I admit I have been somewhat remiss about this, and I apologize. For those who have been living under a rock for the past few weeks, a Collector's Edition of Serenity is due to be released on the 21st of this month - just a scant few days away. Now, I know what you all are saying, because I said it too: "But I purchased the DVD of Serenity as soon as it came out... why would I go and buy another copy of it?" Well, thankfully, there are some slightly more industrious people out there than me. Behold, Serenity Stuff's 25 Reasons Why You Should Buy the Serenity Collector's Edition:

1. More stuff you don’t need an all-regions DVD player to see. With this 2-disc set you’ll finally get the features that Europe and Australia got already (You don’t get the long Q&A Joss did in Australia, but you can catch that on Youtube). First up: The Extended Scenes (6 min. 45 sec.). Longer versions of some of the scenes in the movie, including more Mal and Inara.

2. You love buying new Serenity things, admit it. It makes you tingly.

3. Owning this frees you up to give away your old one and spread the word. Give it to your friends — assuming you have any that have resisted this long.

4. Longer “behind the scenes” feature. This is the Aussie cut, with more scenes (including some from the first cast table read).

5. Somewhere there is a network executive(s) who is still baffled at the refusal of this property to die, despite his, her, or their best efforts. Buy the DVD with a song in your heart.

6. “A Filmmakers Journey” (19 min. 49 sec.). How Joss took “Serenity” from a cancelled show to a new movie.

7. Better cover art. Way, way better cover art. It’s not 11th Hour quality, but few things in this world are and this is much classier. Not a llama in sight.

8. “Take a Walk on Serenity” (4 min.). Joss, Nathan, Alan, and Adam take us on a special tour of the Serenity ship. Worth it to see Jayne flying the ship.

9. DVD Feng Shui. You’ve already got “Serenity” DVDs on your shelf with brown and blue edges, you need a black one to balance ‘em out.

10. The Session 416 videos (7 min. 52 sec). River’s scary-cool progression through the Academy. I loved seeing ‘em online but I can’t wait to see ‘em on a bigger screen.

11. Can you be sure this isn’t a different cut? Maybe Wash lives. Maybe Book and Inara finally realize they’re meant for each other (and where are the Book-Inara shippers? Let’s step up, people…). You know, you’d better get one, just to make sure.

12. New packaging. A Digipak case, one of the ones you see in special edition DVDs and TV DVD sets, with a gatefold, foldout design and often a slipcase. I’m thinking that means more photos, more text, all good.

13. Because how cool would it be to see Best Buy pulling out pallets of the thing to meet demand.

14. “The Green Clan” (3 min. 3 sec). A featurette on cinematographer Jack M. Green and his family/crew.

15. You can donate your old copy to your local library. Or a distant library. Or just give it to a thrift store so someone else can stumble across it.

16. Finally you can see the Fruity Oaty feature without remembering which up-down-sideways buttons to hit to get to the easter egg.

17. “SciFi Inside: Serenity” (21 min. 41 sec). The pre-movie SciFi Channel special hosted by Adam Baldwin. Cast interviews, lots of scenes from the movie.

18. Support the troops. There are soldiers overseas that dsperately need something fun in their lives, and here you are with an extra movie lying around…

19. It is the responsibility of every patriotic American to boost our economy. Probably it’s the same for Canadians, even if their dollar is doing better than ours these days. In fact, Americans had better buy two DVDs.

20. Brand. New. Cast. Commentary. Joss, Nathan Fillion, Adam Baldwin, Summer Glau, and Ron Glass talking about our favorite movie. Face it, this is a good enough reason all by itself.

21. Opportunities for random kindness. Hand your old copy to the first person you see on the street. Leave it on a bus, or in a restaurant booth.

22. Amazon rankings. At the moment, two weeks before it hits the streets, this re-release of a break-even movie based on a cancelled TV show is at #61 in DVD sales and moving up. After a summer of big-budget and largely disappointing movies, I want to see this at #1.

23. There’s a new front page at the official Serenity movie site, with new video clips. You don’t want them to have wasted all that work, do you? Go check it out.

24. Because you need a reason for a new shindig. DVD release party! Get the gang together and go move “Serenity” in front of “Wild Hogs” on the shelves at Wal-Mart.

25. And the big reason: “Serenity 2.” It is by no means definite, and is in fact one hell of a long shot, but there’s that possibility that massive sales of this DVD could lead to more Serenity in some form. From Joss’ interview at Comic Con with RopeofSilicon:

So give me hope for a Serenity II

JW: Hope for it probably rests with this DVD.

Well I’ll buy one.

JW: Actually I will too, people ask me why I would buy my own DVD and I tell them do you have any idea how awesome it is to buy your own movie?

So then you’re saying we’ve got a chance?

JW: Well it’s probably not being discussed in boardrooms right now, but the fact of the matter is if it makes enough money sooner or later they say “hey, this is money!”

I confess, I am somewhat dubious about the chances of a second Serenity movie, what with Wash and Book being somewhat indisposed, and the River storyline having been appropriately closed, at least for the most part. But even the hope is something Still, the rest of those points... well, I can relate with just about all of them. Furthermore, I am somewhat surprised that this Collector's Edition did not come out on BlueRay or HD, and I am left wondering if either of those are in the future. But, then, you will just have another copy of Serenity to give away... how is that a bad thing?

Now, I, like a lot of people, am somewhat loathe to buy a DVD I have not yet seen... especially considering how damnably expensive DVDs are when they are first released. Well, thankfully, IGN got their grubby mitts on a copy a few days ago (the bastards), and released a review. Let the cherry-picking commence:

...

The budget may be dramatically smaller, but there are more refined story curves and hard-earned emotional ties to characters than in the last three Star Wars movies combined, and it's topped off with some beautifully orchestrated action scenes. Serenity is very good science fiction with real heart, which is something that can be neither bought nor meticulously rendered; you either have it or you don't, and any viewer, old or new, can appreciate that.

...

Serenity could be called the ultimate modern western. Although it takes place more than 500 years in the future during a space-traveling era when men have found and terraformed entire planets, its heroes still carry futuristic pistols and live by codes of honor that would make any cowboy proud. It's not an easy configuration to swallow because these are two genres that don't seem to have anything in common - and, in fact, directly contrast one another; perhaps needless to say, spaceships and horses simply don't mix. And yet, the same complaint could be leveled against Star Wars, whose Jedi heroes were inspired by Japanese samurai movies (most notably Kurosawa's Hidden Fortress). It's a testament to Whedon's skill that he has overcome any preconceived notions about what does and doesn't belong and created with Serenity a breathtakingly original universe that defies sci-fi cliches.

...

Serenity arrives as a mixed blessing. Not because it falls short of greatness, but because it doesn't: although it is a fantastic sci-fi work and a fabulous follow-up to the Firefly television show, it bombed at the box office and isn't likely to see a sequel. And that's a real shame, because we'd love nothing more than to take another ride on Whedon's unconventional ship.

...

This special edition of Serenity gives audiences two discs full of bonus materials - many of which were available on the film's previous DVD release and handful of extras new to the Firefly party - but there's enough in place to satisfy fans and give newcomers a good helping of insight into the movie and television series. The gorgeous packaging is designed to open like a book and features a transport cover-flap through which the over-lapping images on the layers below bring all of the cover's exquisite detail to the surface. Bonus material includes:

- Deleted and extended scenes
- Outtakes
- A Filmmaker's Journey
- Future history: The Story of Earth That Was
- What's in a Firefly
- Re-lighting the Firefly
- Joss Whedon Introduction
- Session 416
- Sci-Fi Inside: Serenity
- Take A Walk on Serenity
- The Green Clan
- We'll Have Fruity Oaty Good Time
- Feature Commentary by Joss Whedon

...

Easily the most valuable feature the DVD has to offer, however, is full-length commentary from Whedon. Oftentimes directors coast through these commentaries as though they recorded them at gunpoint during a quick lunch break, but Whedon optimistically talks about Serenity and offers repeated insight into its making. Watching the movie again with his commentary reveals quite a bit more about the picture and provides for another round of completely entertaining cinema.

Lastly, the second commentary - new to this Special Edition - sees Whedon reunited with Nathan Fillion, Adam Baldwin, Summer Glau and Ron Glass. This is certainly the more hilarious-yet-unfocused of the two and consists largely of an honest and inspired rapport between the director and his cast. Charming and amusing this is as entertaining a commentary as Whedon's is informative.

...

This is a great, wildly entertaining film - accessible to old and new fans alike, to sci-fi fans and western fans and movie fans, in general - represented on a beautifully packaged Special Edition DVD, sporting a top-notch transfer, some strong audio work and a boatload of worthwhile extras. So, the real question is this: What are you waiting for?

...

Overall Score: 9/10 (With an IGN.com Editor's Choice Award, to boot.)

Enough information yet? Well, just to be sure, Serenity Stuff also graced us with a blow-by-blow of what changed in the Collector's Edition and what did not, for which I am quite thankful:

The Movie. 1 hour, 59 minutes. Dual layer, Anamorphic Widescreen (2.35:1), Dolby 5.1. Also, awesomeness. On all versions

Subtitles. CE: English SDH, French, and Spanish, same as the first US release. The UK had a few more: English, French, Italian, German and Spanish. Italy and Australia got Croatian subtites, Italy also had (duh) Italian. Asian releases had Chinese, Japanese, etc.

Joss’ introduction. The original 4-minute clip shown before the movie screenings. On all versions.

Joss Whedon commentary. Joss telling us about his baby. On all versions.

Cast commentary. With Nathan Fillion, Adam Baldwin, Summer Glau, and Ron Glass. I get goose pimply just thinking about it. This is brand new, CE only.

Deleted scenes. 14 min., 37 sec. of deleted and extended scenes, with optional commentary by Joss Whedon. Everyone got these before. They include:
- “Extended Lilac Entrance” - More River on the mule.
- “Extended Kaylee And Jayne” – Kaylee talking to Jayne as he cleans up Reaver bits.
- “Inara And Sheydra” – Inara and Sheydra scene from the Companion Training House.
- “Operative Tracks Mal” - The Operative researches mal and discovers a weakness.
- “Extended River And Simon/Haven Opening” – River sees death for everyone. Longer Haven sequence, longer Mal and Book scene.
- “Escape From The Companion Training House” – Mal and Inara’s escape from ther Training House, and the uses of a fake grenade.
- “Mal And Inara Shuttle Chase” – Longer scene.
- “Mal And Inara Quiet Moment” – Mal and Inara talking in Inara’s shuttle.
- “Extended Mal And Operative Coda” – Longer final scene with the Operative.

Extended scenes. An Australian exclusive, now on the CE. You get:
- Extended Fanty & Mingo (2.15 min.) More conversation in the Maidenhead Bar.
- Extended Mal & Irena Wave (2.16 min.) Chattier Wave conversation between Mal and Inara.
- Extended Mal & Operative In Companion Training House (0.49 min.) A few extra lines between Mal and the Operative.
- Extended Mal & Irena Shuttle Improv (0.50 min.) A punchy Mal dissing the Operative during the shuttle chase scene.

Outtakes. 6 min., 2 sec. of comedy gold. On all versions.

“Future History: The Story of Earth-That-Was.” Joss talking about the origins of the show, with some movie clips. 4 min., 32 sec. On all versions.

“What’s in a Firefly” Joss, executive producers Christopher Buchanan and Alisa Tager, CG supervisor Emil Smith, producer Barry Mendel, and visual effects supervisors Loni Peristere and Bud Myrick talk about the movie’s visual effects, particularly the mule chase scene and the final battle death spiral. 6 min., 33 sec. On all versions.

“Re-Lighting the Firefly” Joss and the crew on the fanbase and bringing the show to the big screen. 9 min., 41 sec. On all versions.

“We’ll Have a Fruity Oaty Good Time.” A hidden featurette explaining how the commercial came to be and the commercial itself, in its entirety. 1 min. 35 sec. To find the easter egg in the original DVDs, go to the main menu, select (but don’t click on) “play movie,” then press the left button. A design on the right will highlight. Press play. Don’t know yet if this will be an easter egg or regular feature on the CE. On all versions.

“A Filmmaker’s Journey.” How Joss went about making the movie. Includes scenes from the first cast table read. 19 min, 49 sec. Previously available on the R2 (Europe, Northern Asia) and Australian versions.

“Take a Walk on Serenity.” Previously exclusive to the Australian version. Joss, Nathan, Alan, and Adam take us on a special tour of the Serenity ship. Worth it to see Jayne flying the ship.

“The Green Clan.” Previously exclusive to the Australian version. A featurette on cinematographer Jack M. Green and his family/crew. 3 min. 3 sec.

“SciFi Inside: Serenity” The pre-movie SciFi Channel special hosted by Adam Baldwin. Cast interviews, lots of scenes from the movie. 21 min. 41 sec. Never on DVD before.

“Session 416.” The viral videos Joss did with River and released anonymously online before the movie. They will be shown in the out-of-order sequence they were originally released in. Never on DVD before.

The only other features that have made it to DVD that you won’t get here are the Joss Q&A from the Australian DVD (available here) and a few small promo features on various magazine insert and bonus discs.

I just want to know why the Australians get all the love...

So I guess the real question is whether or not I will be buying one... And the honest answer is, unfortunately, "Not quite yet." As I said, I cannot believe how expensive DVDs are when they are first released, and that price invariably drops over time... Yeah, I am cheap. However, considering that the DVD is currently ranked first in Westerns, second in Science Fiction and Fantasy, sixth in Action and Adventure, and sixteenth in DVDs overall at Amazon, and it still has not actually been released... something tells me that it will not have a hard time doing well.

So get out there and do your civic/Browncoat duty, and buy it! Hell, buy two, and make up for my cheapness! After all, how many times in a fan's life can they actually, potentially influence the outcome of their favorite show or movie?