Get your coffee, folks... This'll be a LONG one!
I've not really spent much (perhaps any) time on this Blog discussing this topic that is truly near-and-dear to my heart. But I have spent a great deal of time warning friends in other circles (such as the Film Group I belong to) of the eventual hazards of STREAMING vs. physical media that you own... such as DVDs and Blu-ray discs!
I'd like to emphasize the *"that you own"* part of that last sentence... because when you stream, you "own" NOTHING!
Not only do you "own NOTHING" but you are at the mercies and arbitrary whims of the media giants that DO own this stuff - and THEY are subject to far too many forces, social and fiscal, that allow them to "take away something you like" with impunity!
For better or for worse, we live in an overly sensitive, grievance-driven, victimization-based society where the standards of "acceptability" can change by the day. I haven't checked lately but, by now, they may even change by the hour!
And this gives said media giants (Disney, Warner Bros./Discovery, and the rest) the impetus - with or without any reasonable or logical justification - to prevent your enjoyment or study of ANYTHING that falls under their respective umbrellas by effectively removing it from existence!
And WE, in our mad rush to abandon physical media and cede total control of our entertainment choices to these entities, have ignorantly allowed this to happen!
Indeed, we have allowed this to happen to such an extent that THEY (the many different forces of entertainment streaming) are now battling and consuming one another in a war that only few can win... and that WE have already begun losing!
When NETFLIX was pretty much the only big name in streaming, it was a very profitable endeavor for them. Now that everybody-and-their-intellectual-property-owning-brother have forced their way into the arena, it has segmented and splintered to the point where there is simply not enough for all - and many of the "streamy-come-lately" entrants are faltering in the flood waters loosed by their contemporaries! Even the Mighty Netflix is succumbing to such woes!
This is a problem I have been warning about since the very beginning!
And, yes, this was just about my precise reaction at the point that streaming achieved the dominance over physical media that it enjoys today!
Also, yes, many products of entertainment have since been denied to us (removed from existence, actually) for reasons both worthy and completely arbitrary, as well as financial.
But, whatever those executive-expunged products of entertainment may be, if you have them on DVD or Blu-ray (or even old VHS copies) YOU can still enjoy them whenever you wish, media giants be damned!
For instance, between legitimate releases and a great many bootlegs collected over the years, I can enjoy pretty much any Warner Bros. or Hanna-Barbera cartoon that interests me - ANYTIME I WANT!
ABOVE and BELOW: Officially released DVDs and BOOTLEGS for Warner Bros. (up) and Hanna-Barbera (down)... betcha can tell the difference really easy!
A quick digression: All of the synopses on IMDB for HOKEY WOLF, and many of them for Touché Turtle, were written and contributed by yours truly, thanks to the two bootlegs pictured above.
I realize that this may not mean as much to most folks as it does to me (...and, presumably, to many of you reading this) but, for a glorious period of time, WE had control of what entertains us... and those that wisely invested in physical media STILL DO!
...And what I say about animation applies to old movies and TV shows as well!
"Now you see 'em... Now you MAY NOT... Unless you have the DVDs!"
Below is a Blog post on the subject by my original comics-writing mentor
(long before I ever thought I would actually write comics professionally) Mark Evanier about
classic Looney Tunes being removed from HBO MAX!
While Mark is not nearly as critical of the monstrous media amalgam known as "Warner Bros./Discovery" as I am (for the MANY recent sins committed across the spectrum of the company), he, too, drives home the point of the (ever-increasing) value of owning physical media - in this case, specifically about Looney Tunes and, if you read the LINK INSIDE HIS POST, The Flintstones as well!
Yes they have, Uncle Scrooge! Read Mark Evanier's Blog Post
HERE...
It's happening, folks! Slowly but unceasingly! Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll begin carrying loads of DVDs and Blu-rays down to my video-survivalist bunker.
Throw some comments our way! I suspect they'll be very interesting!
