I’ll be getting my copy sometime today.
Check back later for more details!
UPDATE
Barnes and Noble had Beverly Hills 90210: The Ninth Season for $59.99, which is a lot considering it’s the same price as some of the previous seasons but with less episodes.
The packing is a bit shoddier this time around. Gone is the actual “box” with several individual DVD sets inside. Instead there’s just a thin cardboard case that’s open on the top and bottom. Inside is a plastic case that duplicates the cover art and back art. I’ve already griped about the cover art but to recap: the original cast photo has been altered significantly. Vincent Young (Noah) has been removed and both Luke Perry (Dylan) and Vanessa Marcil (Gina) have been added. This is the second season where Young is a regular but not featured on the set’s cover. Similarly, Daniel Cosgrove (Matt) is regular this season but isn’t featured. In contrast, both Jason Priestley (Brandon) and Tiffani Amber Thiessen (Valerie) are included, even though they are only in 6 and 8 episodes of the season, respectively. The back does a much better job, including everyone (except Matt) in several smaller photos and I have to wonder why they didn’t just do something like that for the cover since there really isn’t a cast shot that fairly represents the season. (They did individual photos for the season 8 DVD, though that cover had its flaws, too.) But, of course, the photos on the back aren’t perfect either as at least one of the pictures is from season 8.
The description on the back reads: “The most shocking season yet! Just as Brandon Walsh and Val Malone are saying their good-byes to the gang, Dylan McKay, shielding a painful secret, returns to Beverly Hills and finds himself in trouble with newcomer Gina…So venture with Brandon (Jason Priestley), Kelly (Jennie Garth), Dylan (Luke Perry), Donna (Tori Spelling), David (Brian Austin Green), Steve (Ian Ziering), Val (Tiffani-Amber Thiessen), Noah (Vincent Young), Janet (Lindsay Price), Matt (Daniel Cosgrove), and Gina (Vanessa Marcil) in all 26 jaw-dropping episodes of Season 9. With Noah’s drinking problem, Kelly’s absurd love triangle, and secrets and betrayal so thick you could cut them with a knife, Season 9 proves to be the most shocking yet.” As per usual, the description is misguided at best. They make it sound like Brandon and Val leave together when it’s actually two separate storylines in two separate episodes. (And why they insist on only referring to Valerie as simply Val is beyond me.) I can’t tell you what “painful secret” Dylan is “shielding” because there isn’t one. Not sure why Perry is given top billing after Priestley and Garth, considering in the opening credits Perry is last and is technically a “special guest star.” It’s an interesting choice to highlight Noah’s drinking issues since, while they are pretty big this season, they are emphasized quite a bit more in season 10, and you could’ve mentioned something with long-timers Steve, Donna or David instead. And it’s not clear what love triangle they’re referring to with Kelly (Kelly-Matt-Lauren? Matt-Kelly-Dylan?) but I’m not sure what’s so absurd about it. It’s also quite a big declaration to call this “the most shocking season.”
The package is significantly slimmer since all the DVDs are in one case now but that means we no longer treated to the photos of the cast that used grace each individual DVD case. There also isn’t a separate booklet episode guide; instead its embedded beneath the discs (there’s seven of them) and you have to remove some of them if you want to be able to read it. Among the errors or lapses in judgment: they point out–in case you didn’t know–Steve isn’t Japanese; they say “Kelly and Steve obtain a very valuable book” when it’s actually Matt, not Kelly; they say “a dentist uncovers Gina’s painful secret” instead of identifying the dentist as Mel; and they insinuate that Kelly and Dylan have cheated on their respective partners when actual “truth” that is “revealed” is that they, not Steve, saved a woman from a mugger. I can at least admit these aren’t nearly as bad as some of the blunders on the past sets.
There aren’t any special features but that’s no surprise as we haven’t had any since season 4.
The season 10 DVD has not yet been announced.
TeenDramaWhore 
Haha, maybe Kelly’s love triangle is referring to Kelly-Dylan-Gina, so shocking!! I am glad to see that season 9 is out on DVD, but it breaks my heart that it was thrown together with no consideration for the fans who have been loyal to the show.
Oh and I miss you on the board DC, wink.
Ooh, you’re right, vegas. It could be that triangle, too–but still not worthy of being called “absurd.” I have major beef with the people who write these things! I’ll join you in the broken hearts club.
Well I do have to agree that they should be making the products better since the fans are still buying them, we should have better sets. But I’m guessing since its BH 90210 which ended in 2000 and only now the DVDs are coming out, they don’t make them for quality but for quantity just to rush all the sets out and be done with it. One Tree Hill/Gossip Girl/OC/90210 V2.0 look better because they are more recent. But still that is just not right!!! I just shudder thinking about what the complete series box set will look like.
You are right that they don’t value quality and that’s what’s so frustrating.
It’s not known yet if there will be a complete series. On the one hand, it seems like a no-brainer for them as I imagine it would be a great seller (I know I’d buy it even though I have the individual sets; and if they market it around Christmas, I’m sure it would do especially well) but on the other hand, they might not care to after churning out the last of the season sets. I also don’t know what the actual profits are or the costs so I can’t say for sure that it would be worth it fr them.
A decent part of me would like a complete set but that’s only because I would think it would have better quality in terms of packaging and extras but they’ve shown me I shouldn’t have any faith or expectations and I wouldn’t want a sub-par set as that would just be such a disgrace after all the previous disgraces.
The “painful secret” Dylan is hiding might be his heroin addiction.
But that can’t be since Dylan doesn’t start doing heroin until episode 9.10. He sells his car and is burning the money when a guy walks up and says he’ll give him heroin instead. By all indications, I believe that’s the first time he does it. Maybe not the first time in his life but certainly when the addiction as we know it started. So I don’t think that can be the secret he was hiding.
Other weak possibilities: he’s hiding that he’s been broken up with Brenda for two years, he’s hiding that he’s lonely and still devastated over Toni, he’s hiding that he has no direction/purpose in his life. All don’t really fit the bill of “shielding a painful secret.”
Really, there is no secret, IMO. I truly think it’s just another poor description based on misinformation and misunderstanding by people who never actually watched the episodes.
Is there somewhere we can direct our complaints of the colossal mistakes being made with the packaging and production of these season releases??? Everyone I’ve shown the DVDs to – even people who aren’t necessarily die-hard fans – have commented on how bad they are.
And given that so much time has passed since the airing and the release of the DVDs, surely that allows for more interesting audio commentaries and extra content? Things are easier in retrospect, especially for actors who used to sport high waisted Levis and flat-tops.
I live in optimistic hope that they’re holding back for a ‘box set’ of all ten seasons with some killer content. Or am I just being delusional?
I haven’t gotten seasons 2 and higher yet so I haven’t seen the poor descriptions written about the episodes but you would think one person would be able to be on hand to be correct about the episodes but who knows, I just know the fans who have cherished the show (myself included and TeenDramaWhore) deserve a lot better than what is being issued. As for the commentary thing, having the actors doing them may not be able to be done if and this is a big IF that the actors wanted a certain fee for participating and FOX decided or whoever is issuing the DVD sets decided to go a cheaper route. I am just guessing that may have been the case but as for no good special features like outtakes, deleted scenes etc. I would think they would have some cool stuff on there but again it may just be my first thought about it being about quantity rather than quality, I guess only time will tell if there is a nice Complete Set coming soon, only time will tell.
I vaguely remembering firing off angry notes after the pilot DVD and the Season 5 set came out but I can’t for the life of me remember where or how. (And you can bet I got no response.) But the DVD packages have the logos of CBS DVD, Paramount and Spelling Television Inc (which is a CBS company, it says, but from what I’ve been told no Spelling groups exist anymore so that on there may just be a formality and recognition of the original production company). It also says trademarked and copyrighted to Torrand Productions Inc and Paramount Pictures. And for Paramount there is an address (5555 Melrose Avenue Hollywood, California 90038) and a Web site (http://www.paramount.com/homentertainment) listed in tiny print. I guess googling all those names, though, and looking for e-mails or mailing addresses would be the way to go if you’re looking to give feedback. It’s not a bad idea and the show definitely deserves that but I’m not sure what’ll change at this point. At the same time, I’d be satisfied just knowing they know many fans are POed.
In a sad way it gives me comfort to know casual fans are upset, too. It reassures me that I’m not setting my expectations too high or just being nit-picky. (It’s sad because we shouldn’t have to be dealing with this at all).
Part of me, too, hopes they have been holding back for a kick-ass complete series set. But based on what Charles Rosin and Larry Mollin have told me, the DVDs are just about making money off a piece of software. It’s not about the show. It’s not about the fans. And it’s definitely not about putting more money into it than they “have” to. Extras, particularly ones involving the cast and/or crew, cost quite a bit, I imagine. Not to mention the fact that, from what I gather, the cast isn’t really interested in participating anyway. (Though we should note that were extras for the first four season sets–though none of the core cast participated, I believe. Why it stopped, I don’t know, but I would think money had to with it.,) That said, I can’t see this year passing without some sort of “official” acknowledgment of the double anniversaries. A complete series DVD set, even without extras, could be marketed off the milestones.
Some other random observations:
While doing some research not too long ago, I noticed the DVD sets released in other countries have different art from our sets. I’m not sure if the descriptions on them are different as well, or if they have the same music changes.
I was looking at my season 8 set and my season 9 set last night and noticed the listed run time varies only by 49 minutes even though season 8 has several more episodes than 9.
Oh, and I think your assessment, LostinDharma, is right on. The errors in particular kill me both as a journalist and a devoted fan. If they just had a skilled fact-checker or one serious fan take a look over everything, those issues could be eliminated. We do deserve better on that and all the other issues (cover art, extras, etc.).
Yeah, we do deserve better
I guess we should consider ourselves lucky that they gave us a slipcover, otherwise the sets would look like the 7th Heaven cases next to eachother >_< However, I wouldnt be surprised if they didnt have a slipcover for Season 10.
I'm just annoyed. . . I've been worried they'd do this ever since they started releasing Melrose Place in this case format. I'm also annoyed because we only had 2 Seasons left, and they decided to change the packaging.
As for Season 10. . . I'm hoping we get Special Features. The same thing happened to Charmed which is also made by Paramount/CBS DVD. Every set had no extras. Here's an interesting article about it: http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Charmed/5429
If we get any extras at all I hope they include the Goodbye Special and the 10 year Reunion they did in '03
I forgot to mention, there ended up being really nice extras on the final season DVD. And then, when they released the Complete Series there were also really nice extras exclusive to that set too.
And I guess we should be happy we’re getting DVDs at all. (Though it sucks it’s not the episodes as they originally were.) But I don’t get why changed the packaging at this point, like you said. And I wonder if it will be that way for the last season, too, whenever that comes out.
That’s interesting about Charmed, especially since it was a Spelling show. But considering that was back in ’06 and we haven’t gotten extras in the years since then, I don’t know if their good fortune really applies to us. Then again, I guess your larger point is that they did make an effort for the final season and complete series sets so maybe they will for ours, too.
And those are great extra ideas. I have them on VHS (along with a bunch of random and not-so-random episodes) but we all know those are becoming obsolete. I’m sad all the other specials they did aren’t available except for some poor YouTube clips. But I’d like new features, too, though I guess beggars can’t be choosers!
I sincerely hope that they make a complete series set-I have not purchased a single 90210 DVD myself in hogh hopes that there will e a spectacular box set in a year shape like the Peach Pit with tons of special features. Yes, I have VERY high hopes. But speaking of Charmed (which relates very much to this site’s content despite it not being a “teen drama”-overlapping actors,themes,etc.), I bought all the individual DVDs and was,for lack of a better word, pissed when the box set came out with drawings,features, and a beautiful exterior. So if now for 90210 they DON’T make a box set, I will be seriously annoyed!