Streaming services are making a lot of strange decisions lately when it comes to how they are trying to keep people glued to their devices. There are podcasts, games, and rebroadcasts of random live events across every service; Disney+ has now even introduced “playlists” where something random just starts playing. And those strange choices are butting up with rising prices, making subscriptions highly questionable. These content decisions paired with excessive costs are just some of the reasons consumers are returning to embrace physical media.

Popping on a Blu-ray or DVD has a lot of advantages over streaming, from superior quality to actual ownership. But as streamers try to get creative with ways to entice viewers, they should look to the physical disc and one of its most popular features that needs to come back: audio commentary.

Cast and crew chatted about the movie they made

The best DVD and Blu-ray feature, in my opinion, was the audio commentary so frequently found as a special extra on countless discs. Audio commentary was an alternate way for you to view the film, often insightful, humorous, or both. Any number of cast and crew would view the film and just share their thoughts; sometimes it might just be one star of the film chatting directly to the viewer, or it would be a handful of people discussing the movie together.

The movie would play as usual, complete with its original audio. That audio, however, would decrease in volume when a commentator jumped in, as if playing the background. There may be long stretches of commentary and there may be some spans where the people are just watching along with you. You can watch the entire movie as normal, and then rewatch the film with those who were part of it chatting alongside you.

While some discs had one extra audio commentary option, some had multiple options, with different groups offering their thoughts. Some discs had up to four different commentary tracks, providing a lot of return on investment when you bought a disc.

Candid moments and random surprises

Audio commentary gave fans a lot of interesting information and behind-the-scenes insight. It was a more compelling form of interview since the movie is playing while people are talking. It’s a longer conversation, too, and that led to more candid moments. Because there wasn’t actually someone in the room interviewing the cast or crew, there was a tendency for their thoughts to be more raw, honest, and unfiltered.

That is why you get Ben Affleck making a bunch of jokes about Armageddon in that movie’s audio commentary, discussing how absurd the story is. That’s also why Roger Moore is so hysterical in his many James Bond audio commentaries; he’s alone reflecting on a film that he made many, many years earlier when times were very different. You have actors watching their own movies, sometimes alone, recounting stories without anyone to direct their focus, and it was honest and revealing.

There were other surprises. Sometimes actors and crew would come and go, popping in and out of the screening, as if it were a party, and they were stopping by to say hello. In the case of the animated film Brother Bear, voice actors Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas order a pizza and welcome the delivery person to the commentary. This feature could also yield something completely random.

Extras featured analysis and creative storytelling

Sometimes, especially for comedies, actors who had to do audio commentary made sure to have a little fun with it. There are many examples of cast staying in character, recording the commentary as their on-screen persona. This is Spinal Tap and Tropic Thunder both feature actors staying in character, commenting on their performance and how the director edited the story to make them appear a certain way.

For other films, those tasked with audio commentary took the job seriously, and delivered insightful analysis to eager film buffs. Notable directors like Terry Gilliam, Steven Soderbergh, David Fincher, or Peter Jackson get super detailed and nerdy about very specific things in their films, demonstrating their knowledge and dedication, offering endless wisdom to those who cared to listen.

There was no real template for audio commentary, and it could go in a lot of different ways depending on the tone of the film, the creatives involved, and how they felt on the day of the recording. That’s what made it so compelling and worth a listen.

Branded after-show recaps are dull and uninspired

One of the more annoying trends to pop up in the last year across all streaming services is the so-called TV show podcast. A bunch of Netflix and Disney+ shows have these sort-of after-show recaps that feature interviews with specific cast and crew members where they reflect on what was seen. These are not the same thing as audio commentary whatsoever.

To start, these are calculated branding efforts that are highly controlled and completely fluffy. Sure, they may offer some insight or interesting tidbits for dedicated fans, but the reason they are in existence is that they are cheap to make, they are nonintrusive, and they can keep people glued to streaming services.

The audio commentary was random. It was authentic. It was intimate and personal at times, and offered only dedicated and observant fans a chance to be educated and entertained. These podcasts, a word streaming services are using quite liberally, are not those. They are glossy and planned. There is no distance between the creative and the story, not an open-ended stream of consciousness. There is a time limit, a focus on the conversation, and an editor standing by to make sure everything looks and sounds good. It’s just noise.

Blu-rays and DVDs were packed with extras

Deleted scenes, bloopers, and documentaries were compelling

One of the many reasons why physical media is worth revisiting is that those discs were filled with a lot of special features. Audio commentary was among the most coveted, but it certainly wasn’t alone. Bloopers and featurettes about parts of the film were common. Sometimes you might find art or concept work or music videos as well, as well as making-of documentaries that could be anywhere from 10 minutes to two hours.

Then there were the director’s cut and the alternate ending. It was always fun to witness what could have been, especially with scenes that were shot in full and then later scrapped. You typically were afforded at least one trailer as well for the film.

What’s more, these discs had chapters, which made stopping and starting so effortless. Sometimes those chapters had funny names, and sometimes they were tightly packed or spread far apart. The DVD menu was also iconic: a short loop of a video and audio track played while you chose what you wanted to watch.

Most streaming services aren’t in the business of offering extras, although Disney+ does have some features available for select titles. It’s not the same, and those physical media extras were fun to unpack and explore. It’s not too late to start your disc collection anew, compiling your favorite stories while knowing that they can’t be taken away from you like they can on streaming services.