Last month, normal people and children went on Easter egg hunts, where multicolored poultry projectiles, boiled until hardened on the inside, became the object of pursuit and affection.
What do we geeks get? Until the advent of the DVD player, most of us wouldn't be caught dead hunting for eggs. But the producers of DVDs have taken to hiding little treasures of their own in on movie discs.
They're often buried deep within a disc, and it takes some degree of patience or a good Web site (such as www.dvdeastereggs.com, the one used for this article) to help find them.
Sometimes, yours truly has the patience to crack open a few eggs; other times, I'm just too lazy. But on some of the most prominent and popular releases from the past year, there have been some quirky and fun eggs worth viewing. Here's a dozen of some of the newest and most enjoyable:
— "Babylon 5: The Complete First Season"
The egg: A trailer that aired on stations after the pilot episode aired and before the first season began.
Crackin' it: Insert the sixth disc, go to special features on the main menu and hit enter. Move to The Universe of Babylon 5, press enter. Go to any of the five subjects on the right side and hit the right arrow key on your remote. The Babylon 5 logo will appear. Tap enter.
— "Barbershop"
The egg: Banter taken from actual barbershops and interviews with some of the barbers.
Crackin' it: Go to the special features area. Scroll to more; hit the up button to highlight the barber pole. Enjoy.
— "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring Special Extended DVD Edition"
The egg: A hilarious spoof from MTV featuring Jack Black and Sarah Michelle Gellar lampooning the Council of Elrond scene from LOTR.
Crackin' it: Go to the scene selection menu on the first disc and go to the final page to highlight the legitimate Council of Elrond scene. Hit the down button on your remote and you'll see an image of the One Ring. Press enter. Several minutes of sheer hilarity with a short introduction from none other than director Peter Jackson himself.
— "Monsters Inc."
The egg: Tour bloopers and an early test scene.
Crackin' it: On the second disc select the humans' door, highlight production tour, hit enter. Watch the entire tour. Doors will appear after the tour ends and a host of other goodies will be accessible using your navigation keys.
— "The Producers"
The egg: Ulla, a shady Broadway producer's secretary, struttin' her stuff.
Crackin' it: On the movie side of the disc, go to the main menu and highlight Springtime for Hitler on the top of the ticket. Watch as Ulla shimmies and shakes for you in silhouette.
— "Red Dragon: The Director's Edition"
The egg: Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter talks to you.
Crackin' it: On disc two, go to the main menu. Tap the left button. The screen will pause for a second and out comes the voice of the notorious killer himself.
— "Singin' in the Rain"
The egg: Baz Luhrmann, the director of "Moulin Rouge," talks about the influence of the movie musical on American cinema.
Crackin' it: Using disc two, go to the main menu, hit the left arrow button and part of the lamppost where Gene Kelly hangs turns an Exorcistic shade of green. Hit enter and Luhrmann speaks.
— "Spider-Man"
The egg: Actually there are seven of them, but space won't allow me to put them all here. But one of the best is the CGI Bloopers and Gag Reel.
Crackin' it: On disc one go to special features. Go to commentaries and click on it. A spider will highlight a picture of the character Harry Osborne. Hit enter. Some extremely amusing CGI moments pop up.
— "Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones"
The egg: A reel of outtakes featuring the cast of the second chapter in George Lucas' space saga.
Crackin' it: On disc one at the options page, press the 10+, 1 and then wait for a slight pause. Press 3 and, again, wait for a pause. Then press 8. Enjoy.
— "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock"
The egg: A hidden featurette.
Crackin' it: On the main menu, move over to The Star Trek Universe and hit enter. Use the right arrow button to highlight the Vulcan throne, hit enter and enjoy a seven-minute movie on puppetry in the movie.
— "Undercover Brother"
The egg: Quotes from the movie.
Crackin' it: Go to bonus materials from the main menu, push the right arrow button in the comments, and push the down arrow on either off or on, and the letters UB will appear. Hit enter.
— "Willow: Special Edition"
The egg: The Making of Raziel's Transformation
Crackin' it: Under the special features head to the TV spots category and highlight more. Hit the right arrow button once and boom, a fairy appears. Hit enter once and you're treated to a featurette about the visual effects surrounding the morphing of one character.