Q's- Is it just a guy thing that you must buy wide- screen. Because I forget and buy the regular and shutter gets all manic.

And I can fully understand why! It's not a guy thing...it's an "I want to preserve the near orgasmic motion picture movie theater experience and re-live it in my home" syndrome.

Full screen pictures are called "pan and scan". That's that awkward movement the camera seems to make as it moves its from actor to actor. It's not the entire picture. It's been "formatted to fit your screen".

Well to Shutter and I and any other man in the world, we want the ENTIRE picture. The WHOLE movie. Call us geeks, but no man wants his movies spoon fed to us where we may miss something we believe to be crucial in the background.

I remember watching a scene from the first Xmen movie. Magneto had those swinging balls that clack back and forth on his desk on strings. In the tehatrical release, when he walked out of the room, the clacking balls fell apart all onto the floor showing that he was doing this with his magnetic powers. When they played it on TV in full screen, all you heard was the noise of the falling balls, but missed a poignant part of the film.

Wk is the same way...she likes full screen. I, like Shutter hate it because we feel we're being ripped off of all the movie. I could not fathom Lord of the Rings or Chronicles of Narnia or Harry Potter or the Matrix or a Star Wars or Star Trek film in full screen. I'd be too busy grumbling over not seeing everything there was to see.

Definitely a boy thing (mind you, I'm pissed off at Lucas already for his super-updated versions, but thats a different kettle of fish).

I also prefer a letterboxed version on a 4:3 set to a pan-n-scan hatchet job.

However, some, often of a distaff persuasion, resent the intrusion of black bands such a presentation is encumbered with.

The solution is simple: Get a 16:9 display. No more black bands. Widescreen. High definition. 5.1 surround sound. Adult beverage of choice. Cookies. I am ready for the opening sequence, Mr DeMille.

Everyone is happy, and everyone, entirely of their own volition, will start paying attention to which edition says 'Widescreen' on the box - simply because everyone will notice the difference in veiwing quality.

And I got distracted and forgot to comment on the post...

I think the chapter card is a forgiveable omission - in a regular version. They're handy, though I suspect most people simply use the menu instead. But for a special edition, definitely required.

Perhaps it has more special features on a second DVD or the flip side?

I for one didn't mind missing out on the inflatable golem action figure and press on elf ears when I got the Collectors LoTR DVDs (as opposed to the larger box with the toys). But the collectors edition I got came with extra DVDs that contained goodies on them. One happy camper.

I ponied up for the collectors edition of King Kong (1933 version, I don't think I'll bother with the new one, unless I get bored and hit it with movie editing software to bring it down to the 90 minutes it should be). Cinema cards are cute and all, but really, what the hell am I going to do with them after I look at them once? Put them back in the box and leave them there. Might as well give me the scanned versions on the DVD instead.

I tend to prefer the special bonus super collectors edition to have an extended 'making of' or 'special effects' or 'outtakes' section over keychains.

Having said that, the coolest bonus I got was with Kubrics special edition of 2001. Again, a cinema card style thing, but with a 70mm film frame of the original movie embedded. That kind of thing I like a lot.

A thought - one thing I seldom do, is watch the directors commentary version. I could count the films on one hand. Anyone watch those often?