17, 12:40 CET

Wow, is that a new thing ? Are Blu-Rays generally not region-locked ? If so, that opens up the market something considerable. I didn't wanna fiddle with getting my PS2 modded and didn't wanna buy a Region-free player earlier this decade, so I passed on a lot of UK releases of various TV-shows-on-DVD...

Kris | July 17, 18:30 CET

The thing with Blu-ray is that while there is region-coding, the studios decide whether or not to implement it, and right now, most studios don't lock their releases - Fox, sadly, is one of the exceptions. Here's the region-code information for Blu-ray, split into Regions A, B and C:

A: East Asia (except Mainland China and Mongolia), Southeast Asia, the Americas, and their dependencies.
B: Africa, Southwest Asia, Europe (except Russia), Oceania, and their dependencies.
C: Central Asia, East Asia (Mainland China and Mongolia only), South Asia, central Eurasia (including Russia), and their dependencies.

Simon, thanks, but I know about Firefly being multi-region. On that note, any who wish to know the region-status of a Blu-ray should go to this site: http://bluray.liesinc.net/ It has all the information on the releases, constantly updated, and you can also choose to view only releases from a certain studio. Check Fox, and you'll see that the vast majority of their releases are locked, Firefly being one of the few exceptions (and even that isn't coded for Region C). Also, you can't trust Amazon with Blu-ray region coding - they never updated their notes to A B and C, and still use the old DVD numbered regions, which are usually inaccurate. Multiple times, I've ordered an American Blu-ray from Amazon that was claimed to be locked (to DVD Region 1, lol), but claimed to be region-free on the above site, and Amazon was wrong every time.

Whew, long post. Hope you guys find the information useful.

Break_Atmo | July 17, 20:56 CET

http://movietyme.blogspot.com/2009/07/dollhouse-season-one-blu-ray-region.html

In this link they say it's region free. Does that mean I can watch in Europe?

Rikardo | July 17, 21:20 CET

It was expensive but I wrote a price complaint review yesterday and whamo they change the price today. Was $48 (Non-BR) now $32, thats cheaper than US with exchange factored in ..wow

demon magnet | July 18, 00:24 CET

'http://movietyme.blogspot.com/2009/07/dollhouse-season-one-blu-ray-region.html

In this link they say it's region free. Does that mean I can watch in Europe?'

Oh, sah-weet. Yes, it means you can watch it using any Blu-ray player globally. Thanks for that link.

Break_Atmo | July 18, 05:34 CET

Did anyone ever figure out firstly why it is so cheap and secondly actually less expensive than the DVD boxset?

Simon | July 18, 07:02 CET

I'm going to assume it's imported from China and really a completely different show. Rumor starts here <--.

zeitgeist | July 18, 07:21 CET

They did this with the Firefly blu-ray awhile back too. No idea why, but it was heavily discounted. That one had French on the cover though.

hacksaway | July 18, 08:30 CET

Is it even remotely possible that it's a mistake?

Break_Atmo | July 18, 09:25 CET

I figure it HAS to be a mistake, but if you pre-order for the price it lists, that's the price you get. It will likely be changed back once someone there notices that it's way off.

This makes me happy since I'm on a budget and couldn't afford the normal price!

7thParallel | July 18, 14:21 CET

Wow, that's about $30 USD with international shipping! Still cheaper than the standard DVD. Ordered. Thanks, Whedonesque!

AnotherFireflyfan | July 20, 22:16 CET

STOP the press the price correction is in.
BR DVD $57. and SD DVD $46., lots more expensive than US $ UK
A big "thank" you to the Canadian distributes & FOX ):

demon magnet | July 21, 04:34 CET

Yes, how dare they correct the pricing to what it's supposed to be to begin with! The nerve!

The One True b!X | July 21, 05:05 CET

Joe (jane) public Canada "Hey look this Dollhouse show is a 1/2 season for $46 but full season Prison Break and 24 are $45, that Dollhouse must be a real good, like an HBO show"... could work!

demon magnet | July 21, 16:15 CET