Which Plan 9

[raj]

In my neverending quest to help the economy, I'm putting together a dvd order.  Amazon has two versions of Plan 9:

version 1 has a '40 minute documentary "The Ed Wood Story" featuring interviews with Johnny Depp, Martin Landay, Dolores Fuller, Vampira, Bela Lugosi Jr., and Johnny Legend'  Hmm, interviews with Vampira and Bela sound good.

version 2  'Includes the Retrospective Documentary Flying Saucers Over Hollywood: The Plan 9 Companion (1992, 111 min.), featuring interviews with stars Gregory Walcott, Carl Anthony, Paul Marco, Vampira and Conrad Brooks, plus sci-fi historian Forrest J. Ackerman and directors/fans Sam Raimi and Joe Dante' Longer, and with a Vampira interview, but no Bela listing.

Thoughts as to which version is better?

[Pete B6K]

Not seen the first one but, if it helps, I can recommend the second one. As far as I can see theres pretty much everything you could want to know about Ed Wood,  the film and its stars. Quite interesting and it's even longer than the film itself. Sam Raimi skit is pretty funny too.

Pete

[Abby]

I have both docs on video, and Flying Saucers Over Hollywood is the better (if more low-budget) documentary. In my opinion anyway.

Really, you should own both docs (as well as A Look Back In Angora). Flying Saucers was made before the Burton movie and before the book was through the roof. Ed Wood Story came out after the movie and thus has a different perspective. Ed Wood Story is much slicker than Flying Saucers but it doesn't have the heart.

Most importantly, Flying Saucers is more Plan 9-specific than Ed Wood Story.

[Abby]

BTW: The greatest Vampira revelation  is that she caught the clap from Orson Welles.

And Bela Jr. is somewhat bitter and anti-Ed. Kind of hard to hear, really, since every scrap of available evidence says Ed worshipped Bela and bent over backwards to make his hero's life more comfortable.

Dolores re-states everything she said in A Look Back In Angora. Vampira also repeats herself. Kathy Wood did not participate in either doc.

[Vermin Boy]

Abby pretty much took the words out of my mouth: Both are good, but if you only want one, go with Saucers. The Bela interview on the first disc is excerpted in Saucers. Also, it should be pointed out that the Ed Wood Story isn't so much a documentary as it is a series of separate interviews. The two most interesting ones are Dolores Fuller, who expresses great resentment with her portrayal in Burton's film, and Johnny Legend-- Apparently, Tor Johnson was on his paper route as a kid, and the two became friends. Still, as I said before, the second disc is the one to get; the documentary is much more in-depth and fun (not to mention meaty), and the film itself is probably the best it's ever looked. Plus, it's got an interview with Drew Friedman, whose underground comics featuring Tor were damn hilarious.

[Flangepart]

I second that second. The Sam Rami bit about Tor faceing Groucho Marx is great. I've not seen the first Doc, but this disc is good. I too, Recomend it.

[K-Sonic]

"Flying Saucers" is THE most in-depth Ed Wood doc out there. The doc is even longer than "Plan 9" the movie!
I've got the DVD with "The Ed Wood Story" and they also have out on DVD, "The Haunted World of Edward D. Wood". This doc I don't very much like. It's posed and polished more than sincere.
"Look Back In Angora" was well put together. Very entertaining and I'm glad Kathy Wood was there. Too bad I haven't seen her in more footage. I'd like to hear the stories she has!

Anyone ever see the Cult Movies video with Conrad Brooks and Peter Coe? This has to be THE worst doc/interview I've ever seen. Michael Copner from Cult Movies Magazine sits beside a bed-ridden, sickly-looking and dying Peter Coe who is coaxed (more so than asked) to say things about Ed Wood by Conrad Brooks.
It was Peter Coe's house that Ed died in and he talks about that. He calls it "sickening" and "how he was garbage to them" as they carried his body out in a garbage bag! Talk about exploitation. I'm not sure if Cult Movies still sells this video. Its baaaad.

[raj]

I'll go with the saucers version.  Now I just have to decide what other dvds to get.  Decisions, decisions. . .