There are scattered variations of
The Twilight Saga: New Moon on DVD available at several different vendors, but the two that most readers here have asked about are from WalMart and Target.
WalMart has the "Ultimate Fan Edition" and Target has the "Three-Disc Deluxe Edition," and you guys have asked what the big differences between them are.
So, here you go.
For starters, you should know that the two share features found on the standard two-disc edition but that they definitely have different offerings.
The differences are that Target's came with a film cell from the movie which is pretty cool (mine came with a frame of Edward in the Volturi lair), and it
does have the extra disc with deleted scenes and a couple of other features. WalMart's had either a water bottle or some stickers, and it has the
Eclipse sneak peek and a few other documentary-esque spotlights and discussions.
So that makes for at a handful of observable differences between the two DVD versions, but let's start with the common features.
Standard two-disc edition features included on both editions
It goes without saying that both versions include the actual film, but just to be on the safe side . . .
In the commentary, director Chris Weitz and editor Peter Lambert reflect upon the making of the film as it plays out on the screen.
In the feature, a few new details about the filming process are revealed. Here are a few:
- Chris says he used the moon in the beginning because he figured there’d be screaming, and he did it the way he did because a lot of people at a science and film conference said it’d never been done correctly.
- The "Gran Dream" meadow rays were CGI-ed in and are called "God rays."
- Chris Weitz takes credit for the fact that Edward smiles after the audience screams during his entry.
- He also explains that the stance of the Cullen family in the den for the birthday scene was intentionally made to look like an eighteenth century portrait of a family in their specific, appropriate places.
- Weitz states that the golden tones of this film (as opposed to the colors used in Twilight) were meant to look like a Pre-Raphaelite painting.
- The “I love you” line by the truck was an “ADR line,” and it was the actors’ idea to add it in when things are going wrong rather than when they are good between the two characters.
- Chris Weitz says it “killed” him when the break-up scene got out on the internet before the film made it to theaters. He wanted audiences to see it for the first time in the theater.
- A lot of the camera cut uses in the film, particularly those surrounding the break-up scene, were very intentional so as to reflect the mood of the sequence. For instance, when Edward is breaking up with Bella, a “Dutch” angle is used on her face, and when she is alone in the woods, the camera circles down on her to reflect the world coming down on her.
- Sam Uley wore long shorts because Chaske Spencer had an injured knee.
- A man did Kristen Stewart’s motorcycle splat stunt.
- The Comic Con clip of Taylor taking his shirt off was cut into a thinner pan because Stephenie Meyer called it “Jacob’s Chippendale Audition.”
- Chris Weitz also revealed why he made for a good romance director when he described the founding moments between he and his own companion . . . Awww.
- Hallucination Edward flickers according to the movement of a candle flame. Chris Weitz says they were synced together.
- It was Edi Gathegi that suggested Laurent actually fight with the wolves because he wouldn’t go down running.
- Taylor Lautner really jumped out of the window in the bedroom scene with Bella.
Weitz and Lambert also keep a hilarious running tally of Jacob's "mistakes" in the story. They are as follows: (1) When Jacob mentions "that Cullen guy" as he and Bella are joking about age; (2) When Jacob doesn’t kiss Bella after she’s hit her head on the side of the road and calls him “sort of beautiful”; (3) When he tries to hold Bella’s hand at the movie theater; (4) and when Jacob leaves Bella to go chase after Victoria after she’s learned he’s a werewolf.
- The Journey Continues: A 6 Part Documentary on the Making of ‘The Twilight Saga: New Moon’
This six-part feature includes quite a few interesting tidbits of information. The six features are as follows:
- Life After 'Twilight': The cast reflects upon how their individual lives have changed since Twilight came out and how this has built things up for New Moon and Eclipse.
- Chris Weitz Takes the Helm: The actors praise Chris Weitz and how easy and fun he is to work with.
- The Subtle Details: Tish Monaghan (Costume Director) and David Brisbane (Production Designer) talk about some of the challenges and successes in designing the more intricate details of the film's on-screen look.
- A Look at Production: This is exactly what it would seem to be: a look at the production of New Moon in process. This portion of the feature offers a few new details about the film that were previously untold in the commentary such as the fact that the break-up sequence was filmed in a hotbed of "giant mosquitos" and that Chris Weitz warred with himself over the necessity of the rain in the Bella and Jacob "break-up" sequence (but rain won out for its atmospheric "charge").
- It's Not Magic: This shows how some scenes were put together in the post-production phases and with the non-magic of CGI (i.e., Bella's cliff-diving scene).
- Ready for the World: Peter Lambert talks about how he and the team selected certain shots and moments to make the film's cut. We learn that most of the wolf fight scenes were filmed as a blank landscape shot and that several versions of Edward's part of the break-up scene were filmed.
Both the WalMart and Target versions have "Music Videos" as a special feature. The four videos shown in this feature are as follows:
- “Meet Me on the Equinox” Music Video by Death Cab for Cutie
- “Satellite Heart” Music Video by Anya Marina
- Behind the scenes rehearsal of “I Belong to You” by Muse
- “Spotlight” music video by MUTHMATH (from the ‘Twilight’ Soundtrack)
Special features included on the Target version only
The Target version, first and foremost, includes eleven snippets of non-included footage from the film. Some of them are extended scenes and others are outright deleted. Here is a list of the scenes with descriptions, and some of them are available for viewing
at Twilight Source.
Before any new clips are shown, Chris Weitz comes in and offers that “When you’re making a movie, sometimes you want the film to be a certain length . . . and so there were some moments that were left out that fans might be interested in seeing. I don’t think any of them are crucial . . .”
- Bella’s Birthday Cake: The scene starts after Rosalie gives Bella her gift and Alice takes a photo of Bella and Edward. All that is added is that moment when Bella says “Alice that cake could feed fifty, and you guys don’t even eat.” Then it goes into the scene where Bella gets Emmett’s gift.
- Driving Home from Party: It starts after Carlisle has stitched Bella up from the birthday party incident, and Bella and Edward are riding home in her truck. “Say something,” Bella says. “What do you want me to say?” Edward sneers. “I’m a total klutz, but it’s okay, things will go back to normal,” Bella offers. “Normal people get papercuts. If you had a normal party, it would come down to a band-aid. If I were a normal boyfriend, I wouldn’t have to fight the urge to kill you,” he says angrily. “Stop,” she interrupts. “I don’t want normal. I want you.” Then, the scene trails off into the kissing scene outside of the truck.
- Waking in the Woods: Bella has fallen onto the ground after chasing Edward through the woods. She is awoken by an ominous noise of heavy, deep breathing and stands up to run and hide. Footsteps approach, and then it pans to Bella being carried through the woods by Sam Uley.
- Charlie Puts Bella to Bed: This is a continuation scene from when Bella is returned by Sam. Charlie helps Bella to bed, saying “What the hell were you thinking baby? Why were you out there?” The room is up-side down from Bella’s perspective, but she only says “He’s just gone.” She shifts sleeplessly around the bed, whimpering.
- Bob’s Bikes: This is a continuation scene of when Bella is still mopey, and Charlie speaks to the next door neighbor Bob as he places some old bikes next to the roadway. “Yeah, it’s about time you got rid of those stupid things, Bob. Seen one too many bikers smeared on the highway,” Charlie says. “Save the lecture, Chief. Soon as someone hauls them away for scrap, you and my wife can rest easy. Hey, what’s the word on this bear problem? Folks are saying that they’re huge?” “Uh, yeah, that’s just talk,” he says before approaching Bella. “Hey, running a little late again aren’t ya?” he asks. “No, I’m fine,” she replies. After that, the discussion about her going to Jacksonville to stay with her mother comes up.
- Bike Crash: A sleek, new bike is running down a similar highway as Bella drove on in the beginning of the movie. We hear the sound of some animal grunting followed by the bike screeching, and the biker has skidded onto the road. He peels himself up slowly but appears to be a bit damaged. After that, it goes into Bella and Jacob working on their bikes.
- Bella’s Nightmare and Chat with Charlie: It starts with the scene where Jacob mentions Cullen and inspires a bad dream. In the dream, Edward is lying above Bella’s lifeless body on the bed, and a werewolf waits next to the bed while a caterpillar types an email on her computer. “Edward,” she addresses. “I’m not him.” “Who are you?” “You know who I am. I’m you. What do you want Bella?” “I want you Edward.” “That’s not my name. My name is nothing.” After that, it is Bella herself speaking with his voice. “You’re nothing.” She wakes up screaming. “I’m sorry I woke you up,” she says to Charlie. “It’s okay. Kind of like when you were a baby, I didn’t sleep then either.” He adds in “I do know what it’s like, you know. When your mother left, took you with her, that was not a good time for me. I thought about doing all kinds of crazy things just to ease the pain.” That’s when the whole “love the one you’re with” discussion starts up between Charlie and Bella.
- Remembering the Meadow: This shot shows the green screen of Bella and Jacob in the car. Jacob asks Bella about what would’ve happened if he said he couldn’t fix the bikes. After saying “we’d just have to figure something else out,” she offers that they could’ve studied “all the time.” “Someplace sunny,” she suggests when he asks about where they should ride. “I know, it’s above the cloud bank,” she answers. “It’s really hard to get to,” she says after remembering the meadow. “That’s okay.” It then goes into the scene where Bella sees Sam and the others cliff diving.
- Mike is Left at the Cinema: After Mike’s “that dude is weird” comment, Bella says that she hopes Mike feels better and walks off. In another take, she says “See ya” and walks off. Mike is left saying “I need a ride.” In the third take, she says nothing and walks off, leaving Mike saying “I’m sick too.”
- I’m Here if You Want to Talk: This scene starts out where Jacob is telling Bella to go away in the rain. He runs off, and Bella returns home soaking wet. Charlie sees her and says that “Billy called, said you and Jacob had a fight. Look, I’m sure you guys will work it out.” “I’m gonna change,” she says. “I’m here if you wanna talk,” Charlie adds as she walks away.
- Victoria’s Driving: After Bella tells Jacob that she knows what Victoria wants, it shows Victoria in the car having called Bella’s house. “My friend isn’t home,” she says to a limp blonde woman. “Thanks for the phone and the car, you’re a lifesaver. James hated cars. He liked to be close to the ground, but I’d steal one occasionally to throw him off the scent. See, we play hide and seek sometimes. No can hide like me, but no one can seek like James.” The woman wakes up confused. “Some games lasted for months, but we’d always get hungry for each other, so I’d let him find me. We never could get sick of each other. We would’ve had forever to try. You remind me of her, the little human that got James killed. Then again, you all look the same to me.” The woman realizes that her companion in the backseat (Michael) is dead and begins to scream. “James always did love a screamer," Victoria finishes.
- Interview with the Volturi
In this feature, Stephenie Meyer and the cast and filmmakers talk about the Volturi characters and settings. It's a nice little close-up look at the characters especially. One of the more interesting moments of the feature is when Christopher Heyerdahl talks about his character's backstory. He states that his character Marcus had the greatest love story of all time with Aro’s sister but that Aro ended up killing her. “He’s somewhat of a tragic figure, but he has to continue on with these ruffians.”
One thing that I was excited to hear about in this film was what happened to Ky Wildermuth. Back in May, he was announced as the winner of the "Be a Part of
New Moon" contest for his hilarious little rap, and he was originally supposed to be an extra in the film. Turns out, by the time he made it to the set the extras scenes were already done, so he robed Aro instead.
This is actually a pretty cool feature because it presents
Twilight fans in an appropriate and non-bandwagon sort of way. In a sense, it is a big (and literal) "THANK YOU" to
Twilight fans for supporting the film franchise with such devoted fervor.
- The Beat Goes On: The Music of ‘The Twilight Saga; New Moon’
Alexandra Patsavas reveals that she started with a palette, and Chris Weitz opined that the soundtrack had the potential to be one of the great break-up albums out there.
Interesting spotlight features on the following soundtrack contributors are given:
- Sea Wolf
- Band of Skulls
- Anya Marina
- Death Cab for Cutie
- Frame by Frame: Storyboards to Screen
This is kind of a fun look at what the original storyboards for certain scenes looked like in original conception form as opposed to what they looked like on-screen after shooting.
Special features included on the WalMart version only
- The Twilight Saga: Eclipse Sneak Peek
This portion of WalMart's exclusive includes an extended sneak peek of filming behind-the-scenes as well as a clip from the actual movie.
See here for more on this feature.
- Team Edward versus Team Jacob: The Ultimate Love Triangle
The cast and filmmakers of the film talk about what the appeal of the two characters. For instance, Peter Facinelli opines that the situation is as follows: “You know, one’s the best friend and one’s the soulmate."
- Introducing the Wolf Pack
This feature shows some of the behind-the-scenes work that it took to get the wolfpack cast members into shape for the film.
We get to meet and know the cast members filling these roles a little bit more as well as more about how their characters reflect an actual wolfpack in their behaviors.
This is a spotlight on Taylor Lautner's process in becoming ready to bring Jacob Black to the big screen for
New Moon. You probably already knew that whether he would return for the role was a bit of a controversy in the early stages of the project, but by the time this feature was made, everyone seemed pretty convinced.
This is a good little feature on the decision that Edward made in approaching the Volturi. It's an interesting synopsis of the mindset and motives involved in that decision.
- Jacob Fast Forward (and) Edward Fast Forward
These are actually two separate features, but they're most significant when compared to one another. They are both flash forward compilations of all of the sequences involving the two characters. Watching them is like cutting the other out and viewing the story without the other in it. Jacob's is
much longer than Edward's, and it's really interesting to see the story arc play out this way. Literally a plus for "teams."
Conclusion
As you can see, both versions' special features offerings are vast. Comparing them is like comparing apples and oranges . . . or . . . Edward and Jacob?
I can't say which is better suited for you as between the two of them. I loved the music features and deleted scenes from Target's version, but I also enjoyed the Eclipse sneak peek and little spotlight focuses offered in WalMart's.
I will say that I felt more like I got my money's worth with Target's than WalMart's if that helps!
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