pygospa's small but nice movies & series collection

[pygospa]

So then let's start anew, and this time in English. In this post I will show off all the movie editions I have in my collection, and present them in great detail (as I used to here, before they broke everything).

 

First, let me start with giving you an overview of my collection, i.e. what am I collecting and why, and how I organize my collection. Just a month ago I rearranged my living room, to now include 3 Ikea Billy shelves, instead of just 2. This will give me space for some 250 additional movies - and after that, I'll have a problem, because there is no place left to fit another shelf. I already told my girlfried, that when this time comes, we will have to move. Yet she still believes I am joking (I successfully hid the fact that I am a media psycho from her <INSERT INSANE JOKER-LIKE LAUGH IN HERE>).

I don't know when I started collecting movies, exactly. It started as a child, when my parents gifted me movies on VHS. However, I only started collecting actively around 2000 starting with the DVD. In the beginning I only collected cheap amaray editions. But soon I stumbled upon limited special editions in DigiPacks, DigiBooks, SnapCases, Steelbooks, etc. From all those I loved DigiPacks and DigiBooks the most. I never really liked DVD steelbooks, because when a DigiPack/DigiBook get's damaged, it does not look half as bad as if a Steelbook gets damaged the same way - and Steelbooks are much more sensitive and easier to damage. So I guess 60% of my collection was Amaray, rest DigiPacks or DigiBooks (they where pretty rare on DVD) as well as special Packaging and Boxsets, and only 2 Steelbooks.

My focus however totally changed when switching to BluRay. I actually hate the blue amaray package package. It is much smaller, so artwork does not work so good on it anymore, and it is even artificially more smaller, because not the whole surface is used. Worse, that part that isn't used, is a radiant blue, and even transparent, which to me not only looks ugly but also competes with most artworks, taking away the atmosphere that the artwork would otherwise create.

 

So, when I got started, I focussed on Mediabooks - a pretty nice packaging type you only find in Austria and Germany. For all of you who don't know (all others can skip this paragraph):

 

A Mediabook is a at least a 2-Tray Digibook, that used the trick of adding a DVD release, so the packaging can be bigger (G1 = size of a DVD) instead of normal blu-ray packaging (that in Germany had to be G2 = blu-ray size due to licensing), and that was sold in Germany to get people that were not yet ready to switch from DVD to blu-ray to keep on buying limited collectors editions (people that stayed with DVD did not want to spent much money on DVDs anymore, but also did not want to buy blu-ray Discs as they could not watch them, this should allow for future proof movie purchases). It has at least 12 pages of text between those two trays, and as it is a limited release it soon became a collectors item, and therefore nowadays it is often released with different cover artworks and stricktly limited with individual numbering. However, this is not a must and the biggest German Mediabook creators (Capelight Pictures) still does not number editions, nor do they tell the quantity or do different covers. What changed is, that nowadays instead of a DVD copy one might also stumble upon other second discs: A bonus film on a second BD (e.g. short film by the same director, or his first movie, etc. - stuff you wouldn't sell separately but which accompany a movie in some way or other), the soundtrack on CDA, a audiobook (on CDA or even DVD), or even a radio play based on the same story. Also, Capelight did one that included the 4K UHD instead of a DVD, which I thought was pretty cool.

Problem with mediabooks: They are pretty sparse, and mostly only special interest movies are released in Mediabooks (especially horror movies). So, after a while I also started buying Steelbooks. Even though I was no big fan of them in DVD times, when it comes to blu-ray there are hardly any Digibook/Digipack editions and if you don't want to buy Amarays, then Steelbooks are the best thing to go for. And while they weren't that nice in the beginning, nowadays you get so many refinments: J/C-Card with information so that the back is used for artwork, metallic effects, high gloss varnish, matt vs glossy finish, debossing and embossing. So actually, nowadays most of my collection consists of Steelbooks! This became especially true, when I finally also stumbled upon Fullslips. They - in my oppinion - combine everything I would love to have in the ideal movie edition: Nice Artwork, behind the screen information, a booklet, nice packaging, collectability (due to numbering and limitation number), and additional extras, as well as sometimes even multi-disc releases with CDA.

Up to now I have 509 Blu-rays, devided into these subcategories:

• 296 Steelbooks
  • this includes also Fullslip Steelbooks as well as Starmetal Packs, or Futurepacks, as I do not differentiate between those
• 91 Mediabooks
  • I only count those as Mediabooks that meet the above definition. Nowadays a number of people start calling everything a Mediabook, even low quality Digibooks Digipacks that just include 2 pages of text in G2 height with no tray but a bag, etc. Not with me, to me Mediabook is a quality assessment, and anything that don't meet the quality standards is a DigiBook/Pack, not a Mediabook.
  • 22 Capelight Mediabooks. I already spoke about Capelight, one of the founders of the Mediabook (probably the founder). They provide great content and have an interesting selection of popular movies as well as horror movies, Asian movies, etc. Worth looking into.
  • 18 Wicked Vision Mediabooks. They have the coolest logo out there, they produce high quality mediabooks with a lot of extras, they spend a lot of money restoring video AND audio, and they produce a lot of extra material (e.g. audio commentary, interviews, etc.). That being said, their movie selection is somewhat unusual, and does not suit everyone. I love classic movies, and they have released some of those, and some of their movies are hilarious though.
• 58 Digibooks/Digipacks
  • 16 Anolis Digibooks. They produce the Hammer collection in Digibooks, and as with Wicked Vision they hold up a high standard and include an insane amount of extras. Great releases.
• 62 Keepcases
  • In this number there are also all KeepCases that are not Amarays and Amarays that are "hidden", e.g. due to being in a Box set or full slip, etc.
  • 25 "plain and naked" Amarays
  • 19 Scanavo Fullsleeves - I love those. I got myself some empty ones and plan on replacing all Amarays with those. For those of you that don't know - these are the ones Criterion uses, as well as Plain Archive and some other Asian fullslip labels. In Germany and Europe you cannot find any Scanavo Fullsleeve releses, which I think is a shame. They look like the old DVD amaray but in the size of a blu-ray. Simply beautiful.
• 132 Fullslips
  • This is somewhat special, as I did not separate between different subpackages - so here are both included: Keepcase packaging as well as Steelbook packaging; as long as there is a Fullslip around it:
  • 72 Filmarena. Out of these 52 thanks to my dear friend @forenhase, to whom I am eternally grateful. For my very first FAC I paied 4 times release price and I only did it, because that film was dear to me. There are three other movies that I really had to have, but those prices I am neither able nor willing to pay (my top search item being "Ex Machina"). So being able to geht 52 of those highly sought after editions at release price - that is just astonishing for me. I think Filmarena makes the best quality overall, regarding Fullslips. I love how all of them differ, both in design as well as in content. They have ingenious designs and beautiful artworks, excellent finish and great built quality for every component included.
  • 16 MantaLab. I started collecting them right from the beginning. Up to now I did not miss any release, and I love their quality products and especially their beautiful lenticular releases. The only series I have "complete". MantaLab is nearly as great as Filmarena, and even beats Filmarena regarding lenticular quality. However, when it comes to cards and booklets, Filmarena is still at the top.
  • 12 Plain Archive. I love Plain Archive, mostly for their selection of movies. Different than the big players they actually concentrate on movies no one else has done yet. Unfortunately their quality is not as high as other players and the prices expensive compared to what you get from other lables.
  • 9 BlackBarons. The little brother of Filmarena. Need I say more? I'd collect them all, except I hate it, when Filmarena uses Black Barons to sell off editions that did not sell that well (e.g. In the Heart of the Sea, 13 Hours), those I skip with a heavy heart.
  • 10 Steel Archive. I love Steel Archive. They had some brilliant artworks, and they have some great movie choices. That being said, I am also a bit disappointed, as they sometimes do things that are not reasonable (at least to me) and also sometimes they are really unreliable. Also, build quality is far from something like Filmarena. I'd love to see them continue, however (they haven't been active this entire year, so it is rumored that maybe they "discontinued").
  • 5 Blufans. I just discovered them recently. And actually I totally fell in love, even though their prices are absurdly high. But wow, do you get quality for it. Blufans is the Porsche of the fullslip retailers, absolutley gorgeous editions, that keep a sense of creativity (e.g. pop-out Fullslip (Fantastic Beasts), large transparent plastic card (Doctor Strange), paper cutouts (Star Wars)), very good build quaility and extremly high lenticular quality. If it wasn't for the high price, I'd get them all

 

A number of movies (mostly Full Slips again) have not yet arrived, but are pre-ordered. I don't collect originally sealed (or OVP as we call it in germany), I open up everything, but of course put them into protective sleeves and keep them as mint as possible. I am especially puzzled about people who get a certain edition and then throw away the discs, because they want to replace them with other ones, or take out extras from different edition to combine them into a "Frankenstein BluRay Edition" - in my collection everything stays as original as possible, including the discs, or stickers that where on the shrink wrap.

 

To not loose track, I keep an Excel list, where I hold a lot of data (including but not limited to: Title, Original Title, date bought, bought from, price, audio tracks, subtitle tracks, limitation quantity, my limitation number, Region Code, etc.). I also used to have my entire collection over at bluray-disc.de, but the quality of their DB also got worse, plus now it is not even possible to link to it, anymore. So I migrated over to blu-ray.com, and was excited to see they also have DVD and even UV movies to organize. However, I could not add the majority of my DVDs as they are missing (I have 95 DVDs left). Also I could only import using EAN, so everything without EAN (e.g. Filmarena) is still missing, so I need to add them by hand. Up to today, only 360 blu-rays are imported. But if you are curious about what movies you can expect to find in my collection, feel free to browse.

 

So, let me finally come to my very first picture upload up here:

The first picture shows my shelves. As you can see, I organize my movies by type of package - this way it looks nice and clean. To force a even cleaner look, I organize most of my collection by label - this way, title orientation, logo placement, etc. will look the same. And lastly, I sort by movie title, or - if they have it - spine number.

 

• 1st + 2nd Row: Steelbooks
• 2nd Row, right: Digibooks and Digipacks
• 3rd Row: Mediabooks
• 4th Row: Space to present beautiful lenticular covers as well as the few statues I have (I don't collect those due to limited space at my home)
• 5th Row: Filmarena
• 6th Row: Kimcih, Mantalab, Novamedia, Plain Archive + Steelarchive
• 7th Row: Boxset Onclicks (BluFans)
• 8th Row: Amarays + DVDs

 

Second picture shows a side board that is located next to my TV and that holds some additional special box sets that did not find any space at the shelf.

[forenhase]

@pygospa

 

Nice Collection my friend.

 

Now i have to Show my collection also. But i have no place for so many Editions.

 

best regards

 

PS: Paar Worte in Deutsch. Hier wo es so einfach ist Bilder Online zu stellen bekommen wir nur 2 Stück :-(. :-)

Welche FAC Editions suchst du eigentlich noch so?

Edited June 12, 2018 by forenhase

[pygospa]

@forenhase Das war jetzt nur meine Sammlungsoverview. Demnächst kommen dann ettliche weitere Bilder. Keine Angst - beim anderen Forum hab ich immer reduzieren müssen, dass ich auf die 20 komme, was teilweise auch echt schwierig war. Wenn ich sehr fotowütig bin, entstehen da schon mal 50 Bilder je Edition
Also ich suche eigentlich alle vor #34, mit außnahme von #3, #17, #22, #23, #25, #26 und #27. Und nach #34 nur die #37 und #45. Aber wirklich aktiv suchen, weil sie mir auch vom Film her sehr wichtig sind wichtig sind, wären (in absteigender Wichtigkeit):

1. #18 - Ex Machina
2. #14 - Whiplash
3. #28 - The Martian
4. #6 - The Equalizer
5. #4 - The Maze Runner
6. #19 - FF7 Paul Walker Edition
7. #24 - Jurassic World
8. #12 - The Terminator
9. #16 - Terminator 3
10. #24 - Jurassic World (weil ich Park 1-3 hab und der dann fehlt :D)
11. #13 - Kingsman (ebenfalls, weil ich Teil 2 hab, und 1 dann fehlt )
12. #45 - Ted (siehe oben )
13. #43 E1: Maze Runner - The Scorch Trails (passend zu 1).

 

 

PS: I'm looking forward to seeing your collection. One of the nicest collections I know of!

Edited June 12, 2018 by pygospa

[forenhase]

Evtl kann ich dir aushelfen mit deiner Nr. 6! Aber ich muss noch in mich gehen ob ich sie wirklich verkaufen will. Aber durch die Box habe ich Teil 7 ja doppelt. Und da kommt mein Platzproblem....

 

Aber ich würde wenigstens das Geld haben wollen was ich dafür bezahlt habe.

 

Edit: Evrl auch mehr aus deiner Suchliste. FAC 7,8,20.....

Edited June 12, 2018 by forenhase

[pygospa]

Oh, das klingt gut. Und klar: Solange Du nicht das 4-fache für bezahlt hast, ist das doch selbstverständlich, dass Du wenigstens den Einkaufspreis wiederbekommst Bin diesen Monat aber leider schon komplett über meinem Budget - würd dann nächsten Monat mal auf Dich zurück kommen?

[Admiral Thrawn]

Ich suche übrigens noch Exodus, in the heart of the sea und the martian. Aber bis ich was finde, wo der Preis passt, bin ich verglüht ?

@pygospa sehe ich das richtig das du die Sherlock Holmes Büsten aus GB hast? Wie ist die Verarbeitung?

[pygospa]

#1 | US | Battlestar Galactica - The Complete Series | Digipack Boxset
EAN: 025192010378
Release date: Jul 27th, 2009
Paid: 144€ (including taxes and shipping)

 

So, before this turns into another German thread that scares away any international members, here's the first post where I actually show of an edition. And I've decided that there's no better edition to show of than the one you bought first. So, in this post I'd like to present you the very first Blu-ray I've ever bought. It's an US import that I got on July 2009 (nearly 10 years ago ), and if you remember my introduction, I actually did not even had a Blu-ray player until 2014. However, I decided in 2008 that I wouldn't buy any new DVD releases anymore, as DVD was slowly but surely been replaced by Blu-ray, which is why I decided to get the BD release of this edition, even though you could choose between DVD and BD, if I remember correctly.

I decided to get this edition, because in Germany they did not have any complete releases, and as far as it was known, there weren't any plans to release this box as it was released in the USA in Germany. America meanwhile got this really gorgeous box, that was complete, that was limited, and that even come with a little figurine of a cylon. Later they did release a box set in Germany, even one with the same cylon figurine, however, not with the same outer package, that by itself is an unique eye catcher.

You get a perfect cube, that seems to be made out of two pieces: A lid piece and a container piece. However, if you lift the lid, you'll realize that you cannot separate them. You can lift the top piece up a bit, and beneath it is something that I can only describe as an "advertising pillar" lookalike. Top and bottom of the box are dark grey with a fine structure that has a slightly glittery effect, such as brushed steel might have. The top part has the text "Battlestar Galactica - The Complete Series" in silver foil printing that is embossed on three of its four sides. On the fourth side an actual metal plate is glued on. This looks really awesome.

The "advertising pillar" shows pictures of all the important main characters, grouped into "logical units": We have the perfect couple with Dr. Gaius Baltar and No. Six, then we have the the ruling elite with Commander Bill Adama, President Laura Roslin and XO Saul Tigh. And of course we have the two love triangles, one consisting of Starbuck, Appollo and Longshot, the other consisting of Boomer/Athena, Chief and Helo.

As with the pillar that you can only see when you lift the top part, you can only access the digipacks if you lift the top part. The digipacks are shoved in to the bottom piece with a slight slant. When closed, the digipacks are held by both the top and the bottom part, when opened only the bottom part holds the digipacks, so you can access them from the top. The digipacks themselves are eye candy as well: they look like cylon heads, are made of silver foil, the eye-part is cutout, and you can open them at the bottom, moving the lid to the top (as if you where opening the visor of a knights helmet). This lid is held together by a plastic velcro seal. Underneath you find an artwork that looks like the inside of the cylon head: you find speakers where the mouth is, you find wireing, you find some ventilation. I really love this idea, this is cleverly done and totally fitting. However, the disks are then shoved in from the top, and separated by a paper partition. While the rest shows great love for detail, this one aspect is one that every disc lover will properly hate, as it is prone to scratch the disks.

The disks are all identically designed, and as it was typical for that time, there is a big blue blu-ray disc logo, so there isn't much space for anything else.

 

The last part of this editions is of course the cylon figurine. This one is integrated into the top part, in something that I love to call "glass coffin". It is like a plastic tube in which you push your figurine in, and then this tube fits into a whole in the top part. Yet another clever way to package this; however, putting this figure into the bottom would have been a bit neater as the top wouldn't look too bad. The figurine itself is rather disillusioning, it is made out of very light stiff plastic as well as some more elastic rubber parts. This light-weight leads to the figurine to fall very easy, the slightest touch and sometimes even a slight wind is enough. There are some degrees of freedom, but those are also really stiff and while moving they make squeaky and crunchy sounds, so it is hard to find the perfect pose that will stand for a long time and also look good. Also, the different parts this figurine is made of are really visible, you have regions that look like "weld seams", the overall quality of work is not that high; you'd probably not even spend 10€ if you find this on the shelf at some super market.

To be honest, I would have easily spent some more euros but therefore got a figurine that has a higher quality. I would have especially loved to have a figure that used real chrome, or at least a chrome painting. If it was of really good quality I would have spent 200€-250€. This figurine is something that you'd probably rather hide than show off.
 

I would also like to loose some words regarding the quality of the blu-ray. I watched the series as it was broadcasted in Canadian TV, in SD quality, and this quality was really good. I thought the BD release would be better, but when in 2015 I finally started re-watching the series again, I had to find out that DVD would have been sufficient. The picture is not really sharp, and it has very visible film grain that sometimes is borderline annoying. When researching this I read that this is actually intended, and that the BD release was even treated with extra artificial grain for the atmosphere. Additionally, the BD uses VC-1 codec which is known for bad black levels and bad depth of focus.

 

For my taste all this together makes the quality rather mediocre. It depends on the scenes, but sometimes the grain really annoys me, and makes me feel like I'd probably prefer the DVD version; however I've never seen them side by side, so I might feel different if I ever did.

 

And last but not least some words regarding the content of the discs - at least for me the content is at least equally important - I am not simply a package collector, I also shuff my discs into the player every now and then:

 

This Series is probably one of the best modern SciFi series, that came just before the wave of high budget and high quality TV series productions. Even though the series did not profit from this, it is a series of really high quality, that - within it's budget borders - provides perfect effects, great actors and an awesome story, that I'd shortly like to resume:

 

A group of people (if I remember correctly, it was 45.000) survives a genocide that was conducted by war robots (called cylons) that humans once created, and then lost the power over. Those "few" that survived only survived because for some reason or another they where not on the planet but in space, they regroup and then try to found a new society. However, they still get hunted by the cylons, they have to battle serious problems such as food and water shortage in space, sleep deprivation, but also internal problems such as intrigues, personal discrepancies and religious delusions hinder the group. And then there are the cylons that created a humanoid robot that cannot be identified by humans.

After an ingenious start and a number of strong side stories there are some shorter long hauls, but all in all this series stays exciting until the end and finishes with a phenomenal conclusion that even now creates goosebumps when thinking about it. This series is not only for SciFi fans! Even though there is a SciFi setting, this series has so much more to offer. Most people I recommended "Battlestar Galactica" first said "no, I don't like those Star Trek like series"; those that believed me all say that this series was worth their time, and I believe it's worth yours as well. And that is not only my opinion: Time magazine has it in their top 100 (I cannot find the exact rank anymore), The Rolling Stones has it on place 45. And with my girlfriend I even saw a person that really hates SciFi turn into an absolute fan (after she did not want to watch it I watched it alone - after a while she sat down with me and couldn't get away anymore. I then had to rewatch the entire first season with her, before I could continue...).

 

A must see!

[pygospa]

#72 | UK | Sherlock Limited Giftset | Keep Case Boxset
EAN: 5051561040085
Release date: Nov 4th, 2014
Region Code: B (but maybe also A)
Paid: 138,27€ (including shipping)

 

For me it's fun showing of movie editions, talking about them, and also about the movies or television series. However, it is much more fun to do so, if you love to read about them. So, thank you very much @Admiral Thrawn for asking, I am happy to answer with yet another post from my collection If anyone else likes to see something in more detail, please ask. You can find my collection here. I have most of my editions already photographed and just need to do a search on my hard drive - and a few of my text are also written (although in German), so not much work there as well - and last but not least: I love doing it

So, here we go. This release I imported from UK, but after researching I found that there is also an identical(?) relese in the US and in Canada that both have other EAN/UPC and also don't have a number on the back (more to that later). I ordered this one directly via BBC and had to pay a pretty penny, especially when you compare it to my last post: 3736 minutes on 20 discs for Battlestar Galactica vs. 810 minutes on 7 discs for Sherlock. How do they justify this price?

What we get is a simple cardboard box, in which we get two artworks on postcards as well as two small busts, as well as four amaray cases (14mm spines) that hold the first three seasons, i.e. both the foruth season as well as the special movie are missing!

The box itself is pretty bleak. White, golden printing, the blu-ray blue banner and a portrait of Dr. Watson (Martin Freeman) on the one and Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) on the other side, a n armorial, "221B" - that's it. Interesting on the bottom: My copy has a great sticker (and you can see that below that there was something else printed directly on the box - but maybe they used the same box also for the US and Canadian releases), and this sticker reads "Limited Edition Number 0641". However I did not know that this was actually a limited release that even got numbered! BBC never advertised this, and they never answered me, when I wrote the BBC Shop an email asking for this. From YouTube I know that the US-Box does not have the same sticker. So probably only the UK versions where numbered. However I have no idea how many copies there are; taking the leading zero it probably wouldn't be higher than 9999.  Does anyone else have the UK edition? What does your sticker read?

Let's get back to the box itself and take a look at the front: Wefind two cut-outs in the form of the silhouettes from Cumberbatch and Freeman. And beneath those, protected by a transparent hard plastic sheet, you can see the two busts. However, the plastic sheet is high gloss and pretty reflective, and if you don't open the box, the inside is also pretty dark, and the busts are dark aswell - so even though it is a nice idea, if you are a sealed copy collector, you probably won't have much fun with the busts. However, if you open it, the box is nice enough to put it up on your shelf, especially as there is a typically British wallpaper at the back of the inside of the box, that shows a number of symbols which are famous for Sherlock (finger print, violin, union jack, 221B, etc.). That is a nice detail, it's nothing big but shows the love and detail that someone put into the box design - it's nicer than having a white backing board, so cool


When opening the box, we have two parts: the part behind the wall paper backing board has five items: 4 amarays and one paper envelpe with the postcards. And yes, they are postcards. On the product pictures they looked a bit larger, but they are not. And they are not art prints or art cards; which is really sad - the motive is great, but it would have been so much greater if it had high quality paper and if it was as big as the box (i.e. the backing card). I would actually have considered framing and hanging them if it was. That is really sad.

Each of the Amaray holds on season, and they are 14mm amarays which is the DVD size spine, not the 11mm standard blu-ray size; otherwhise from design (and content of disks) they are identical to the single seasons that you can buy. The reason for the bigger spine is that each season consists out of 4 discs, 2 of them being BD and 2 of them DVDs with identical content. This is different to the seasons that are sold separately - they look identical artwork wise, but there you have to choose to take either BD or DVD - there is no combo package like these ones. Which is neat for a gift set; however (and yes, this is nit picking) the discs are on inlay trays, so that both the front and back inside of the amaray themselves are blank, and they did not bother to do a double side cover sheet so that you also have an inner printing. Also the cover sheets (at least for my copy) where not of the best quality and had bucklings (production faults).  For season 1 and season 2, the BD discs and corresponding DVD discs have identical design, and they have a really consistent design, which I like. For season 3, however, the first DVD is nearly blank while the second shows a totally other scene with Watson - that is pretty irritating.

 

The last amaray has only 2 discs, one BD and an identical DVD and this disc contain exclusive extras that only come with this box and that cannot be bought separately. Neat exclusive extra for fans of the series.

 

Last but not least, and for collectors probably the biggest reason to buy this edition: The busts. I already mentioned that I was a bit disappointed by the "art cards". I was also disappointed when first seeing the busts - they where much smaller than I expected them to be. Never the less, they are unbelievable heavy (350g/bust), it's not plastic but sturdy hard material (however I do not know what material it actually is), they have the look of used dark copper or brass material, with a hint of metallic, that looks really gorgeous. Also the level of detail is extremely high, the hair, the eyes, the eye brows, the buttons, little threads and filaments, structure of the coats and scarf, all of extremely hard quality. I totally love it, especially the eyes look really great. Also, both busts really look like the real actors, which often is a problem with figurines - these really look perfect.

So, all in all, I am really happy with this edition. You might still argue if it is worth the money, as the Amaray of each season only costs around 12€; additional 10€ can be added if you also count the costs of the DVD releases. That makes 66€, i.e. 75€ for both busts.

I think the price is a bit high, as the busts are really small. Still, if you like the series you will be happy with this edition. I myself am.

A few words regarding the content: Sherlock - as you might have guessed - deals with the classic well known characters created by Sir Conan Arthur Dale; however, these stories are ported into the current time. Each episode is actually based on a classic story, but completely adapted into the current time, i.e. there are smart phones, Watson writes a blog, etc. Also, this series lives from it's ingenious actors - Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes is the bomb. It's probably the best Sherlock actor we have, and as a side kick we get Martin Freeman, who himself is a absolute great actor, is the prefect counterpart to Sherlock. Absolutely worth watching. The only problem: Each season has 3 episodes, and there are only 4 seasons




 

[extantsrevenge]

@pygospa your first post alone is simply awesome. You really keep track of your collection, I have an excel list with all my stuff and what I paid for it, and another with the editions listed and some info (but I have not updated that in some time). I keep most of my stuff sealed until I want to see it and then I mostly open the regular Steelbook ? So you have my respect for opening everyhing.

 

FAC ist awesome, I started almost at the beginning (and was able to get the missing ones early). They are the only Premium retailer I buy everything from. I really don't think I could stop that, since I have a complete collection.

 

You mention "Frankenstein BluRay Edition" that is something I also completely don't get at all. All items I have have to be the original, I could never replace a disc or any other part of an edition, then it would no be original anymore ?

 

Very cool edition posts as well. I thought about getting that Battlestar Galactica years ago but went for the cheap UK Edition. Keep em coming.

 

@Scary Hair @DodgyDave @45Caliber @Masterblaster @Kingpin @DParadigm @Benoit46 @ksosk @larson1977 @xSNAKExPLISSKENx this is an awesome collection and presentation, very interesting check it out and tag other people ?

[DodgyDave]

Great to see a different collection, rather than the usual steelbook ‘grails’. 

Also interesting to read what drives people with their  collecting. Thanks for taking the time to write and send photos @pygospa

[Admiral Thrawn]

Wow, Schätzelein. This is amazig, your wrote a book. hahaha

See, I did not read it all. 

But you have a wonderful command of doing little. Very nice presentation. I like the busts of Sherlock and Watson. How tall are you, 15cm?

Would be about the standard size.

I'm looking forward to seeing more of you.  ?

[45Caliber]

@pygospa. That is a fine collection and I love your detailed descriptions. Thank you for sharing so much information about the releases with the Community.

[pygospa]

Thank you all for your kind words. To me, collecting is a great passion and I love movies so actually this to me is fun - and I love sharing my passion with other passionate collectors.

@Admiral Thrawn yep, a bit taller than 15cm - nearly 16cm I would say. Didn't know that this was the "standard" size for such busts - it is my first (and up to now only) edition with busts that I bought, and somehow I'd expected them to be ~18-20cm (so rather blu-ray height). But as we all know, it's the technique that matters, not the size... ? ?

Edited June 13, 2018 by pygospa

[Admiral Thrawn]

vor 3 Stunden schrieb pygospa:

Didn't know that this was the "standard" size for such busts

 

I have just posted something from my collection, as you can see that the busts are all the same size. Especially from the Collector's Editions and Gentle Giant.

Most of them are even from GG.

?

 

[pygospa]

#500 | UK | Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs | Steelbook (Zavvi) | qty: 4000

EAN: 8717418443818
Release date: Dec 15th, 2014
Region Code: B, C
Paid: 18,25€

 

I've got some spare time, why not use it for yet another post? This one is special to me, because this year on May 23rd I got a package containing 6 Steelbooks, and while adding them to my excel list, I realized, that now, after 2,5 years of collecting blu-ray, I finally reached the 500 mark. 500 Steelbooks, that's worth a celebration, and while looking into the box, it was clear to me that there is only one of the 6 movies worthy of being coined my official 500: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

 

I got this at a private auction group, and the price I got it for was insane: 36,50€, including another Snow White steelbook. I'll come to that later, but for now, let's focus on this edition - a Zavvi exclusive steelbook, #25 of their "The Disney Collection", Disney's Classic No. 1. And it is the first printing, i.e. at the moment, Zavvi decided to re-release a part of their old Disney collection steelbooks - probably some of the older collectors will be a bit pissed, because this devalues their edition; before the re-release this edition always had prices above 50€, at least if you wanted it to be complete and/or originally sealed. Nowadays prices between 30€-50€ is more common, with the new release being in stock at 15€.

But why bother with the first release if there is a re-release? Well, they added some value to the releases by adding 3D lenticular magnet covers, and I have to say, they really look adorable. However they also slightly changed the steelbooks, with the most and major part (at least to me) being the removal of the embossing of the cover. The first pressing has such a beautiful and finely detailed embossing, it's insane! First of all we have the text that has each letter individually embossed. Then there are the hands of the step mother on top, that are embossed. Snow white herself has some clothing details (such as the bow in her hair or her soulder-thingies) embossed, as has the prince (his cape). The rains of the horse are embossed, and - and this to me is the most important part: Every nose of every dwarf is embossed! This is so funny, I'd get this edition just for those embossed noses

In the new release that embossing is missing at all. Also the front get's an additional character at the bottom (the old lady witch with the apple) that my edition has on its back, making it a bit more crowded (but that is only a minor issue). Therefore the back has a new artwork (snow white holding the apple, that in my edition is on the inside, as well as on the disc artwork) and the inner print is also changed, showing the dwarfs on the branch, instead of Snow white, the forest, the dwarf house, the forest critters and the 7 dwarfs. I like both inner printings, however as far as I could tell (from YouTube unboxings) my version has strong metallic effects, the new one does not. The disc and the content are identical though, so no better quality, no additional extras. etc. While those changes are a matter of taste, the embossing is something that really reduces the quality of the steelbook, and for me this is not made up by a small magnet lenticular, that - even though the effect looks nice, has only very small added value. Both release come in identical quarter slips, which have all the information on it, allowing for a text free back. And - absolutely strange for Disney releases: The old version has a title on the spine + an little pictogram of snow white. The new release only has text! Talking

 

Both, front and back are full gloss with partly metallic effects (on the mirror, on sparkles, on light rays) - all in all this edition is absolutely awesome, one of the nicest steelbooks out there. I totally love it, it's totally awesome. And this was the reason I had to have it. I am not a hugh Disney fan anymore, and I did not watch any of the newer animation releases (and if I did, I could not connect with those movies in any way), but - as probably every one of you - I had a number of Disney movies I grew up with: mine are Bambi, Dumbo, Lady and the Tramp,  Sleeping Beauty, The Fox and the Hound, Aladdin, The Lion King and Pocahontas. And when seeing these absolutely gorgeous steelbooks I knew I had to have my childhood Disney movies from Zavvi.

And of course Snow White is missing the list. And Snow White has a very special place in my heart. While I haven't seen this movie for decades, I could still remember every scene, because this movie was the very first movie I've ever watched in cinema. It was my grandmother (who died far too young - in the evening before her retirement started ), who took me to cinema at the age of 8 years. This is how my cinema experience started, and I became a fan ever since (nowadays I am at the movies at least once a week). So the very first Disney movie was also my very first movie - or at least the very first movie that left an impression so deep that I can even remember parts of the song an the entire story and images, even now, 25 years later. I cannot with any movie that I might have seen beforehand, and I cannot for all movies that I've seen only once, later. Snow White however, as far as I can recollect, I only saw once in my entire live.

 

This is why this movie had to be my number 500. I got it originally sealed, for a perfect price, but I would have even paid much more, if I had to. I also took the time to watch the movie, and I have to say all in all I was pretty impressed. Even though this is a movie from 1937, the quality is absolutely impressive, nice coloring, nice animation, great drawing style, every frame looks as if it was an aquarelle painting - something you wouldn't find in any of today's animation shows. The new Blu-ray image adds detail and deeper colors but otherwise stays absolutely true to the original even though it was remastered a couple of times (Laser Disc version from 1994, different VHS versions from 1994 - 1997, the DVD release from 2001 and finally the blu-ray edition from 2009). It was really fun watching. Definitely worth a look, even though I guess there wont be much difference between the 2009 DVD and the 2009 Blu-ray version. But to judge for yourselves just look at this side by side comparison between the 1994 laser disc and the 2009 blu-ray:
 

 

 

 

Edited June 13, 2018 by pygospa

[extantsrevenge]

@pygospa your edition posts are awesome. The Snow White Steelbook is especially beautiful. The embossing is amazing and it has such pretty colors, I like the first release much more than the 2nd. One of my fovorite Disney ?, I recently opened this to watch on BLu-ray and was also impressed by picture quality and the overall quality of the movie, a true timeless classic. This was not my first movie in cinema, but the first for my brother as for you. I guess only possible because they did re-releases in the past.

 

If you like you could also post this in our Snow White Steelbook entry it would certainly add to that topic as well (since it has so much info), could also give your own topic more exposure. Very excited for your posts ?

[pygospa]

#501 | US | Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs | Empty Steelbook (Future Shop Exclusive)

EAN: 86162230028
Release date: Oct 6th, 2009
Region Code: -
Paid: 18,25€

In my previous post I already said that I got that edition in a double pack. The description read "with bonus rare Diamond Edition included" - and I thought "Oh, well, he included the amaray". Lots of German collectors do, if they buy imported steelbooks whose discs do not have German dubbing on them, because most Germans don't like to or cannot watch movies in English (it is far more often "Don't like to", at least from what I experienced). I on the other hand don't. I started watching movies in English in 2007. I was forced to, because I did an Erasmus year abroad, I lived together with 3 Latvians and one Italian in Spain - the only language we where all sufficently fluent enough was English, especially when it came to watching movies, so we watched a lot of movies and all of them in English. When returning home I realized two things:

1. Doubing somehow sounded funny, as if the voice is not comming from the person but from someone sitting at a desk reading from a paper (and please, don't get me wrong, Germany probably has one of the most expensive and most excellent doubing productions in the whole world), there was a dynmaic that was somehow missing. Also a lot of stuff just sounded much better in English (jokes, certain expressions, different slnags and accets, etc.) much more natural.
2. I finally got fluent in watching movies in English - and I didn't want to loose this gift right away, again. Even though my English is quite all right, I'd guess, the very first movies in English where hard, and tireing, and I missed a lot of things, jokes, etc. But in the end, I was feeling quite comfortable.
And so I decided to from that day onward only watch movies and series in original audio.

But I digress. Back to the supposedly German Amray: The auction even had a picture and I saw something in a holofoil paper o-card and thought to myself: "Well that's how Disney amarays look like, isn't it? They come in holofoil paper slip covers, usually with printed FSK seal and beneath is the exact same cover on a amaray, so I wouldn't really need it". In retrospect I would have loved to have the German disc of Snow White as well. I only knew this in German, all the songs and all the names felt so strange and unfamiliar even though the melodies where the same, it was just somewhat unfamiliar and had a strange touch. However, what I got was even better, and I did not have any idea beforehand, what it was:

It's a free of charge limited empty steelbook in a holofoil O-Card Slip, that was exclusively "gifted" via Future Shop (now Best Buy) only if you pre ordered the Diamond Edition release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in the shop, on either Blu-ray or DVD 3-Disc Combo Pack (this is something really gerat as well - the combo pack always included 2 BD and 1 DVD, but you could choose if you wanted the G1 sized DVD amaray package or the G2 sized BD amaray package).

So how did this work? You took a the empty steelbook (? or maybe even just that J-Card?) that where in shelf from Aug 8th to Oct 5th, 2009 to the cashier, they scanned one of the EAN codes, and you had to pay $7.50 USD as a deposit. You got a receipt for this, but could not take the Steelbook with you. You then had to return to stores between Oct 6th - and Oct. 25th during which the normal Diamond Edition was released. With your receipt and the Diamond Edition of your choice you again went to the cashier, presented him the receipt and the DVD or Blu-ray Combo Pack of the movie. You then had to pay the price of the amaray edition -$7.50 USD, and with the amaray and the receipt for that and the receipt for your pre-order deposit go to customer service where they'd hand out the steelbook for free. What an odyssey just to get a steelbook. I've googled the steelbook and it really seems to be a rare collectors piece - I could only find it twice on eBay, once for 80~90€ (including the discs) and once for ~60€ as empty steelbook. So this actually really is something undeniably special, especially for us Germans who couldn't even get this.

Let's get to the steelbook - for my taste it is a bit plain, the front has just the title and the apple on it, the back has Snow White with the apple in a mirror frame. I Like the J-Card which has cut-outs on all the right places to show the beautiful artwork beneath it. Underneath the J-Card we'll first find the O-Card slipcover, which has identical artwork to the steelbook itself. However, as already mentioned, it is printed on holofoil, so you have this rainbow-color-reflection effect when you turn it in your hands. This effect is faint on the sourrounding blue, and really distinct on the back side where the reflections on the mirror are - I like this love for details. Both front and back also have embossings - the front of the slipcover has the title embossed, the back has the frame of the mirror embossed. Neat!

The steelbook itself is somewhat boring: it has a full gloss varnish, but also the brushed metallic effect shines through throughout the entire surface, without any accents or anything. Also the spine is simply blue, no title, no pictograms, nothing. I can see the appeal of this really plain steelbook, it has a certain elegance, however, given the competing steelbooks out there I wouldn't have gotten this just for the design, when I'd have seen this lying around somewhere.  However, I am extremely happy to have it in my collection though. I am a bit puzzled why someone would add such a rare item into a bundle (as the comments read "for free" - the item was listed under Zavvi's Snow White) and auction it at a private auction with a restricted audience, but hey. Who am I to question? I am really happy to own it, and I won't give it away.

And now that I have it, I'm considering to also getting the 3 Disc Diamond Edition, because this steel feels so empty ? I'd probably take the german one though - "Hey ho, Hey ho, wir sind vergnügt und froh" sounds absolutely strange in its English original  

Edited June 14, 2018 by pygospa

[pygospa]

34 minutes ago, extantsrevenge said:

 If you like you could also post this in our Snow White Steelbook entry it would certainly add to that topic as well (since it has so much info), could also give your own topic more exposure. Very excited for your posts

 

Thank you for your kind words. Really happy to hear them - however I cannot "spend" any "thank you"s anymore ?

Regarding the part I quoted: Should I link my post into the other thread? Or should I copy it over? I would probably rather just link it (maybe tease some photos), so people won't get annoyed to read the same text over and over at different places But thanks for the link - I am still exploring this forum

[Scary Hair]

Hi @pygospa

 

The Like or lack of them are on the list to see why and lift the limit ❤.

 

A FANTASTIC Set up you have and such detail is Marvellous ??.

 

To hyper link 

1 , copy  the needed URL https thing .

 

2 , highlight in this box where we type the word you want to link .

 

3 , where B I U at the top where we type tap the one that looks like handcuffs / Chain . 

Then insert the https into the top box .

 

4 , Save .

 

5 , post when ready and to be sure I always check to make sure it's working ?❤❤

[extantsrevenge]

14 minutes ago, pygospa said:

 

Thank you for your kind words. Really happy to hear them - however I cannot "spend" any "thank you"s anymore

Regarding the part I quoted: Should I link my post into the other thread? Or should I copy it over? I would probably rather just link it (maybe tease some photos), so people won't get annoyed to read the same text over and over at different places But thanks for the link - I am still exploring this forum

The likes reset every 24hours, now you only have to remember my post ? Kidding aside, I have informed the Team about the problem with the likes, maybe something changes for that in the future. I think the likes feature is very nice and when you read something you thought was helpful or if someone posted cool news, photos etc, you should be able to give some. I think everyone is happy to receive these, because it shows that what you did is appreciated.

 

Hard question, my first instinct was to post that complete entry in the release topic as well, but you also have a point. I think the problem if you only post a link to your topic with a few pictures, it might only bring the person clicking on that to your topic, but not to the specific post you want to show, so they have to scroll through everything and that would be hard ?

 

[pygospa]

12 minutes ago, extantsrevenge said:

I think the problem if you only post a link to your topic with a few pictures, it might only bring the person clicking on that to your topic, but not to the specific post you want to show, so they have to scroll through everything and that would be hard

 

I found a way to directly link to the post. On the top right corner of each post there is this "report post" and next to it this little pictogram with some circles connected by lines - if you click that, you'd get a link that links directly to the post.

And wow - linking to other posts looks really great on this forum

[DParadigm]

@pygospa, ....  I can't help but drool over your collection. It is such a unique collection. 

 

Thanks for taking the time to share... Awesome indeed, my friend.

[extantsrevenge]

7 hours ago, pygospa said:

I found a way to directly link to the post. On the top right corner of each post there is this "report post" and next to it this little pictogram with some circles connected by lines - if you click that, you'd get a link that links directly to the post.

And wow - linking to other posts looks really great on this forum

@pygospa I just learned something new, I can't belive that I did not notice that before ?

[extantsrevenge]

On 6/14/2018 at 10:12 AM, pygospa said:

In my previous post I already said that I got that edition in a double pack. The description read "with bonus rare Diamond Edition included" - and I thought "Oh, well, he included the amaray". Lots of German collectors do, if they buy imported steelbooks whose discs do not have German dubbing on them, because most Germans don't like to or cannot watch movies in English (it is far more often "Don't like to", at least from what I experienced). I on the other hand don't. I started watching movies in English in 2007. I was forced to, because I did an Erasmus year abroad, I lived together with 3 Latvians and one Italian in Spain - the only language we where all sufficently fluent enough was English, especially when it came to watching movies, so we watched a lot of movies and all of them in English. When returning home I realized two things:

1. Doubing somehow sounded funny, as if the voice is not comming from the person but from someone sitting at a desk reading from a paper (and please, don't get me wrong, Germany probably has one of the most expensive and most excellent doubing productions in the whole world), there was a dynmaic that was somehow missing. Also a lot of stuff just sounded much better in English (jokes, certain expressions, different slnags and accets, etc.) much more natural.

2. I finally got fluent in watching movies in English - and I didn't want to loose this gift right away, again. Even though my English is quite all right, I'd guess, the very first movies in English where hard, and tireing, and I missed a lot of things, jokes, etc. But in the end, I was feeling quite comfortable.
And so I decided to from that day onward only watch movies and series in original audio.

 

I just read your post on the Snow White Future Shop Steelbook. Finally another German who will also watch in English ? I started watching in english when DVD started and you had the option to do so. I have to admit in the beginning it was hard. But after years of doing this I can't imagine going back to a German Dub, as you mentioned it somehow sounds funny or wrong. I'm so accustomed to the orginal voices of all the actors, that I simply can't take it anymore to hear them speak in a different voice. I also think that most of the time something gets lost from the performance if you have a Dub, sure the German Dubs are high quality (especially on big movies), but still, they can't recreate the orginal 100%. The only time I see in German is when it is a German production or if I don't get any english Version in Cinema and really want to see the movie on the big screen. All other languages I try to see in original with english subtitles, it it has german subs no problem, but even in reading I prefer english ?.

 

 

[pygospa]

Weekend + some Updates = let's waste some times on writing long forum posts I've got 2 packages this weekend plus one package from last Saturday that I can show off, and I think I can also post two releases from my collection that are not recent updates, but that I can compare to my recent update, if any of you out there is uncertain which edition to pick. So let's get started with last Saturday.
 

#510 | DE | Star Trek I-X Steelbook Collector's Box | Steelbook (Media Markt Exclusive) 

EAN: 5053083102555
Release date: Dec 1st, 2016
Region Code: free
Paid: 55,00€

I was pretty stoked, when I heard about the Star Trek movie releases in steelbook due to the 50th Anniversary of Star Trek. For two reasons: First, I am a huge Star Trek fan, even though I have a strange "order" of loving the Star Trek series and movies. My first and most beloved series is "Deep Sapce Nine", and after that I would probably list the Star Trek movies from I-VI, then comes "The Next Generation", then the Original Series, and after that the movies VII-X. Second, up to now I only owned various series (and not on Blu-ray) but never the movies. I only saw them in television, and Nemesis in Cinemas.

So, since I started collecting Blu-rays I was considering getting these movies as well and was on the lookout for a nice edition (there actually was another one I was looking for). When they presented the steelbooks and the idea of having them make up a spine image, I was pretty excited (even though I thought the spine image wasn't that perfekt). I also liked the images they presented, however the golden border I did not enjoy that much, and after hearing that "Wrath of Khan" would not even include the Directors Cut, that all the back artworks would be identical, that the disc artworks would be empty and that the inner print would be a joke as well, I was disappointed. I still wanted to get them, but not for 20€ per steelbook, as they where sold in the beginning. And even for 12€ - 14€ it was too much for me. Because even that would add up to 120€-140€, which in no way matches the value of the product. I wanted them to reach a price below 10€, I would have bought them for 9€, I hoped for something like 7€ in a special offer (Media Markt sometimes does that - for instance I got Rush Hour 1-3 for 7€ each, and even the beautiful Star Wars steelbooks where sold by Media Markt for 9,99€). But then, all of the sudden, a guy that I follow on social media, who is probably best known for his YouTube unboxing channel Michas Filmwelt (unfortunately only in German), informed us that there was a special offer for a box set of these steelbooks that I did not know even existed. The cheap online reseller "Media Dealer" had them for 55€. And with those steelbooks also came a t-shirt and a pin. So, depending on how you want to look at it, you'd either pay 5,50€ per steelbook and get a free t-shirt + pin, or you could assign a value to those: it's a good quality "Fruit of the Loom" shirt with good printing quality, so I think 10€ would still be a steal, and for the pin and box (as well as an additional bag I got) probabply 5€. That makes 40€ left for 10 Steelbooks, i.e. 4€ per steelbook. Either way: this is a steel and I had to get it.

I shared the information about the bargain with you guys, but only in the German section as I believed that they only ship Germany wide - however they do also ship to other European countries (even some non EU countries in Europe), so if you guys are interested, have a look at:

The box was originally priced at 140€, and was sold Media Markt exclusive. What I did not know: It is also limited to 500 copies and each copy is individually numbered via a sticker on the box. I myself got the number 227. The card board material is really thin, and also really tight for 10 steelbooks + a t-shirt so my box is bend out a bit. Unfortunately also the postal service did a bad job, and so I also have a dent in one of the corner edges. Otherwise the box looks really great for my taste: it has a silver foil finish, with gold, silver and blue coloring - the colors look pretty neat, and especially the top with the Star Trek title and the Enterprise flying towards you has a great feel to it. Strangely the seller used a movie poster as protection material, which is somewhat funny but to me also a bit sad, because I got the "Snowman" movie poster  - and contrary to the majority I actually enjoyed the movie and I especially love the artwork of the poster. So I would have actually enjoyed  a free poster that wasn't crumpled-up much more.

Also strange: I even got a 50 years Star Trek cloth bag that was neither advertised nor part of the box, but added into the shipper and - as it was wrapped around the box - was probably intended as further protection. Well, I'll take it, why not?

The t-shirt has size L (you couldn't choose) but it's a bit larger than usual - it fits me and I am usually a XL guy. As I already mentioned the quality is decent; however it looks different to the product pictures which I find a bit sad. The design on the product pictures was rather bold, still I liked it, and after having made my peace with it, I find the actual print a bit boring.

The steelbooks themselves are what they are: On the front we get the original movie poster as artwork, which is neat, and works out well. However I think the print quality could have been better, and it probably would look nicer over all, if they had made them full gloss, and removed the golden frame as well as the 50 years Star Trek logo from the front. Positively one can point out that the title is debossed and - for a German release - that the title is in English (I always prefer original titles to the translated ones - for Star Trek this is not that big of a deal, but if you take old classics like e.g. "La maschera del demonio" (= 'The mask of the demon') translated to "Die Stunde wenn Dracula kommt" (='The hour that Dracula arrives') - for a movie that does not even have Dracula in it ). However the back side of all steelbook is identical, showing the same 50 years Anniversary logo that we find on the front and as spine image, and that is just lazy design, and really sad for such an big occasion as the 50th anniversary. I would have preferred something like with Star Wars - have a picture of the crew, have a picture of the main space ships, have the antagonist, etc. And even if you are lazy with the inner print, you could still be the least amount of creative there is? E.g. have a picture of the whole crew - I-VI with Kirk and co., VII-X with Picard and co. But just the title and some lazy blue?

But as I said, it is what it is, I knew what I was getting into, so no bad surprises, and for 4€-5,50€ per steel this is totally fine, money wise. Still it does not live up to it's occasion in any ways. And that's what's sad for a 50 years anniversary and a legacy as enormous as the one that Star Trek founded. Shame on you, Paramount pictures, shame on you!

As mentioned, my box was a bit damaged, however the steelbooks wheren't judging form the outside. Each of them was sealed separately, had its own J-Card and from the outside they all looked totally perfect. From the inside however one of them - "VIII - First Contact" - looks like it fell down during production, and they still decided to pick it up and seal it, even though it was badly damaged. The damage was underneath the J-Card inside the shrink wrap, so this is really bad production. Again, shame on you!

While steelbooks I-VI have same disc style (grey varnish with omission for the letters), the movies VII-X have solid color varnish, each with a different color and a star-like white sprinkling on them.

That's all there is to say to this boxset. Even though it isn't the best, release quality-wise, I am still happy to finally own them. I think the price is fair for this edition (although I have read that some people got them even cheaper, for 40€!!!).

In regards to the movies: I've already mentioned that I did not really like the movies with the TNG crew. I cannot quite put my finger on it, but somehow none of them feel that good, and I only watched most of them just once. Even though I like the crew and the characters, I feel like non of them got the time they deserved - the movies felt a bit rushed and far to action packed, while the stories felt like episode material and not worthy of a movie. That is totally different with the older movies. While I am not that big of a fan of TOS (I grew up with TNG, and only watched TOS far later, after having seen some of the movies), I love the movies, as each of them gives the characters time to unfold, there is a great crew dynamic that is far more intense than in the series, and we have great stories. I have seen most of the movies a couple of times - however I never did a ranking. What I can tell you, however, is that my ranking is fairly untypical. I would for instance I would probably place "VI: The Undiscovered Country" as best Star Trek movie, and "IV: The Voyage Home" as second (or vice versa). I love both movies for a number of reasons, and prefer both to "II: The Wrath of Khan" - which is the most favorite by general opinion. For me it would probably make third place, and "III: The Search of Spock" fourth. I also prefer "I: The Motion Picture" over "V: The Final Frontier" which in my humble opinion is the worst of all Star Trek movies made. I am not sure, however, how and where I would fit the TNG movies in there - and I haven't even started to consider the new time line movies