the one in which I bitch about bad DVD cover art

Yeah, you heard me. Bad DVD cover art REALLY pisses me off. Particularly when I think I'm ordering one edition and then somehow end up with another that is horrifically and senselessly uglier.

The thing is, apparently the powers that be just released this new Gandhi 2-disc set this February... even though there's been a BEAUTIFULLY designed, pristinely packaged set on the shelves for a while now. This new one coincides with the film's 25th anniversary, which I suppose is why they felt it appropriate to release a new one at all. But why why WHY did they go from this:


...to THIS:

Alright. Now, putting aside the discrepancy over just how many oscars the film won (the correct answer is 8), this new DVD art is inferior in every way. I mean, can you say LAZY DESIGN? Could they really not think of anything better than a generic big floating head, with uniform, disposable garbage in the background? And if they had to use a generic big floating head, couldn't they have gotten an image that was ACTUALLY Ben Kingsley!? This face is either not him at all, or heavily doctored. It smacks of photoshop tinkering. Not to mention that there was this lovely pristine quality and nice material used on the previous box (I've seen it up close and in person), and this one is just a generic DVD box with wraparound art. I'm SO pissed.

Aren't newer additions supposed to look nicer? Isn't that the whole point of new "anniversary" editions? This one may in fact have better special features (though the other wasn't lacking), but it sure is ugly. I just don't get how anyone could've approved this. It frustrates to no end.

I wish I could say the moral of this story is "don't buy any DVDs without seeing what you're getting" but everyone knows they're cheaper online. And sometimes it's hard to tell just what the deal is with the edition you're getting. Sigh.

P.S. I know Glenn can back me up on this. I realize not everyone gets all up in arms over bad cover art, but I know Glenn's on the same page. Right, Glenn? Right? I need validation...