I used to love the DVD Easter Egg, but I don't anymore. For those of you unaware of the reference, a DVD easter egg is a "hidden" special feature that a viewer must find. Often, this means having to remember an elaborate set of commands, like "Go to the Audio Select Screen. Select the Language screen. Highlight the Botswani language option. Hit your up button three times, the left button twice, and right button four times. A gila monster will appear in the left hand corner. Highlight the gila monster and hit enter. You will then be treated to a ten second clip of the director heaping praises upon the film's caterers." I've now come to the realization that hiding easter eggs are a waste of time. It was cool the first couple of times, but now it's just a chore. Now, it's just an ego trip for the film maker or the DVD producer.

Some easter eggs are totally worthless, like the JVC commercial hidden on the Total Recall DVD. Others are actually good, providing some cool on-the-set moments, behind the scenes info, or bloopers. For example, the new trilogy of Star Wars films has some great blooper reels hidden away, and the first X-Men movie has a funny clip showing an on-set prank in which Spider Man invades the set. The problem comes when you actually want to watch them. To view the bloopers from Attack of the Clones, for example, the process is this: Select the options menu. Highlight the THX logo, enter 11, press ENTER, then enter 3, then press ENTER, then enter 8, and then press ENTER, using your number pad. Who is going to remember that? Wasn't the pain of destroying the magic of Star Wars enough? Now, Lucas is hiding the best stuff from the films? Don't worry, I'm sure he will re-release the films on DVD yet again next year, this time with a new cover and all of the easter eggs included in regular menus.

I'm sure there were good intentions by those producing the DVD that viewers would appreciate these little touches. However, as DVD libraries grow, it is impossible to remember them all. I have enough trouble remembering my ATM code. Some DVD producers have gotten the hint, and have made easter eggs rather easy to find, usually by placing a symbol of some sort in the menu, which you can highlight and view. It just doesn't tell you what you will see.

True, there are more important causes in the world, but we have to start somewhere. Besides, this is a fight we can win! Demand an end to hidden easter eggs!

Learn more about this author, Victor Medina.
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