I’m not going to do a full and proper review of the DVD here, but I wanted to make a comment or two. I just got this DVD used yesterday in exchange for some old CDs I’ve never really cared for, and watched it tonight. My first comment is a little thing that while perhaps correctly done, seems strange to me.
Among the special features included on the DVD is “Deleted Scene.” It says “Deleted Scene” right on the back of the box, and again in the menu, and boy is it accurate. One deleted scene. Not two or three (or 16, thank you Devil’s Advocate), but one. It actually helps add not just thoughtful depth to the main character, but adds visual depth in relation to some peculiar architecture featured later in the film. I might argue that it ought to have been left in. Many who make DVD decisions believe that deleted scenes were deleted for a reason, and ought not be included on the distribution, but even they might agree that this one scene is acceptable, and of fully the same quality as the rest of the film (as opposed to the video quality of some other delted scenes I’ve seen, thank you Devil’s Advocate). Except there was another scene I wanted to see.
You may not know this, but The Time Machine’s theatrical release was pushed back something like three months because they had to totally recreate a set of special effects for the scene in 2037, where the Moon is crashing into New York city. You see, in the first rendering parts of the Moon are shown actually colliding with a tall building or two, and the buildings collapsing. Apparently their special effects were so well done that it looked remarkably like the real camcorder footage of airplanes crashing into the World Trade Center and those buildings collapsing. In light of the tragedy, they had to figure out a new thing to do, and ended up with the city street cracking open and lava breaking through, which does seem a little confusing and less visually stunning. I was really hoping I could have seen at least some of the special effects visualizations of the moon crashing into the Earth on the DVD. I guess it’s still too much in bad taste, even though it was all conceptualized and rendered before the tragedy.
Do I have another comment? Not right now. Anyway, good movie, good transfer, and there are a couple of good special features including Deleted Scene.
