Now more than ever, special editions of classic films are being released on DVD with enough extra features to keep you drooling for days. Two of the recent releases help in raising the standards for just how comprehensive the DVD format can be — delivering everything you ever wanted to know about these movies but were afraid to ask. If you haven’t had the chance or the money to go to film school but wanted to, these are a good way to catch a real glimpse of what goes on in the making a movie.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day is a wonderful addition to any DVD library. You can find it either on a DVD-18 single disc, or two DVD-9 discs; there is no difference between the two, just overloaded DVD production companies that couldn’t keep up with demand and had to use two disks. If you only know the theatrical version of the film and didn’t catch the extended one on laserdisc, this one not only has the theatrical version and extended version but also, a third version with even more never before-seen scenes. To get to the third version, you have to enter a secret numerical code at the main menu. (Hint: it is an important date that you hear often in the film and leave out that first zero.)

Unlike Artisan’s earlier DVD release of T2, this version is presented in beautiful, animorphic widescreen and contains both Dolby Digital and DTS sound on the same disc. As for the extras, there are plenty. Not only do you get over 50 behind the scenes shorts on the film and three longer documentaries, you also get storyboards, multiple-angle comparisons of scenes in various stages of completion, a commentary track that includes about 26 cast and crew members, the entire filming script, and much more. Basically, for about $25, you get a great deal.

Nine years after the initial release, the film still holds up very well despite minor dated aspects. The cast was chosen wisely — including Linda Hamilton’s twin sister being utilized very cleverly instead of special effects.

With talk of a third film already in play (minus director James Cameron), this is a good opportunity to get reacquainted with these characters, the story, and the incredible action sequences.

One of the fun features on this disc that Columbia/Tri-Star has been a pioneer in using on DVDs (beginning with Ghostbusters) is a visual commentary track where you can see the silhouette of those talking — in this case, director Barry Sonnenfeld and costar Tommy Lee Jones — much like Mystery Science Theater 3000.

There are some standard documentaries and one new one but what sets this disc apart from many is a scene-editing workshop (found on the Collector’s Edition only) that lets the viewer edit three different scenes by previewing and choosing the angles they want. While this won’t get the viewer a directing gig on the next Batman film, it will give a bit of cool insight on the decisions filmmakers need to make to put a scene together.

Along with the usual trailers, there is a short teaser trailer for Men In Black 2 that will get any fan of the film excited. Like any good edition, there are storyboard comparisons that let you glimpse into how the film is planned out in terms of the look that the filmmakers want and the shots that they need to get. This let’s you see how close the original vision matches up when compared to its original conception.

Recently, I have been concentrating more and more on DVD releases of great films like these mainly because, while DVD won’t be the last piece of technology that we’ll use to watch movies, it is currently the best around. Not only do you get a great looking print of the film, you get so much information about each specific film and how to make movies in general, that any cinephile can’t resist falling in love with these little pieces of plastic in a matter of minutes.

If you are seriously thinking of becoming a filmmaker or working on them, you should rent or buy last year’s best film (in my humble opinion) Magnolia on DVD. What you get on disc two is writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson’s behind the scenes documentary that, for an hour-and-a-half, chronicles the journey of his film from preproduction to months after the release and everything in between. This, more than any documentary I’ve ever seen on DVD, gives you a true sense of just how involved and complicated making a movie is, even in a film like Magnolia that is comparatively light on action and heavy in talk. Either way, they are immense undertakings that make you marvel at just how in the world they manage to get the thing together in the end.

With some great B-movies and couch classics being released on DVD more and more (including Jurassic Park and Lost World coming soon), film buffs get a second chance to watch some great work in its best condition, many times worlds better than they were in their original theatrical release. It’s no wonder that movie theaters are having their worse summer in years, because unless you have the newest state of the art theater by you, you’re probably able to have a better theater at home thanks to DVD.