Much as the "double dip" is considered a party foul in the world of refreshment table etiquette, the DVD double dip is the cause for many a movie buff's anguish.

A DVD double dip occurs when a film studio offers a special-er edition of a special edition DVD shortly after its initial home video release. When these double dips are released, fans must ask themselves the eternal consumer question: to buy or not to buy?

While these double dips are most often available a couple of years after the original DVD's release, studios can occasionally release a double dip as little as a month after its initial release, as most recently shown with the special editions of Zodiac and Hot Fuzz.

In almost every instance, double dips come fully stocked with all the supplemental features that fans look for in the first place. Deleted scenes, documentaries, audio commentary -- these releases have it all. The king of double dip extras, though, is the director's cut.

A director's cut can either have a longer or shorter running time -- depending on the director's vision. Sometimes scenes from the original are exchanged with alternate ones or removed altogether.

In the recent re-release of Blade Runner, a film that had previously seen a director's cut released, Ridley Scott newly reshot a scene for the movie, improving what he felt was substandard stunt work in the original. This "final cut" was a ground-up reworking of the entire film, with Scott tweaking everything from special effects to the pacing.

Similarly, the Richard Donner cut of Superman II was released on DVD in 2006. While filming Superman, Donner had shot several scenes for the inevitable sequel. After arguments with the studio, though, Donner was not invited back to the sequel and much of his pre-shot footage was never used. For the re-release, a cut of the film was assembled utilizing the original story that Donner has envisioned for the project using previously unavailable footage.

Not all films have been improved by a revised cut, though.

After Donnie Darko found a growing following on home video, director Richard Kelly was invited to revisit his film. For the director's cut, Kelly reinserted 20 minutes of footage, made changes to the soundtrack and added new visual effects that cleared up some ambiguity in the original film.

The end result, though, also removed some of the original film's mystique.

Besides director's cuts, there are also extended editions.

Often, an extended edition is simply the theatrical cut of the film with all of the deleted scenes reedited back in. Sometimes, though, deleted scenes were cut for a reason. Putting these excised nuggets back into the film can negatively affect the movie's pacing and story.

Those who believed that Peter Jackson's Lord of the Ring saga was long enough to begin with may be dismayed to learn that there actually exists an even longer version. While the original trilogy took about nine hours to watch in its entirety, the extended version that was released on DVD would take an additional two hours.

Jackson has stated that the extended edition of the trilogy is not a "director's cut" but is instead a different, longer version for those fans who wish to watch it.

In the end, it's up to consumers to decide which version is the definitive edition of their favorite films and which films are worth double dipping.

• The director's cut of Robert Saucedo features a scene where Greedo shoots first. E-mail him at Robsaucedo2500@yahoo.com.

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