Earlier this decade, Paramount successfully rebooted the entire “Star Trek” universe as a blockbuster movie franchise. Great news for them, but the release of the second film, “Star Trek: Into Darkness,” on Blu-Ray disc is kind of crappy news for the obsessive fan. That’s because a dedicated special-feature-watcher has to collect at least two different copies of the disc.

Reader Joseph alerted us to this problem a few weeks ago, writing:

Apparently you have to buy Star Trek: Into Darkness blu-ray from six different retailers to complete the special features. This is far different from later releasing a “director’s cut” or “Extended edition.” I’ve never seen this done before and if they are going to turn the film industry into the gaming industry.

Count me out. I can’t recall any other release doing it this way. Yeah, sometimes you can get an extra DVD or trinket by buying at a different retailer, but that’s not what this is.

It turns out Joseph’s info wasn’t right: it’s only three different retailers if you count iTunes as a retailer. Yeah, that’s better, but it’s still crappy.

For a long time now, studios have sent exclusive artwork or other extras to only one retailer, which only matters to the most dedicated of collectors. In the case of “Into Darkness,” all of the special content that’s the actual point of buying a movie to own and watch obsessively over and over is spread out between different retailers and even digital providers. Want to watch a commentary with the director and crew? You have to download that separately from iTunes. Want to watch the bonus content from Best Buy’s version of the film? You have to register for an account with Best Buy’s streaming service, CinemaNow, and watch it on your computer.

The standard version of the disc that you get at every retailer except Best Buy and Target? Just the movie and a single making-of featurette. No trailers, no other stuff. Not even a Benedict Cumberbatch name generator game. This is a consumer issue, since it’s not like Walmart has a huge sign on their display that says, “THIS COPY SUCKS. GO TO TARGET.”

Paramount Has a Blu-ray Problem [The Digital Bits]
‘Star Trek Into Darkness’ Blu-Ray Punishes The Fans [Forbes]

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