I am a sci-fi nut. I love Doctor Who, Firefly, Star Trek, Supernatural, X Files, Stargate, Babylon 5, Space Precinct, and I don’t care who knows it. I am geek. A new series that I took an instant shine to is Sanctuary, from Canada, an innnovative show shot mostly on green screen, simply because of all the effects, but they have good stories too.
Recently I gave into temptation from Amazon and purchased Season 1, as there were a few episodes I missed, and I wanted to catch up, right from the beginning. It arrived yesterday, I got back late in the evening and immediately put disc 1 in, eager to watch the pilot episode in all its glory.
Wait… Where are the subtitles? I frantically searched through set-up, episode selection, even scene selection, desperately looking for that magic word “captions”. Then I examined the box minutely for any possible clues. In the end I was forced to accept that there were no subtitles.
It was at this point that I realised I’m spoilt. This DVD was released last year, in 2009. Silly me, I had assumed that a popular sci-fi / fantasy show, produced in the 21st century, the lead actress and executive producer of which, one Amanda Tapping, is a patron of Hearing Dogs for Deaf People (no, seriously, she is) would be released on DVD with subtitles.
Duh. How stupid do I feel now? And now, I discover, after some online research, that the Region 1 DVDs of Sanctuary are subtitled, but region 2 is not. What? That is so unfair. I mean, why? Why release one region with subtitles and one without? What, are deaf people who happen to live in region 2 not worthy of captions?
Now I’ve found a possibility, a non-region specific subtitled DVD set – from Australia. I’m stalking it on ebay and considering how far I will go in order to get subtitles. The answer is: a long way, and possibly as far as $50 AUS, which is what it will cost to buy and ship it to the UK. In the meantime, I’m going to try and recoup my costs on ebay – Sanctuary season 1 for £15, anyone? – and look for the official Sanctuary website / email address so I can complain. I mean, why? Why subtitle region 1 and not region 2?
SO unfair.
DeafFirefly 
Hi there,
I got a link to your post on Google. There is a forum at the show’s official website (www.sanctuaryforall.com) where you can post about this problem and make them aware of it. You could also try contacting E1 Entertainment (the region 2 distributor) to see if they will do something about it. They probably can’t do anything about Season 1, but hopefully they will avoid this same mistake for the Season 2 release if enough people complain about it. I know a lot of people in the UK and Australia were not happy about this very same thing.
You might also try the main distributor of the show in Canada, Tricon Films and Television. You can email them at info@triconfilms.com. They seem to be pretty good about addressing the problems people had with some of the DVD releases.
I also wanted to warn you about the Australian region 4 release. It has all of the episodes, but a lot of the special features were excluded and from what I understand it does not have subtitles either. I don’t know if the one you are looking at is region 4 coded or not, but I would be sure to double check with the seller before buying it.
Glad to see another Sanctuary fan online and I’m sorry the DVD set wasn’t what it should have been. 🙂
Hello,
Nice to meet you! I have registered at Sanctuaryforall and am waiting for my account to be activated, but have taken you up on E1 Entertainment and Tricon Films – I have emailed them both registering disappointment and asking if there are any subtitled region 2 DVDs in existence. Thanks for the tips! And I did email the seller and it turns out the DVDs aren’t subtitled 😦 so am considering buying region 1 and seeing if it’ll work with my DVD player (as it’s played region 1 before) or if it’ll spit them out 🙂 Where are you from? Thanks for getting in touch with all those tips, and hey don’t worry, not your fault! I might just have to wait for repeats on ITV2 :S
Warm regards! 🙂