TITANIC – Special Edition is loaded to the brim with extra supplements on three DVDs. From the newsreel footage to all the different documentaries and audio commentaries, this is sure to satisfy the hungriest DVD supplement hound.

TITANIC is the story of the doomed voyage of the largest vessel to ever travel on water. The massive ship was making a trip from Southampton, England to New York City. In order to make the voyage in record time, the powers that be demanded the captain to "Push It" which would make for great publicity to arrive early in New York. Unfortunately, there were icebergs in the Atlantic and the giant boat scraped the side of one of these bergs, which resulted in bringing it down to the ocean floor.

James Cameron wrote a screenplay that focuses on two lovers from opposite ends of the social spectrum. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Jack Dawson, a young man who travels the world with virtually no money, living by the seat of his pants but with a big heart and true appreciation for what life can offer. Kate Winslet plays Rose DeWitt Bukater, a young woman who is nearly suffocating in the social cage of first class society. Rose is dating Caledon 'Cal' Hockley, a smarmy rich man played to the hilt by Billy Zane. Rose reaches the breaking point with Cal after he viciously insults and demeans her. She runs to the back of the boat and seriously considers jumping into the icy water to end it all. This is when Jack walks into her life to save her from jumping. Once the iceberg hits, Rose and Jack pull together and try to survive the repercussion of Cal discovering their burgeoning relationship and the sinking of the ship.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet’s chemistry is the key to the movie and they work wonders together on the screen. I don’t know if Cameron could have chosen two better individuals to play these roles.

What makes this DVD release the best of 2005 is the total number of supplements and the quality of each extra feature. You can also add that the DVDs are presented in Cameron’s trademark use of THX sound and visual quality.

James Cameron takes the first audio commentary. Cameron discusses the making of the movie from every conceivable angle using his astonishing mind. While he is doing this, he adds insight into the actual sinking of the Titanic. It’s amazing to hear the lengths Cameron went with his crew to "get it right" from an historical standpoint.

Cast and Crew speak on the second audio commentary, which includes Kate Winslet, Gloria Stewart, Bill Paxton, Billy Zane, Frances Fisher, Lewis Abernathy, Producer Jon Landau and Executive Producer Rae Sanchini.  The third audio commentary is an educational track by Titanic experts Don Lynch and Ken Marschall.

You can watch TITANIC with a feature called Pods, which takes you out of the movie to information that is relevant to the scene. I think this is a very good feature to use if you’ve already seen the movie. The Pod feature pops up over sixty times over the course of the film’s running time.

The Making of TITANIC is broken down into seven Featurettes. I loved seeing how the cast and crew went about their work. Some of this is covered in other sections but I’m partial to the process of making films so I enjoyed it immensely.

An Alternate Ending is included on Disc two and though I was very excited what this would bring to TITANIC, I thought it was a more superficially focused conclusion that took away from the emotional subtly the original ending has.

Celine Dion’s immensely popular "My Heart Will Go On" Music Video is included and something that deserves to be a part of this collection.

Cameron and Paramount went to the trouble of putting together Deleted Scenes that include sound effects and music. There is over forty-five minutes worth of footage included. My favorite scenes that were cut were when Rose goes into her room, tries to rip off her corset and pull out the pins in her hair because they are constricting her. This scene was great because it physically symbolizes how Rose feels trapped within the first class lifestyle and she’s had enough. Plus this was the scene that led to Rose running to the end of the boat to try and kill herself. The other cut scene I really liked was the fight between Jack and Lovejoy (David Warner). This took place when Rose and Jack escaped Cal going down into the watery dining room. Cal tells Lovejoy the diamond is his if he can get it from them and then hands Lovejoy his gun. Lovejoy goes into the dining room, looking for the young lovers. After some tense searching amongst the watery tilted room, a fight ensues with Jack giving Lovejoy some good uppercuts to the stomach. It was nice to see Lovejoy get some punishment for being Cal’s henchman.

1912 News Reel was actually manufactured using black & white film. Shot with a hand cranked camera, scratches and other blemishes were added in postproduction to make it look convincing. On the audio commentary, Ed Marsh states that because so little actual footage exists of the real Titanic, he felt the need to create this using a specially designed 16mm camera.

The 100 days it took to build the mock-up of Titanic is captured in less than five minutes using time-lapse photography in Construction Timelapse.

Deep Dive Presentation is a recording of James Cameron’s dive to the actual Titanic wreck using specially designed deep-sea submarines operated by Russian crewmembers. This informative piece runs around fifteen minutes and gives you a chance to sit along with James Cameron and explore the Titanic wreck.

Anders Falk creates a seven-minute video tour of ship sets. This was done when the sets were undisturbed and really gives you a chance to see the ornate details the art department put into the enormous sets.

James Cameron has been using Videomatic approach to figure out the shooting of his films since at least as far back as T2. For those who don’t know, Videomatics is pre-visualization method using miniature sets/props/gear filmed with a lipstick size video camera to see how sequences will look before shooting full scale. The sinking of Titanic, as well as the dive to the wreck are focused on because these scenes required such intricate special visual and physical effects. I was really impressed that Cameron even shot miniature light grids and crane equipment to see how they’d work before using them full scale.

Titanic Crew Video runs almost eighteen minutes and is the video chronicle of watching what the cast and crew did to keep themselves occupied while doing the movie. There is even a portion dedicated on crediting the numerous people who helped work on the film.

Visual Effects shows how some of the special visual effects sequences were done. This comes with text and audio commentaries that detail the sequences talked about.

I had seen Fox Special: Breaking New Ground when it was first broadcast on TV but it was cool getting it within this package. Over forty-two minutes long, it is designed to publicize the film from every marketing angle and is worth viewing, especially if you haven’t seen it.