Dream Quest Review

The Plot: Wow, can life get any more rough than what Steve (Devin Wolf) has to go through? Check this out: here you are, sitting in classic convertible at a drive-in movie next to your date, Sarah (Jenna Jameson!) There is a guy in the next car getting a blowjob and Sarah is more interesting in eating popcorn than fooling around with you! Oh, the humanity!

Sarah convinces Steve to take her home, whereupon she sits on her bed and bemoans the fact that romance is gone, fantasy is dying and there just aren't any good stories left anymore. Well, faster than you can say "Porn Fairy", two slender and winged members of the fairer sex pop through her mirror and ask for her help. You see, fantasy is dying, and the two fairies, Spring and Autumn (Stephanie Swift and Felecia), have located their savior in Sarah (apparently having used some mystical mental power roughly equivalent to that which causes women to go the bathroom in groups of thirty). Sarah walks through the mirror in a truly spiffy special effect and winds up in front of Arachna (Asia Carrera). Arachna's job is to start Sarah on her journey and prepare her for the challenges ahead. She does this by making Sarah lift rocks with her mind, run through the swamp, balance on her head and raise her X-wing starfighter from the bog.

Er, not quite. Sarah does play with herself and Arachna as the spider lady devours a bit of food she had saved in her web. After everyone's appetite is sated and the food is completely devoid of bodily fluids, Sarah is sent on her way with Octo (Randy Spears). Octo speaks in rhyme and is not really all that helpful. He does manage to distract the deadly candelabras of death long enough for Sarah to escape, so he wasn't completely useless. Actually, the whole rhyming thing was done pretty well, thanks to a huge lift by Randy's acting skills.

Sarah's adversary in this whole mess is Vladamir (Hershel Savage), and he is watching her carefully. Like most men in the world, watching Jenna's breasts bouncing underneath a white cotton off-the-shoulder blouse makes him horny. Very horny. Like, one-on-either-side-of-his- forehead horny. Anyhow, his handmaiden (Bridgett Kirkova) sees that his mind isn't really on his work, so they have a quick interlude. I wish I had a handmaiden.

The fairies appear and help Sarah through the forest that she's been wandering through aimlessly. I'm not really impressed with the quality of the fairies in this land. Yeah, sure, they look beautiful and they walk around with their breasts exposed to the world... but for women who can fly and have big-ass wings, not being able to cross a bridge is a severe handicap. Granted, I'm not saying they should be fired from their fairy duties, but someone may want to call the temp agency and get some fairies with altitude capability. Still, they do seem to do kinky acts of lesbian love whenever they hit that bridge setback, so I think we'll keep them around. For bridge crossing duties, call the other two fairies, Summer and Winter (Teri Starr and Inari Vachs). Not only can they apparently cross the bridge, they're such sweethearts that they will pay the gatekeeper's toll for you. Take a wild guess what the gatekeeper wants as payment. You must answer five questions ("Three, sir!") er, right... Three questions or be cast into the Pit of Dispair. No, wait.. that's not it. Oh yeah, he wants sex!

(side note: This plot setup, while hokey, was executed very well. Kudos to Brad Armstrong for his acting ability in addition to his directoral skills.)

Well, if life hands you fairy guides that can't pass bridges without giving blowjobs to the gatekeeper, you should probably enjoy what simple pleasures you can. For instance, skinny dipping in a pond! (If I ever am going to go long-distance swimming or my cruise ship gets hit by an iceberg, I want Jenna Jameson around to help with floatation. Her not-really- natural advantages should be obvious. Hell, a submarine couldn't sink her.) Sarah has been observed by another one of this place's inhabitants, Kronog. He gives Sarah a key to help her on her journey and his efforts are promptly undermined by another hideous mutated freak, Veronica Hart. Er, actually it is a part played by Veronica Hart. Sorry!

Sarah believes the witch and gets herself lowered down a well to the Underworld. (Mental note: Talk to CEO about new marketing campaign for the Underworld. Suggest company makeover, starting with name change. Perhaps "Subterrania" or "Hell on Earth"? Talk to Disneyland about possible copyright issues on that last suggestion.) She ends up where she started and needs the help of the troll. (I must comment on Anthony Crane's performance here, it is outstanding.) Anyhow, he sends Sarah on her way through a quick shortcut to the lair of Tundra (Alexa). Tundra is an ice maiden. I know, I know... what good is an ice maiden in a porn film? Relax. She's the Snowy Godmother / Warrior Princess with the tongue of gold and a taste for little lost maidens on their way to storming the castle. Well, after a suitable interlude, Tundra and Sarah move on towards Vladamir's castle. Vladamir has been watching Sarah's progress (I bet he really enjoyed the skinny dipping part). One of the fun visions for his amusement is Tundra and Sarah as they reach their next challenge, the Black Knight (Evan Stone). The Black Knight guards the passage against all who would trespass. Actually, he's the Marble Knight, but drawing comparisons to the infamous swordfight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail is just too tempting.

[CLANG!] [CRASH!] [HACK!] [SLASH!]
Tundra: "Hah! Victory is mine!"
Black Knight: "No, it's not! Prepare to meet vengance!"
Tundra: "What are you talking about? I've sucked your rocks off! "
Black Knight: "No you haven't! The Black Knight is always triumphant! "
Tundra: "You don't have any cum left!"
Black Knight: "Sure I do! "
Tundra: "Your dick isn't even hard. What are you going to do, drool on me? "
Black Knight: "It's just the cold air. You know, shrinkage. Come on then, have at you! I'll lick your nipples off!"

But that will have to wait. Vladamir pops up and finally gets to meet Sarah, eyes to tits. Here, we get to find out why he's been following her progress so carefully. He's got a hard-on for Sarah. Yeah, I know, who doesn't? But apparently he's got this idea for a trade. She stays forever and he releases Fantasy. Wow... decisions.. decisions...

So, how do you get Fantasy back, defeat the evil king and squeeze in one more sex scene? I was wondering this myself by this point. Sure, the plot is a little thin, but I was having so much fun watching the sex and the excellent performances that I was looking forward to finding out.

The Cast: Once again, Brad Armstrong has managed to weasel Wicked Pictures into providing him with the finest in raw material to work with. Our lead character is Jenna Jameson, and she lays forth an excellent sexual performance and a solid acting performance. She really does have a significant acting range. She does especially well at portraying a character who is a bit sheltered, but not stupid. Young, but not jailbait (contrast this to Zoe, who looks all kinds of illegal).

Oh, but the fun doesn't stop there! Asia Carrera, is back again in yet another supporting role. This time, she and Jenna get to do a scene together! Oh, my dick is twitching already. Add to this the superstar lineup of Temptress, Inari Vachs, Sydney Steele, Stephanie Swift, Johnni Black and relative newbies Alexa & Jessica Drake and you have a fine selection of talent here. For those of you who aren't familiar with the names off the top of your head, let me just say that each and every one of these ladies look damn good and have their own individual charms. Temptress is just kick-ass hot. Stephanie has an elegance that takes years to master. Sydney has the passionate brunette bit down solid. Inari Vachs has the Volleyball Champion of the World look. Johnni is another sexy blonde bombshell with long legs. Also included in this lineup is Teri Starr. I'm not familiar with her work, but I have got to go find more. Wait until you see her in this movie, you're going to be impressed, too. Alexa and Jessica Drake are new to me. I like Alexa, but I am floored by Jessica Drake. Read on and find out why. Veronica Hart shows up in a non-sex cameo.

Let's not forget the men in this movie! Dear god, no! These guys are superb actors, every single one of them. Hershel Savage puts on the makeup and plays the evil king quite well. You can tell he's from New York, he just carries himself like a New Yorker. He does get most of the corny dialogue and despite that, he belts forth an impressive performance. Randy Spears plays dual roles here and nails each one perfectly. This man can act! Brad Armstrong manages to write himself into every movie he directs, it seems. Thankfully, this is not a bad thing. In fact, it's a good thing. His minor acting role and his major directing role doesn't prevent him from giving us a good performance. Top it all off with Anthony Crane, who is downright hilarious. Both in front of the camera and in the behind-the-scenes feature, he will make you laugh.

Joining the above crowd of veterans are some relative newcommers to my experience (I have no idea what else they've done). Devin Wolf, who looks like those muscular blonde surfer types you always envy on the beach. He puts forth a competant, if a little stilted, performance. Evan Stone gets to play dual roles, only one of which has any lines. It's hard to judge his acting skills thanks to some creative sound editing work. Hats off to his fight choreography though.

Wow. We have here some of the best actors in the business in this film. Yeah, I could list some others who are equally as competant (Kyle Stone, Jonathan Morgan, James Bonn, Stacy Valentine, Tina Tyler) but there is absolutely nothing wrong with this crowd. There is not a single actor in here that I can't stand, ignore or even mildly dislike. And that's just the acting talents. As far as sexual performances go... this cast can suck dick and take names with the best of them!

TheSex: Oh, he's making a list, he's checking it twice... He's gonna find out who's naughty and nice. You guessed it! Because Darkmage was a good boy this year, Santa is granting him his present of seeing Jenna Jameson and Asia Carrera in a scene together! (Actually, Santa left his Naughty_Nice.mdf file on an unsecured machine while Darkmage was poking around the NorthPole domain and well...) Yeehaw! I tell you, when I first heard about this, I was all kinds of excited. Hell, I'm excited while I'm typing this, because this scene is running through my DVD player right now. Darkmage is a huge Asia Carrera fan and watching her and Jenna Jameson doing the tongue tango is just... awww, damn! Hang on, I'll be right back, I need to go get a tissue.

Anyhow, Asia is dressed up in a freaky Bride of Frankenhooker outfit that while not particularly flattering, it does come off easily. Jenna's outfit is the first, to go, and Asia buries herself in her work, so to speak. Wow. Jenna is playing the part of the shy & inexperienced, which is too bad, really. It would have been nice to see her let herself go and dive in. Oh, well. While Asia does a masterful job and sending Jenna's higher brain functions into a dark corner, Jenna never does return the favor. Instead, Asia plucks her trusty stud (Evan Stone) from his place in the spider web and goes to work on him while Jenna fingers herself nearby. I tell you, this scene is why I love both of these actresses. Jenna does not just slide her fingers around the sensititve areas, she moves her whole body. This is, IMNSHO, what separates a good porn actress from a mediocre one. I just love to see women twitch. Asia, on the other hand, gets on top and just goes wild. She thrashes about, squeals and bounces up and down like a love tomale. Some camera angles are particularly cool, like the shot between Asia's legs of Jenna reaching up and giving her a helpful clit twist. Excellent scene, ladies! Be proud.

Our next oportunity for sexual madness is Randy Spear's character being beset from both sides by two naked women weilding combat candelabras (Amber Michaels and Johnni Black). Randy sacrificies himself by valiantly agreeing to have sex with these women so Jenna's character can continue the quest. How noble! However, I can't help but hear that little voice in the back of my mind saying:

"Come on, Galahad! We have come to save you from the perilous wenches!
"But I want to stay! I'll take them all on! "
"No, no. It's much too perilous."
"Can't I have just a little peril?"

Comedic references or no, this scene is very good. Randy Spears, in addition to being one of the best actors in the adult industry, is also one of the best sexual performers. This scene has all the makings of good porn: Blonde, naked women with lots of glitter. Randy Spears with a gladiator-style back-and-breast armor. And of course, happy happy sex. Amber and Johnni work very well together. And Johnni does my personal favorite of popping out Randy's dick, giving it a couple healthy sucks and putting it back in for him. Now that's service! Johnni also gets some Randy dick in the ass and a good time is had by all. Better than average scene, no doubt about it.

I have got to ask... Vladamir (Hershel Savage) has this lovely handmaiden, Bridgett Kerkova, who will do anything for him. She strips off his pants and gives him a good slurping. She climbs up onto his chair and basically rides him until he comes. He doesn't have to lift a finger (okay, he does flip her over and go anal exploring). Dude, with all of that at my beck and call, the fiesty Jenna can go jump in a lake! Actually, come to think of it, she does go jump in a lake... Anyhow, Bridgett is the star of the show here, because Hershel is pretty much doing nothing except enjoying the ride. Bridgett is a fairly lovely lady, but nothing really stands out about her. She looks like most of the Wicked talent pool. Yeah, she'll turn heads walking through the mall, but she won't cause car accidents like some other actresses. Well, enough about her looks, how's the action? Surprisingly good! Bridgett is good at riding on top. She's starting to gear up to some serious hip action, which is always one of my personal turn-ons. Her technique isn't quite up to the levels of the masters of hip (Ginger Lynn and Missy) but it is a very respectable performance. While this scene was good, there isn't all that much to bump it out of the average category.

Well, Jenna's been wandering around for a while and the only thing she's managed to get seduced by was this gorgeous lady with a thing for spiders. Never fear, dear readers, Felecia and Stephanie Swift to the rescue! While they kill time waiting for the other two fairies to appear at the bridge, they all have a little lesbian three-way on a tree stump. Once again, Jenna has put forth another lesbian scene that will be added to my growing list of girl-girl stuff done properly. These three are awesome together. Pay special attention to the beginning of the scene, it looks wonderful. Stephanie especially gets a nod here with her deep panting and screams of pleasure. Stephanie also is a member of the four finger club, which was definitely neat to watch. Jenna finished up the scene with Felecia doing the work. I don't know how she does it, but when Jenna gets on her knees with a woman working the controls, her face gets this dreamy look that signals extreme pleasure. Wow.

Brad Armstrong always did have a hands-on approach to making adult films. Case in point, he wrote himself into the script as the Gatekeeper. Two words for the discerning porn viewer: Teri Starr. This is what makes this scene worth watching over and over again. Inari isn't shabby by any means, nosiree! She gets to be on the receiving end, first and she does it with style! She also does it with volume. Brad does a lot of full pull-out-and-dive-in strokes that look great and apparently feel great, too. Inari basically spins up like a turbine engine and lets loose with some screaming. Terri isn't exactly doing nothing during this period, either. She's fingering herself and the beautiful image of the three of them really shows off the potential of widescreen porn. It's wonderful. But it gets better. Teri Starr lands on Brad in a reverse cowgirl and just takes off. If Inari spools up like a turbine, Terri builds up like nitroglycerine in a paint mixer! She thrashes, she twitches, she grabs the bridge and shakes. She cums hard and loses parts of her costume, she screams loud and high enough to cause dogs pain. In short, she is a bundle of energy mounted on the end of a stiff dick. She makes me horny thinking about it!

Wow. Just wow. I have found a new name to add to my watch list and it is Jessica Drake. She and Anthony Crane have a little blowjob rendezvous in the woods. That doesn't begin to describe what has to be one of the best knob gobbling scenes I have ever witnessed. Anthony does well, staying in character even when he is about to lose 13 million of his closest friends. But few things can compare to the awesome camera combined with the superb oral work of Jessica Drake as the wood nymph. She looks beautiful. The camera angles really show off her best features, the setting is a peaceful, isolated spot and I am still in awe of those slender legs and that taut ass. Purrrrrr. But the best part is the skill she brings to the table (well, wood stump). It's slurpy, it's messy, it's sensual and it looks like heaven. On a blowjob quality scale of one to five, this scene is roughly an eight!

Hey, this is a first! Not only is this disc packed with great sex, this is the first time I have found no less that two high quality girl-girl scenes on one disc. Normally, I'm not much of an all-girl- action type of guy. Watching Jenna and her winged friends was so good I didn't mind that there wasn't a guy around. Watching Alexa and Jenna together, I didn't care as long as they didn't stop! This really is a good scene. Alexa is almost as much of a squirmer as Jenna is, and this is a good thing in my book. While Jenna is flat on her back and Alexa pumps a couple fingers in her, Jenna grabs her wrist and starts licking her own juices off of Alexas fingers... marvelous. Alexa gets some of her own back and then they whip out the ice dildos! Yes, not one, but two of these clear plastic ticklers appear to tantalize the passages of our performers. And unlike most scenes where you have an equal number of plastic probes and women, they don't just choose their weapons and wander off to ten paces distance. Nope! Both Jenna and Alex take turns using both dildos on each other. At once. In the same orifice. I would normally try to find humor in this, but it's too much of a stretch. Never mind that, just realize that for a set filled with ice, this is still a hot scene.

Yep, it's the moment we've all been waiting for! Jenna finally gets back into the dick game with Devin Wolf, playing her boyfriend Steve. Steve has come to rescue Jenna from her prison. Jenna is so grateful for this romantic act of heroism that she decides to have sex with him while they're still inside the jail cell. I don't know why they insist on picking the most inopportune times to do this type of thing, but I'll tell you right now I think I would have stuck around, too. This scene is quite good, with Jenna riding Devin for a long time in a reverse cowgirl. Oh man, how good this looks! It's actually more of a tender scene than a high-intensity scrompfest. I'm not familiar with Devin's work, but he puts in a good performance here. He does look the part of the clean-cut boy next door very well. Jenna, of course, is just fucking awesome. They swap around to doggie style, and Jenna goes into overdrive. No, not like Teri did, this is all Jenna. Having watched several of Jenna's movies, when she sticks her ass in the air, her eyes turn into lethal weapons and will drive you to unspeakable acts of masturbation. My current theory is that the super secret love potion number 9 resides in her ovaries and sticking her ass in the air makes it flow downhill into her eyes. I can't help it, I love it when she does this. Darkmage is a happy camper.

=== Deleted Scenes ===

In addition to the excellent scenes above, there are two deleted sex scenes that are available from the Special Features Menu. The first of these is the conclusion to the battle between Tundra (Alexa) and the Marble Knight (Evan Stone). Now, if you actually read the plot summary despite my penchant for being long-winded, you'll recall that Tundra and the Marble Knight were having a swordfight the last we saw of them. We don't really know who won. From looking at this scene, we can guess that somebody did, and the prize is sex with the loser. This makes little sense to me, but I'm willing to be a good loser if my opponent looks like Alexa. It really is a shame that they cut this out of the feature, but I can see why. Evan Stone, spray painted with black body paint and marble texture spray looks particularly kinky in this getup and. It works quite well. Alexa shows off what she can do when presented with a member of the opposite sex (or is it presented with the opposite sex's member?) Either way, she does a good job of turning the man of stone into the man of limp. Watch out for Alexa, I suspect her career is going to do good things in the future. Something that I'm sure was a consideration was that it looks like some of Evan's paint is rubbing off onto Alexa. Dark smudges on beautiful alabaster skin is a stylistic no-no. Still, it's a neat scene to watch. It's also a good scene to listen to. The background music is amazing.

Our other deleted scene is a pair of couples scromping away at the throne of Vladamir. Two of Vladamir's henchmen, played by Brad Armstrong and Dale DaBone, go ravish a couple of the handmaidens (Sydnee Steele and Temptress). Oh wow... Temptress is always a good one to watch. I'm not sure exactly what it is with her, but she always grabs my attention when she's on screen. She sets before us an energetic performance and a really slurpy blowjob. I suspect it may be how much energy she puts into her performance. She's already moaning and throwing her head back while Syndee is still sensously being slid into by Brad Armstrong. Brad seems to like pulling all the way out, and he makes good use of it with several complete pop-outs and diving in to moist goodness. Not to mention that Temptress turns being flat on her back doing little but enjoying the ride into something quite erotic. Syndee, on the other hand... I may not know why I like watching Temptress, but I know exactly why I like watching Syndee. I'm a sucker for brunettes, and Sydnee is a fine example of the breed. She doesn't have the same style as Temptress, which certainly not to say her style is bad. She is more of a sensual performer than a "bang me faster" performer. I will definitely say that Syndee is the better one at finishing things. Temptress just sits there and take the cumshot she worked so hard for on the chest, while Syndee is still working it with her hand and takes her cum shot on the tongue. While the sex was fairly good, the background music was entirely too "typical porn" and seemed out of place compared to the others on this disc. That and the grain problem was particularly bad throughout this entire scene. Ugh.

Alas, we never do really find out why these two scenes were deleted from the movie. Nor do we get what part of the plot called for the second orgy in the stonework. Ah, well. I am definitely glad that we got to see them, though!

Summary: The sex is extremely good on this disc. Great couplings, excellent camera work, wonderful music and slick editing. This is a high-budget and high production standards feature and it shows at every level. It has a little something for everyone: blowjobs, g/g, m/m, g/g/g, g/m x 2, anal, etc. Condoms are used throughout every scene.

The Image/Audio: Aw, man! The review was going so well up until this point. The image on this disc has severe problems. There is a noticeable and distracting grain that permeates the entire movie. Vertical "threads" appear every once in a while (Arachna's cave is a great example) and the occasional fleck finds its way into the film. Now, there is a lot of glitter used in this film and some of the glitter that was apparently poured onto everything sometimes looks like flecks. That aside, there are still some image quality issues at work here. There is a little haloing in a couple scenes (Jenna going skinny dipping is a good example), but this may be from a soft focus filter on the lense. The commentary track doesn't mention this, so I am unsure. Futher investigation is pending. Either way, the grain and vertical lines that are apparent throughout this movie is a major dissapointment given today's DVD technology. It honestly looks like it was transferred from VHS. When you look at the list of extra content on this disc, you can't help but wonder if Wicked followed the same dark trail as Vivid has and sacrificed image quality to make room for extra content. Oh please, say it ain't so!

On the plus side, Dream Quest is in widescreen! Yahoo!! Roughly 1:85:1 ratio, compared to the 1.33:1 that most porn is shot in. When I saw this, I was estatic! I just knew that this was going to be a movie done right.

Yeah, well, the movie was done right, the transfer was done poorly. Check this out: You are getting an image that is at the 1.85:1 aspect ratio, but the signal coming down the pipe is actually a 1.33:1 signal. A little technical background is in order. DVDs store video in either 4:3 or 16:9 format. Any aspect ratio other than this is letterboxed before encoding to the disk. When it comes time to display the image, your DVD player pops up the 4:3 image, or in the case of widescreen televisions, it automatically resizes the image appropriately. However, Dream Quest doesn't do this. This is really apparent on my DVD-ROM. No matter how I resize the image, I still get a 4:3 (1:33:1) box showing the movie. Compare this to any other movie shot in the same ratio (Desperado, eXistenz) where the box is automatically resized to just contain the image. I really feel for anyone with a widescreen TV, because the 1.33:1 ratio spit out by the DVD is going to play havoc with their systems. Those of us with regular 4:3 televisions won't notice.

After a little research, I think I found what went wrong. This excerpt was taken from the DVD FAQ:

"Video stored in 4:3 format is not changed by the player... Widescreen systems will either enlarge it or add black bars to the sides. 4:3 video may have been formatted with letterboxing or pan & scan before being transferred to DVD... Video that is letterboxed before being encoded can be flagged so that the player will tell a widescreen TV to automatically expand the picture. Unfortunately, some discs (such as Fargo) do not flag the video properly..."

Well, enough of the image. The audio is much better. Again, the music really helps the film out and it is perfectly suited to the scenes. It's not unpleasant, it's got a good beat and it is nice a removed from the boom-chicka music that we've all grown to hate. Some parts have an Irish traditional flavor to them, even. All in all, the music rocks. It swells when nothing is being said, it lurks in the background during the dialogue scenes, and it steps up to set the rythmn during the sex scenes. Just as good background music should do. Dialogue is clear and there is no trouble hearing the actors. Occasionally, they cut out the actors' voices during some sex scenes, but this is rare. Good quality sound and a great musical soundtrack. I think they finally got it right. Woo hoo!

The Extras: I do not think it is possible to cram any more extras on to this disc! Great googly- moogly, this disc has it all! The basics are all here: Chapter selection, trailer, photo gallery, link to the web site. Yeah, yeah, yeah... Just about every DVD has these, so what's so special about DreamQuest? It's the little touches. The chapter selections are full motion video, the menu music is unoffensive and at a reasonable volume, the trailer is cool and even the photo gallery is done well. A consistent theme is kept throughout the menu and navigation is simple. The transistions between menus are animated and the overall effect is very smooth. Again, it's the little touches that practically scream quality when taken together. The little touches that make the disc worth owning.

Fuck that. The little touches may be nice, but the big touches kick ass! In addition to the standard stuff, we have a buttload of special features. Here they are, with a little commentary on each one:

1. The audio commentary by the director, Brad Armstrong and the editor Red Ezra - I love commentary tracks! It's the behind-the-scenes touch that gives you an insight into how much trouble these people went through to deliver such quality film unto you, the discriminating porn consumer. You learn all kinds of things about what happens on set, the way the props are constructed, subtle points that they included in the film, etc. It really does turn the movie into a whole different experience. Comparing this track to the one onFlashpoint, I must say that Brad has improved his commentary a bit. Gone are the "it's a beautiful thing" references and the frankly obvious statements. He doesn't quite have the same smart-aleck attitude that snuck in every once in a while and the information he gives is great stuff. This is, IMNSHO, a definite improvement. However, there are a couple things that need to be addressed. First, Ezra is barely audible on this track. Maybe he wasn't close enough to the microphone or something. The regular sound of the movie has been lowered a bit so you can hear the commentary (this is the way it should be done. This way, if they talk about the background music, you can hear what they're talking about). While Brad comes in loud and clear, you have to concentrate to hear Ezra over the lowered sound of the movie. In addition, there are still some very long pauses between comments. I think this is something that will come with practice. I don't really have an impression of whether there are more pauses in this commentary than Flashpoint. One last little item: Brad is doing quite well in introducing Jenna's scene with Devin Wolf. At the point when things get interesting, he says "I know you'd rather watch Jenna than hear me talk, so I'm going to shut up and let you enjoy." Brad, I love the sentiment and the concern you have for us, but if I want to shut you up for a sex scene, I'll switch the audio to the regular track. If you have something to say, keep talking! All in all, this is a valuable asset to the Dream Quest DVD and worth listening to.
    
2. Two deleted sex scenes - Kickass! Two complete sex scenes that were taken out of the movie. Unfortunatley, I can't find an explanation for why they were removed. Still, they were very good (see above for descriptions).
    
3. Numerous deleted filler scenes - Actually, lots of shots of Jenna walking around with torches. While it is nifty to see what firelight does to Jenna's lovely face, it's not that interesting.
    
4. Special effects featurette - This is actually pretty cool. It details the techniques used behind five of the special effects that you see in the movie. How do you walk through a mirror? How do you create a fairy out of thin air? How do you find a medieval castle in Southern California? This featurette will walk you through how they do it, step by step. At the end of one effect, they start explaining the next effect, so it's best to just start at the first effect and watch all the way through. It only takes about 10 minutes, but it's quite interesting.
    
5. List of AVN awards back to 1994 - This really is just a series of text pages that fly into position on the screen and they fly out again. Still, the background music is not unpleasant and the list of awards and nominations for this upstart company are truly impressive. Somebody at Wicked knows what they're doing and it shows. The other nifty part is that it is good reference material for those of us who write reviews. This format is preferrable to Vivid's crap of showing you the scene that won, but not what movie it is from, what year it won, or what category. 
    
6. Company information - Again, this is really just a series of text pages that fly in and out with information about Wicked Pictures. Lots of information here.
    
7. Casino game (DVD-ROM) - I installed this on my laptop and played with it for a while. The installation was simple, but read the text that scrolls up during installation. You can play one of three ways: Single, Multiplayer, or play for Wicked Cash. Multiplayer and Wicked Cash require an internet connection. You can play with other porn fans online through Wicked's web site. The graphics are good, the controls are fair, but there is precious little smut to be seen. Yeah, you can play games on your computer, but the marketing tie-in with the adult stars wasn't nearly as tight as I would have expected. However, the face cards do have pictures on them. Small pictures. I didn't really give this a workout because I'm not much of a gambler. That and out of some fifty rounds of blackjack, I think I won once.
   
8. Cast biographies - Not only do you get interesting information about the gals (how many tattoos, etc.) most of the screens depicting the information is subtley unique to the actress. (Asia Carrera gets a spider dropping in, Stephanie Swift gets water droplets, etc.) There is a nice lady who reads off even more information that isn't included on the screen with some pleasing background music and most importantly a "Jump to a Scene" feature that lets you see the actor or actress in action. What was that? Yes, you read correctly, they include bio information on the guys as well as the girls! This kicks ass. It is about time that the DVD authors realized that there are two halves to most sex scenes. Kudos to the team at Adam & Eve / Wicked Pictures for including the information. I especially like the fact that the audio information is not just someone reading what is on the screen. This is how you do a biography. Other studios, pay attention!
    
9. Photo gallery - Yet another photo gallery, but this one is all behind-the-scenes shots taken on location. First, I think it's really cool that they divided them up this way. Second, the pictures are a combination of fascinating and hilarious. It's neat to look at, which is about all you can say about a photo gallery. The best part is how it compliments the next feature...
    
10. The behind the scenes featurette - Wow. I mean, wow. It's hard to describe how impressed I am with this documentary. I'm floored. It starts on the first day of shooting, and takes you through the entire process. Every day gets a little overview and they touch on just about everything. Set building, setting up at location, makeup, lighting, horsing around, transportation, rehearsing the dialogue, filming the dialogue, filming the sex, post-coital interviews... it's all here! A quick glimpse at everything that goes into shooting an adult movie. Not enough for you? To add just the right amount of Vivarin to your coffee, the entire production is edited professionally, flows extremely well and will make you laugh out loud. This thing is perfect. Compared to this gem of content, that "Bullet-time" thing on the Matrix disc is as interesting as a sales pitch by an insurance agent. I liked it. It was better than Cats. I'm going to watch it again and again.
     

That does it! I now have a new standard for extra features on a DVD. This disc is perfect. You cannot find high-quality content like this anywhere else. You can come close with a few other discs (Flashpoint , Still Insatiable, and of course,DMJ6). Ladies and gentlemen, we have a new champion!

The Good: Wow, there is too much to list! Jenna Jameson, Asia Carrera, Temptress, Syndee Steele, Randy Spears... hell, the entire cast is perfect! Extras that will blow you out of the water. Widescreen porn. Actors who can act. Camera work that is artistic. Music that is enjoyable. Sex that will rock your world.

The Bad: Severe image quality problems. Aspect ratio is fucked up. The image problems are the only reason why this disc doesn't get a 5 in my review.

Overall: This is the new standard by which all shall be judged. What are you waiting for?