“We underestimated the appeal of the single web site and a single service,” Steve Swasey, a Netflix spokesman, said in a telephone interview. He quickly added: “We greatly underestimated it.”
Not only is it a dumb name, but separating the two services is ridiculous. It had to be the answer to the question “What’s the worst possible thing we could do for business right now?”
Sorry. I’m getting ahead of myself. We all heard about Netflix recently separating their streaming and DVD services into two categories. I thought I was in the minority, & while slightly tweaked at the price hike… kept with the two now individual plans. I mean, I like access to the latest movies which are only available on DVD/Blu-ray. I also like being able to go watch some older films in an instant without any planning whatsoever, and the cool TV shows available like the BBC’s Robin Hood that I would have normally never seen.
I’m sure there are people out there who think the streaming plan is useless, have no idea what Blu-ray is, and just want their DVD’s. I’m sure there are people who want streaming movies… and probably can’t fathom why anyone would want physical media mailed to them.
I’m guessing that the same people who need a shelf full of 30 different kinds of peanut butter or an entire aisle full of bread varieties at the grocery store like to have options. We also like things that help us get organized.
Having an online queue of movies that I’d like to watch is pretty cool. Knowing that the same movie is available for streaming is also pretty cool. The lack of this will be the opposite of cool, and I don’t understand how Netflix doesn’t see this.
This is also one of the strangest emails ever…
From: “Reed Hastings, Co-Founder and CEO of Netflix” <info@netflix.com> To: me@my.email.address Sent: Monday, September 19, 2011 3:25 AM Subject: An Explanation and Some Reflections
Dear Eric,
I messed up. I owe you an explanation.
It is clear from the feedback over the past two months that many members felt we lacked respect and humility in the way we announced the separation of DVD and streaming and the price changes. That was certainly not our intent, and I offer my sincere apology. Let me explain what we are doing.
For the past five years, my greatest fear at Netflix has been that we wouldn’t make the leap from success in DVDs to success in streaming. Most companies that are great at something – like AOL dialup or Borders bookstores – do not become great at new things people want (streaming for us). So we moved quickly into streaming, but I should have personally given you a full explanation of why we are splitting the services and thereby increasing prices. It wouldn’t have changed the price increase, but it would have been the right thing to do.
So here is what we are doing and why.
Many members love our DVD service, as I do, because nearly every movie ever made is published on DVD. DVD is a great option for those who want the huge and comprehensive selection of movies.
I also love our streaming service because it is integrated into my TV, and I can watch anytime I want. The benefits of our streaming service are really quite different from the benefits of DVD by mail. We need to focus on rapid improvement as streaming technology and the market evolves, without maintaining compatibility with our DVD by mail service.
So we realized that streaming and DVD by mail are really becoming two different businesses, with very different cost structures, that need to be marketed differently, and we need to let each grow and operate independently.
It’s hard to write this after over 10 years of mailing DVDs with pride, but we think it is necessary: In a few weeks, we will rename our DVD by mail service to “Qwikster”. We chose the name Qwikster because it refers to quick delivery. We will keep the name “Netflix” for streaming.
Qwikster will be the same website and DVD service that everyone is used to. It is just a new name, and DVD members will go to qwikster.com to access their DVD queues and choose movies. One improvement we will make at launch is to add a video games upgrade option, similar to our upgrade option for Blu-ray, for those who want to rent Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360 games. Members have been asking for video games for many years, but now that DVD by mail has its own team, we are finally getting it done. Other improvements will follow. A negative of the renaming and separation is that the Qwikster.com and Netflix.com websites will not be integrated.
There are no pricing changes (we’re done with that!). If you subscribe to both services you will have two entries on your credit card statement, one for Qwikster and one for Netflix. The total will be the same as your current charges. We will let you know in a few weeks when the Qwikster.com website is up and ready.
For me the Netflix red envelope has always been a source of joy. The new envelope is still that lovely red, but now it will have a Qwikster logo. I know that logo will grow on me over time, but still, it is hard. I imagine it will be similar for many of you.
I want to acknowledge and thank you for sticking with us, and to apologize again to those members, both current and former, who felt we treated them thoughtlessly.
Both the Qwikster and Netflix teams will work hard to regain your trust. We know it will not be overnight. Actions speak louder than words. But words help people to understand actions.
Respectfully yours,
-Reed Hastings, Co-Founder and CEO, Netflix
p.s. I have a slightly longer explanation along with a video posted on our blog, where you can also post comments.
This message was mailed to [me] by Netflix.
SRC: 1578.0.US.en-US
Use of the Netflix service and website constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
(c) 2011 Netflix, Inc. 100 Winchester Circle, Los Gatos, CA 95032, U.S.A.
This is Charlie Sheen level insanity here. This may be even Gary Busey level crazy. (By the way, why is he in those creepy local Kia commercials?)
I’m going to go out on a limb and say that none of your customers think this is a good idea. Let me break it down for you:
The price increase for the base plan was dumb. You realize that now. Why not fix that?
A streaming-only service would be awesome… IF THERE WAS MORE CONTENT.
Streaming newer movies would obviously be the biggest draw. Work out that licensing. I know it’s not simple. Figure it out.
Streaming more content & more current movies would make me buy new hardware. Currently we stream Netflix through the Wii. If I could get more new movies… I’d upgrade to a Bluray player that does streaming at a better quality or something like the Roku 2 player.
Old movies that are part of a series… only some are available. You can stream The Wrath of Kahn but not the entire Star Trek series? Dumb.
Special episodes/bonus content of DVD’s not available for streaming. A minor annoyance, but still… Dumb.
I don’t want two distinct services where there was once one all-encompassing service.
One site to manage two queues is quite convenient.
I don’t want 2 separate charges for 2 separate services where there once was one. I’m guessing no one else does either.
I don’t want to figure out for myself what’s available for streaming & what’s available on DVD. Especially if I’m paying twice the price for the service.
Imagine going to your local pizza shop and they decide that they’re only going to do pizza because they do dough, sauce, & cheese really well. If you want any toppings, subs, bread-sticks, drinks, or a salad… you need to go across the street and buy them. Oh, now the place across the street sells wings too! They have separate menus… but it’s just across the street, so no big deal, right? Does this sound like a great idea, Reed Hastings?
I saw this when browsing through the disc packaging, so of course I assumed it had to be there. I mean, Boba Fett riding a dragon/dinosaur? Certainly not in any of the films proper…
Star Wars The Complete Saga Blu-ray Inside Artwork
Star WarsBlu-rays released today! Woo! I pre-ordered from Amazon with slow-boat shipping. What agony I will be in until they arrive, but it’s a good agony. (If there is such a thing.)
The originals were timeless, the new ones are terrible. I’m surprised the nav/targeting screen graphics in all the ships haven’t been redone. I can’t wait to watch these movies yet again, no matter if I’ll be grumbling or not… and I’m really looking forward to all the onus stuff, and hopefully some sweet Easter Eggs.
Damn you, George Lucas. I’m pretty sure you could sell the proverbial air conditioner to the Eskimo (is Inuit the correct term now?) without a problem, but I bet you can also amazingly re-sell him the air conditioner that he already has just by cleaning it, maybe adding a new filter, and putting a shiny sticker on it… and repeating that process every few years for the next 30 or 40. You are a genius.
Fanboy rant that you’ve already heard a million times over aside, George Lucas is a creative genius, and no matter how much we love to bicker about changes with new actors/voices, re-releases, re-edits, mis-colored & re-colored lightsabers, flying CGI droids, who shot first, and dancing Yoda… it all comes down to the fact that we love the Star Wars films and feel some kind of connection to them. If we didn’t feel so strongly about them, we (hopefully) wouldn’t waste our time bickering. (Sorry, can’t let it go: I still want “Yub Nub” back, I hatehatehate the new Ewok song in Jedi.)
Of course I’m going to get the Blu-ray version. To have them all in one package? Awesome. Seems like forever-ago that I was pontificating on what I’d like to see on a Blu-ray release. Now that it’s almost here & available for pre-order, I’m getting jittery… like I’ve had too many cups of coffee. Maybe I did that, too.
Bill Hunt is a lucky bastard that got a preview of the discs, and he shares the goods with us. Basically there are a lot of error fixes, clean ups, and a bunch of sound remastering and rebuilding. Some cool bits…
One thing I should confirm for you at this point: The original theatrical versions of the Original Trilogy are not included on these discs. Personally, I never expected them to be. I know a lot of fans want them, but it’s clear that Lucas has no intention of making them available at least for the foreseeable future.
Figured as much.
In addition to these sorts of fixes, significant additional dirt removal has been done, more garbage matte lines have been cleaned up and other little “fixes” have been applied as well. Here’s an example of one such fix done to Episode V. For years, fans have complained that in this shot of the Wampa attacking Luke’s Tauntaun, you could see part of the puppeteer’s arm because the costume didn’t extend quite far enough… Now, that’s been fixed.
For Episode IV, however, “getting it exactly right” required a rather extensive forensic effort, as this material just wasn’t cataloged with future surround remixes in mind. In many cases, Matt and his team went back to original analog tape recordings made in 1976 to get the best quality of all the required elements. As a result, it’s fair to say that the surround mix for Episode IV was almost completely rebuilt from scratch, with Matt comparing his work to the original print master to ensure its creative accuracy. And at every step of the way, director George Lucas and original sound supervisor Ben Burtt were consulted to ensure that the mix reproduced as closely as possible their original intent for the film’s sonic experience. In fact, Matt says he played the film’s reels many times for George, in 15-20 second chucks, to get his feedback.
Crazy. I think I’m going to have to break down & buy a surround-sound system just for this Blu-ray release. Maybe a better Blu-ray player too. Any ideas on how to convince my wife why this is necessary?
Now, you’ll recall that a little bit ago, I said these should probably be best considered new 2011 versions of these films, and not the 2004 DVD versions. All the fixes and corrections alone justify this in my opinion, but there’s another reason too… and you can probably guess what it is: Once again, George has apparently added a few new “surprises” into these films. I don’t know what they are and didn’t get to see any of them on Friday, but I was assured that there will be “new things to notice” when we watch the films. I think we can safely assume that one of them will be the new all-digital Yoda in Episode I…
More tweaks? Hopefully more archive/deleted footage put into the films in lieu of additional background lizards, droids, clones, or new musical numbers. (Although, if more aliens popped up in the background… like the ones from Close Encounters, Alien, Predator, Cowboys & Aliens, or even a Klingon, that would be kind of geeky fun.) I’d like to see the Revenge of the Sith ending that Simon Pegg wrote about in his book.
What the other changes to these films may be, I have no idea, but I suspect there will be no lack of blog posts on this very subject within hours of the first discs becoming available to fans.
Now then, let’s move on to the extras. Is it really worth getting the Complete Saga set just to get the three extras discs? For me at least, the answer here is clear: Absolutely. Yes… I’ve now seen many of the Original Trilogy deleted scenes. No… I can’t tell you much about them (believe me, that drives me as crazy as it does you). But I was pretty surprised by them and in a good way. What I can tell you is that they are substantial – at least for the Original Trilogy. This isn’t just dribs and drabs stuff – it includes long sequences. And they’re extremely cool. Frankly, for me this is the real draw of the entire BD release. As you’ve seen in some of the teaser clips Lucasfilm has released, they’re not pristine, but most of them are in HD – at least the Original Trilogy clips. And trust me, they’re well worth seeing. It’s stuff some of you have wanted to see in good quality since 1977, along with a few things fans may not have known even existed.
What’s more, each film has two audio commentary tracks – the ones that were on the previous DVD release as well as an all-new commentary compiled from tons of vintage and archived interviews with the cast and crew. Finally, I’m assured that there are indeed a handful of “very fun” Easter eggs scattered throughout the set.
OOOH. How will I find these? Ha ha. I’m going to have to set up a Google News alert or something. I’m never good at just finding them on my own.
Go read the main article, it’s worth it if you’re a geek… and there are some killer photos!
In with that, they point to yet another article, that says exciting things like…
On the special features, we spent 3 years sifting and digging through 30 years of material that is in the vaults at the Ranch, it’s been quite an undertaking. We uncovered boxes that hadn’t been opened in over 20 years, it was a very dirty experience! We looked through work prints, we found dailies, we went through behind-the scenes videos, we really uncovered a slew of new gems that we’re really excited to share with the fans.
Oh what I wouldn’t give to dig through those archives.
Q: Is the holiday special on there?
A: You’ll have to wait and see! The holiday special is a challenge, but look for some Easter Eggs – what’s a Star Wars release without a couple of Easter Eggs?! J
I’m guessing not the whole Holiday special, but maybe a clip… especially the Boba Fett cartoon. A clean version of that would be excellent! (If it exists, watch it have overdubs fromTemuera Morrison
If the whole special shows up, that would be killer. No one ever asks about the Ewok movies. What about those? When are we going to get more forest creatures, lost footage, and an all-new CGI Gorax? How about Cindel & Mace running around in Jedi somewhere?
Oh yeah, maybe Troops will pop up as an easter egg!
Thanks to HarrisPoll Surveys, PNC/Visa Points, and a jar o’ change, I was able to pre-order from Amazon for only $2.49 out of pocket.
Yesterday via Twitter, I saw an article from TheForce.net about another article (or Editorial, I guess) at DVDACTIVE:THE TEN Things That The Forthcoming Star Wars Blu-ray Should Include. Of course, I felt the need to weigh in. I for one am salivating at the prospect of all of the movies being released in one package and the prospect of new (and newly unearthed) material. After all, Mr. Lucas has stated over the years that they’re all part of one large story. They ought to be presented that way, right?
Firstly, I agree with Marcus Doidge who wants all versions of the movies (especially IV, V, & VI). I’m going to guess that all of us do… or at least we want the option to watch the edit that we prefer. Some of us are quite partial to the Emperor being a lady in a mask with chimp eyes, Han shooting first, and not having either version of the Han/Jabba scene… I guess. Personally, the most annoying offense to me is the newly recorded Ewok celebration song and the wholly unnecessary new musical number in Jabba’s palace. “Yub Nub” for the win. I’d certainly like the option for those parts of the movie to play through seamlessly as I want to see them!
I don’t see this happening though, as George Lucas seems to consistently say or imply through many interviews that each new edit is getting closer to his original vision, and that all previous versions are rendered irrelevant by the new scenes and additions as they were meant to be. It’s almost like he’s angry or spiteful for people being so attached to their favorite versions.
Toward the end of his THE TEN list though, Doidge cites that he wants to see something new… as in a wholly new feature for Blu-ray in general. I also agree with this… why not a “Choose Your Own Adventure” type movie? Fan edits exist out there… why not have the option to do that in your Blu-ray player before the movie begins? Perhaps with an option to save your favorite personal versions? I envision a multiple choice check-box type of scene listing before the movie begins where you can pick if you want to see Han shoot first, a glowing translucent Sebastian Shaw or Hayden Christensen, and maybe finally a newly filmed scene where the Wookie gets a medal? I’d like to see it. It would be more fun that a straight-up “pick your release”, as it would be all yours. Making your own movie would be as easy as building your own sub at Quiznos.
Love the pop-up idea too. Geeks like factoids, right? This has to be a no-brainer. There is a wealth of information out there… there could even be multiple pop up factoid tracks. Info/trivia from within the Star Wars universe could be on one track, and film production or special effects notes, bloopers, release histories, etc. could go on another.
As far as extras… I would expect no less that all the deleted scenes that we’ve seen before plus more, a documentary or two — something cool like the History Channel’s Star Wars Tech or Legacy Revealed. A gag-reel type montage of Star Wars parody clips would be awesome too… like Bill Murray singing “Star Wars” on SNL — anything in that vein.
I’d really love to see Mr. Lucas finally buckle under pressure and release the atrociously awesome Holiday Special. Why not? It’s out there. Copies exist. Get a clean copy and put it out there, or digitally clean up one of the bootlegs! Why not make money off of the camp of the whole thing while you can? You can’t tell me this is the one morality/vision line that George Lucas can’t cross? If you’re that embarrassed, put it as an Easter egg somewhere on one of the Blu-rays and never acknowledge it again.
Also… why not include the made for TV Ewok movies, and the new animated Clone Wars movie? Then we could watch ALL of them in chronological order.
This is how it goes, isn’t it?
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones
Star Wars: Clone Wars (animated microseries)
Star Wars: The Clone Wars (3D CGI movie)
Star Wars: The Clone Wars (3D CGI series)
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Star Wars: Droids (animated series)
Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure (made for TV movie)
Ewoks: The Battle for Endor (made for TV movie)
Star Wars: Ewoks (animated series)
Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi
Call me crazy, but barring any restrictions from my bank account… I’d buy ’em all in one package. Maybe it ought to come with a working Dejarik board?
World (and Lunar) Domination 