Amazon has pulled the Dollhouse DVD - Dollhouse

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September 07 2009

Amazon has pulled the Dollhouse DVD. Per the website, "...customers have told us there may be something wrong with our inventory of the item, the way we are shipping it, or the way it's described here." The Amazon Marketplace sellers are still selling it. ETA: The DVD is now back on sale.

While you're there, check out the first review by the antiquary, very funny.

cabri | Dollhouse | 10:00 CET | 84 comments total | tags: dvd, amazon

Can anyone find the process by which customers can flag an item for review?

@theonetruebix | September 07, 10:04 CET

Could it be the lack of booklet? Maybe Amazon is just checking to make sure it was supposed to be shipped that way. That's the only recent complaint I can find.

cabri | September 07, 10:09 CET

The forced trailers are on the DVDs?

Simon | September 07, 10:12 CET

Thanks for letting us know Cabri- there isn't a similar warning out for the UK Amazon yet (I ordered mine yesterday so my fingers are crossed that it's ok). I loved the antiquary's review too- very clever :D

[ edited by Rosalind on 2009-09-07 20:19 ]

Rosalind | September 07, 10:13 CET

I bet people are complaining it doesn't have a fancy spy paper letter from Joss.

@theonetruebix | September 07, 10:13 CET

And where's my free kung-fu imprinting machine ? Do they think I have years to spend in training ? Nevermind the plane fare to Tibet.

(mine did come with numbers though, it's a semi-limited edition)

Saje | September 07, 10:19 CET

The customer review by the antiquary is brilliant.

menomegirl | September 07, 10:21 CET

It's a little unfortunate this is happening with just under three weeks until the season premiere. (And I still can't find where customers can flag an item in this way.)

@theonetruebix | September 07, 10:24 CET

I've just tried phoning the relevant people at Fox about it. Offices are closed today, I've left a message.

Also, that review cracked me up.

gossi | September 07, 10:28 CET

Great review. Man this is annoying. It's low if someone did that on purpose.

Numfar PTB | September 07, 10:32 CET

b!X, there's a feedback link down at the bottom, maybe that's it.

cabri | September 07, 10:34 CET

Or it's due to a high number of returns with the mysterious flaw listed as the reason for return? Very strange.

mister0 | September 07, 10:38 CET

Could it be the lack of booklet?

That would be my guess, too. There's an Amazon Discussion about it.

mister0 | September 07, 10:47 CET

Or it was sent to a bunch of people who in fact had actually ordered TSCC.

@theonetruebix | September 07, 10:47 CET

http://twitter.com/grandmofhelsing/status/3823503472

Simon | September 07, 10:48 CET

Erm...strange it's happened on the same day as the UK release. The only diff between the two that I can see immediately is that the UK addition has the rating on the front, whereas I can't see it on the US one....at all.

Unless it's the little sticker on the front of the UK one that's got them all a twitter. You know, the one that says "from the creator of Buffy and Angel".

bubblecat | September 07, 10:48 CET

"My Dollhouse DVD isn't from the creator of Buffy and Angel! WTF?!"

@theonetruebix | September 07, 10:49 CET

Oh man. This is a DVD for Season 1 of Wallhouse. I knew something was weird about it but couldn't put my finger on it. I want my money back!

Sunfire | September 07, 11:04 CET

That is a very witty review but what in the world is going on here? Holy conspiracy! Has anyone ever seen this type of thing occur on an Amazon product?

buffyfest | September 07, 11:05 CET

Has anyone ever seen this type of thing occur on an Amazon product?

Apparently so, if you check the link Simon provided above.

@theonetruebix | September 07, 11:06 CET

I wonder why Amazon pulled this item.

http://www.amazon.com/Head-First-HTML-CSS-XHTML/dp/product-description/059610197X

Simon | September 07, 11:11 CET

Nice timing.

BreathesStory | September 07, 11:14 CET

Amusing, Simon - the people who bought that book also bought Dr Horrible. Maybe it's some weird Amazon database problem?

[ edited by gossi on 2009-09-07 20:14 ]

gossi | September 07, 11:15 CET

Wow, we're uncovering a hidden Amazon conspiracy! I own that html book, it's years old, can't imagine why they would've pulled it at this late date unless it's something internal.

cabri | September 07, 11:15 CET

can't imagine why they would've pulled it at this late date unless it's something internal

Well, there you go. It's missing the "HTML should not be taken internally" warning sticker.

@theonetruebix | September 07, 11:16 CET

lol :D

cabri | September 07, 11:19 CET

Thats weird, never seen that happen with amazon.

WheelsOfJoy | September 07, 11:21 CET

So there WAS supposed to be a booklet or something? Hmm. Amazon had better send me whatever is missing, AND something extra to compensate. ;)

sunshineguinn | September 07, 11:30 CET

There's a sticker on it's way to you now sunshineguinn. B!x isn't allowed one though, he gets to keep the non-Joss Dollhouse.

(p.s. the only booklet in the UK one is an advert for other DVDs).

(p.p.s - I think they must have had some stickers left from the Serenity run)

(p.p.p.s - I obviously don't honestly think it has anything to do with the sticker...)

bubblecat | September 07, 11:37 CET

Yes, it was supposed to come with a copy of Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML.

@theonetruebix | September 07, 11:38 CET

I had something like this happen (though not on Amazon) years ago when I bought S3-S5 of Angel. The S3 DVDs looked perfectly fine, but when I put one in the player, it turned out that what the discs actually contained was Buffy S6 :)

I complained and they pulled the DVDs from the online store (and it took a month before I got a replacement because I guess they had to order a whole new batch).

ruuger | September 07, 11:41 CET

So do we suspect there's some kind of connection between Dollhouse and Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML (what the HELL is that anyho).

(Yes, I know, it's an oldie...but a goodie ;))

bubblecat | September 07, 11:44 CET

This is very odd... I just managed to have one of my professors switch to using the newest edition of Head First HTML with XHTML and CSS for a class that I'm Rileying for. It really is a great book and I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to learn the basics. Actually, most of the books in that series (Head First) are really good.

And yeah, odd about Dollhouse.

Knuckleball | September 07, 12:10 CET

The hidden secrets of imprinting must be hidden (yes, hidden again, not really creative right now) in the Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML book.

Numfar PTB | September 07, 12:11 CET

cabri, I bought mine at Best Buy and it didn't come with a booklet either. Was it really supposed to have one or are people just assuming it should've had one and are complaining about it?

badwolf | September 07, 12:34 CET

There's no booklet. I don't even think people are really complaining about it.

@theonetruebix | September 07, 12:46 CET

Bix, if you go into Your Account and look at a particular item that you have ordered, there's a "Need to return an item?" button. That's where the folks who ordered this item can flag that something has gone wrong with what they received.

Presumably, Amazon would then suspend an item from shipping if the CS folks got enough similar complaints to suspect that something might be wrong.

RayHill | September 07, 13:21 CET

Maybe a Fox lawyer got carried away and accidentally issued a C+D letter against their own DVD?

zz9 | September 07, 13:21 CET

Aha, thanks, RayHill. That makes sense.

@theonetruebix | September 07, 13:22 CET

It's ok, it's ok. The blu-ray is still available. Any real Joss fan would've bought a blu-ray player just for this set. And the Firefly blu-ray. Even with the non-hi-def cgi. So disappointed! ;-)

Mort | September 07, 13:34 CET

zz9 - now there's a thought! LOL

bubblecat | September 07, 13:35 CET

HTML has the power to disable Dollhouse security, so it's not a huge leap to guess that's what they use for imprints too!

jkalderash | September 07, 13:39 CET

If Topher designed the security that wouldn't surprise me.

Maybe a Fox lawyer got carried away and accidentally issued a C+D letter against their own DVD?

Maybe the makers of dollhouses have finally decided to defend their trademark ?

My money though, is on an Easter egg comprising a two hour sequel to 'Serenity' (and Universal aren't happy).

Saje | September 07, 13:43 CET

jkalderash, are you suggesting that Alpha's psychoses are simply a result of the <blink> tag?

RayHill | September 07, 13:54 CET

More likely some combination of <blink> and <marquee>.

@theonetruebix | September 07, 13:57 CET

@ruuger, I just had a similar thing happen to me when I bought the Angel Collector set from Amazon. My review is the latest on on that items page. First time around Season 4: Disc 1 was badly scratched and skipped. Then, in my second set, Season 4: Disc 3 had episodes from season 1 on it. Now, I just got my third replacement from the Fox store and Season 4: Disc 3 has a scratch that causes the second episode to skip 4 mins. The Fox rep I have been speaking with said he will look into it for me, but this is getting a little tiring.

I own thousands of dvd's and this is the first time I've had this much trouble with anything. In fact, I've only ever had to return 2 products in my lifetime as being defective prior to this.

Now, more to the topic at hand. I had to return my Dollhouse Blu-ray because Disc 1 skipped. It looked like there was a hair or really fine curved scratch underneath the coating. But it appears that the Blu-Ray is still available on their site, so I'm not sure that has anything to do with it .

goodridd | September 07, 13:58 CET

I've bought my copy from Amazon and it had problems. The case was broken, and the carton they glued onto the box left the cover all uneven. I didn't bother complaining to Amazon, and I didn't return it because the discs were fine.

Effulgent | September 07, 15:45 CET

I pre-ordered my copy of season one from Amazon, then bought one for a friend at Target the day it was released [mostly so I could check out what the inside of the packaging looked like, but that's neither here nor there]. My Amazon purchase arrived and looked identical to the one I bought for her, and all the discs played the same, too.

This just bugs me.

CrazyKidBen | September 07, 15:48 CET

I wish they had at least put titles or even ep numbers on the labels. Blu-ray discs take something like four hours (give or take) to get to the opening menu. Long wait for a train don't come.

Tin Ear Tom | September 07, 16:09 CET

Huh. The inside of the sleeve on my DVDs have the list of what episodes are on what discs. There's no comparable list in the BD packaging?

@theonetruebix | September 07, 16:15 CET

The Comic Con BD does not have a list of episodes, don't know about the regular BD.

deadbessie | September 07, 16:29 CET

Don't know if this is a new issue kind of across-the-board, but when I checked on the price for the Gilmore Girls full series it had the same warning. Huh.

KariAri | September 07, 16:41 CET

I have the BD and it doesn't have the list of episodes.

xander fan | September 07, 16:41 CET

Well that seems like a pretty nonsensical BD packaging fail.

@theonetruebix | September 07, 16:45 CET

My copy of Where the Wild Things are is faulty, but I figured they were protecting me from watching Buffy/Riley sex so I didn't complain. :)

Actually, I probably should have exchanged it but I didn't. That was Future Shop, though.

redeem147 | September 07, 16:51 CET

My discs play fine and I'm not sure if I'm missing something. Jennifer Love Hewitt is amazing in this! Her insights on the dead blow me away every episode! And the cameo appearances by the entire cast of NCIS in episode six make me cry everytime!

By the way, anyone know who the antiquary is? Brilliant review--possibly the first time I've ever enjoyed the experience of reading an Amazon customer review.

doubtful guest | September 07, 17:25 CET

Yeah, there were no inserts inside of my Blu-Ray either.

goodridd | September 07, 17:35 CET

doubtful guest, if you liked that, try reading the reviews for the three-wolf moon t-shirt. There also were hundreds of humorous reviews for a certain pencil but I've lost the link.

cabri | September 07, 18:14 CET

Huh. I didn't get a booklet either. I ordered mine from Barnes and Noble, though. I wonder what the deal is.

I thought the review from antiquary was excellent.

whedon is GOD | September 07, 18:20 CET

Since we're complaining, I'd like to add that the "cover" that they glue on the front of the BD is silly, useless and easily torn off. If you're not going to make a real sleeve, just forget it altogether.

hacksaway | September 07, 18:21 CET

There. Is. No. Booklet.

@theonetruebix | September 07, 18:22 CET

Why is everyone so hung up on a booklet? Likely there was a batch of defective discs.

Ruadh | September 07, 19:04 CET

The imprint obviously didn't take. The discs are remembering what they used to be before.

zz9 | September 07, 19:31 CET

It's baaaaaack!

cabri | September 07, 21:31 CET

Great, maybe i'll finally get the booklet i'm owed.

Saje | September 07, 22:02 CET

I will say that my set arrived with the outer plastic completely effed up. It's all wrinkly and awful. And the cardboardy piece on the outside - not only was it unnecessary, but it ruined the plastic further. :(

sunshineguinn | September 07, 22:27 CET

That's my only genuine complaint - the spot glue was too strong so that when you peel the cheapy cardboard promo thing off it wrinkles/tears the plastic cover.

Saje | September 07, 22:30 CET

Although that'd be FHE's fault.

@theonetruebix | September 07, 22:35 CET

Is that Fox Home Entertainment ? Yeah true but if it's been flagged as faulty by Amazon customers then Amazon are still going to pull it whether it's down to them or not right ? If some pills get contaminated at source it's clearly the manufacturer's fault but it's still the chemists and supermarkets that pull it from their shelves.

(ultimately of course it's going to be the people that fulfilled the promo gluing that're at fault - we do that sort of thing where I work and all it takes is someone to use the wrong glue or too much of it and presto bongo, the client is a distinctly unhappy bunny)

Still, hard to say without knowing what people are actually complaining about (or were complaining about since it seems to be resolved).

[ edited by Saje on 2009-09-08 09:40 ]

Saje | September 08, 00:39 CET

I, too, am dying to know who 'the antiquary' is - possibly an archaeologist or a fan of Sir Walter Scott?

Ildeth | September 08, 01:03 CET

Was I owed a booklet? How do I go about claiming it? x

Liam Mars | September 08, 02:41 CET

There was a booklet in the R2 boxset but it had nothing to do with Dollhouse.

Simon | September 08, 02:42 CET

Oh, I got that. The one that says there are 9 seasons of Buffy because they blatantly copied the X-Files text opposite.

Liam Mars | September 08, 03:15 CET

There also were hundreds of humorous reviews for a certain pencil but I've lost the link.

This one, I think?

catherine | September 08, 03:59 CET

All of a sudden, I don't feel so bad about being too broke to buy it. :)

The imprint obviously didn't take. The discs are remembering what they used to be before.
zz9 | September 08, 04:31 CET

That was worthy of a big LOL. :)

Shey | September 08, 04:03 CET

Heh, those pencil ones are cool (ETA: so cool they are in fact for pens. D'oh). Saw this link a while back to funny Amazon reviews for, of all things, milk. Pretty funny some of them (though maybe none quite as fannishly plugged-in as the antiquary's). There were also some for The Bible which were pretty funny (though not to everyone obviously - irreverent only begins to cover it ;) but Amazon removed them (there're still some up though).

[ edited by Saje on 2009-09-08 13:34 ]

Saje | September 08, 04:29 CET

Maybe people sent their DVDs back because The Target was on it

Let Down | September 08, 05:23 CET

Wow, those Amazon pen reviews are hilarious. That's the greatest meeting of funny people since the last 30 Rock writers' meeting

Let Down | September 08, 05:36 CET

I checked out the reviews for the Bible. Didn't find them all that funny unfortunately - I may be biased because I've written my own review of the Bible. There was one funny one though it wasn't intentional:

This is the greatest and only book you will ever need in your entire lifetime. EVER.

Let Down | September 08, 05:43 CET

Yeah as I say, Amazon took down some of the funnier ones presumably largely because they'd be pretty offensive to many believers (though obviously funny varies by individual too).

Saje | September 08, 06:10 CET

I haven't been able to find any comments on any DVD forums anywhere describing a problem with the Dollhouse DVDs.

will.bueche | September 08, 07:56 CET

Got mine at HMV, worked fine.

And yeah, the menu is something I could do better than in iDVD, but hey. Epitaph One! Echoes! Commentaries! Behind the scenes thingies! On the whole, I think I got £19.99's worth with the last disc alone.

Craig Oxbrow | September 08, 08:22 CET

Thank you, thank you, thank you for the funny review links Saje and other people. (Why Saje, you ask? So far I've only looked at his hilarious milk link.) A whole new, silly and fun way of wasting time! Woohoo!

Let Down wrote:

Maybe people sent their DVDs back because The Target was on it

Or, watching the first engagement in Ghost, they couldn't possibily believe they were watching a Joss Whedon series. Sadly that'd be quite believable if all Whedon fans weren't all such fanatics or if BitTorrent didn't exist.

the Groosalugg | September 08, 12:56 CET

Yeah as I say, Amazon took down some of the funnier ones presumably largely because they'd be pretty offensive to many believers

Oh right, somehow I missed the bit about them having been deleted. That's a pity

Or, watching the first engagement in Ghost, they couldn't possibily believe they were watching a Joss Whedon series.

Man, Ghost was a really good episode.

Serenity > Echo > Ghost > The Train Job > Welcome to the Hellmouth > City Of

[ edited by Let Down on 2009-09-09 13:33 ]

Let Down | September 09, 04:34 CET

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