My Disney DVD Collection

Fake DVD's are so rampant here in the Philippines that it does not even SEEM like a crime anymore to buy them. You can buy SO many movies for only 50php (what's that, less than a dollar now?) and the quality of most of them (that is, if you know how to ask and where to look) is GREAT; the subtitles are correct, the pictures are clear, audio is wonderful, it's PERFECT. Perfectly illegally as well. Sure the government raids fake dvd hotspots once in a while, but they resume their activities almost immediately. You can't blame anyone for wanting to purchase these fake dvds when the copies are as good as the original and when the original costs more than 10 times the price of the fake one! Anyway, I could go on about this, but I am not blogging here to rant about the way some systems work in the Philippines. Moving on!

So as you've probably guessed, yes, I admit to buying unoriginal (note the euphemism) movies for 50php at Metrowalk. I have an odd sort of philosophy when it comes to this. I believe in buying the original only of those movies that you truly truly love; those movies worth spending the extra cash on even for just those short behind the scene clips that they can't include in the fake ones, those movies wherein you know that the people behind it really really gave their hearts out for the film. Not many movies have those qualities, and so, I do not own a lot of original dvds. Enough said.

But I do have an original dvd's collection and this includes the Lord of the Rings Trilogy (I have the boxed extended versions), Star Wars 1-6 (but I'm currently lacking the 2nd movie still), the Harry Potter series (though it does not really fall so much on the categories I mentioned above, Harry Potter is something I love so, there), and of course, my Disney collection.

The thing I love most about Disney dvd's is that they release platinum, special, gold and/or two-disc editions of some of the movies. The best ones I've watched were those of Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast because they had entire sections truly devoted to the making of the movies and the commentaries were not at all boring to watch. I would always prefer to get the two disc edition, but on some cases, I've settled for the single disc, like my Cinderella and Alice in Wonderland dvd's.

But you have to understand that original dvd's here aren't really cheap. The usual two discs (or even one discs) cost 750php, roughly $15 up. Luckily (or unluckily) though, because of the rampant selling of fake dvd's the companies here are forced to slash prices off. Disney dvd's are always on the slashed off list. From 750php, they'd be reduced to 299php ($6), yes, even those special editioned copies! This is when I buy them! And since they would usually go back up, you have to keep a look out when they'd start marking them down again.

Collecting Disney dvd's (or any sort of dvd for that matter) isn't really that easy, or at least, I don't want to think that it is. It's always happy to go to a store, find that they've lowered prices, and scrounge for those title that you're looking for. And since, not all Disney titles are sold here in the Philippines (I think I've memorized even what titles are sold on which shop -__-), I still have to buy some online, but I don't do this often. The only ones I bought online are Peter Pan and Little Mermaid, and whenever I buy online, I use the money I earn from doing commissions ^^, and that makes it even more rewarding. And of course, since Disney wants to create even more hype (hype is what I'd like to think they're making, not profit), they've released only limited editions of some titles (like Snow White and Sleeping Beauty) and you'd have to go looking for these copies at various collectors shops. I heard once that they had dvd's which they sell only in Disneyland Parks, but I forgot what titles those were.

So let's list what I have so far:
1. Aladdin
2. Alice in Wonderland
3. Beauty and the Beast
4. Cinderella
5. Hercules
6. Little Mermaid
7. Peter Pan
8. Pocahontas
9. Tarzan

So you're probably asking (if you haven't realized already) how I watch the other films? From unoriginal copies, I'm afraid. While I'm still waiting to acquire the other titles, I've settled myself on watching the films on fake dvd's, but I can assure you that it is only temporary. Once I get my hands on those real ones, bye bye to my old copies!

It may take me a little more time to complete my collection (I have like... 20+ more to go? haha) but that's the fun of it! Disney, release those platinum editions now!