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CNN Live Today

DVDs Hide Easter Eggs

Aired March 25, 2002 - 13:57   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: A bit later this week and possible you might be hiding Easter eggs out in the yard, but what you may not know is that there are dozens of Easter eggs already hidden inside of your DVDs. Natalie Pawelski talked with consumer tech expert Mark Salzsman to find out what they are and how to hunt them down.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NATALIE PAWELSKI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm a complete novice with Easter eggs, and here you have, I can't refuse, "The Godfather."

MARC SALTZMAN, CONSUMER TECH EXPERT: "The Godfather," sure. Well, in "The Godfather" you simply go to the word "set up," hit enter. Instead of going up and down you hit the right button, you will see a globe appear. When you hit enter, what you are seeing now is clips of "The Godfather," in different languages as seen throughout the world. Pretty funny.

PAWELSKI: Why plant these Easter eggs?

SALTZMAN: I think they are doing this just to generate hype. I think that movie companies know that word of mouth and buzz will help sell the DVD.

PAWELSKI: Looking here and seeing "Shrek" and thinking my nieces and nephews will love this. What are the Easter eggs in "Shrek?"

SALTZMAN: When you pop in the DVD you always start at this main menu. Hit the "up" arrow on your remote and that musical note is illuminated. When you hit enter you are treated to a secret section called the "Shrek music in the swamp karaoke dance party."

PAWELSKI: Now, are these very common or sort of rare?

SALTZMAN: They are very common but not a lot of people know about them. They are on almost every DVD you get. Doesn't matter the studio. You just have to know about that. That's the whole thing; it is word of mouth.

PAWELSKI: Let's say I've got my DVD player, it is all ready, I am renting a DVD. How do I find out if that DVD has an Easter egg?

SALTZMAN: You can go on-line. You can go to Web sites like dvdreview.Com, or dvdeastereggs.com. They will have a list of them. PAWELSKI: You were telling me that the whole concept of Easter eggs started with the sci-fi world. Is this an example of that?

SALTZMAN: Right. "Star Wars" is the perfect example. There are many Easter eggs on "Star Wars" DVD. This is "The Phantom Menace: Episode 1."

If you start off at the main menu, you type in 1138. You are treated to a very amusing blooper reel. This is pretty funny. You will see that evidently R2D2 has a drinking problem. He keeps falling down all the time. This is cute.

PAWELSKI: Spiking his oil.

SALTZMAN: Evidently. There he goes again. DVDs are the fastest growing piece of consumer electronics in history.

PAWELSKI: Natalie Pawelski, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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