As I build up my DVD collection, one thing more than anything else has irritated me to no end: gray and silver DVDs. There is no disc art, there is only a bland gray coating on the disc with lettering in silver (the natural color of an uncoated disc). As far as I can tell, these were developed for and quite possibly by rental companies such as Netflix about 3-5 years ago.
Netflix discs typically look like variations of the silver and gray disc:
Even I don’t care what a disc that I rented looks like, but studios are now selling gray and silver discs to the public with no warning and no explanation. Paramount and DreamWorks are the biggest culprits. Not only are new releases being released like this, but new printings of older releases are as well.
I first noticed this about 2 months ago, upon opening my newly purchased Star Trek Nemesis 2-disc collector’s edition. Both discs were the bland silver and gray. Was this a mistake? All the previous movies had colorful disc art.
I did a little digging. Apparently it did come with colorful disc art when it was released in 2005, but very recently, they are printing it as a silver and gray disc. EVERY Star Trek movie is now printed this way, in addition to probably hundreds of more titles.
Here is a friend’s copy of the discs with the artwork and mine without. Interest in Star Trek aside, which would you rather own and watch?
OR?
I complained to Paramount Home Video to no avail. They completely ignored my email.
That was the first of many to come. I now own at least a dozen or more of these awful silver and gray discs. When I buy the “Special Limited Edition” of Saving Private Ryan, I don’t expect the disc to look like this:
In my DVD binder, gray and silver discs are an eyesore! They make even classics such as Forrest Gump, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and The Truman Show look like they might be horrible movies.
Hey studios, stop it! This must be saving you what, 20 cents per disc if even that much? Stop producing this crap and give us the quality disc that we paid for!
Take note Paramount and DreamWorks: this is how to make disc art!
Ticked off about this too? Let me know about it!
And be sure to read my previous rant: Is that really your favorite movie?
Spitting on a Well-Scrubbed Floor 