Things seem to be coming along nicely at Media Blasters with the
Invader Zim DVD releases. It was just within the past couple of weeks that
news came out about the May 11 street date for the first 2-Disc set, along with details about contents and extras.
2 more double-disc releases are planned follow, currently scheduled in roughly four-six week intervals. Afterward, as we
reported in the past, a Box Set will be made available containing all 3 double-disc sets.
Now, thanks to
the "Room With A Moose" website, we have more info about plans for that box set. According to fan correspondance and that website's interview with Media Blasters, there are several things revealed about box set strategies. Quoting various items from the Room With A Moose site:
- "A limited edition boxed set which promises to send fans' blood racing through their veins like giant radioactive rubber pants." - Media Blasters Press Release
- "The boxed set will be unique and we're trying to make it more than a printed box." - Frank Pannone, Production Coordinator, Media Blasters
- "The boxed set will be available after all the DVDs have been released as a direct pre-order only. It will be something very special. Less a box and more a piece of art. If you've seen some of Merideth's other boxes, you'll know what I mean." - Frank Pannone, Production Coordinator, Media Blasters (speaking about Merideth Mulroney, Chief Designer at Media Blasters, and in charge of the Invader Zim releases)
- "The Special box will be a pre-order deal offered at the time of the final release. This will be a limited run, say 5 to 7 thousand. It will either be Zim's house or a stuffed pig. I have already built a test the house (it's currently sitting at Nickelodeon) and the pig is based on a toy my friend made of GIR's little piggy (pictures will come soon). After that a more normal box set will probably happen. But that release is still undecided. Both boxes will come with a 4th disc of extras." - Merideth Mulroney, Chief Designer at Media Blasters
- "The Special box will only be through us..it will be too expense and large for retailers...The reason this box will be sold separately is because of its complexity. I love making special boxes...the last one I did was all wood with burned sides. The trick is getting a retailer to take an expensive item like this into a store. This could change and if retailers want it then the box will be in stores and sold lets say with either volume one or volume three inside. So it could change (I'll let you know if it does)." - Merideth Mulroney, Chief Designer at Media Blasters
- (Responding to question: "The boxes sound great. You mentioned a 'normal box'; would that be a non-limited release that still includes the final extra disc?") "Yeah.. A digipack thing (like transformers or futurama). The special box will cost more and only really appeals to collectors like us :P They rest can still get the extra disc but they don't want to pay for nor do they care about a big box." - Merideth Mulroney, Chief Designer at Media Blasters
Holy smokes, it sounds like they are going all-out to make this box set THE cool item to get! To sum it up, this will have all six DVDs full of episodes and supplements (3 releases with 2 DVDs each), plus an extra disc (they refer to it above as the 4th disc, but it's really the 7th) chock-full of bonus supplements that will differ from what is on the normal releases. Price is yet to be determined, and could be "expensive". The Limited Edition version of the box set will be available direct-order only, with quantities planned for 5,000-7,000 units for now (that could change). A more "normal" edition of the box set is planned for retail store release, probably using a "digipak" like those seen for season sets of
The Transformers, The X-Files, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Friends, etc. It will still come with the extra "4th" (7th) disc, and will almost certainly cost less than the limited edition set.
To REALLY get you charged up over this, below you will see some pictures that were published about a week ago over at
BadBadRubberPiggy.com, another site devoted to
Invader Zim. They have several shots of the prototype "House" box set that Merideth Mulroney mentions (none yet of the "Pig" prototype, but we'll keep an eye out for those). We have two of them for you, plus a look at the promotional poster that is surely being sent to DVD Retailers to help spread the word. Stay tuned, and we'll update you with any more news we get about the DVD invasion!
