In this section, extra features and screen shots of the DVD's will be showcased.  For a comprehensive review of any of these movies, please visit that movie's own section, links to which are found at the upper left of each page on this website.  Now scroll down to see the DVD goodies...

Overall Impression:   As usual, Centropolis has created a spectacular DVD that will set the standard for future discs.  This one is packed with extras, cool animated menus and -- my personal favorite -- extra scenes!!!  No DVD collection is complete without this one.  My only complaint is that there were no extra scenes to extend the mass destruction of L.A., New York and Washington...

Unlock the Easter Eggs!!! From the Data Console menu on Disc 2, highlight the "Main Menu" button.  Now press the right arrow key on your remote. The LED on the desk computer should illuminate.  Press ENTER. The floppy disc will go in, the supports in the background will retract and the Alien Attacker will start to hover. You will also briefly see instructions displayed on the computer screen that reads "Access 7-4-Enter". The ship will now hover indefinitely.  Select the "Main Menu" button and press ENTER. This will take you back to the wide view of the hangar, but the ship should still be hovering.  IMPORTANT: once the camera has settled in the wide view and the other text buttons have come up, you literally only have THREE SECONDS to enter the access code into the numeric pad on your remote, otherwise the ship will stop hovering and you'll have to go back into the Data Console menu to activate it again.  The challenge is this: different DVD players require entering the code in different ways, so "7, 4, ENTER" only works on some players. If your player has a "+10" key on your remote, then you may have to press it SEVEN TIMES and THEN press "4". In effect, you are entering the number "74", so do whatever your player expects from you to do so. Some players require you to press the digits within two seconds of each other, some do not require pressing the ENTER key at all when you enter numbers, etc. RTFM for your player... ;-)  If you enter the code successfully within the timeframe, you should see a whiteout transition that takes you into the Attacker cockpit. This motion menu is the Easter Egg menu. From this menu, you can access four different things:  * Disc Credits, which are seven still frames containing the names of all the responsible parties (as well as some names in the Special Thanks section potentially interesting to SF fans);  * Sonic Separator, which plays the "Time's Up" destruction sequence from the film while allowing you to switch between the dialogue, sound effects, music or composite mix audio tracks using the "Audio Change" button on your remote;  * Combat Review, which will randomly play one of twelve little effects montages from the film; and  * Monitor Earth Broadcasts, which will randomly play one of twenty-two newscast segments briefly seen in the film, usually in their entirety. (Note: some of the "international" newscasts are silent or have silent segments, as they were only used in background video walls; others, like the "Welcome Wagon" segment, was broken into two overlapping halves due to Fox legal reasonings. For that same legal copout, some of the more prominent newscasts and actual show references seen in the film --the McLaughlin Group and Entertainment Tonight, for instance-- were left off the disc because Fox didn't want to take a chance that they may have to pay re-use fees.) SOME MORE TRICKS: From the Easter Egg menu, press 7, 2, ENTER (or whatever your player requires to accept the number "72") and you will get a Combat Review menu that will allow you to pick which of the twelve effect montage clips you want to watch, rather than having to try to view them randomly.  From the Easter Egg menu, press 7, 3, ENTER (or whatever your player requires to accept the number "73") and you will get a pair of text frames explaining the making of the newcasts, plus a pair of menu pages that will allow you to pick which of the twenty-two newscast clips you want to watch, rather than having to try to view them randomly.

Special Edition extra scenes:   9 minutes of additional footage that was not seen in the original theatrical version is included in a separate special edition version of the movie.  These scenes are edited into the original movie for seamless integration:

	[1] The first extra scene that we see is short but sweet.  It is inserted in the middle of the scene where President Whitmore and Connie are talking at breakfast before the aliens have arrived.  While Whitmore is down in the dumps because of recent criticisms, Connie tries to cheer him up by showing him a newspaper article in the Orange County Dispatch that has declared the President as one of the ten sexiest men of the year.
	[2] The second added scene occurs in the oval office where President Whitmore simply says, "Take us to DefCon 3."  This is a subtle scene that is easy to miss.   But diehard fans will remember that when Whitmore just mentioned the possibility of upgrading the defense condition status later on in the movie, it sparked a heated argument amongst his staff.  A bell went off in my head when he said this and there was no reaction at all.
	[3] This third added scene shows a conversation between David and the guy with the raspy voice at work.  David is spewing a lot of Star Trek-like techno-babble about how he is going to fix the problem with the satellite signals that are currently going haywire.
	[4] The fourth added scene happens right after Russel gets released from jail and reunites with his kids at their trailer.  This is a very revealing scene about the relationship between Russel and his kids.  During the first part, Miguel confronts Russel, saying that they are leaving and going to live with their Uncle Hector in Tucson.  Russel just laughs and ridicules the plan.  Miguel then accuses Russel of being a bad father to them and goes as far as saying that the only reason that he is their father is because he married their mother.  The fact that Russel is a stepfather to Miguel and Troy was a point that was not revealed in the original theatrical version of ID4.  Miguel then blasts Russel for not providing for Troy who is sick and needs expensive medicine for some unknown ailment.  Again, it was not made clear in the theatrical version that Troy had a disease.  There was a scene where Troy throws up, but it is implied that this is simply because of the intense situation that has presented itself with the arrival of the aliens.  In the second part of the scene, Troy, upset that Miguel and Russel are fighting, breaks a bottle of his medicine on the ground and yells at the two.  Miguel then scolds Troy for doing this because the medicine is so costly.	\
	[5] The fifth added scene happens in the strip joint where Jasmine works.  Tiffany reveals how she lost all of her money gambling in Las Vegas recently.  This occurs as an addition to the scene where Jasmine is trying to convince Tiffany not to go to the downtown Los Angeles building where people are gathering on its rooftop to welcome the alien visitors.   In the next part of this scene, Jasmine grabs her son and is about to leave when she is confronted by her boss.  Portrayed as the stereotypical strip club owner, the boss threatens to fire Jasmine if she leaves before her shift is up.  Unperturbed by the threat, Jasmine quickly exits the room, concerned more for the safety of her and her son.
	[6] Another added scene occurs when David and his father are driving into Washington.  In the theatrical version, they just simply drove into the city without incident.  In the special edition version, numerous cars have decided to jump into the oncoming lane in an attempt to avoid the horrendous traffic jam.  A logical thing to do since everyone is trying to get out of Washington and nobody in their right mind would want to go into the city with a mammoth alien city destroyer hovering over it!  Surprised to see cars going the wrong way in his lane, Mr. Levinson swerves recklessly to avoid the oncoming rush of cars.  Once out of danger, David performs a search on his computer for Connie's cell phone number.  After several failed attempts at finding the number, the father suggests to look it up under her married name.  David ridicules this, refusing to believe that she would do such a thing seeing as they are divorced.  But to his surprise, David locates the cell phone number while Mr. Levinson gloats in the background.
	[7] Another humorous scene between David and his father happens while they are waiting for President Whitmore in the White House.  Mr. Levinson is amazed by the fact that he is actually standing in the White House and David cracks a joke at him because of the wide-eyed child-like manner with which his father is conducting himself.
	[8] Later on, we see more of the situation where Troy is sick.  Russel plays the caring father to the boy while he lies in the trailer.  This is the beginning of Russel's transformation from a drunken idiot into a heroic father figure.  During this scene, Russel talks to Troy about the boy's mother and how she was sick also.  In the second half of this scene, Russel's stepdaughter answers the door after somebody has knocked on it and finds a boy her age there.  The two flirt a little bit with each other before the boy reveals the real reason why he has come to their trailer -- to give a bottle of penicillin for Troy.  It's not the exact medication that is needed, but it is still a compassionate gesture that endears himself to the girl.
	[9] Here's a scene that usually appears in most alien invasion epics, but Dean and Roland decided to leave it out of the theatrical version.  It simply shows a maniacal preacher-like freak holding a cross and a bible who is proclaiming the end of the world amidst the flaming ruins of Los Angeles.  While driving the truck and rescuing others, Jasmine stops and tries to convince the preacher-guy to join them.  But alas, as with most psychotics, good judgement is shunned and he refuses to join.  I apologize for the poor screenshot, but those damned flames were always in the way no matter how many times I tried to get the shot!
	[10] The coolest extra scene in the ID4 Special Edition version occurs during the tour scene at Area 51.  There's an added section where Dr. Okun shows David the inside of the Alien Fighter cockpit.  This is mostly a humorous scene with Okun showing what little he knows about the Alien technology, but it does help clear up something.  One of the biggest things that bothered detractors of the movie was how David's laptop computer so easily communicated with the computer system on the Alien Mothership.  During this cockpit scene, David sees the video display showing the Alien communication signal and then holds his laptop beside it to reveal that it's the same signal that he had discovered earlier, just before the Alien City Destroyers arrived.  This may not completely explain the computer compatibility, but it does make it at least a little more plausible.   During the tour of the cockpit, Okun has to leave as the alien captured by Captain Hiller is brought into the base.  Frustrated that Troy is getting sicker by the minute, Russel unsuccessfully tries to get the attention of some of the doctors at the base as they're rushing the Alien body indoors.  After several moments of being ignored, he finally grabs one of the doctors and forces him to help his son.  It is a moment where the viewer starts to gain serious respect for Russel with his intense portrayal of the concerned father.
	[11] The final added scene involves Russel's daughter and the boy that she was flirting with earlier in the 8th extra scene.   This is kind of a corny scene during the final battle where the two younguns are comforting each other deep withing the bowels of the Area 51 base.  In a tie-in to an earlier scene (which was in the theatrical version), the girl tells the boy that she doesn't want to die as a virgin.  In unexpected gentlemanly fashion, the boy comforts her without making any sexual advances.  Come one!  This is by far the most unrealistic scene in the entire movie!

Overall Impression:   First of all, I'd like to say that Artisan Home Entertainment (the company that produced this DVD) made a smart decision when they decided to release this special edition DVD for Stargate.  The original Stargate DVD was an abomination for one simple reason: it was a single layered, double-sided disc.  This means that half-way through viewing the movie, you had to stop and flip the disc over in order to watch the second half.  To DVD fans everywhere, this was simply unacceptable.  Thus, the Special Edition was created.  What makes it special is outlined in detail below.  Here, I am going to simply talk about the quality of the DVD transfer.  Overall, the quality is excellent, especially with the rich musical score by composer David Arnold.   Picture quality is sharp throughout with a few notable exceptions.  First of all, the scene near the beginning where the workers are using many ropes to raise the stargate off the ground was of poor picture quality.  Namely, the colors were wrong and the ropes had a very computerized and pixellated look to them, something that is often a problem for DVD players rendering diagonal lines.  There were also several brief desert scenes that turned out very grainy, the most notable of which was the first udajeet attack scene on the village of Nagada (the udajeets are Ra's small attack ships and are also known as gull-wing gliders).  Speaking of the first udajeet attack scene, if you look carefully at precisely 1:25:43 (of the special edition version), you can see several strings attached to the udajeet ship as it flies towards and above the camera.   I doubt that it would take much effort at all to digitally remove these strings for the DVD version.  So why wasn't it done?

Special Edition extra scenes:   9 minutes of additional footage that was not seen in the original theatrical version is included in a separate special edition version of the movie.  These scenes are edited into the original movie for seamless integration:

	[1] The first scene creates a new beginning for the movie.  We are taken to 8000 BC where Ra's ship lands and the sun god abducts a human boy to be his host body.  This is basically a longer repeat of the flashback scene where Daniel Jackson and Sha'uri are discovering the historical relationship between Ra and the planet Abydos, specifically how Ra arrived and took a human boy.
	[2] The second added scene is shortly after this.  After the workers at Giza lift the stargate off the ground, they discover a strange fossil of some of Ra's Horus guards.  This is a good scene that adds eerie foreshadowing.
	[3] This third added scene also adds some eerie foreshadowing to the film.  After the military decides to go ahead and send a reconnaissance team through the stargate, Jack O'Neil enters a small chamber deep within the abandoned missile complex where the fossil that was shown in the second added scene is being kept.  The colonel just stands there and studies the fossil as General West approaches from behind.  O'Neil then coolly states, "You realize this complicates things."  Great foreshadowing -- my favorite added scene in the special edition.
	[4] The fourth added scene occurs when the recon team visits the village of Nagada for the first time.  Upon spotting an approaching sandstorm, the villagers close the main gates and start to prepare for the storm.  The soldiers misunderstand this chain of events, believing that the villagers are trying to trap and hold them prisoner within the village.  A tense stand-off develops with some shooting, but Skaara eventually convinces the soldiers of the good intentions of the villagers.
	[5] The fifth added scene shows the recon team (minus O'Neil, Jackson and a couple other soldiers) within the main pyramid after taking shelter from the sandstorm.  This is a brief scene that shows the soldiers talking amongst themselves and French Stewart's character talks about how there are tons of possible combinations for the stargate and that if you don't get it right that you could end up being transported into space.
	[6] The last added scene picks up after O'Neil, Jackson and the soldiers escape from Ra (the scene where Jackson was ordered by Ra to kill his friends with the blast lance).  It shows the group struggling through a vicious sandstorm before Skaara and some of the other villagers rescue the group and lead them to safe haven in some caves.  By the way, the original version cuts off the very end of this battle with Ra whereby we see some of the heroes getting on top of some mastadges (those hairy camel-like things) and fleeing the chaos of the battle.

Animated Menus: The main menu and special features menu are pretty standard for most DVD's today.  They have the usual choices with a few scenes from the movie playing in the background.  Very nicely done!
Production Notes: A nice, simple extra feature that is found on this DVD is some production notes.  Described here are how Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich came to be friends and partners along witth how their thought processes worked when dreaming up the idea for Stargate.  The notes also detail many other aspects of the production of the movie such as design, storyboards, costumes, locations and much more.
Scene selection: Nothing special to write home about here.  Very standard scene selection menu whereby you simply choose the scene where you want to jump to.  There is a still photo of each scene for you to see.  It's always cool though to have each scene with a short clip like the scene selection menu for the Godzilla DVD.  Oh well...
Cast and crew: Again, a pretty standard feature for most DVD's nowadays.  It's always interesting to check out the cast and crew for a movie that's a few years old.   For example, French Stewart, who later became well-known for his role as Harry on "Third Rock From The Sun", played one of the soldiers on the Abydos recon team.

Animated Menus:
 
The main menu for this DVD is very unique.   As you can see from the photos above, the menu options are along the top of the screen.  Within the main part of the screen, the scene from the movie where Mayor Ebert is giving his speech and the ground starts to shake before Godzilla knocks over a large building loops continuously.  What's really cool about this is that, with each booming footstep, the screen shakes.  The photo on the right captures this nicely (ie -- the photo is not blurry, I've just captured it in mid-shake).

Another great aspect of the animated menu, which is brief but very cool, is shown in the three photos above.  Whenever you select one of the options on the main menu, we are treated to an interesting transition to the next menu.  As you can see above, Godzilla eliminates the previous menu to make way for the next one.  Nice!

 
Once the big foot has stomped the main menu, the Extra Features menu appears (assuming that you selected this option!) and Godzilla's eye impatiently looks around while you take your time deciding what to do next.  It is from this menu where you can access most of the DVD's extra goodies.  The photo on the right shows an example of the "Godzilla Takes New York" section which is essentially a compilation of before and after pics.

Scene Selections: Each screen in the scene selections section (try saying that ten times really fast!) shows four scenes that you can jump to.  Each of the four scenes is animated whereby a short clip is looped continuously from each of the four scenes.

Theatrical Trailers: The trailers that are featured in this section include the museum teaser, the fisherman teaser and the longer theatrical trailer.  The New Year's teaser is strangely not included.  As an extra bonus for classic Godzilla enthusiasts, trailers for two Toho-made Godzilla movies -- "Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah" and "Godzilla and Mothra: The Battle For Earth" -- are included complete with the original Japanese audio and screen titles with English subtitles.

Featurette: Harry Shearer hosts this brief making-of segment.  As a gimmick, he is hosting the featurette as his Godzilla movie character, Charles Caiman.  There are a few cool behind-the-scenes moments shown such as dropping debris on a crowd of people, but these are scarce.  It would have been nice to see more about how the special effects were done.  What was shown was very brief.  Comments from Roland, Dean and cast members are included which is always interesting to hear from the movie's creators.   It's hilarious to see Roland Emmerich's horrified facial expression as he watches recently shot footage of a truck driver hanging on for dear life high above the ground as Godzilla shakes the truck.  It's also fun to see Roland, Matthew Broderick and Hank Azaria talk about Godzilla as though the giant lizard was real and actually there with them on the set during filming.

Godzilla Takes New York: This section simply shows a few before-and-after photos to show how the computer generated effects were added in after filming.  See the photos above for an example of this.

Photo Gallery: Most of the photos are simply taken from the movie itself.  There are a couple of cool pics that show the miniature sets of New York City and Madison Square Garden.