25 Years of

Happy Birthday to You Happy Birthday to You Happy Birthday Dear Rocky Happy Birthday to You

The Rocky Horror Picture Show celebrates 25 years of song, dance, and fishnet stockings today.  While I grew up ignorant of it’s existence, I will now be a part of it for the rest of my life.  I have been to 5 showings and dressed up as Eddie at the most recent.  I plan on going as Eddie again on the 25th anniversary showing to show my support for such a great movie.

What a mug!

Cover

I recently purchased The Rocky Horror Picture Show 25th Anniversary 2 DVD box set.  I was very excited as I put the first disc in to see the unseen footage and experience the absolute pleasure.  After watching all the extra footage on disc one my hand trembled with antici…..pation as I put in the supplementary disc two and absorbed all that I could.

Disc 1

This is the main disc that has the movie and a few extras.  They try to force you to watch a bunch of crap about how great the DVD versions of movies are by making it non=fast forward. 
I found that by pressing menu you could go to the main menu.  Hello?  I already KNOW why I bought the freakin DVD people!  Don’t put a bunch of commercials in and try to force me to watch them.  They were tolerable the first time, but I’m sure by the time I have viewed the disc for the 1000th time I will be ready to toss it out the window.
 

So when you do get past the crap you are prompted “Enter at your own risk!!” and get to pick the US Version or the UK Version.  The difference is the UK version has the alternate ending with Brad and Janet singing “Superheroes.”  This is a nice feature as I like options.  Oh, there is an “I’m frightened” option that takes you back to the dumb ass commercials again.  What a bunch of kidders.

Upon picking your destiny you are presented with the lips!  They talk to you a bit in a wannabe Tim Curry voice and then go to the main menu which has your basic “Play Movie”, “Language Selection”, “Extra Features” and of course “Scene Selection.”  A pair of legs come out and dance around too.  It's entertaining, for a while, to see what all they do.

We all know the extra features are the way to go.  The extras are “Audio Commentary” by Richard O’brien (Riff Raff) and Patricia Quinn (Magenta), which is just so damn funny to listen to.  They go on about all sorts of anecdotes about the making of and comment on various parts of the movie.  One of the funniest is when Magenta talks about the followers calling the planet Transsexual elbow type handshake elbow fucking and Riff being speechless and embarrassed.  She also rants about Janet, who always tells the story of getting sick, and how tired she is of hearing it.

After that we have the “Multi-View Theatre Experience” that tells you when to push a button at various times during the movie so you can see outtakes from live performers at the theatres.

There is also the “Participation Prompter” that tells you when to throw rice, throw toast and all the fun things you learn to do in the theatre.

Next we have the “Audience Participation” option that adds the sounds of an audience from a theatre yelling at the screen.  Good idea done badly.  Just as in a real theatre, everyone says something different and it all comes out like a bunch of unintelligible noise.

Last there is a “DVD-ROM” option which lets you see what you can do if you have a DVD-ROM on your computer and “Go to Alternate Version” which lets you switch between the US and UK versions.  (Weeeee!)

That’s about it for Disc 1.  Oh, I almost forgot to mention the movie!  I get caught up in all the extras of DVD.  The movie is in wide screen and looks wonderful.  Great color!  The sounds are so clear it’s spooky.  I only wish I had a Dolby Digital System to take full advantage of it.
 

Disc 2

This disc is just pure extras.  It has the deleted  “Superheroes” song and a song that Brad  sings after being viewed in bed with Frank by Janet.  In my opinion neither are missed as there are outtakes which show just that.  Some clips from Rocky on VH1 that have interviews with some of the cast, the “Alternate Credit Ending” that didn’t keep my attention long enough to watch it all, the “Misprint Ending” which is just the sound synch being off from the video, “Sing-A-Long” that lets you sing along with Tim, “the Photo Gallery,” and a couple of other things to enjoy as well.

Yes, I rushed Disc 2.  To go into any details would be take a long time to write.  I suggest that if you want to know what’s on it then buy the DVD set!  If you don’t have a DVD player, join the rest of us in the 21st century and buy one!

In conclusion, the DVD set is a very good deal for any real Rocky Horror slut.  The discs are very well done and the box itself is a masterpiece with pictures and quotes from the move.  Most retail stores are asking $19.99 which I thought was a real value for everything you get.

On the other hand, the DVD will never replace the movie theatre experience!

Jim
jim@thevoyeurmag.com

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