Exactly 1 week ago, after a storied 25-year run, Netflix ended its service as a purveyor of DVDs by mail. For post-millennial readers unaware of the great conflagration of the late 20th century that was Netflix vs. Blockbuster, take a seat and listen to a combat veteran of that conflict.
In the aftermath of the Betamax-VHS wars (the war before the war), the VHS format stood triumphant. But the victory was a hollow one. No one was shelling out $45.00 for the privilege of actually owning a movie. For reference, that's $130 in today's dead presidents. Luckily, some smart cookie discovered while people wouldn't buy these tapes, they'd sure enough rent them.
The concept of renting out entertainment media was a seismic shift in the industry. Soon, Mom and Pop businesses focused solely on VHS rentals - and sometimes VCRs (If you thought movies were pricey, those tape decks could set you back north of $800 in today's currency.) started popping up like dandelions.
This inevitably attracted corporate honchos who caught whiffs of untapped revenue streams in consumers' need to watch Hollywood blockbusters from the comfort of their living room couch. Eventually, most small operators were bought out or pushed out of the market and one behemoth percolated to the top.
Ironically named "Blockbuster", these blue-and-yellow themed stores were everywhere in that era's version of today's Dollar General. You couldn't swing a dead cat without hitting one.
Converging on Blockbuster became a Friday night ritual. Throngs of people flocked to their local branch trying to pick up the latest release before they were all gone. A common scene was a forlorn customer eagerly watching the returns coming in for the night hoping a copy of "Patriot Games" would arrive. A pro tip Andrea and I discovered was to look in the foreign language section for popular out-of-stock movies. We just turned on the English subtitles and ignored the fact that the Irish terrorists were speaking Spanish.
Blockbuster dominated this theater and made bank for years. Into this blue-box dominated arena, tiny upstart Netflix waded in. Plopping down at the table of the high-stakes rental game, they had an ace up their sleeve. By this time, the DVD format had become mainstream, and this form factor lent itself nicely to being shipped by mail - intel perhaps gleaned from watching the ubiquitous AoL CDs that always marched themselves unannounced and unwanted into people's mailboxes like an autocratic leader on a land grab mission.
Netflix promised a better experience than staking out the local Blockbuster hoping a copy of "Saving Private Ryan" would turn up. They did this by mitigating two of Blockbuster's most grievous annoyances - late fees and the stink eye you got from the teenage clerk if you failed to follow their incessant mantra, "Be kind. Rewind."
Twenty-five years later, the dust has long settled. Blockbuster wound up on the ash heap, just another casualty in the unending campaign for media entertainment dominance. The latest skirmish in this forever war is the arena of streaming services. Netflix DVD, seeing the writing on the wall, chose to go out on their own terms.
As a remembrance and parting gift, Netflix DVD is allowing customers to keep their last shipments received from them. Earlier this week, we received our final delivery of those little red envelopes that graced our mailbox for the last 25 years with comedies, sci-fi, dramas, TV series, and (snort) blockbusters.
Looking at the Netflix DVDs, I realized what prompted me to put these in my last shipment were the soundtracks just as much as the films. Movies are incredibly dependent on their soundtracks to set the tone and mood of a scene, and I'm always pleased when this includes a well-placed classic. Listening to this again put me in the mood for a $5 milkshake - spiked with rum, of course.
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