Region 4 Winners and Losers

    Season 4 of Angel was released in Region 2 at the start of March — we're two months behind them. On the other hand, it has not been released yet in Region 1, so we're ahead of them. Judging by the releases of previous seasons, there will be very little difference in the way of extras on the Region 1 when it finally does arrive. And note that unlike Buffy, Angel is presented in widescreen in Region 1, so the framing will be the same.

    The Region 2 version appears to be identical to the Region 4 in terms of disc content. The big difference between the two remains the packaging. Once again, the Region 2 version is packaged in an album / book version, with the discs held in page-like sleeves, while the Region 4 is just a set of keep-cases in a cardboard slipcase. I used to prefer the Region 2 version, but I've discovered how easy it is to scratch the discs slipping them in and out of the sleeves. The Region 4 doesn't have that problem. They could save me some shelf space by packing two discs into each of three double keep-cases, but I guess they feel committed to releasing the discs in two volumes of three and three, so that ain't gonna happen.

    The Region 1 packaging will probably be a digi-pack design, like the previous seasons. It will be a little bulkier than the Region 2, but considerably more compact than the Region 4. Probably not as robust as either, though.

    Although the Region 4 packaging is the bulkiest, and perhaps the least attractive to the eye, I'll be getting the Region 4 version this time. I expect to watch these episodes multiple times, and this is the packaging that will make that the easiest.

    Postscript: I bought a full set of the Region 4 discs today, and I'm disappointed. Fox Australia has chosen to use rather cheap and nasty keep-cases, rather than the good quality ones they've used in the past. They haven't even been consistent — some discs are in one kind of case, some are in another. Maybe I'm bitter because I managed to cut myself on one of these cheap and nasty cases. I think I'll be transferring the discs into better cases — that's a nuisance, but at least it's easy, because the cover slicks will fit equally well in good quality cases; try doing that with the R2 or R1 packaging!