Kick. Ass. I just got an e-mail notifying me that my My So-Called Life DVD Box Set is finally being shipped! I was freaking out, what with A) the company turning out to be dodgy and delaying the release for months, B) us moving house and me not remembering what address I put on the order, and C) other people already receiving theirs and me not hearing a word. I’d honestly just about written off the money. But lo and behold, it’s on its way! Apparently I was even brilliant enough to use my Mom’s address (thus saving the international shipping costs). So it’ll still be weeks and weeks before I have it in my hands… but at least I didn’t get ripped off.
John
November 22, 2002 — 6:18 am
I got my confirmation email from Amazon.com earlier this week, so I’m just counting the days until it finds its way across the Atlantic.
Did you always intend to wait until the box set was available via Amazon, or did you plan to order through AnotherUniverse until you heard how crap they were? (I’m assuming I’ll never see the money I paid to AnotherUniverse.)
Kris
November 22, 2002 — 9:13 am
John, mine is actually coming *from* Another Universe. I ordered it like six months ago when you linked to them. You might want to try to contact them and cancel your order, as they do seem to be working their way through the list. You might end up with two copies!
John
November 23, 2002 — 10:48 am
I’ve already contacted them several times to cancel the order, but so far they haven’t refunded my money or acknowledged the cancellation. (If you check out the forums at mscl.com you’ll see that there are a lot of people in the same boat as me. I’m at the stage now where I neither know nor care whether AnotherUniverse were incompetent or crooked. I just want my DVDs to show up.)
Tricia
November 23, 2002 — 12:15 pm
John, did you receive the email from Dry Grass Partners, LLC? I’ve copied the text onto my web page (entry on 11/10), if you want to check it out. It appears that they might help resolve the outstanding issues.
John
November 23, 2002 — 9:38 pm
Yes, I got it. I’ve been to their site and logged my order details.
So far Dry Grass have emailed me twice requesting progress updates (i.e. asking whether I’ve received my refund yet) and I reckon I’m probably due another email from them within a matter of days. I know they’re doing their best, but ultimately I don’t know how much they can do.
Judging by the latest posts to the forums at mscl.com the second (and last) wave of deliveries from AnotherUniverse were expected to ship by yesterday. I haven’t had a shipping notification from AnotherUniverse, so I assume that they’ve at least got that part of the cancellation process right.
Judging by the bulletin boards at mscl.com, nobody has received refunds yet. I assume that AnotherUniverse will need to find some more suckers to pay them in advance for some other DVD project in order to raise the funds to repay monies owed to MSCL fans.
Moire
November 24, 2002 — 2:26 am
Man. I’m glad I didn’t pre-order.
Tricia
November 25, 2002 — 9:36 am
I received mine without problems. I think I went into the whole deal with no expectation of ever getting the product (I’m very conservative about buying on-line), and was willing to gamble on the company, so I was just pleased that I got something at all.
John
November 27, 2002 — 9:24 am
The Royal Mail tried to deliver my DVD set today while I was out at work, so I’ll swing by the sorting office later this week and pick it up. (I assume this is the set from Amazon, since I still haven’t had any word from AnotherUniverse about my cancelled order.)
Kris
November 27, 2002 — 12:06 pm
Nice. I wonder if it’s just the “international” people that AnotherUniverse are having the problems with at this point. Let us know how it turns out.
John
November 28, 2002 — 9:12 am
I know that AnotherUniverse have sent DVD sets to customers in Europe – it looks as if they’re arriving at around the same time as the Amazon orders. Lots of US and European customers seem to be having problems getting their refunds, unfortunately.
John
November 29, 2002 — 8:32 am
I picked up my box set from the sorting office today, and I’ve just watched the pilot episode for the first time in about five years.
I’m delighted to report that it was every bit as good as I remembered. Claire Danes was terrific. My favourite scene in the pilot is probably the one where Angela finds herself alone with Jordan at the party after she’s fallen in the mud – her embarrassed hesitation as she realises that she’s walked into the room and can’t gracefully leave without looking stupid, followed by that “I know it’s Thursday because … yesterday was Wednesday … so … that’s … how I know” speech is a perfect depiction of that whole “I want to impress this person so why do I keep saying such lame things” feeling you get when you’re terminally unsure of yourself in the presence of That Girl (or Guy, depending upon your gender preference).
Then there was Angela’s delighted grin as Jordan spotted her being bundled into the police car, and the scene on the staircase where Patty is shocked at Angela’s use of the word “Bi” (followed by Danielle precociously explaining what that means), and … oh heck, just about every scene had its moment.
The DVD presentation isn’t brilliant, with rather tacky menus and very basic packaging, but in the final analysis everyone who buys the box set will be interested in the thirteen episodes first and foremost. Part of me wishes that Another Universe had lived up to their promises and I’d got the bonus interview DVD, but that’s water under the bridge now.
Kris
November 29, 2002 — 9:25 am
If I end up getting it, maybe I could, uh, provide you with a copy. That wouldn’t be illegal, would it, considering that you paid for the damn thing? 🙂
John
November 29, 2002 — 10:24 am
It’s very kind of you to offer, but I fear that the lawyers for AnotherUniverse might beg to differ with your definition of the term “illegal.”
🙁