Back in 2003, the Who Framed Roger Rabbit Special Edition DVD was finally released, and offered much more than the original edition released in 1999 (which actually offered NO special features at all!)
UPDATE: Blu Ray Release in 2013
This time around we were offered a ton of special features and also some very cool packaging. The slip cover shows Roger, Eddie, Benny and Jessica. The Toontown sky has is a foil blue background to make it shine. Inside the DVD case is made to look like Eddie's leather notebook.
Inside, there is a small Valiant & Valiant "notepad" which describes all of the features found on the two DVDs.
To add to all the great work and detail you can see on this DVD set packaging, there are two autographs of none other than Jessica and Roger!
The DVDs are printed to look like film reels - and the inside cover also has photos - one of Jessica and Baby Herman, the other of Judge Doom and The Weasels.
A special menue was made just for this DVD. They actually filmed at the same studio as Maroon Cartoons in the movie. The menu is fun (and animated). Benny the Cab is your guide (with new a new voice track by Charles Fleisher) bringing you to places like The Maroon Cartoon Studio (the actual lot used in the film). Even Jessica can be seen walking around.
The print was clean, crisp, and allowed us to see Jessica better than EVER!
It has been several years since the release of the SE DVD, and with Blu-Ray allowing so much more material to be put on one disc, maybe it is time for another release? The SE DVD did give plenty to keep you busy.
By now, most people know of the infamous deleted scene, nicknamed The Pig Head Sequence. Not only is it a great scene, but shows a LOT of Jessica, and leads the audience to suspect her of framing Roger. However, on the DVD, the scene is not complete and not in widescreen format.
There is a new documentary on the making of WFRR:
A game featuring the voice of Roger himself:
Plenty of pre-production art:
And a lot of other production art:
Sometimes with DVD's, far too many editions are released at a time. It can be particularly frustrating, and costly. But, with Who Framed Roger Rabbit, there remains a lot of extra features we have yet to see, and enough time has passed to warrent something new and exciting.
Early test pencil animations of Jessica, showing her drawn very different than the final version, can be found on the internet, and was origially shown as part of a making of specil back in 1988. This was not on the SE DVD, as well as the early test animation scene with Jessica (a clip of Roger and Eddie test animation was seen in the new documentary).
It would also be nice to see the complete Pig Head scene, and also have an option to incorperate that back into the movie if you choose to.
The three Roger short films were included on the SE DVD - but with no special features, and there should be production art or footage for the fourth short film, Hare in my Soup, which has yet to be seen.
It would also be great to see more production art for the Roger Rabbit ride (there are some stills on the SE DVD), and of the Roger themed area of MGM Studios.
As for the Jessica's store, there MUST be some art, photos, or Something that could be included as well!
As for now though, there are no plans for another edition of Who Framed Roger Rabbit on DVD. But, here's hoping.
