How "special" are "Special Editions" really?

T

TheSims3Guru

New member
We've all seen them, we've all probably got at least 10 of them, "Special Editions."

But how "Special" are these "Special" editions?

There was a time when everyone knew or had a good idea what a speial edition was but do we now?
Presumably to get that label it would have to have something that the other DVD's don't have. But do they?

Now pretty much all DVD's have as standard some or all of the following

Commentaries
Deleted scenes
Outtakes
Trailers
Making of/behind the scenes featurettes

If these are now considered as being pretty much standard for the average releases you can't really use them as a selling point to make the other "Special Editions."
If they aren't given that label they are "Anniversary Editions" or "Collector's Editions."
At least with the "Director's Cut" it does make it clear what is different from the other DVRAB. Extended Edition likewise explains why they're different from the others on the rack, but what about the Special Editions?

What exactly are they, what do they need to have to qualify for that description and do you take any notice of that or similar labels excluding Director's Cut's and Extended editions?
 
They're nothing more than cash ins. They exist to get people to buy them, posing as a super-special-magical edition with very little added content. They say "3 hours of extra content", and most of that will be dull commentary, then a few pointless deleted scenes and perhaps some still images of the storyboard.
 
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