My post earlier this week about the Paramount sale reminded me of one of the annoying aspects of the streaming era: that films and shows can go missing
This isn’t a new phenomenon. Even before the succession of VHS to DVD to Blu-Ray (not to forget the attempts of Betamax, LaserDisc, and HD DVD), prints of films and TV shows could be hard to find.
But if a longstanding truth of the way to make money in the film industry is to have a library of films to monetize, streaming originally held the promise that more consumers could delve into the stacks for some forgotten gems. We should have realized the inherent impermanence of streaming service catalogs with all the comings and goings for Netflix as licensing deals were renewed or expired. However, I know I’m not the only one who thought we would at last be given unfettered access to all a studio’s vaults as those corporations created their services.
Not only has that not happened, those corporations have effectively killed some of their own IP made to be an original on said platforms… all to make a balance sheet look good for the moment. Luckily, some of them have been able to appear on other platforms (e.g. Prodigy is referenced in my link earlier), but others are gone. Not only that, shows you might want to watch sometime could disappear at any time. I saw earlier this year that Rooster Teeth is being shuttered. I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to find Red vs. Blue online, but less online-from-the-outset titles might not fare as well.
So what to do? Well, especially if you happen to subscribe to several streaming services, JustWatch.com is a good resource, even if it can occasionally not be up to date. But the sad fact is the film or show you’re seeking isn’t streaming anywhere (or, let’s be honest: at an on-demand price that you find too high… because you’ve already subscribed to all these streaming services). So what do you do then?
Well, you rely on some film buffs who haven’t stopped hunted for hard-to-find films like bibliophiles on a quest through every used bookstore they can find. I wish this could be some add-on to IMDb or JustWatch, but for now you need to work with timely articles, like this one by Ross Johnson for Lifehacker from earlier this month. Many of these films I’d recommend various people check out… and the list underscores how seemingly random their exclusion from online viewing (or even in-print DVD existence) can be. I mean, I understand Kevin Smith’s current reasoning regarding Dogma, but you’d think Ron Howard is still proud of Cocoon and would want it available.
If folks have other (legal) sources, definitely let me know.