“THIS IS SPINAL TAP” Criterion laser disc,...

“THIS IS SPINAL TAP”

Criterion laser disc, $99.95

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At last: The most sublimely mediocre Limey band of all time gets immortalized via the most sophisticated archival format home tech has yet to offer.

Besides improved picture and sound, Criterion’s new deluxe laser disc (there’s also an identical CD-ROM out) of the classic ’84 satire includes supplemental features that tap the pliant memories of its creators at length and generously rummage through the discard piles for never-seen material. On the Nigel Tufnel scale of 1 to 11, it’s, oh, a good 11 1/2.

Two distinct audio commentaries run through the length of the film: one reunites principals Harry Shearer, Michael McKean and Christopher Guest, who react spontaneously to the on-screen proceedings, and the other has more formal recollections from director Rob Reiner and the film’s producer and editors.

Reiner reluctantly establishes at the outset that he’s wary of dissecting behind-the-scenes production information because “it’s like a magician telling the audience how he did a trick.” Party pooper.

Shearer, McKean and Guest hold no such compunctions on their dirt-dishing audio track, where they discourse freely about Tap’s musical, uh, influences (think Saxon and Uriah Heep) and how the picture’s improv evolved.

Most intriguing of the archival material is a collection of outtakes that, at 80 minutes, is nearly as long as the 82-minute film itself. Though these trims make evident just how perfectly edited the release print was, there are real gems amid the discards: a mock-Beatlesque press conference, a lost subplot with Cherie Currie as a herpes-spreading new-wave singer, more of Billy Crystal and Dana Carvey’s cameos as bitchy mimes, etc.

With this extra material the through line comes even clearer: “Spinal Tap” isn’t just a movie of music-biz in-jokes (though it’s certainly gratifyingly that) but, emerging out of the infighting and infantilism, a more universal parable of the charms and annoyances of little boys who’ve taken on adult bodies.

As the old song says, baby, that’s rock ‘n’ roll. Items in this periodic survey of pop-related books, videocassettes and laser discs are rated on a scale of one star (poor) to four (excellent).