It’s that time of year again, where I jump on here and give you my thoughts about the latest Degrassi DVD release. Normally the value of these DVDs for me lies in what extra features come with them. However, season 12 is a really strong season, and would be worth owning even if there were no extra features at all.
Right off the bat it needs to be mentioned that ALL FORTY SEASON 12 EPISODES are in this DVD set. Since season 10, the seasons have always been broken up into two different DVD releases: 1) the summer telenovela and 2) the rest of the season. If you bought the DVDs as they were released, you were spending anywhere from $30 – $40 for an entire season. Because online retailers like Amazon always sell the DVDs cheaper than the list price of $19.99, season 12 is an absolute steal by default.
The first thing you’ll notice is that Echo Bridge has abandoned the the confusing double-sided DVDs, returning to single-sided ones that clearly identify the discs and their content. Normally the cases come with multiple media trays to hold the DVDs, of which one is flimsy and fragile. This case only contains one, a deeper tray and longer circular hub that lets you stack the DVDs on top of each other.
Each disc contains episodes as well as bonus features:
Disc 3 says there’s only 38 episodes, but that’s because the Las Vegas special and The Time of My Life are treated as if they’re one-hour episodes.
My biggest complaint about the season 11 DVDs were the terrible menus, which lazily listed the episode numbers instead of the episode titles. I’m happy to report that I won’t have to fulfill my promise to drive up North and break the DVDs over someone’s head, as the season 12 DVD menus are absolutely wonderful. The main menu is simple, and this is the first Degrassi DVD set to not loop any music.
The episode menus are exactly what they need to be…direct and easy to navigate.
Degrassi has done a wonderful job over the past few seasons in regards to extra content, and it continues the show in these DVDs. The bonus features and bloopers are well done, and even if some of the behind-the-scenes videos have been posted online before they’re still worth watching again. The only disappointing aspect of this DVD set is the lack of commentary. The Time Of My Life is the only episode with commentary, which is a thoroughly underrated feature. Otherwise, what you get with the Degrassi 12 DVD is a nice-looking, robust set that does season 12 justice.
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Kary's Degrassi Blog 
ugh now I want to buy it
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The bloopers annoyed me. It was like 85% Munro. Are they aware there’s a huge cast ? I know he’s their little money maker, but JC.
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I had a feeling that the format for the Season 12 DVD would be better seeing that past ones were lazy-looking. It’s nice to see that Season 12 gets the effort that it deserves when it comes to things like this…one can only imagine what next season’s DVD will look like -.-
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I pre-ordered and I wonder if it was out later stateside or Amazon had it on backorder cause it’s not supposed to ship out to me til next week….anyway I see that they are going for quality which must be the reason for the long wait for the disk…. great job
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I’m really not sure why it’s not shipping until next week. I pre-ordered as well and chose the shipping option that guaranteed it’d arrive on release day, because the standard shipping said it was going to wait a few days to send it out. I can’t imagine it’d be backordered though, I doubt it’d be that popular lol
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I pre-ordered from Barnes and Noble and I’m waiting for it to ship. I had the same issue with Season 10.
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Who did the commentary track?
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Aislinn, Cristine, Jacob and Mark Pancer (First AD)
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I hate hate hate the packaging. It’s just asking for the discs to get scratched. I’ve elected to put them in seperate CD cases to avoid that. Lazy of them. The content is awesome, though
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Thanks to your review I decided to buy it. I used to be against echo bridge putting so many episodes on one dvd due to fear of loss of quality but they still look pretty good. Best release since season 10 part 1 (the Canadian version. I think we stopped releasing Degrassi on dvd over here in Canada since I’ve had to import the last few seasons.)
Also I’m not sure if you’ve noticed but I’m pretty sure they’re releasing a complete season 11 set in December.
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Wre can you buy it??
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