I have become cumbersome...

I love when companies solicit the help of fans in a big decision sort of situation. Okay, not that I'm being asked to help save the world or anything. Just assist those that assist he who actually does save the world, each week for 24 weeks straight on FOX.

That man is, of course, Jack Bauer.

And the crew behind the DVD box sets of the show 24 are asking fans to help pick the box design for the fifth season DVD set of the show. The set has not been officially announced yet as the season is still going, but it's likely to be out sometime in August or September if past season set releases are any indication.

They have five potential designs available and the online survey asks you to pick your favorite. When you click submit, they then ask you to rank the other four in order of preference. The next page asks for your contact information (name, birthdate, and e-mail address) as well as asking you to type why you picked the way you did.

I actually picked the first one as my favorite. It's very dark and sparse as this entire season has been and I really dig the minimalist nature of it. The fifth one was my next choice because of the goldtone color they use that fits in nicely with all the promotional pieces that came out to market the fifth season. Plus, I think the spines of both of these choices fit best with seasons 1-4. Number 4 was my number 3 and only because I just really don't like the collage-style covers of options 2 and 3. In all honesty, I really don't like options 2-4 at all. 1 and 5 are the only choices I like.

After you pick the box art you like and give them all that information, they then ask you to pick what kind of storage options you prefer. Traditionally, the 24 sets have been sold in the DigiPak style used on the left. This time around, however, they're considering using the ThinPak style on the right.

In all honesty, I hate Digipaks. They're unwieldy as hell because you keep unfolding them continuously to find the damn disc you want. And, when the set has six DVDs, this can be really cumbersome. The ThinPaks are the really slim DVD snap cases like what is used in Seinfeld DVD sets. They are the same height and width dimensions of a standard DVD case, but half the thickness. I much prefer ThinPaks as you can carry around the individual discs without having to lug around that big mother of a DigiPak.

But I chose the DigiPak. Why?

Because I'm also a big fan of continuity. If my first four DVD sets are DigiPaks, then I want the fifth one to be the same. If they switch to ThinPak for the fifth season, the box will be about 2/3 the thickness of the other sets. I'm slightly OCD, so this would bug the hell out of me. Unless, of course, they offer me the option of swapping out all my original packages for ThinPaks. That would be pretty dang sweet!

And, hey, I forgot to mention... if you complete the survey, you are entered to win seasons 1-4 on DVD and you get an instant $5 savings coupon at the Fox online store. If one of you happens to win, let me know. It'd be cool to think I guided the winner over to the site. Also, since I forgot to pay attention myself, see if you can find out when the actual drawing of winners is slated to occur.

If I win, however, I'm not sure what I'll do as I already own seasons 1-4 on DVD. Trade? Sell? Giveaway? I dunno.

So get over there and complete the survey!

Comments

[Karl]

Cool, I'm heading over to the survey now. I own the first season but none of the others. I didn't watch the first season when it was on TV but so many friends urged me to watch it that I bought it on DVD. Loved it, of course. Especially loved watching it without all the commercials...ha. And now I have Tivo so I don't have to watch the commercials. Ah, the Circle of Life.

[MadIrishMan]

I have only seen one episode of 24 and I loved it. It was a recent episode where Jack was in a bank getting the recording of the President. I will need to borrow seasons 1-4 from you!

[suze]

my boyfriend and i didn't start watching 24 until the 3rd season. My friend had loaned us the 1st season set and we compulsivley watched it all in a weekend. We kept turning to each other and saying "just one more..." far too many times. We then ran out and bought the second season that week and repeated the obsessive compuslive 24 watching the next weekend. Looking back at it now, I'm totally ashamed of our total inactivity over two weekends, but at the time it was fantastic.

[Jacquie]

I LOVE this show!!! It's the only show I watch. I never miss an episode except once when I was in Ireland but then again, I think I actually found it and watched it there. I can't remember. It was a few years ago. I just wanted to brag about being in Ireland really (twice actually).

Anyway, thanks for the 411! I agree with you on your choices. 1 and 5!!!

[Jacquie]

I went and voted for #1.

[mikey]

I too hate digipaks, give me ThinPaks everytime. Maybe they will let you swap and make your day?

[Kevin]

Karl, watching it without commercials is awesome. But TiVo does help some of that. It fast forwards through commercials better than any VHS player. Watching them on DVD is cool but it does kinda violate the one hour per episode rule. Cuts out 20 odd minutes.

MIM, only if you're really damned nice to me. And, even then, there had better be money changing hands. Preferably from your hands to mine.

Suze, I didn't start until season 3 also. Katie didn't start until this season. But there's a story behind it. Check these links out... Kevin and Katie attempt to watch all four old seasons of 24 prior to season 5 premiere.

Jacquie, yeah, just you go and rub in the Ireland trip fact, why don't you? MIM would be proud having been to Ireland himself a couple years ago. Box 1 is definitely best, especially when you can view it larger on the survey site. Any word about when the drawing is happening?

Mikey, that would be too awesome. It is a possibility. Some DVD companies are realizing that TV shows on DVD really are their bread and butter anymore. So they might cater to us a bit more readily. One can hope.

[MadIrishMan]

Lets not forget that you owe me some money.($25 and $16) You can figure those out. Just throw in the first 4 seasons too. Covers 1 and 5 are the best.

[Johnny C.]

I'm with you man. #1 with the thinpack case.

Goodluck with the contest!

Don't stop!

[Nicole]

I've actually never watched 24 but I've been told I would like it. I think I'm going to wait until the show ends and then start from the very beginning. That way after each cliffhanger I can just go on to the next episode without waiting.

[Kevin]

MIM, I know I owe you $16 for the Terrible Towels, but where'd the other $25 come from?

Johnny, we shall see what happens.

Nicole, that's a lot of viewing hours considering Kiefer just signed a three-year contract extension to keep playing Jack Bauer. Hope you got some time on your hands.

[sandra]

I'm not sure I'm allowed to pick -- I've never seen the show!

[nicole]

Damn, I got URL not found. I would have voted for #5, but I guess they took it down. I love that show. If you win, can I have the discs? ;) This is my first season watching ... although someone copied Season 2 for us so we're watching that when we work out. Shhhh....

[Neil]

It says 404 not found! Maybe Fox was afraid that we were voting for the wrong box design.

[Bec, Preston]

Have been buying the box sets for 24 along with all the others I need... Not want... NEED. So much time without cable, having a job with silly hours AND the complete unreliability of British terrestrial TV to continue showing shows at a decent time meant I missed whole seasons of fabulous shows like 24.
And then, once you've missed a season trying to catch up without annoying everyone with 'who's that? where's so and so?' 'what's going on?' type questions is virtually impossible.
I love box sets for that initial period after buying them when you live in front of the TV blitzing stupid numbers of episodes one after the other. Me and an equally crazy friend watched the first 2 seasons of The West Wing in one weekend. Yes, baby, 36 hours of TV. Then we slept. But it was so so so good!

[Kevin]

Sandra, get watching!

Nicole and Neil, I suddenly got the same problem. So I probed around a bit and found that the survey period was done. Dang, that was quick! Or maybe TVshowsonDVD.com was just really late in letting us know about the promotion.

Bec (& Preston), I'd die without my 24 fix these days. Not being able to rely on networks to bring me the shows I want does tend to tick me off to no end. And, even worse, is when shows become pre-empted by some special event programming at the last second. TiVo (and even VCRs) rely on accuracy in programming to record shows. Since I'm never really around to watch shows as they air, I need networks to get their stuff straight. For the most part, they're pretty good about it. Other times, though... As for marathon watching of shows, check out some of the links I left for Suze in another comment on this post. Katie and I did the same thing with 24 before this season started.

[Bec]

Oh wow... read the posts on your marthon race with the first four seasons. Love that it was Katie who got you to watch more. And, of course, the crush on Jack. Beautiful...
The Bec, Preston thing was due to me not paying attantion adn posting on a news website before yours. Am braindead. Have been on hold for a while as my TVDrive (Telewest Cable version of Tivo) is playing up and has not recorded Doctor Who, The O.C., Sports Night, Smallville and *sob* Scrubs. I've had to watch (ugh) live television...

[Kevin]

I'd been trying to talk Katie into watching it since I started. She never wanted to. It was those friends that visited that day that helped push the issue. Good stuff. She's now just as addicted as I am. Yay!

[SJ]

My Firefly set is a ThinPak. I LOVE it. My Dark Angel sets are both Digipaks. I hate them now, but when I first got them they seemed so cool. Quite a step up from all my Buffy and X-Files (ahem) VHS boxed sets.

Wonder what format will come along to make us all consider ThinPaks cumbersome and unwieldy?

[Kevin]

I love ThinPak, no question about it. I have ThinPak on my Seinfeld and Family Guy sets. And I wouldn't mind it on my 24 sets if they'd give me a way to swap the original 4 seasons to get them in ThinPak as well. Call me OCD, if you will. But I strive for consistency.

I don't know if they can get much thinner. Next will be direct-to-brain transplants.

[Joygirl]

Another 24 fan?? I have pulled all of my friends and family into my downward spiral...

I am an Jack addict. I need a 12 (or 24) step program to get over Jack.

Oh, I voted for one too. It's hot!

You can come visit me at Rantings anytime!

[Kevin]

"Fan" is a very mild version of what I am. "Addict" is pretty close to the mark. "Freak" even better.

I do like the 24 step program, though. Very apropos.

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