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Home / Entertainment

Chris Schulz: Is this the end of extras?

Chris Schulz
By Chris Schulz
TimeOut·
17 Sep, 2015 07:00 AM3 mins to read

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A scene from the TV show Breaking Bad.

A scene from the TV show Breaking Bad.

Chris Schulz
Opinion by Chris SchulzLearn more
We've all become used to the likes of Netflix, Lightbox and Neon - but what do these streaming services mean for movie extras or TV gag reels?

Nothing says you're a super-fan quite like the DVD box set.

These totems to geekdom tell you several things about their owners: they have a lot of shelf space, they still own a DVD player, and they're completists - fanatics who want to soak up everything they can about their favourite television show or movie series.

It also tells you that they have too much spare time on their hands. Many box sets come with a tonne of extras: some, like the extended edition of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, contain so many it's nearly impossible to get through them all.

Elijah Wood portrays Hobbit Frodo in a scene from the film The Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of The Ring.
Elijah Wood portrays Hobbit Frodo in a scene from the film The Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of The Ring.
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I have three: The Sopranos, The X-Files, and Breaking Bad. That last one comes with a whopping 50 hours of bonus content, from interviews with cast and crew to deleted scenes, movie-length features and episode commentaries.

I haven't watched many of them, but at least they're there. When you're in the middle of a Breaking Bad binge, it's nice to know you can escape dark moments like Walt's homemade chemo operation to watch Bryan Cranston pranking cast members in the blooper reel.

But are these days of extras nearly at an end? As we collectively move on to our chosen streaming services, what's happening to all that bonus content?

Last time I checked, you can't actually see any of it. Neon's Game of Thrones streams include no extras, nor does Lightbox's latest sci-fi thriller Mr Robot, or Netflix's superior superhero show, Daredevil.

I put this question to our three biggest streaming services and got some interesting responses.

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Netflix's Australia-based PR company were first, claiming extras were available for several shows, including Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Sense8, and Orange is the New Black. It's a start - but it hardly compares to my Breaking Bad box set.

Taylor Schilling and Laura Prepon appear in a scene from Orange is the New Black.
Taylor Schilling and Laura Prepon appear in a scene from Orange is the New Black.

So I asked Lightbox's head of content, Maria Mahony, where the extras were. She said "there was definitely space for them" but that content was used for their social media channels. "On-service use is a space where we'd look to utilise them further," she said.

That didn't help fulfill my wish to watch a super-meta doco on the making of UnReal, a dark drama that shows the behind-the-scenes creation of a Bachelor-style dating show. That would be like holding a mirror up to a two-way mirror. Or something.

Shiri Appleby and Constance Zimmer in TV series UnReal.
Shiri Appleby and Constance Zimmer in TV series UnReal.

Neon was the last to respond - and it was the least satisfying.

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"Neon's programmers would certainly consider including extra content, but as the extras you mention are produced specifically to support a DVD release and not cleared for broadcast, it's not something that could presently be offered," they said.

Not cleared for broadcast? Better keep some shelf space available - your box sets aren't obsolete just yet.

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